2 Quick Book Reviews

I'd like to thank Book Publishing Company again for sending me some of these books.

The first book here is The 4 Ingredient Vegan by Maribeth Abrams and Anne Dinshah.

Actually, I wasn't planning on reviewing this book, but they sent it anyway. At first I skimmed through it, just browsing the recipes. And most have maybe 5 or 6 ingredients. The only downfall here, for me, is that a lot of the recipes use prepackaged foods, like packaged pierogies, frozen pizza, hummus, spaghetti sauce, and soups. I wish there had been some easy recipes for these instead. Even the hummus can be a 4 ingredient recipe!! I've been so busy, I really only got around to making one of the recipes, but I will definitely make some more of them when I have the time.

Harvest Mash:

Before

After

This was really delicious and so easy to make! Lots of healthy vegetables, seasoned with broth....and I had lots of leftover broth left to use for something else. Of course I spiced it up a little with my Creole Seasoning :)

The author does list all sorts of foods you should stock your kitchen with, but alas, it includes premade soups, vegan meats, vegan sour cream/cream cheese, and canned foods. I suppose if you're in a real hurry, perhaps you should have some of these on hand, but I try to minimize them. I do have vegan cream cheese and sometimes sour cream in the fridge, but I use them very sparingly. Just because it's vegan, doesn't mean it's healthy!

So if you're the kind of person that's always in a hurry and keeps lots of canned tomatoes, beans, etc, stocked in your pantry, you'll get a lot of use out of this book.

Sproutman's Kitchen Garden by Steve Meyerowitz

I'd been looking at this book for a while, so I was excited to get it. Yes, it's a bit old, in that it was published in 1999. But....I really wanted a sprouting book. This one has a lot of various recipes for things, from breads, to pies and snacks. I wish it had a little more info on the actual sprouting process. It does dedicate a small section in the back to sprouting beans, seeds, and grains, but I wish it had explained it a little more in detail.

I tried (and failed) to make the Sprout Bread. I'd always wanted to make sprouted grain bread. Well, this one didn't seem to work for me. It was more like a thick cracker. Although it had a nice sourish flavor. I think perhaps it was my food processor.....I need a bigger, more robust one. This recipe also only called for sprouted wheat. No yeast, no nothing else. So my next try will be the kind with yeast. If you really want pictures of my failure.....here it is:

The nice sprouted wheat (did I sprout them too long perhaps??):

On the pans, before baking:

After baking:

The bottom fell out:

FAIL.

Next recipe, with success: Party Sprouts

The sprouted lentils:

The baked:

These were really delicious! Although they didn't totally dry out in the oven....they did keep well in a container for quite a while. I'll make these again. Great snack!

And lastly, the Hotcha Zucchini

I baked these instead of using the dehydrator, as I don't have one. But they were pretty good too, albeit a bit salty for my taste. S liked them! And he hates zucchini!

The book has recipes using all sorts of sprouts and soon, I will learn to sprout more than lentils and alfalfa. If you're a sprout fan, you should check out this book!

Have you ever made 100% sprouted grain bread? With or without yeast? In the oven, or bread machine?

If you still want to help me out with trip suggestions, you can here.

If you're in the New Orleans area, don't forget to check out the NOLA VeggieFest 2011!!! I'll be there!

Eat smart,
T.

Whole Grain Bagels and a winner!

Recently, I contacted Bob's Red Mill to see if they wanted to do a giveaway for my readers and they said YES!! I love this company. Look at the awesome stuff I got on my most recent order:

They offered to send me some free samples as well, so I took them up on their offer. I was expecting tiny little bags of stuff, but they sent full sized bags, like this one, which I used in my bagel recipe and they turned out great :)

So stay tuned for an awesome giveaway from Bob's Red Mill. And there will be THREE winners!!

In the meantime, here's my recipe for whole grain bagels:

Tanya's Whole Grain Bagels:

1 1/2 cups water
1 TB agave nectar
2 cups Bob's Red Mill whole wheat flour
2 cups of Bob's Red Mill 10 grain flour (-2 TB vital wheat gluten)*
2 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast


poppy seeds, minced garlic, sesame seeds, coarse salt, etc...for toppings.
few tablespoons of non-dairy milk for glazing


This recipe is for a bread machine (mine is a Zojirushi), but you can make it by hand. Just follow a standard bagel recipe instructions for mixing and kneading until they're ready to shape.


Place the first 6 ingredients into your bread machine according to your machine's instructions. Mine puts it in the order of liquids first, then the rest, with the yeast last, making sure it doesn't touch the liquid. Mine also warms up the ingredients. If yours does not, use lukewarm water and let your flours warm up to room temperature first. Turn on your machine for the wheat dough setting. Mine takes just under 2 hours.  


*note: I put the 2 TB of vital wheat gluten at the bottom of a measuring cup and fill the rest with the flour.


When it's done, take out the dough and on a good work surface, divide it into about 10 pieces.  (if you want larger bagels, divide into 7-8 pieces instead) Roll each into a ball.  Cover them with a towel and let rest in a warmish place (no drafts) for about 30 minutes.  

In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to a boil on the stove and preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Also spray a large cookie sheet with oil and set aside.  When your dough balls are ready, poke your thumb into the middle of each and create a hole. Loop the dough around your finger a few times to widen the hole. When your bagels all have holes, put them into the boiling water, 3-4 at a time.  Boil them for about 30-60 seconds on EACH side. Transfer them to the sprayed cookie sheet.  

Put the non-dairy milk into a little bowl and use a brush to glaze each bagel before you add the toppings.  Add toppings as you wish...seeds stick easily. If you use dried minced onions, like I did...soak them for a few minutes first. They tend to burn (I let them burn), so if you don't want burnt onions, add them 10 minutes before the end of your baking time. Garlic and onions are more difficult to spread on top of your bagels, so do those first, before you pour on your seeds.  Place the bagels in the oven and bake for approx. 20-25 minutes.  If they aren't quite browned, leave them in for a few minutes longer.  When done, transfer them to a wire rack to cool.

(you can use whatever whole grain flour you like, but I really like Bob's Red Mill)

....and the winner of the Tasty Bite giveaway is.......Elisabeth!

Her comment was: "The Bombay potatoes look great!"
Please send me your full name and address, so I can send out your box of goodies! Congratulations :)

Stay tuned for another amazing giveaway from Bob's Red Mill. It's gonna be a good one!

Eat smart,
T.

Thanksgiving 2010

Hope those of you that celebrate Thanksgiving had a nice day yesterday (and those of you that don't celebrate too)!  It was a busy day for me, but I still got time in to do some walking.

So here's the lowdown on our Vegan Thanksgiving table:

A trio of appetizer dips/sauces (arugula pesto, butternut squash dip, & lemon cashew cheese):

Tofurky Roast and gravy (we saved the dumplings for another time, and alas, no Amy's Chocolate Cake or coupons in the box, apparently I got an older box):

Field Roast Cranberry Hazelnut Roast

Roasted Root Vegetables (around the Field Roast):

Stuffing:

Cranberry Bread:

Whole Wheat Herb Biscuits:

Kale and Carrot Salad:

Pumpkin Pie:

Pumpkin Gingerbread with Spiced Buttercream:

And of course tart cranberry sauce! Our friends brought some extra cranberry sauce, fruit salad, beer, wine, and some non-dairy ice cream :)

My recipe sources:

Lemon Cashew Cheese (scroll down to download the pdf of all recipes, it's on pg. 4)
Pumpkin Gingerbread (I used all whole wheat flour & unsulphured molasses, also had to do the icing in a food processor  and then put it in the fridge to firm up)
Cranberry Orange Sauce
Kale & Carrot Salad (coming soon!)
Pumpkin Pie (I used a pre-bought crust I had leftover)
Stuffing (my mom's recipe...veganized)
Cranberry Bread (I used whole wheat flour and cut down the sugar a bit, used canola oil instead of shortening and used EnerG egg replacer instead of egg)
Herbed Whole Wheat Drop Biscuits (from "Vegan Brunch", used canola oil instead of shortening, was a bit salty)
Roasted Root Vegetables (from "Local Bounty")

So there you have it. Another year, another Thanksgiving!
We had a couple of friends over to share all the food and we had a good time :)

Yesterday it was 80, today it's 50.  The wind is so cold.....

Another CSN Stores giveaway coming soon!

Eat smart,
T.

Catching up and lots of pics

Hey everyone! So sorry for not having posted in over a week.  And just to let you know, there won't be much posting over the next month.....but hopefully I'll be able to at least post some pics from various travels and eats.

First let's start off with the latest produce from the farmer's market: pattypan squash, peaches, blueberries, yellow grape tomatoes, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, hot peppers, horticulture beans (cranberry, maybe??), cucumbers, golden zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, fairytale eggplant, and green peppers.

I was a bit angry, as I noticed that the poster for my blog had been taken down at the market.  Grrrrr......not too happy about that. At first, I gave them several copies, to put on the table so people could just take them.  They decided it would be better to hang just ONE on the wall. I didn't think so....who's gonna remember the website? Anyway, now there's nothing and I know they still have several copies, unless they threw them away.  I don't think I'll say anything though......usually I would, but since I shop there every week....probably not the best idea. What do you think?

I made some of the pattypan squash from the previous week into that stuffed pattypan I'd made before.  You can find it here.  This time I used up the rest of my Teese mozzarella. Didn't melt as well on top, but melted really nicely when mixed into the hot stuffing. Still tasty though :)

Still have a ton of yellow crookneck squash, even though I've tried to sneak it into whatever I can (husband doesn't like it).  Can I puree it and freeze it? Maybe to make salad dressing out of it later? Any ideas?

Chocolate spread on matzoh! When you're craving sweets, you gotta do whatcha gotta do! Take a handful or more of vegan chocolate chips and put them in a bowl, into the microwave.  Heat them on high for 30 seconds at a time, mixing after each.  Add in a few drops of non-dairy milk and nuke another 30 seconds.  Make sure it's nice and smooth.  Work quickly and spread it onto your matzoh.  Put it in the fridge for several minutes to let the chocolate harden and there you have a nice quick dessert!

Cucumber noodles with raw marinara (my husband preferred the zucchini, but I found cucumber pretty refreshing):

I made Averie's Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls, although to me they were more like oatmeal chocolate chip.  They are incredible!  I made them twice and the second time, I actually did 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup cashews and only about 1 Tbsp of sweetener.  Still incredible! Thanks, Averie :)

I made some Golden Zucchini Bread again. See my original post about it here. This time I added raisins, used all spelt flour, and it was REALLY good!

Here's a picture of my new steamer that I got for over 50% off at Dillards! And of course, a picture of my colorful steamed vegetables :)

Made some guacamole: 2 avocados, 1 chopped tomato, some cilantro, salt, and lemon juice, all mashed up together.

My guacamole, mixed with cooked brown rice, taco seasoning, and broccoli slaw for a great cold power lunch:

Made Choosing Raw's Zucchini Dressing (with golden zukes, since that's all I had) and it's really delicious! (her Tomato Curry Dressing is great too)

Cooked up some red quinoa and mixed it with a ton of chopped vegetables, added some balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic for a great dressing.

And last, but not least, I made up some of that great Tempeh Barbecue (used shiitakes this time):

Ok, I think I'm mostly caught up. It's been really hot here...in the mid 90's with high humidity.  Still trying to get my walking in, though.

Still contemplating the blender vs. food processor situation.  But...I think I've decided to wait on the Vita-Mix because it's so dang expensive.  I'm going to get a large food processor and get some sort of small cheaper blender. Any suggestions? Something good for salad dressings, smoothies (that can handle frozen fruit) and sauces.

Blogger of the Week: FatFreeVegan.  She's got TONS of recipes that are right up my alley: fat free (or lowfat) and vegan, yay! Check her out. This was one of the first blogs I ever started following.

Giveaway: CSN stores $40 gift card giveaway at OperaSingerInTheKitchen!

Eat smart,
T.

Market Vegetables, Sprouted Breads & more...

We finally got to the market this week! And we even played some music there this week (they were looking for musicians to play). We played a Cajun duo (video here) by David Rimelis (written for us) and a duo (Nocturne) that Scott (my husband) wrote. You can hear it here (#3).

So here's a list of what we got at this week's market: lemon cucumber, brown rice, golden zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, tomatoes, green pepper, celery, onions, pattypan squash, peaches, shiitakes, cucumbers, green beans, those tiny little eggplants (forgot the name), and yellow cherry tomatoes.

A while ago, I ordered some sprouted grain breads from French Meadow Bakery (they only ship one day a week, so get your order in early).  I got a bread, some bagels, and tortillas.  I LOVE bagels, so it's been rough for me without them (trying not to eat so much processed flour).  The bagel was very good, not the traditional kind I'm used to getting when I visit New Jersey, but still very good.  I think it needed to be toasted longer, because by the time I ate it, it almost was as if I hadn't toasted it at all!  Ate it with my Tofutti Cream Cheese.  Tried the tortilla out yesterday with leftover Sunburgers and Raw Ranch Dressing with raw veggies. The tortilla was very fresh tasting....good stuff.

Made some hummus the other day. Since I'd cooked up a bunch of garbanzos.....it was different. Not as moist as my usual hummus.  Made it with just a little tahini, lemon juice, salt, broccoli and roasted red peppers.

Also with the garbanzos......I found a recipe for Simple Chole, from VeggiePlatter's blog. It was really good and pretty simple. Next time I think we'll add some red pepper flakes to spice it up.

And here's a special picture of my grapefruit.....and it's alien:

Giveaway:
-LeslieLovesVeggies is giving away a copy of Ani's Raw Food Desserts, which looks like an awesome book.

Blogger of the Week: Kelly at Vegan Thyme.  Her posts are so witty and she's got some great recipes!

Eat smart,
T.