Chickpea Wingz & Avocado Ranch

We didn't have anything planned for dinner tonight, but someone posted these earlier this week on PPK and I've been thinking about them since!  Tonight we made the chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon into "chicken nugget-sized boneless wings" in chipotle wing sauce.  I also made the ranch dressing recipe from American Vegan Kitchen with a super ripe avocado for dipping sauce.  I could have eaten this with a spoon, it was SO good!  With a big tex-mex salad, tonight's dinner was a perfect thrown together weeknight meal!  Now if we only had leftovers...

Cook Book Challenge Week #2

Veganomicon
Tonight's Menu:  Pumpkin Baked Ziti with Caramelized Onions and Sage Crumb Topping

This dinner was the real deal, grown-up meal!  I've heard lots of raves about this, so I was looking forward to trying it myself.  Also, being that it was the last thing I made this week, I had to made some adjustments and substitutions.  The first thing I made was the cashew ricotta.  We picked up a bag of raw cashews at Trader Joe's last month, so I was good there.  The rest of the recipe was pretty much thrown together... no lemon- so I subbed water and a squeeze of grapefruit, and I accidentally bought silken instead of firm

tofu.  I think it still turned out okay, considering it was my first attempt. 

don't let the picture fool you, it's delic!

Next, the caramelized onions.  The recipe called for two, but as Chad "detests" onions, I reduced it to one.  They smelled so good, and surprisingly right around the 12-15 minute mark, they began to brown.  This was easier than I expected.



The final step, where I cheated the most, was the sage breadcrumbs.  The recipe tip said that these "make the recipe," but as we didn't have a crumb of bread in the house to start with, I had to use the boxed ones we had in the pantry.  We were out of walnuts, so I used pecans (which were pretty amazing).  AND finally, I couldn't bring myself to use a full 1/4 cup of margarine, so I just tossed in a "healthy" spoonful and away toasted my "homemade" sage breadcrumbs. 

I tossed the pasta in the pumpkin mixture, spread it into the pan, sprinkled generously with breadcrumbs, and let it bubble away in the oven... while I cleaned my now disastrous kitchen (dirty food processor, dozens of mixing bowls, spatulas, pans and crumbs galore).  The first bite made all the work well-worth it!  The cashew-ricotta-pumpkin mixture was rich and creamy, the onions were a sweet contrast, and the flavorful breadcrumbs added just the right crunch.  I'll definitely make this again, and maybe I'll even use all the right ingredients and make my own bread crumbs... maybe!

Now that Veganomicon week is over, I'm happy with my selection of recipes.  Even though I played it safe (BBQ and Mac Daddy), I'm looking forward to trying some more adventurous recipes from the book.  There's so much left to explore!

Cook Book Challenge Week #2

Veganomicon

Last Night's Menu: BBQ Seitan & Crispy Coleslaw and Wheat-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies



messy bbq goodness

Mmm.. Last night was a good night for food!  Actually, going back to Tuesday night we decided to try our hand at homemade seitan.  I've been a little intimidated to try making it, but using the Simple Seitan recipe and tips from the PPK (cold broth, simmer in slow cooker) it turned out better than I hoped!  It was very similar in texture to packaged seitan that we've bought from the store and easier than I expected.  I also tossed the coleslaw and dressing to let it flavor up overnight.



going in for a monster bite!

Wednesday's job was pretty easy, since we did all the difficult work Tuesday night.  We just had to slice the seitan, pan fry it and assemble the sandwiches.  We served it on store-bought ciabatta rolls, which were a good choice.  Next time though, I'd probably heat them in the oven for a bit or toast them in the pan.  The first bite of the sandwich was exactly as I expected-- a little heat from the BBQ sauce, cool and crunchy slaw, and a sloppy mess falling everywhere!

Since dinner was pretty quick, I decided to bake some cookies for dessert.  I found Wheat-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies and had everything I needed.  They use oat flour instead of wheat, which I made by blending some old-fashioned oats.  I think it made the cookies crunchier than normal wheat flour.  I also subbed toasted almond oil from the Oilerie for the canola oil and almond milk for the soy milk.  As a bonus, the librarian at my school is gluten-free, so I can share some of the deliciousness with her!

As if signing up for the race wasn't enough motivation to run, the three cookies I had for dessert should do it...

Cook Book Challenge Week #2

Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook
Today's Menu
Breakfast: Pumpkin-Cranberry Scones
Dinner: Mac Daddy

I received "Veganomicon" as a Christmas gift from Chad's parents this year.  I was so excited, because I always flip through it at the bookstore and think of it as "The Betty Crocker of Vegan Cooking."  I've tried a few things so far, but this week I'm adding to the list... 

served with sliced blood oranges

Breakfast is my FAVORITE meal of the day, so I was excited to have some extra time this morning.  I love pancakes, waffles... the usual breakfast suspects.  Veganomicon has some delicious recipes-- Chocolate Chip Brownie Waffles, Blueberry Corn Pancakes.  Chad didn't want pancakes or waffles, he wanted tofu scramble.  Veganomicon doesn't have a recipe for tofu scramble.  We almost settled on a bowl of cereal, but I finally found Pumpkin-Cranberry Scones and we agreed on that.  As a bonus, we already had everything we needed!  I also finally had a good reason to use my new Penzeys spices from Chad's mom.  I don't know if it was my flour (I don't buy white all-purpose, so I always have to adjust), how I cut in the butter, or my inexperience in scone-baking, but we ended up with more of a cake than the dry, crumbly scone I was anticipating.  Either way, they were delicious and just the right thing to munch on while we disassembled the Christmas tree and packed away the decorations.  

looks good enough to eat?!

On to dinner... I've really been craving mac and cheese lately.  A while ago, I made my first vegan attempt with Stovetop Cheezee Mac from "Vegan on the Cheap."  I wasn't super excited about it, but it made good leftovers as Chili Mac.  So, when Isa and Terry warned in the blurb that this is a recipe to share with "vegans and vegetarians" because people are "sketchy about nutritional yeast," I was a little worried myself.  In the end, it was better than I hoped.  I followed the recipe pretty closely, only I didn't realize that I was supposed to make a double batch of the Cheezy Sauce and tossed in some frozen spinach that I had on hand. It turned out rich, creamy and delicious.  I topped it with some Adobo seasoning for a little spice.  Chad claimed the leftovers for lunch, so I guess we've found another keeper!

Tomorrow we're going to try home-made seitan for later in the week... hopefully I have more luck with that than the scones!