An Anniversary Feast from The Conscious Cook

Last week Vegan Mom and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary with a 4 course meal courtesy of The Conscious Cook. I'm not used to making food with so many components so I really felt like I was on some cooking show. I tried to pick recipes that could use the bounty of garden-fresh produce that is bursting from the fridge and came up with this:
The appetizer was Twice-Baked Potatoes. This was supposed to be Twice-Baked Fingerling Potatoes with Crisped Dulse but I could not find fingerling potatoes at the store and I did not realize I was out of dulse. Still, these were very tasty and I loved the kick from the horseradish.
Next course Very Green Salad with Cucumber, Kohlrabi, Sweet Onions and Herb Vinaigrette. Well, the title pretty much says it all. Simple and tasty.
Entree: Old Bay Tofu Cakes with Pan-Roasted Summer Vegetables, Horseradish Cream, Apples, and Beets. This was time consuming but awesome. The tofu cake recipe makes waaaaay too much (12 small cakes, my eye!), so I served it to the kids the next day and they loved them. I also had to add 2 tbsp of wheat gluten to get the cakes to hold together.

Dessert was Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Orange Sauce. This tasted great but did not set (hence no picture). I would love to try it again with more agar agar.

Stuff I've Made But Did Not Make Up

The school year is almost over and the mountain of marking has not been whittled away to a reasonable sized pile. Let me tell you, nothing kills creativity like grading a few hundred undergraduate essays. So, I have been relying on other people to do the culinary thinking for me.

The first two recipes come from the recent issue of Vegetarian Times. I've never really looked at VT before, but when the kids came home selling magazine subscriptions as a school fundraiser I decided to give it a whirl (it was the only veggie option in the whole lot). First up: broccoli pesto. Amazing! The mint gives it a little bite and the hazelnuts are a nice change from walnuts.
Second up: Oyster Mushroom Rockefeller. This is from a section of recipes by the owners of Horizons in Philly. I made this for Easter Dinner with my family, and everyone enjoyed it, vegan or otherwise. The sauce is really rich (hence naming it after Rockefeller) but perfect for a special occasion when you need to bring a vegan entree to a dinner party. An added bonus is that you can make and bake it in about 30 mins. Lucky for you, VT has a digital edition of this issue online.
Third: biscuits from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Everyday. He claims they are the best biscuits ever, and he is right. You start with a soft dough (almost a batter), then turn and fold it 4 times whilst heavily dusting with flour. Like puff pastry, this results in a laminated dough that rises high and fluffy in the oven.
Lastly, I made the beer-battered onion rings from American Vegan Kitchen. I know I shouldn't have, but I did. I have not had an onion ring in a decade or more, and these are the best I have ever had by far.

American Vegan Kitchen: A Cookbook Review

I was really pleased when Tamasin Noyes contacted me to review her cookbook, American Vegan Kitchen, because I had been eying it on Amazon. I dig comfort food, and this book is expressly dedicated to all things homey and comforting. From donut bites to potato skins to burgers and onion rings to apple crisp, this book has you covered from breakfast to dessert. The book begins with a brief intro to the basics (what is tempeh?) and a few recipes for seitan, veggie broth, spice blend, etc. What follows is almost 200 pages of breakfast food, starters, soups, salads, sandwiches, entrees, sides, and desserts. Most recipes get their own page (shorter recipes share a page with other shorter recipes) which makes them very cook-friendly (I hate having to flip back and forth between the ingredient list and method). The book is published by Vegan Heritage Press, which, from what I can tell, is a small company that only publishes vegan books. The front cover is great, but I wish the photos in the colour insert were of the same quality. The layout is a touch spartan, but easy to read and follow.

As to be expected with a cookbook of veganized American cooking, the entrees and sandwiches are heavy on the seitan and tempeh which stand in place of meat. That being said, the book is not simply a fake-meat fest. Flip through the table of contents on Amazon to see what I mean. Some recipes are there in their full deep fried glory (which you will either love or hate), while others have a baked option (the onion rings, for example). I will be honest, I don't really cook from cookbooks on a regular basis, but I can see turning to this book to supplement Sunday brunches and neighbourhood BBQs.

After leafing through the recipes, I decided on the Tuna-Free Noodle Casserole. It was a total hit with the whole family: a creamy cashew-based sauce with roasted chickpeas and a crumb topping. The ingredient list is one of the longest in the whole book, but the kids loved it so it was worth the work. As you can see, I can't get egg-free ribbon noodles here, so I used bowties.

Happy New Year (and muffins!)

Happy New Year! I usually don't make resolutions, but after a meager 4 posts last month I guess I should resolve to do more cooking. Thanks to all who are still sticking around looking in vain for a new post. 2010 looks like it is shaping up to be a busy year, so I will have to focus on quick and easy meals. While I figure out how this year will shape up culinarily, you head into the kitchen and make these Orange Cranberry Nut Muffins from Vegan Brunch. I have made these many times over the past month and can assure you they are awesome with pecans, or walnuts, or even hemp seeds for a protein boost. You can also sub in applesauce for the oil and they are still tender and moist. This is now my favourite of Isa's cookbooks with its beautiful colours and pics, simple layout, and awesome recipes.

Near Global Cookbook Contest Winners!

Thus endeth another cookbook contest. The chances of winning were pretty good this time with 56 correct guesses of the mystery utensil (it is a strawberry huller, but I also accepted "that thingy that pulls the green thingy off a strawberry"). Hopefully you picked up on the very big hint since my next post was about fresh strawberries. Random.org generated two random numbers: 28 and 33. Congratulations Meera and Summer! I will email you with the details. Thanks again to all who played. I know I had fun.

Vegan Dad Cookbook Contest: Rest of the World Edition

I received many a request from readers outside Canada and the U.S. asking for a chance to win a copy of the Vegan Dad Cookbook. I felt their pain--I know all about blocked content (curse you, Hulu!), residency restrictions, and the ever-frustrating caveat: will not ship to Canada. And, of course, it was the outrageous shipping costs that forced me to limit the last contest to Canada and the U.S. The electronic option eliminates shipping, so here is your chance, everyone else! Up for grabs in this near global competition are 2 e-copies of The Vegan Dad Cookbook (colour or black and white, your choice). I rummaged through my utensil drawer and came up with this handy gadget (half the fun is figuring out what size it is). Here are the rules:

1. Identify the mystery utensil and email your answer to the address listed in the bottom right column of this blog. Title your email "Near Global Cookbook Contest."

2. Correct answers will be entered into a draw to win one of two e-copies of The Vegan Dad Cookbook. Two winners will be chosen via a random number generator.

3. Only one submission per email address, please.

4. Contest is open until July 15, 2009, 10:00 am EST.

5. Contest open to everyone except residents of Canada and the contiguous U.S .

Vegan Dad Cookbook Contest Winners!

Winners? Yes, winners! I was so amazed by the 521 entries that I felt obliged to give away another cookbook. You were all put at the mercy of Random.org which spit out numbers 317 and 117. Congratulations to Jennie and Denise who correctly identified the mystery utensil as a cherry (or olive) pitter! I have sent you emails asking for your address. For those who didn't win, print copies are available through Amazon for $16, and $10 e-books are available for download here.

I really had a blast with this contest. It was rather like everyone who reads the blog leaving a comment on a post. Thanks for all the encouraging words many of you added to your entries. I will definitely do this again--in fact, I already have my next mystery utensil picked out!

Vegan Dad Cookbook Contest!

Since I have not been posting many recipes lately I thought I would spice things up with a contest. Yes, you can win your very own copy of The Vegan Dad Cookbook! All you need to do is tell me what kitchen utensil is pictured above. Here is the deal:

1. Email your answer to the address listed in the bottom right column of this blog.

2. Correct answers will be entered into a draw to win one physical copy of The Vegan Dad Cookbook. A winner will be chosen via a random number generator.

3. Only one submission per email address, please.

4. Contest is open from June 29, 2009 to July 6, 2009, 10:00 am EST.

5. Contest open to residents of Canada and the continental U.S.

Vegan Brunch: An Unsolicited Review

Although I am still convinced that vegan cupcakes will indeed take over the world, I am now starting to think that vegan brunch is also key to global domination. Case in point: the Mother's Day brunch I hosted was enjoyed by vegan and non vegan alike (even the tofu!). So, I was very excited to hear that Isa had a new brunch book, and was even more excited when it came in the mail last week. First off, let me say this is probably the prettiest book Isa has put out--lots of great pics, soft pastel colour schemes on the pages, and multi-colour text. The layout and design are also nicely done, with most recipes taking up one page so they are easy to follow while cooking. But the real test, of course, is the food.
First up: pancakes and pumpkin french toast. The pancakes are a repeat from Vegan With a Vengeance, but who cares? These are still the best pancakes around, vegan or not, hands down. The french toast was also spectacular--soft and moist with the perfect spice blend to complement the maple syrup.
Joining the brunch party were these baked hash browns. The great thing about these is that your house does not have to smell like frying oil, and you can put them in the oven and forget about them while you make the rest of brunch.
Finally, Tofu Benny. I have never had eggs benedict so I have no idea if this is a good likeness or not. But I also don't care. This dish is so amazing it has now become one of my brunch staples. Mine doesn't look half as nice as the picture in the book, but it tastes great. I am definitely going to use the hollandaise sauce for other things, too.

So from just this small sampling I am declaring Vegan Brunch a winner. I am looking forward to many awesome brunches to come.

PETA's Vegan College Cookbook: A Review

I wasn't a vegan as an undergrad, a fact I am sometimes grateful for when I see the food offerings on campus these days (and when I think of how hard it was even to get a decent vegetarian option back then). While things are getting better these days, vegan options are still few and far between. To make matters worse, dorms have pretty much restricted cooking appliances to a microwave and a kettle (unless you want to use the communal kitchen at the end of the hall, which no one ever does). So, until you can get an off campus house with your own stove, what's a college vegan to do?

One answer is PETA's new Vegan College Cookbook--275 recipes all made (well, almost all) in the microwave. Written with wit and flair, the book makes no apologies for what it is: a collection of recipes that make liberal use of fake meat, dairy, eggs, and cheese (there is even a comprehensive mini encyclopedia of all the vegan alternatives available). The recipes are comprehensive, including the expected lunch, breakfast, and dinner; but also with sections devoted to salads, soups and stews, drinks, dips, snacks, and desserts. If you've ever been a student you will appreciate the special spotlight on ramen noodles.

For those of us with access to a stove, this book is probably of limited use (though there are some good ideas for quick and easy snacks and drinks), but I think the book is perfect for college students (and I should know--I teach them!). While I would like to see more focus on fresh veggies and perhaps some raw dishes, let's not kid ourselves: cleaning out the crisper is not high on the "to do" list for freshmen. The great thing about the book is that you don't have to be a culinary wizard to execute these recipes. So, kids, if you are college-bound (and if your parents are wondering what you will eat whilst at school), consider PETA's Vegan College Cookbook.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread

This is my first foray in Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. You may remember that I made my own raisin bread recipe, but it is made from white flour. This is a 100% whole wheat recipe that it so tasty it is rather like eating cake. The boys absolutely love it and kick off their day with a nice hearty slice for breakfast. I will warn you that it does take 2 days to make, but it is totally worth it. Letting the dough sit brings out the flavour of the grain and makes for a softer and tastier loaf. The recipe calls for an egg, so I used a flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water. Let sit for a few mins, then whisk until thickened). You can find the recipe here.

UPDATE: I kept wondering why I had to add way more flour to the dough than Reinhart calls for. Instead of elastic and kneadable, the dough was wet and sticky. Now, you will notice in the pic above that you can't see many raisins in the raisin bread. That's because the raisins are put in the soaker. When they are kneaded into the final dough, they break down, upping the moisture content in the dough, and making it more sticky. So, to solve that problem, I made the following adjustments.

Soaker:
- Add only 1/4 cup of raisins to the soaker.
Biga:
- Optional: add 1 tbsp of wheat gluten to the biga.
Final Dough:
- Soak remaining 3/4 cup of raisins in hot water for 15 mins while you mix the other ingredients and bring together the dough. Drain and dry raisins, then sprinkle with flour. Gently knead into the dough and proceed with the rest of the recipe.

On Bread and Canning

I love cookbooks. I have a very large shelf of them and enjoy sitting down, flipping through them, and thinking about ingredients and flavours. I recently bought two new ones and thought I would share.First, I picked up Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. This books employs new methods to draw out maximum flavour from the grain. The breads do take some time to make, but my experience has been is that it is always worth it. Since my bakery customers prefer whole wheat breads I thought I would try to expand my repertoire. Now, I am not sure how this is legal, but Google Books has an almost complete digital copy of the book if you want to check it out.
Second, I got the BALL Complete Book of Home Preserving. As the blurb says, the book contains "400 innovative and enticing recipes include everything from salsas and savory sauces to pickling, chutneys, relishes and of course, jams, jellies, and fruit spreads, such as: Mango-Raspberry Jam, Damson Plum Jam Crab Apple Jelly, Green Pepper Jelly Spiced Red Cabbage, Pickled Asparagus Roasted Red Pepper Spread, Tomatillo Salsa Brandied Apple Rings, Apricot-Date Chutney." Aside from a few canned meat recipes (blech), everything in the book is vegan. In my ideal world I would live off the grid, growing all my own food and snubbing anything with a UPC. Until then, I just have to make due with this book.

Blog Tour: Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons

Tonight I am doing something different. Nava Atlas asked me to be part of a blog tour for her latest book, Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons (it's actually the 4th edition of a cookbook she originally published as Vegetarian Soups For All Seasons). The idea is for various bloggers to try a recipe from the book and then blog about it on an assigned day. Neat, eh? The cookbook is divided into the four seasons with plenty of soups and stews in each. From Harvest Stew to Carrot Bisque to Asparagus and Spinach Soup to Melon Medley, this cookbook has over 1o0 recipes for you to try. The final chapter contains recipes for breads, muffins, and biscuits to complement all that soupy goodness.

I chose the New England Clam-less Chowder, being in the mood for something hearty. I have never had actual clam chowder so I can't comment on how it compares, but I will say that it was very, very tasty. Son # 2 described it as "super good," and Son #1 also gave it the thumbs up. I did make one change. The original recipe called for baked tofu to replace the clams, but I didn't have any. Instead, I used chopped king oyster mushrooms. It worked perfectly since the mushrooms have a bit of bouncy chew to them--kind of like what I imagine the texture of a clam would be. Son #1, who claims to hate mushrooms, immediately asked what the chunks were in his soup. Wanting to avoid a huge argument over picky eating, I just said "fake clams." "They are really good!," he replied, and ate up his soup.

The Vegan Dad Cookbook: The Printed Version

Over the holidays I made a black and white (and pictureless) version of my cookbook, for those of you who want an actual book you can hold in your hand. It's not as flashy as the .pdf version, but it has all the recipes. You can always look up the recipes on the blog if you want to see what the dish looks like. I have also made a black and white download available for those who want to bypass the colour printing altogether.

The Vegan Dad Cookbook

"This is the dad you always wanted, only he makes a better meatloaf." -Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Making vegan food the whole family can enjoy seems like a daunting task. No more! The Vegan Dad Cookbook contains over 120 recipes that take kids’ food beyond the veggie dog. From brunch to dinner, Vegan Dad has you covered with dishes from around the world as well as good ol’ fashioned comfort food. This book provides the answer to that daily question, “what’s for dinner?”

Downloads of the cookbook are available at Lulu.com for $10. The book is 144 pages, full colour, indexed (the best I could), and contains selected recipes from my September 2007 to June 2008 blog postings. If you would like to purchase a copy but don't have a credit card, send me an email at the address listed in the bottom right hand column of the blog.

Please note that the .pdf file is formatted for 2-sided printing.

(I decided against the paper copy because it would have cost about $5o.)

Here is a pic of the copies I printed and bound for my family.

A Tale of Two Breads

I haven't bought a cookbook in a long time, but recently I treated myself to two new ones. The first is Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice. I have been eyeing this for a while and thought it would be a good purchase, what with the bakery business and all. This book is all about both the science and the art of great bread. Today I made this stollen, a German Christmas bread. I am going to do a little Christmas baking for the teachers at the boys' school so I wanted to take this for a trial run first. I'm usually not the biggest fan of the candied fruit in fruit bread/cake, but this is really good (probably because the fruit is soaked in rum first). If you have the book, I subbed a flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax seed whisked in 3 tbsp of water) for the egg, and margarine for the butter.

The other purchase was Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, a book that, in essence, says that Reinhart is full of crap. All the kneading, gluten development, sponges, and starters are unnecessary. All you need to do is mix together a simple dough and store it in the fridge for up to two weeks. When you want to make bread, you shape a chunk into a loaf and bake it. The results are actually pretty good. The flavour is not a good as more complex recipes (like Reinhart's) but for easy everyday baking the work to taste ratio is quite good.

So if you are in the mood for some baking, I recommend these books.

The Cookbook is Almost Here!

Good news! I have finally finished the rough draft of the cookbook. I need to do a few edits and all that, but it is almost ready to go on sale. I had no idea it would be so much work!

The book's near completion raises the question of how to sell it. I was planning to integrate Google Checkout into my blog, but it is not available to Canadians (grrr). PayPal looks complicated, so I was thinking of selling it through eBay. It already has a PayPal option, and I can place a posting on both the Canadian and American site. I'm not sure how the whole thing works when you are selling a digital file, so if anyone has some advice I would be much obliged.

Corn Doggies

Just a quick post tonight because I today has been absolutely insane. It was my busiest day for the bakery so far: 8 baguettes, 6 loaves of whole wheat bread, two trays of lemon currant rolls, and 2 loaves of rye bread. To make things even busier, I had a baby shower to attend for a colleague, and Son #1 had a birthday party to go to. And, since the birthday party was at the bowling alley, and since the bowling alley staff doesn't even know what vegan means, I had to make a parallel meal for him to take. He requested the corn doggies from Happy Herbivore's new e-cookbook (you should buy it). I made them on a bamboo skewer, included some ketchup and mustard for dipping, and he was off. It is great that he now doesn't care that he has to take a different meal to parties, and great dishes like this make it easy for him to be the odd one out. Thanks, Happy Herbivore!

Vegan Express and Cooking at the Cottage

We got back yesterday from a few days of relaxation at the cottage. I tried to spend as much time as possible in the Muskoka chairs you see pictured above, and as little time as possible in the kitchen. I decided that I would crack open Nava Atlas' Vegan Express, which she sent in recognition of my Veg Bloggy Award (because she is cool like that). You may remember that Susan V of Fat Free Vegan did the photos for the book. The whole concept is vegan meals in under 30 mins. Sounded good to me.

First up: Seitan and Polenta Skillet with Fresh Greens. I loved the pairing of seitan and polenta, and it was a good way to get some dark leafy greens.

For dessert: Choclately Banana Pizza. I'm sure you don't need a degree from a culinary school to figure out how to make this. I made Isa's pizza crust from Vegan With a Vengeance, but used 1/4 cup brown sugar and 3 tbsp of butter, melted, for a thin, crispy, and sweet crust. I was able to get 4 smaller pizzas out of a single recipe, and I pre-baked the crust for a few mins (which made it puff up like a pita, actually). The next night we went crazy and added raspberries and peaches.

Day Two was my all-time favourite cottage meal: BBQ roasted veggies and grilled tofu (not from Vegan Express). Toss baby potatoes in oil and wrap tightly in heavy duty foil. Roast on a med-hi BBQ for about 30 mins, turning regularly. This can also be done in the embers of fire if you are camping. Do the same with carrots and roast for 20 mins. As for the tofu, this time I went with a non-pressed firm tofu and grilled it on med-hi for about 20 mins, until it was crispy and chewy. The softer tofu dehydrates and makes for a nice texture, but is more finicky than a firmer tofu. I then tossed it in BBQ sauce.

Day Three: BBQ-Flavoured Roasted Tempeh and Vegetables. This dish is supposed to be oven-roasted, but I just grilled everything and tossed it in BBQ sauce. I even threw in the extra seitan I had. Tasty!I also made burgers and sausages ahead of time and kept them in the fridge. They grilled up perfectly for quick lunches. You just need to remember that a) you need a bit of oil to keep them from sticking; and b) they are already cooked, you just need to warm them up. Keep the heat lower and the cooking time shorter than actual meat.