Blueberry Corn Muffins

I haven't blogged in forever! Well, now that I am on summer vacation hopefully I"ll get it together more. We shall see... Anyhoo, I am up to my elbows in blueberries (and romaine lettuce) this week thanks to our CSA. I froze many of them on a cookie sheet for a few hours, then stored them in a ziploc bag to use over the next few weeks. The remaining berries made their way into these blueberry corn muffins.

The recipe is from Vegan With a Vengeance, and someone posted it on the web here. I have made these in the past, and knew it would be worth the effort to turn on the oven in this unbelievably gross heat to bake them this morning. Even if you don't try this recipe, I strongly urge you to experiment with the combination of blueberries and cornmeal, it's a delicious one. I made these extra large, so I ended up with 9 instead of 12. To me it's worth it, small muffins that don't rise past the tops of the muffin tin just aren't worth the trouble of baking, people. I will be shocked if any of these are left for breakfast on Monday...

Vegan Dinner for Carnavores (aka Mom and Dad)

I am at home once again visiting my Mom, Dad, and Sam. Last night they agreed to cook something from my Candle Cafe cook book... and eat it! We decided on cornmeal-crusted tempeh, a dish where the tempeh was marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, maple syrup, ginger and garlic and baked for one hour, then coated in cornmeal and pan fried. The results were pretty tasty, and hearty (my Dad even had seconds and thirds!). We also made some collard greens and smashed and fried potatoes topped with a lemon parsley vinaigrette. The following photo makes it all look a little sad, because the plate is so big, but trust me, this is a meal that will satisfy skeptical meat eaters!


For desert, I made strawberry short cakes, following this recipe, which I chose because it only made 3 or 4 biscuits at a time (it can be dangerous to have leftovers!). Instead of vegan whipped cream, I heated up the biscuits and topped with some rice ice cream. I highly recommend this recipe, not only is it pretty fast and easy, but the biscuits were some of the best I'd ever had- a success!

Roasted Cauliflower, Chickpeas and Olives

When I was visiting home a couple of weeks ago, my Ma and I found this recipe from her latest issue of Cooking Light. It instantly appealing to me, as it contained two of my most favorite things to roast EVER, cauliflower and chickpeas- but I was hesitant that the olives would fit in to the mix. Anyways, olives won me over yet again and the dish was super good (except for a little overly cooked garlic) and I decided to make it again tonight.

When I made it with my Mom we decided the olives and garlic should be added after the chickpeas and cauliflower had a chance to get a head start roasting, which I did tonight. The results were perfect! Cooking Light suggests serving this as a side dish or with other small plates, but I think it's a perfectly fine and filling meal on its own- an added plus is it doesn't result in a lot of dirty dishes :)


Please excuse the blury photo- I don't know what is up with my bad photography lately!

Chana Masala + Mac and Cheese

OY blogging. I have made lots of food and taken photos of it lately, but actually uploading them and writing something snazzy takes a lot of mental energy that I just do not have this week. Soooo, here's the quick version.

I have found 2 recipes recently online (which is very bad of me, as I have dozens of sad cookbooks crying out for attention) that are simple, yummy and quick-ish to throw together. They are both definitely winter comfort food, and both would be great for newer vegans to take for a spin (I'm talking to you, Shashley Sunshine!)

The first recipe I would like to introduce you to is a very simple, yet tasty, chana masala from vegweb (my interweb is acting crazy so I can't get the link at the moment, just go to vegweb.com and search for it). A dish I have often enjoyed at Indian restaurants, this is super simple to make at home. After trying this twice and reading the hundreds of comments accompanying the recipe, I suggest adding more tomato paste and a half can or so of coconut milk. We also added peas, cauliflower and potatoes last time we made this, making it a complete meal, served on top of brown rice.



The next recipe I recommend giving a go is this mac and cheese. Please note, it will never taste like the mac and cheese you remember from your pre-vegan days, but it's creamy and comforting, and also has waaaaaaaay less fat than it's cheesy cousin, I'm sure. Also note I have done the legwork looking for a good vegan mac and cheese recipe, and this is the best one I have tried thus far. I added about a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and the juice of half a lemon to the sauce to bump up the flavor. I left off some sauce because I thought it looked like way too much before I put it in the oven, but in retrospect I could have used most of it. That would be some roasted Brussels sprouts featured on the side- let me tell you, you have not had Brussels sprouts until you have had them roasted. For reals.

A Spicy Saturday Feast

Last night for dinner we made.....

Jamaican vegetable patties from Vegan Soul Kitchen. A lot of work, but very worth it. Not only do they taste yummers, the spices in the filling make your kitchen smell amazing while it is cooking.

I was missing one key ingredient, turmeric, for the dough, which would have given the patties a nice yellow glow. But through the magic of iphoto, I have added it here! We had a nice arugula salad with a simple lemon vinaigrette on the side- perfect combo. This cookbook has yet to let me down, and there are still so many recipes left I want to try! Fried green tomatoes, anyone?





For desert, we made Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. I had a strange experience with these cookies- they didn't taste so tasty warm out of the oven... a cookie experience I don't think I'd ever had before. However, when they cooled they were chewy and delicious and had a nice spicy kick to them! Look out!

Vegan Mofo Day ?: Two Soups

I am done with saying which MoFo day it is, I have clearly not been true to the whole MoFo project.

We are still enjoying the benefits of having my Mom here this past week- especially the two soups that she left in the freezer! The first was The Barefoot Contessa's recipe for Lentil Vegetable Soup, and the second was Robin's famous Yukon Gold Potato Soup.

Both are naturally vegan, although we added fake-chicken bullion cubes to both to try them out. I'm so glad soup season is officially here!

Vegan MoFo Day 12: Breakfast for Ma- Banana French Toast

I know, I am cheating with the days... Whooops.

This is not a cookbook entry, but it is a recipe I have made before and posted on the blog. Here. Today I caramelized some bananas to top this French toast, which I made with a vegan "water" challah I smuggled from work... It was a great way to start a busy day.

(Robin's verdict: The breakfast was awesome!)

Rosemary Chickpea Tomato Soup

This soup appealed to me today on many levels. I forget what the inspiration was exactly to look for a recipe for chickpea tomato soup, but I found one that was simple enough and decided to give it a go. I intended to cook the chickpeas from scratch (I have a bunch in the pantry) but then realized the whole process would take about 24 hours. Wanting instant gratification, I opted for organic canned chickpeas instead.


I kind of halved the recipe, and probably could have used a little less rosemary, but on the whole it was a very filling and satisfying soup. I encourage you all (vegan or not!) to try it on a dreary rainy day. Get the recipe here.