Wednesday, March 25, 2009

This and That

Here is a hodgepodge of what's been going on in the kitchen (or somebody else's kitchen - meaning a store) for the past month or so. It is pic heavy, so please accept my apologies in advance (yeah right, who doesn't love food porn?).

Leahey vegan mac & cheeze. I did not want to try this, but Andy is into packaged up fake cheeze stuff, so it happened. I'm glad that it did, because it was really good. I wish I didn't have to look at the pic, because I want more!

PCC chocolate cheezecake. This was pretty good. It didn't have exactly the texture of cheesecake, but not bad. I'm not that into super dense chocolate things like this. Probably because if I'm going for a chocolate overload, I would rather have a small piece of organic fair trade snobby high end stuff that is at least 70% cacao.

PCC chocolate chip cookies in a bag. I have never seen these before. They reminded me of a packaged cookie, but in a good way. It was between a crunchy cookie and a soft cookie.

Milano Cookies. I went out of the house and came back to some milano cookies baked by Andy. He had seen this recipe and it had been eating away at him. The cookies could have been a little thinner (his critique, not mine). I think the middle stuff was spot on.

Vegetarian Times' "best" vegan lasagna ever. NOT. Have you ever made a recipe that called for lots of fattening stuff and the result wasn't really worth it? This would be it. I prefer a veggie lasagna that has no fake meat, a tofu ricotta that doesn't require tofutti, and lots of veggies. It was ok, but nothing special. They say it serves 8, but their nutritional info is for a much smaller piece. If you fix their math, it's around 1,000 calories for 1/8 of the lasagna - which is a normal sized serving. ugh.

Here are the pics from St. Patty's Day.

Irish Soda Bread. From the Joy of Vegan Baking. It was ok, but was sort of dense. At least it didn't taste like a pile of baking soda like some others I have tried. It didn't call for caraway seeds and raisins, but I added them in.
Colcannon, Carrots & Parsnips, and Corned Seitan. The veggie sides were really good. I used the leftovers to make quesadillas the next day.
The corned seitan was not good. I had cut way back on the salt, but it was still way too salty. Good news is that the seitan texture was just how I like it, so I'll be trying some of her other seitan recipes.

Apple Duff. Basically you take an apple, core it (I also cut it in 1/2), fill it with cinnamon, brown sugar, and raisins (in this case raisins, dried cranberries, dried blueberries). Then you wrap it up in puff pastry and bake. It was good, but the puff pastry wasn't that flavorful. Perhaps some sort of wash on the outside was needed.
Super Green Tofu Quiche. I didn't make this for St. Patty's day, but really should have. This is your basic tofu quiche w/ onions, broccoli and spinach. The main herb was tarragon. It was really good. This past weekend, I made the same thing with the addition of kale.
PS. Guava, this is my typical brunch food

~~~~~
Here's Tubs caught mid yawn.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whose tofu quiche recipe? All the ones I've tried have tasted really chalky...Would love to find a good recipe.

janelle said...

oh wow your food looks awesome! Your kitty is so precious. I love animal yawns.

VEGAN TICKLES said...

wow...1000 calories per serving. Isn't that more than a big mac?

Amy said...

I LOVE yawning kitties! And wow, 1000 calories a piece?!?!?! That's insane! The quiche looks amazingly wonderful though and I love all the cookies. Mmm cookies ;)

Jen Treehugger said...

Oooh little Tubs - I can see your tonsils!
Food looks fab Bethany - I'm especially liking the Quiche (pronounced kweechy)
xx

For the Love of Guava said...

Hey was that a knock at my unhealthy brunching habits??? :) I actually haven't done a "standard tofu quiche" but I must!! Looks delish!

And... I've been looking everywhere for a good vegan boxed mac and cheese... finally broke down when I found one at Mother's and ergh... seriously??? I could have put nutritional yeast in some soy milk and poured it over macaroni without the wasteful packaging... fail... on the upside I just did a fantastic homemade mac and cheese... mmm... creamy... will post soon!

River (Wing-It Vegan) said...

Holy chocolate cheezecake!! It just gave me a little heart attack!

Go Andy with those yummy Milano cookies! Oh look, the Pope! *stealing the whole plate while you're distracted*

Sorry the lasagna was a disappointment. All your St. Patty's day food looks awesome though!

Tee hee! I couldn't help yawning when I saw Tubs picture! :P

Cody said...

I've given up on vegan lasagna and stuffed pasta. I haven't found a good tofu ricotta recipe I like... and I've never really been into veggie-stuffed pastas, so it just doesn't hit the spot for me.

Kitty yawns are so cute! And I want some Milanos...

wingraclaire said...

I love it how you always post a little ending pic of your pets!

I usually use Fat-Free Vegan's lasagna recipe and it has always worked fine for me. I'm with you on the fake cheese stuff. However, once every couple of months I get the urge to try yet another unsatisfying "cheese" and wish I hadn't! Our coop is now carrying Teese, but I haven't been willing to cough up the $7.00 it takes to buy a large piece... and that's how it is sold. Maybe someday...

Your quiche looks awesome, and I must try it!

wingraclaire

Binx said...

So many things I want to eat...

I'm glad you said that about the lasagna. I was tempted by that recipe but I was feeling too cheap to invest all the ingredients, so I just used the recipe as inspiration for a fake-meat-tofutti-free version. But that picture does look appetizing.

And I'm making those apple thingies.

Joanna said...

i should be doing my homework right now, bethany, but i just had to stop by and say that i miss u!!!

i love how your husband made milano cookies. they definitely look homemade, but in a cute way... i'd rather eat those ones than the packaged kind.

love the picture of your cat!!! i always catch my sister in mid-yawn pictures as well. she hates it.