Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
A Very Dandy Halloween (Part II)
As previously mentioned, I can recognize the hand of fate when it places delicious goodness in my path. But when Dandies, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar and Halloween all coincide, that's not just fate. That's celestial voices* calling out "Oi! We need some sweets up in here! What are you waiting for?" Never dreaming of ignoring a divine request, I broke out my cookie sheets and made with the baking.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Please Note:
This post may be slightly blithering.
VEGAN BRUNCH IS HERE!!!
AND IT'S GOT MY NAME IN (spelled correctly!)!
AND VINTAGE PYREX!
AND LOTS OF YUMMINESS SO YOU SHOULD GO BUY IT!
I don't make commission off of it, I swear. It's just really fucking good. I have access to most of these recipes online and I'm STILL excited to have it in hand. And I'd sell my little brother for some carmelized onion quiche right now, but I'm only supposed to cook tester recipes for Isa and Terry's upcoming books right now. At least that's what I've been telling myself until this fabulous book showed up. So many pretty pictures!
This is my advice to YOU for free. No charge. Gratis: Get this book and make some quiche, lemon poppy seed muffins, beer battered tofu, and pain au chocolat. You're welcome.
VEGAN BRUNCH IS HERE!!!
AND IT'S GOT MY NAME IN (spelled correctly!)!
AND VINTAGE PYREX!
AND LOTS OF YUMMINESS SO YOU SHOULD GO BUY IT!
I don't make commission off of it, I swear. It's just really fucking good. I have access to most of these recipes online and I'm STILL excited to have it in hand. And I'd sell my little brother for some carmelized onion quiche right now, but I'm only supposed to cook tester recipes for Isa and Terry's upcoming books right now. At least that's what I've been telling myself until this fabulous book showed up. So many pretty pictures!
This is my advice to YOU for free. No charge. Gratis: Get this book and make some quiche, lemon poppy seed muffins, beer battered tofu, and pain au chocolat. You're welcome.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Crabby Apple Puffs
This is another recipe of my own invention, made by messing with existing recipes that already worked for me (which doesn't actually require any skill or creativity and makes "recipe of my own invention" savage hyperbole, but it makes me feel like the White Knight in Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There).
I call them Crabby Apple Puffs because I soaked the apples in lemon juice, making them quite sour, before pastrisizing them (yes, I do make up my own words often, thankyouverymuch). A lot of the lemon juice baked off, leaving some of them tasting like plain old apple puffs, but a few retained their lemony goodness and they were nice and sour.
When I accidentally used puff pastry instead of phyllo dough for my Halloween cupcakes, I also accidentally cut up far more than I needed. I thawed the extra strips out on Sunday and soaked them in a mixture of melted margarine and brown sugar, like the original cupcake recipe instructed.
The night before, I sliced up four Granny Smith apples and soaked them in about one half cup lemon juice with two teaspoons cinnamon mixed in, inspired by the raw apple pie I made a while ago.
The apples soaked overnight and the dough soaked long enough for me to finish with my zucchini and tomatoes. Then I took the apples, wrapped them in the dough, brushed the pastries with some of the leftover marinade from the apples and popped them in the oven at 350 degrees until they seemed done. The end!
Done was when I tried to put a fork in one of the pastries and everything went mush. I couldn't tell when the pastry had browned because it was covered with cinnamon. And it never got really crisp because of the margarine (which I'd totally skip next time). But the apples were really soft, so they had to get out of the oven.
I cooled them on a rack covered in paper towel to absorb most of the grease from the margarine and they got firmer and crisper as they cooled.
My family, several of my friends and I all ate them up the day they were baked. My mother, brother and I liked them a lot (we all love sour things) and no one threw up from them or anything, so I guess that's victory, right?
Unfortunately, I didn't pay close enough attention to the amounts I used of things or how long I kept them in the oven to write up a formal recipe, but there are loads of apple pastry recipes out there (e.g.: The Heart-Shaped Apple Galettes in Veganomicon), so I'm sure it's no great loss. I will, however, try to be more diligent while playing with my food in the future.
The filling:
Raw:
They look kind of like weird meat dumplings to me now. Ew.
I call them Crabby Apple Puffs because I soaked the apples in lemon juice, making them quite sour, before pastrisizing them (yes, I do make up my own words often, thankyouverymuch). A lot of the lemon juice baked off, leaving some of them tasting like plain old apple puffs, but a few retained their lemony goodness and they were nice and sour.
When I accidentally used puff pastry instead of phyllo dough for my Halloween cupcakes, I also accidentally cut up far more than I needed. I thawed the extra strips out on Sunday and soaked them in a mixture of melted margarine and brown sugar, like the original cupcake recipe instructed.
The night before, I sliced up four Granny Smith apples and soaked them in about one half cup lemon juice with two teaspoons cinnamon mixed in, inspired by the raw apple pie I made a while ago.
The apples soaked overnight and the dough soaked long enough for me to finish with my zucchini and tomatoes. Then I took the apples, wrapped them in the dough, brushed the pastries with some of the leftover marinade from the apples and popped them in the oven at 350 degrees until they seemed done. The end!
Done was when I tried to put a fork in one of the pastries and everything went mush. I couldn't tell when the pastry had browned because it was covered with cinnamon. And it never got really crisp because of the margarine (which I'd totally skip next time). But the apples were really soft, so they had to get out of the oven.
I cooled them on a rack covered in paper towel to absorb most of the grease from the margarine and they got firmer and crisper as they cooled.
My family, several of my friends and I all ate them up the day they were baked. My mother, brother and I liked them a lot (we all love sour things) and no one threw up from them or anything, so I guess that's victory, right?
Unfortunately, I didn't pay close enough attention to the amounts I used of things or how long I kept them in the oven to write up a formal recipe, but there are loads of apple pastry recipes out there (e.g.: The Heart-Shaped Apple Galettes in Veganomicon), so I'm sure it's no great loss. I will, however, try to be more diligent while playing with my food in the future.
The filling:
Raw:
They look kind of like weird meat dumplings to me now. Ew.
Monday, November 5, 2007
It is Here! It is Here!
Give a cheer! It's here! It's here!
Just in time for VeganMoFo, I finally have my very own Veganomnomnomicon!
I ordered it from Amazon on Thursday and it was waiting for me when I got home from work Friday. I spent most of Friday night and Saturday reading it just for fun. I love it. It's beautiful. I'm afraid to get sauces on it (but that won't stop me from making every single one!).
I don't think I've ever been this excited about a book that didn't involve wizards, a flat planet or a thousand-year-old man with a gun.* Wooha!
In addition to the billion fabulous recipes, the book has lists of all the tools and ingredients you need to make your kitchen more than a place that holds the microwave and freezer (Actually, neither of the authors even own a microwave. I'm so awed.) and instructions for grilling and roasting vegetables, including which herbs compliment them best. The book seriously has everything.
The only bad thing about it is trying to decide which recipe to try first. Everything sounds so scrumptious! I'm sure this isn't the way Isa and Terry wanted people to pick, but after reading everything, I flipped to the back to see which recipes were "low fat", are supposed to take less than 45 minutes to prepare and are standard supermarket friendly. There are sixteen of these!
Corn and Edamame Sesame Salad
Sauteed Collards
Sauteed Spinach and Tomatoes
Escarole with Capers and White Beans
Rutabaga Puree
Roasted Portabellos
Soft Poppy-Seed Polenta
Basic Broiled Tofu
Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans
Creamy Tomato Soup
Plantain and Pinto Stew with Parsnip Chips
Marinara Sauce and Variations
Salsa Verde
5-Minute Mango Chutney
Tropical Avocado Salsa Fresca
Cranberry-Chile Dipping Sauce
I think I've narrowed it down to the Soft Poppy-Seed Polenta, Basic Broiled Tofu, Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans and Creamy Tomato Soup. This week is turning out to be a very tomatoey week, so I think I'll stick with the polenta or tofu. Or maybe the tofu on the polenta. My first combination! I'll just need to figure out (and clean!) the broiler first (it's never been used in the eight years we've had the house and is full of dust).
Bottom line: Veganomicon = awesome.
Thank you, Isa and Terry (and testers)!
* Those would be Harry Potter (JK Rowling), Discworld (Terry Pratchett) and The Dark Tower (Stephen King), respectively.
Just in time for VeganMoFo, I finally have my very own Veganomnomnomicon!
I ordered it from Amazon on Thursday and it was waiting for me when I got home from work Friday. I spent most of Friday night and Saturday reading it just for fun. I love it. It's beautiful. I'm afraid to get sauces on it (but that won't stop me from making every single one!).
I don't think I've ever been this excited about a book that didn't involve wizards, a flat planet or a thousand-year-old man with a gun.* Wooha!
In addition to the billion fabulous recipes, the book has lists of all the tools and ingredients you need to make your kitchen more than a place that holds the microwave and freezer (Actually, neither of the authors even own a microwave. I'm so awed.) and instructions for grilling and roasting vegetables, including which herbs compliment them best. The book seriously has everything.
The only bad thing about it is trying to decide which recipe to try first. Everything sounds so scrumptious! I'm sure this isn't the way Isa and Terry wanted people to pick, but after reading everything, I flipped to the back to see which recipes were "low fat", are supposed to take less than 45 minutes to prepare and are standard supermarket friendly. There are sixteen of these!
Corn and Edamame Sesame Salad
Sauteed Collards
Sauteed Spinach and Tomatoes
Escarole with Capers and White Beans
Rutabaga Puree
Roasted Portabellos
Soft Poppy-Seed Polenta
Basic Broiled Tofu
Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans
Creamy Tomato Soup
Plantain and Pinto Stew with Parsnip Chips
Marinara Sauce and Variations
Salsa Verde
5-Minute Mango Chutney
Tropical Avocado Salsa Fresca
Cranberry-Chile Dipping Sauce
I think I've narrowed it down to the Soft Poppy-Seed Polenta, Basic Broiled Tofu, Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans and Creamy Tomato Soup. This week is turning out to be a very tomatoey week, so I think I'll stick with the polenta or tofu. Or maybe the tofu on the polenta. My first combination! I'll just need to figure out (and clean!) the broiler first (it's never been used in the eight years we've had the house and is full of dust).
Bottom line: Veganomicon = awesome.
Thank you, Isa and Terry (and testers)!
* Those would be Harry Potter (JK Rowling), Discworld (Terry Pratchett) and The Dark Tower (Stephen King), respectively.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
How it All Began
I'm starting this blog with entries about what led up to me wanting to keep it. This post is backdated to approximately the date it happened.
There are two things I love more than may be considered normal: music and Harry Potter.
Because of the former, I check BrooklynVegan about a million times daily. Because of the latter, I'm a huge nerd.
Anyway! One day last June, I noticed the "Vegan Cupcakes!" link on BV, which took me to Isa Chandra Moskowitz's blog for Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I've been a vegetarian for about thirteen years, have considered going vegan many times and really like pretty baked goods, so I fell in love immediately and ran right out and bought the book. I should probably point out that I'd never really cooked or baked at this point. I was just compelled. I got my book home, flipped through it and was DYING to try out a few recipes. But for what? I needed some kind of event if I was going to bake enough cake to feed twelve people, right?
The event and inspiration came the next month.
Having absolutely nothing more interesting to do at work, I was poking around online when I found skull shaped cupcake pans on pushindaisies.com. First I laughed at the idea of gothcakes, then I had a brainfart: my friends were having a party to celebrate the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! How awesome would Edible Dark Marks be? Very awesome, indeed.
I decided to go with the Golden Vanilla and Basic Chocolate Cupcake recipes from VCTOTW with the Rich Chocolate Ganache on top. For the cupcakes, I used half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat, canola oil instead of margarine and vanilla extract instead of almond or caramel. Since this was my first time baking, I thought it'd be a good idea to do a test run of each recipe. I did and all the cupcakes came out lovely and skull-looking. Fabulous.
So I got some green sugar and sour gummy worms (OK, I actually got all the colors, used the greens and ate the rest) for garnish and stayed up baking almost all night before the book release (which was just a splendid idea considering I planned on staying up all the following night reading the book at getting in good and late the night after since I had tickets for Gogol Bordello, who were just awesome, by the way).
Maybe it was the sleep deprivation, or maybe I just couldn't make good twice in a row, because almost all the cupcakes I made that night stuck to the pan and failed. I had skulls without chins and foreheads and some were just cracked right in half. Naturally, most of the ones that broke were the chocolate, which were far more aesthetically pleasing, since the ganache blended in with the cake and all you saw was bright green on the dark background. I salvaged what I could, decorated them according to plan and...they looked like a first attempt at baking. Not terrible, but certainly not on par with anything you'd see in the blog linked above. However, they were still crowd pleasers, so I guess that's all right. It was a start, anyway.
There are two things I love more than may be considered normal: music and Harry Potter.
Because of the former, I check BrooklynVegan about a million times daily. Because of the latter, I'm a huge nerd.
Anyway! One day last June, I noticed the "Vegan Cupcakes!" link on BV, which took me to Isa Chandra Moskowitz's blog for Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I've been a vegetarian for about thirteen years, have considered going vegan many times and really like pretty baked goods, so I fell in love immediately and ran right out and bought the book. I should probably point out that I'd never really cooked or baked at this point. I was just compelled. I got my book home, flipped through it and was DYING to try out a few recipes. But for what? I needed some kind of event if I was going to bake enough cake to feed twelve people, right?
The event and inspiration came the next month.
Having absolutely nothing more interesting to do at work, I was poking around online when I found skull shaped cupcake pans on pushindaisies.com. First I laughed at the idea of gothcakes, then I had a brainfart: my friends were having a party to celebrate the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! How awesome would Edible Dark Marks be? Very awesome, indeed.
I decided to go with the Golden Vanilla and Basic Chocolate Cupcake recipes from VCTOTW with the Rich Chocolate Ganache on top. For the cupcakes, I used half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat, canola oil instead of margarine and vanilla extract instead of almond or caramel. Since this was my first time baking, I thought it'd be a good idea to do a test run of each recipe. I did and all the cupcakes came out lovely and skull-looking. Fabulous.
So I got some green sugar and sour gummy worms (OK, I actually got all the colors, used the greens and ate the rest) for garnish and stayed up baking almost all night before the book release (which was just a splendid idea considering I planned on staying up all the following night reading the book at getting in good and late the night after since I had tickets for Gogol Bordello, who were just awesome, by the way).
Maybe it was the sleep deprivation, or maybe I just couldn't make good twice in a row, because almost all the cupcakes I made that night stuck to the pan and failed. I had skulls without chins and foreheads and some were just cracked right in half. Naturally, most of the ones that broke were the chocolate, which were far more aesthetically pleasing, since the ganache blended in with the cake and all you saw was bright green on the dark background. I salvaged what I could, decorated them according to plan and...they looked like a first attempt at baking. Not terrible, but certainly not on par with anything you'd see in the blog linked above. However, they were still crowd pleasers, so I guess that's all right. It was a start, anyway.
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