meansoybean

I have to admit that I refer to Vegan With a Vengeance a lot, but it’s not like I’ve tried many recipes. The few that I’ve tried, like the Best Pumpkin Muffins, are mainstays in my kitchen. The Spanakopita is absolutely brill. It’s definitely a weekend recipe, since I like to be relaxed making this multi-step delight. My fav way of making this is to produce flat logs of stuffed phyllo, rolled along the long side. This way, you can chop each log in half and each serving includes the coveted crispy end.

US-imported spinach was cheap at the grocery store, and it had been awhile since I had spanakopita — plus a friend agreed to come over for a late-evening bite. My non-vegan visitor seemed genuinely impressed with the meal, saying that it was “really good”, but that’s probably because he doesn’t cook and couldn’t imagine someone would spend the time to make something this complicated (wink, wink, nudge nudge).

Truth be told, it’s actually a simple recipe, as long as you don’t go making crazy shapes or individual-sized ones. And, even though it’s a multi-step recipe, I find it very calming to make this amazing treat. Go figure.

I have a box of Kashi cereal that’s really awful on its own. It’s got puffed grains that taste and feel like the non-marshmallow bits of the old Pac Man cereal. Basically dry, dry, really dry cardboard. So I thought I’d try to liven this purchase error with a smoothie, because just drinking a smoothie can be boring.

The smoothie, like all others before it, was improvised with frozen blueberries and banana, soy milk, maple syrup, flax oil and peanut butter. Not bad… it definitely gave a bit of kick to the cereal.

But you know what I’m really jonsing for? The Saint-Graal at Crudessence… it’s layered raw cashew yogurt, fruit and granola all in one.

This was an impulse purchase. For the record, I haven’t had actual ribs in over a decade. Though I know nothing can sub the texture, I decided to just spend the money and give these T-Ribz a go.

I pan-fried them, served with a side of roasted potatoes. As I suspected, besides the texture aspect, it’s all about the sauce — because that’s where the flavour comes from. It was an almost sickly-sweet tomato taste that didn’t do anything for me. In fact, the remainder of the package is sitting in the fridge waiting to be eaten. This time, I think I’ll try it in a sammich with some pickles. Couldn’t hurt, right?

I was super-psyched to get my hands on this cookbook, what with that amazing Seitan Chorizo Crumbles recipe I spotted online. But as I was leafing through, I was a little disappointed. I can generally tell just by looking at recipes if something will turn out or not. I find that a lot of the recipes call for something odd, like a cup of pumpkin or whatnot… not that pumpkin is exotic in my kitchen, but it’s a lot of trouble to open a huge can of purée just for a cup.

Determined to try something from 500 Vegan Recipes, I chose the Mushroom lasagna and followed the instructions exactly. It ended up being just meh. My gut feeling about this recipe was spot on. It was edible, don’t get me wrong, but the flavour lacked depth.

I’ll keep trying the recipes in this book, I’ve ear-marked a bunch that looked interesting. So more to come…