Vegan Thanksgiving & Cookie Baking

.  Since Neil is heading north to New Brunswick next week we won’t be having vegan Thanksgiving so we enjoyed it yesterday with two of my girlfriends, Monica and Laura. After we shared vegan Thanksgiving we spent the remainder of the afternoon in the kitchen baking cookies from Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. 
 

Celebration Roast, Cumin Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes and Green Bean Casserole

Already to bake!

We made the Blackstrap Gingersnaps first; I received a sample NuNuaturals NuStevia Baking Blend and we decided to try it out with these cookies instead of sugar.

 

Yeah! Gingersnaps!

Look mom greasy hands!

City Girl Snickerdoodles

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows

All of these cookies enjoyed with a nice cup of Boulevards Dairy-Free Hot Chocolate

We also made some Lazy Samoas (not photographed) which were delicious and just like the caramel delights I enjoyed as a girl scout.  The girls and I really loved this cookbook and found that all the recipes were fun and yet easy.  A few things we really loved were that all the cookies were baked at 350F and that all took 8min to 12min which was great especially when baking 4 different kinds. I really loved all the cookies I have to say it’s a toss up between the Chocolate PB and the Snickerdoodles for my favorite.

Vegan Brunch Review and Giveaway

The first vegan cookbook I ever bought as Vegan with a Vengeance I have used it so much over the years that it is stained with food and worn to pieces.  Over the years I picked up Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World which I loved and actually used 2 of the cupcake recipes for my wedding cupcakes. Then I was given a copy of Veganomicon by my loving husband for Christmas 2007 – I honestly haven’t used this book as much as VWAV & VCTOTW and was actually disappointed with it compared to Isa’s two earlier books.  However Isa Chandra Moskowitz  has redeemed herself with Vegan Brunch which features a number of great vegan brunch recipes.  

Vegan Brunch features savory recipes such as tofu scramble, frittatas, polenta ranchers, Tofu Benny and perogies.  Of the savory dishes I tried the tofu scramble which was delicious, the texture was almost creamy which I loved and really had the texture of scrambled eggs (or at least what I remember-it’s been awhile).  I also made the Cornbread Waffles which I loved because some days you just don’t want to have a sweet waffle and this was a great savory waffle. Lastly I made the Tofu Benny which I loved! The hollandaise was delicious and the Diner Homefries were nice and crispy. 

To be honest I have yet to try any of the sweet brunch options and am actually much more of a savory breakfast person. I actually did have plans to make the Banana Rabanada (Brazilian French Toast) this morning but my husband forgot the baguette on his desk at work. I guess I’ll make it another day!

Some other dishes I have made and loved where the Samosa Mashed Potato Pancakes, Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes and the Mushroom Gravy.  I made the Cheaspeake Tempeh Cakes for some of my omni friends and they couldn’t get enough of them.  I ate the mushroom gravy this morning with my scramble and am using the leftovers in my greenbean casserole.  

Over all this is a great book that I would recommend to anyone who loves breakfast.  This book is great because although many cookbooks have breakfast sections none have the focus and devotion to breakfast items like Vegan Brunch.

You can pick up your copy of Vegan Brunch on Amazon.

Now that you have read what I have to say about this book I am going to give you a chance to win a copy yourself. If you would like to win please leave a comment letting me know what your favorite brunch dish is by November 24th, 2009.

For extra chances to win:

1. RT @cookveganlover (leave me a comment)
2. Follow me on Twitter  (leave me a comment)
3. Become a fan on Facebook (leave me a comment)

Vega

If you are vegan then you probably know about Vega, by Sequel Naturals which makes plant-based whole food products, if you haven’t heard of Vega yet then it is time to jump online read all about them and then head out to your local natural foods store and pick some items up.

I was given the opportunity to try Vega’s Complete Whole Food Health Optimizers and Vega’s new Whole Food Vibrancy Bars.  The Complete Whole Food Health Optimizers are great in smoothies- I like the chocolate with 1 sliced frozen banana and 1 cup of nondairy milk (usually almond).  

The Whole Food Vibrancy Bars are great I loved Green Synergy.  I enjoyed it at the end of my work day when I need a pick me up before I went home to use the elliptical and it was great and kept me energized and satisfied through my workout until dinner.

There are a number of other products by vega that I have not tried yet but hear great things about; these include:

• Whole Food Smoothie Fusion
• Vega Antioxidant EFA Oil Blend
• Vega Sport Performance Optimizer
• Vega Energy Bars

Green Monster

At the beginning of the week I was reading Sarah’s blog from SeeSarahEat and was inspired by her post on Green Monsters. Now I had very little knowledge as to what exactly this at first but after some searching I found the Green Monsters Movement website  .  

This morning I made hubby and I our own Green Monsters:

Recipe (almost raw):

1 cup oat milk

1 T Sun Warrior Vanilla Protein Powder

1 T Rejuvenative Raw Almond 

1 sliced frozen banana

3 cups spinach

 

Place in a blender. Blend until smooth.

CSA: Celeriac Mash

We did not eat the cat!

Last night marked the beginning of week two for our CSA “Winter Food Basket”. Every two weeks we get a basket full of assorted winter/fall veggies from many different local farms. As we began the second week, we had mostly root vegetables and squash left as greens and other veggies obviously don’t last as long.

So, last night was a fairly quick and easy dinner made (mostly) out of our CSA items. We roasted up some delicata squash rings (although, these delicata are different than ones we’ve had in the past. more stringy like spaghetti squash) and a Celeriac and Potato Mash. We were originally thinking celeriac soup, but were more in the mood for a quick meal. So, Lindsay whipped this up while I did some dishes.

In addition to the veggies, we had some “light life ginger teriyaki tempehtations”. I found them to be quite dull. The flavor was weak and the tempeh was dried out and definitely of a lower grade than we are used to.

Below, is the recipe for the mash:

Celeriac Potato Mash

2 medium sized celeriac (celery root), peeled and diced
2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
¼ cup sour supreme
¼ cup nondairy milk
2 tablespoons vegan margarine
2 heading tablespoons nutritional yeast
Salt and Pepper to taste

1.Boil the potatoes and celeriac until fork tender.
2.Drain the potatoes and celeriac and add back to the pot.
3.Mash in the sour supreme, nondairy milk, margarine and nutritional yeast. Mash together- I like to keep it a little more chunky but if you like it whipped you’d like.
4.Season with salt and pepper to taste.

I’ve Been in the Kitchen

onion rings, corn pudding and charleston rice

Originally uploaded by cookingforaveganlover

I know it seems lately that I have been lacking in the food/recipe post and I am sorry! I have been working on recipes from a number of cookbooks as well as testing recipes for Happy Herbivore’s upcoming cookbook. I will be posting some more cookbook reviews including pictures of various dishes and well be having 2 cookbook giveaways – one of them a raw recipe book! So look for these in the upcoming weeks.

Doi Chaang Coffee

I was recently given the opportunity to try coffee from the Doi Chaang Coffee Company out of Vancouver British Columbia. This is a very unique company as it is the grower, roaster and marketer of the coffee.

“Doi Chaang Coffee produced by the hillside Akha tribe of Northern Thailand in Doi Chaang is Certified Organic, high altitude and shade grown, hand picked, fresh-water washed, sun dried and in all aspects cultivated with the sustainable farming practices of the 900 family co-operative that owns the coffee growing and processing operations. It is we believe, the only coffee (from anywhere) that from grower to seller is the same entity.”

 

This coffee has received great reviews and on the 100-point review (much like those in the wine and beer industry) conducted by Kenneth Davids it received 90 points on the Medium roast and 93 points on the Peaberry roast. 

 

I received the Single-Origin Signature and the Single-Origin Peaberry roasts.  I have at this time only tried the Peaberry roast and I found that it was amazing.  I was really impressed with the earthy flavor.  I am looking forward to sampling the Signature roast as well. 

Currently the best way to get your hands on this great coffee is to purchase directly through the Doi Chaang website.  However you can find it in select shops in LA & Ojai CA, as well as in various provinces in Canada.  Where to Buy & Online Shop

tsp spices Giveaway

The winner is Leslie from Pixiepine Blog

leslie // 16/11/2009 at 10:21 AM | Reply (edit)

Hi- I signed up for the newsletter. I would love to try to Cookie Jar spices. That variety looks great!

_______________________________________________________________

tsp spices are a great addition to anyones busy kitchen.  These individually package teaspoon portions of organic spices make cooking easier and allows your spices to last longer.  How many times have you bought a spice for a recipe and only used one teaspoon of it and then it goes bad by the time you need it again.  Well with tsp spices you’ll never have this problem as they are packaged for your convenience and freshness.  Another great feature is how easily you can take them on the go with you.  Heading away for the holidays and need to bring along some spices for your holiday dinner then just grab your tsp spices and go no more lugging bottles around with you.  

Now it’s your chance to win one of tsp spices 6 tins from their holiday collection.  To do so please do the following:

1. Visit tsp spices site here and leave me a comment letting me know which holiday tin you would like. 
2. Visit tsp spices website and sign up for their newsletter (You MUST do this to be able to win the giveaway so leave a comment letting me know you have done this.)

Once you have done BOTH of the entries above you can then do any of the following extra entries however you MUST do both of the entries above and comment about them to have an extra entries qualify. 

1. Become a fan of tsp spices on facebook  (leave a comment)
2. Become a fan of Cooking For a Vegan Lover on facebook (leave a comment)
3. Follow me on Twitter
4. Follow my blog 

The giveaway will end at 9AM on November 19th, 2009.

Vegan Yum Yum

Lauren Ulm a well known vegan food blogger has released her first cookbook Vegan Yum Yum featuring “Decadent (but doable) Animal-free Recipes for Entertaining & Everyday.”  I just received a copy of this book and went right to town on cooking up various recipes.  There were a few recipes from the blog that I love that made the book which I’m very excited about as well as a variety of new recipes that are just as wonderful. I have tried the following recipes from the book:

• Italian Rice and Beans
• Broccoli Almond Sweet and Sour Tofu
• Red and White Cauliflower Bake
• Soy Mirin Tofu with Snow Peas (or Broccoli) and Peanut Sauce
• Sweet Chili Lime Tofu
• Tahini Lemon Rice and Beans
• Golden Chickpea and Artichoke Salad
• Smoky Miso Tofu Sandwiches
• Baked Mac and Cheeze
• Super Quick Tomato Basil Cream Pasta
• Corn Fritters

 

All of these recipes are absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to cook all of the other recipes in this book. One of my favorite features of this book is that there are many recipes that are for 2 servings and is great for my husband and I and all are easily doubled or tripled.  I also really enjoy the fact that recipes are all easy to make and are great for everyday eating and for entertaining. I would recommend that you pick yourself up a copy of this book.  It is bound to be a go to cookbook for all vegans. 

Check out the Vegan Yum Yum Flickr Site for more photos http://www.flickr.com/groups/veganyumyum/pool/

Pick up your copy here.

Vegan Care Package Giveaway

As many of you know I have hosted a Vegan Care Package Giveaway just as I did last year.  I am so excited that this year I was able to have over 20 participants and one of them was Nora from Pride & Vegudice, my exchange partner.  I was lucky enough to receive a variety of wonderful items many that I have never tried which is the best part about these giveaways. 

 

Included in the Exchange was a variety of different teas, a Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Blueberry bar, Reed’s Ginger Snacks (which I hate a bunch of to help my upset tumtum the other day), chocolate cocoa nibs, sprinkles, an Honest Foods bar – choco peanut butter and Chocolada Almond oatmeal as well as the items featured below: 

Chreesy Mashed Potatoes with yummy (Vermont made) Road’s End Chreese. I love this stuff but never buy it so it’s a wonderful treat to have….makes me want to go buy some Road’s End Mac & Cheese yum.

How amazingly fun and I am so excited to eat it.  I haven’t had maple cotton candy in years so this will be a yummy treat.

Chocolate Peanutbutter from Whole Foods- my husbands eyes light up when he saw this.  

Chocolate Cream Wafters?  Holy can’t wait to eat these up! 

 

I love everything in this exchange it was wonderful.  The best part of this is that many of the items I have never tried or never buy which is a great part of these exchanges.  My husband and I loved the Chocolada Almond oatmeal and it was so good and I can’t wait to buy myself some more. I am really looking forward to seeing what other participants receive.  Now I must be off to try some of this yummy looking cotton candy.