Tag Archives: recipe

The Great Vegan Grains Book Review

I consider myself lucky to have received a copy of The Great Vegan Grains Book recently. Just published, it is the latest from vegan masterminds Tamasin Noyes and Celine Steen. You may remember them from such blogs as Vegan Appetite and Have Cake, Will Travel. Both blogs are fairly quiet these days, but both were around back in the days when vegan blogging was new and exciting.

I’m in my busy season right now with craft fairs galore but wanted to try out a couple of dishes and get a quick review up. Tami and Celine are two of the nicest vegans I know from the internet and I love using their cookbooks. In full disclosure, this book came to me for free but I haven’t been paid nor asked for a review.

The Great Vegan Grains Book features Celine’s gorgeous photography and an eclectic mix of recipes that feature grains ranging from the familiar rice to the more exotic einkorn. There’s a solid introduction with information on a variety of grains that includes cooking times and liquids for every one used in the book.

First up, I made the split pea and rice artichoke mujadarra (seen above) which was fabulous. I never use split peas except in split pea soup and this dish was so light and fresh I loved it. I also had the roasted corn and barley chowder, which was again light and fresh. I’d make this next time in the late summer when the fresh corn is high, but the mujadarra will be a winter staple.

I just received a bottle of Bar B Cutie bbq sauce from the man behind the I-40 Vegan (another blog from back in the day) and can’t wait to try the BBQ Bulger Burgers next. I’d highly recommend The Great Vegan Grains Book to anyone interested in expanding their bulk bin adventures beyond rice and quinoa.

Buckeye Balls Now With Vegan Recipe

Buckeye balls! Who doesn’t love them? Peanut butter and crispy cereal rolled up in chocolate. This is my favorite quick dessert to take someone. They are easy to make, don’t require a lot of ingredients and need no measuring.

I first learned of Buckeye balls from kittee’s great Papa Tofu zine and I use a mix of the recipes from there and Vegan Finger Foods. Today I’m going to share my magical recipe with you.

Buckeye Balls Panda Style

-Put some powdered sugar in a bowl, and add some crispy style cereal to it. Mix. Make sure there’s about twice as much crispy as there is sugar

-Add a dash of cinnamon and mix again.

-Plop in some peanut butter and mix it up until it’s a good consistency. Add more crispy cereal if it is too soft, add more peanut butter if you can’t incorporate the dry mixture.

-Roll into balls and freeze.

-Melt some chocolate and dip each frozen ball in and cover. Drop onto wax paper and freeze again. Don’t worry if they aren’t perfectly round and smooth like the picture people put on Pinterest. They will be more tasty if they are lumpen and uneven.

-Eat 5 with some tea in your garlic mustard mug.

Vegan Applesauce Bread Recipe from Ladies Auxiliary Favorites

As promised in yesterday’s post, here is the vegan applesauce bread recipe from The Ladies Auxiliary Favorite Recipes cookbook. Originally submitted by Mrs. J. Leonard from Sandwich, Illinois.

VEGAN APPLESAUCE BREAD RECIPE

2 c. flour 1/2 c shortening

1 t baking powder 3/4 c sugar

1 t baking soda 2 eggs- I replaced with 2 flax eggs, 2 T flax mixed with 6 T water

1 t cinnamon 1 t vanilla

1/2 t nutmeg 1 c applesauce 1/2 c walnuts, optional

-Sift together dry ingredients.

-Cream shortening, then add in and cream with sugar

-Beat in flax eggs and vanilla

-Blend in dry ingredients, adding applesauce at the end and mixing to wet all ingredients

-Let rise 20 minutes then bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes.

Look at that nice crumb! This is a pretty mildly flavored bread and I would add more cinnamon and nutmeg next time. Great texture and it held up well for a few days. I’m pleased that my first attempt at a recipe from this book turned out well. If you make this, let me know how it turns out!

Vegan Recipe Tester Photos

I am pleased to be an official vegan recipe tester for Isa Moskowitz’s upcoming book. I’ve just gotten back into the swing of testing and made two great dishes last week. Above is a lentil samosa and below is an amazing vegan carrot cake. The frosting is my new favourite frosting and I could eat it by the spoonful.

These recipes may not be available yet but there’s nothing stopping you from swinging by the PPK to get the recipe for butterscotch cupcakes with coconut bacon. Get down! Bake ’em up this weekend and then invite me over for tea.