Tasty Trials

I made two recipes this weekend and I've got one on the agenda for tonight. Can't wait for stuffed peppers! Yum!

Anyway, I made chickpeas with rainbow chard. It was good but a little bland. I doubt I'll make it again, but it was OK and I realized that I really like cooking with chard. And doesn't my copy look just like the recipe?

Then I made a vegan shepard's pie. It was so good! It was the first recipe I'd seen that didn't call for meat or mushrooms! I thought I'd give it a go. Since you have to make mashed potatos from scratch and basically a vegan meatloaf, it took a while. You had to sautee the veggies while you boiled potatoes and cooked lentils, then combine to make the "meatloaf-type" mixture. Then you make patties, brown them in a skillet on both sides and then bake with the potatoes and peas on top for another 20 minutes.

I really liked the shepard's pie and I would make it again as long as I had enough time to devote to it. It isn't a quick meal, that's for sure.

Pumpkin Cavatappi

I love the taste of pumpkin so I go a bit crazy this time of year trying to put pumpkin into nearly everything I eat. I noticed a jar of Pumpkin Parmesan sauce at Williams-Sonoma a while back, but with the cheese, dairy and $15 price tag, I passed it up.

Anyway, I decided to go hunting for a vegan recipe to make this a reality and what'd ya know?!?! I found a DELICIOUS recipe! Check out that link for the recipe specifics.

Here goes...

Cook the pasta of your choice and start combining the oil, onion and garlic in the second pan. Let that simmer before adding the pumpkin and vegetable stock.

Once the stock and pumpkin have combined really well, add the dairy-free milk of your choosing and the spices. Whisk away until it is nice and creamy!

Pour it over your pasta, mix and enjoy! For you non-vegans out there, you could probably add some cheese if you wanted.

I loved this recipe and my leftovers were just as delicious on days 2 and 3!

Homemade Black Bean Soup

When I woke from my codeine-induced sleep Monday evening, I was hungry for good, filling, fall food. I wanted something quick and easy with ingredients that I had on hand. Welcome the black bean soup. It fit the bill and it was super quick and easy. 15 minutes from start to table.

Here are the ingredients

Large onion -- diced
Juice from 1/2 lime or lemon
3-4 cloves garlic -- minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
2 tbsp parsley
4 cups water or vegetable broth
3-4 cans of black beans
1 tbsp oil


You start by adding the oil over medium heat and add in the onion. Heat for 4 minutes or so. Then add minced garlic. I used my new hand grater (that I LOVE and use all the time) to get it very fine. You brown all of that together for another 4 minutes.

Then you combine all other ingredients.

Bring to a heavy simmer for at least 10 minutes and serve hot. It was hearty, delicious and just what the doctor ordered. Beware -- the cumin makes it taste and smell a bit like tacos so if anyone is adverse to tacos in your family you may want to leave it out.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Chocolate Cupcakes

I saw this fabulous recipe on Annie's Eats the other day and thought it sounded great but maybe a tad to rich for me, but it made me hungry for something like it so I decided to keep looking. Eventually, I stumbled upon this recipe for chocolate cupcakes with eggless cookie dough as icing. YUM!

I made the cupcakes first so that while they were baking, I could be making the cookie dough/icing. Find the recipe here. I made substitutions to make it vegan and let me tell you, the batter was INCREDIBLE! I think I loved the batter more than the actual cupcake. It was like a creamy mousse. YUM!

Once the cupcakes were in the oven, I started working on the cookie dough. Find the recipe card here. Super quick and easy to make and safe to eat without baking because there are no eggs (even if you aren't vegan).

Delicious, yummy, wonderful! I'd make these again, but when we're going to have a larger gathering than a party of 3. We had to send the left-overs to J's work, but they gobbled them up.

What other recipes should I try???

Halloween Enchiladas

I have been cooking and baking a lot since I returned from my road trip... absence makes the heart grow fonder, I guess. My latest adventure has been making Halloween enchiladas. Halloween because they are orange (sweet potatoes) and black (black beans). (See how to make that pretty little cupcake tomorrow!)

They are pretty quick to make and you can prep everything else while the sweet potatoes are roasting in the oven. I ran low on salsa so mine didn't have quite as much sauce as it should've, but they were still delicious. You can find the full recipe here and a review here.

In the future, I think I'd double the black beans called for in the recipe. Have I mentioned I love black beans???

Black Bean Brownies

So you know me, always up for trying new things. Well, in anticipation of a high school friend visiting tonight, I decided what better than to greet her with good-for-you brownies. My mom told me about these awhile ago and I finally found a recipe I thought I could pull off. It's from the "No Meat Athlete." I'm a big fan even though I have a long way to go on the athlete part.

I digress. Anyway, I used his black bean brownie recipe. I was tired last night so I attempted a few short cuts... BAD IDEA. I tried to use a small potato masher versus the puree function on the blender. I know, I know, huge mistake, disastrous mistake. But in my defense I was ready to hit the hay and the idea of cleaning yet another small kitchen appliance did not sound appealing.

So a long and sad story short, they were not very good. They were very lumpy and bumpy. Jared would not even attempt to go near them... not even close. I'll need to try it again when I have the energy to dig out our blender.

On a brighter note, I did stumble across this black bean and sweet potato recipe that I will be trying very soon! Here's picture of the goodness.

What a bust!

We looked for curtains... and we looked...and we looked and I finally thought I'd hit the jack-pot with one of these two.

No such luck! We took all of them back to the store. I've even looked online... I just haven't found the right set yet. Our shopping experience was quite a bust.

In other news, I was going to make an awesome quinoa recipe for dinner. I even set my quinoa out before work so it could "sprout" and rinse all day. I was so proud of my preparedness. I got home from shopping (discussed above) and began making my quinoa. I don't know what happened... it cooked up perfectly, the veggies and quinoa (individually) looked and smelled great, but when I combined the two it was horrible. It looked like it should have been so good, but there was no flavor. It was bland, bland, bland. I kept adding spices to it to liven it up and it still fell short. I was so bummed that I ate chips and salsa for dinner. Next time I'll add more onion, more garlic and more paprika. Maybe more everything in the spice arena.

Shopping was a bust, dinner was a bust... but in brighter news... my parents are in route to my house! I couldn't be more excited!!!

Cooking Class -- Cooking Clean

Last night wrapped up my cooking classes for the month and I really learned a lot of valuable skills, recipes and nutritional knowledge.

Here was my class line-up:
Cooking Clean 101: Fruits and Vegetables at Willy St Co-op, T 8/24
Knife Skills at Williams-Sonoma, S 8/28
Cooking Clean 102: Grains and Legumes at Willy St Co-op, T 8/31

All of the classes were great, but the cooking clean series was phenomenal. It was the first time a class had been done on that topic but the instructors did a great job and I'd sign up in a heartbeat if they offered more... may I suggest how to make your own vegetable stock and how to make sprouted breads?? Please, and thank you.

The classes really fit into my knowledge and thirst for more awareness of what I'm eating and how what I'm eating affects the rest of my body. I got a lot more than I bargained for. I even made a friend!

Here are some of the goodies we made and enjoyed. If you want a recipe, let me know. I got to make and try millet for the first time. It was really nutty but really delicious (2nd photo, right side).

All of the food was great and I just showed a couple of my favorite dishes. I am no longer afraid to cook with herbs and I've learned the importance of adding seaweed to bean and grain dishes. I prefer wakame. I also learned that all salts are not created equal. Watch out kitchen! I've already successfully make sauteed veggies with baby bellas and cilantro and a mint lemonade.

And, while I was window shopping Saturday morning after the W-S class I fell into a slight obsession with this at Pottery Barn...

(it's the runner pictured above...and I love it)

Vegan Zucchini Nut Muffins

One of my favorite memories growing up was baking (and then enjoying) zucchini walnut muffins with my Grandma Betty. I've been searching for the recipe for years and I recently stumbled across "the" recipe. I was able to make it vegan by substituting unsweetened applesauce for the eggs. It was absolutely delicious. You need to try these. Maybe you can remember a sweet childhood memory as you enjoy one.

You'll need:
3 cups of flour, sifted
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
2 cups of sugar
8 tablespoons of unsweetened applesauce
1 cup of oil
2 cups of unpeeled, coarsely grated zucchini (I used one straight from my friend's garden)
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1 cup of walnuts, chopped

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. Combine sugar and applesauce in large bowl of electric mixer and beat at medium speed 2 minutes. Gradually add oil in slow, steady stream, beating constantly, 2 to 3 minutes. Add zucchini and vanilla and blend well. Stir in walnuts. Fold in dry ingredients just until batter is evenly moistened. Do not over-mix.

 Fill 20 paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake at 350ºF, 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Let stand 10 minutes, then remove muffins from pans to cool. Makes 20 muffins.

Let me tell you, they are amazing! Happy Baking.

Going Vegan

Today is my second full day going 100% vegan. I've been prepping for this transition for a few months now and I finally felt ready to make the jump into veganism. I've been really good at planning meals, reading labels and asking ingrediants. A big portion of veganism is simply awareness... awareness of the cruelty found in the meat and dairy industries, awareness of the effects of meat and dairy on our bodies and awareness of the same industries in the world -- let alone the basic awareness of what you are putting into your body and how it affects you.


I'm confident in being able to continue this trend, especially when I'm at home. I am nervous for when I'm at a family wedding (like this coming weekend -- will I be able to eat anything?) or when I have guests over. I may get boring when I eat out (salad please) at least I'm confident in my abilities to find something suitable for me to eat. Plus, I'm lucky. Madison really is a veg-friendly city. Not San Fran but we're better than some locales. I'm already anticipating my first trip to The Green Owl. It's a vegan restaurant on Willy Street. Yumm!

In preparing for the jump, I read The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone. It was my 32nd book finished this year. She also has a blog devoted to a kind life, too. You can check it out here. What I enjoyed the most about this book was that she took the time to spell out some basics that some might feel are too basic, but were perfect for me. For instance, there is a section on what to stock your pantry with, she broke it out by food type and gave options. She also talked about building your vegan meal which includes starting with a whole grain, adding a protein (bean/tofu) and adding a rainbow of (assorted) veggies.