A little late, but better than never!

Some of my favorite cookbooks

Okay, I am only into the second week of the new year and my blog is already behind schedule.  I had a great idea of trying to write a little everyday and then publishing it all on Sundays but that didn't work out last week and since I'm still working on last week, I guess that won't work for this week either, but I am still committed to being as regular as I can muster.

Over the years, I have had several requests for my French bread recipe.  It is embarrassingly simply and I am planning to finally share it... but not this week.  Keep returning and someday you will find it waiting for you!

Now let's get to last week's menu!

Monday

Monday is a busy day for us.  We usually have piano and violin lessons.  It is our library day.  Monday is grocery shopping day for the week.  All of this to say that I need something quick and easy on Monday nights.  Now on this Monday, piano and group violin were cancelled so I did have time to make French bread. 

Rolling out French bread dough

I had some vegan Italian sausage (Field Roast brand) in the fridge, so I decided to make everyone's favorite quick and easy supper... Spaghetti!

Now, if you want super quick, you can buy a jar of sauce.  I have found how easy it is to make my own sauce so I usually make my own.  I saute some onions and garlic and usually add some fresh mushrooms and saute them for another couple of minutes, then I add a large can of crushed tomatoes and a small can of diced tomatoes (I'll use fresh in the summer), spices (usually thyme and oregano, sometimes basil) and voila! Spaghetti Sauce!  I have priced it and quite frankly, jarred sauce is actually cheaper, but I like knowing exactly what is in my sauce.  I can also vary it with my mood - sometimes adding green pepper, sometimes leaving out the onion or adding black olives or crushed red peppers or red wine.  It's just quick, easy, and fun! I simmered the sauce for awhile, but it works even if you only simmer for 15 minutes.  I add the vegan sausage near the end.  Spaghetti sauce with your favorite pasta (HR likes long and skinny, hubby likes small shapes.)  Add a salad and I have my quick week night meal.  (The French bread is not quick, but I make it regularly so there is usually some around.)

Tuesday

I told you last time about all of the ethnic foods I have been enjoying since going vegan.  Sometimes, you just want comfort food.  Our favorite comfort food meal is Hippie Loaf (meat loaf without the meat,) Mashed potatoes and gravy, and a vegetable.  This week I went with Roasted Brussels Sprouts.  The Hippie Loaf is from the Happy Herbivore Cookbook by Lindsay Nixon but you can also find it here.  This recipe is gluten free but I use whole wheat flour instead of rice flour so I don't make it gluten free, but it is great if you want that option.  Even my 22 yo son who is a committed omnivore and rarely finds time to eat at my table, always shows up for Hippie Loaf.  Honestly, I never liked regular meatloaf but I enjoy this.  I also used the Happy Herbivore's recipe for brown gravy which was great on both the Hippie Loaf and the mashed potatoes.  The Happy Herbivore is not only vegan, but her recipes are also low fat or fat free.  I have two of her three cookbooks and hope to eventually buy the third.  The Brussels Sprouts were a little disappointing because I couldn't find good fresh ones, so I roasted frozen ones.  I'll use fresh next time.

Maple Wheat Dinner Rolls

Wednesday     

Right now we are attending a Bible study on Wednesday nights, so I am learning to cook earlier in the day so we can eat before we go.  (Actually I'm trying to learn to start cooking after lunch so that it is not such a push at night.  Of course that means I need to be here after lunch!)  I made Hungarian Mushroom Soup, this recipe was adapted from the Moosewood Cookbook, which I own, but have lent out.  Something did not go as planned.  The soup, the kitchen, and I wreaked of onion smell!  The recipe used two onions, but the smell was much stronger than that.  Sitting in church for the Bible study, all I could smell was onions!  My husband thought it was onion soup rather than mushroom! I think my onions were overripe.  Can onions be overripe? For sour cream, the Happy Herbivore once again came to the rescue with her vegan sour cream recipe found in the Happy Herbivore cookbook.  I haven't found it on line to share.  We ate the soup with leftover French bread.  Good for dipping!

Thursday

Thursday night ended up being Smorgasbord.  That is Swedish for Leftovers!  I like having the occasional night off!

Friday

Okay, okay, I had two nights off!  2 or so Friday night  a month is date night!  We hire a babysitter for our seven year old and head out for a nice meal and uninterrupted adult conversation.  Our favorite place to eat is probably less than a quarter mile from our home.  It is the local country club.  We live in a small town and the vegan offerings are few, but the chef at our club always prepares something great for us.  My husband sends a text to the chef to let him know we are coming and he and his staff prepare something for us.  We never know what we will be eating until it arrives at our table.  All my life I have wanted to be a regular somewhere - like in Cheers "where everybody knows your name."  We enjoy that at the club.

Indian Dinner

Saturday

After two nights off, I decided to cook Indian food.  Another cookbook I enjoy is Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.  I made Tamarind Lentils.  They are very good.  You need tamarind paste to make this - not something I can buy in my town.  Thankfully, a dear friend bought some for me when she was visiting the Farmer's Market in Atlanta.  I need more recipes using it.  I like the flavor.  I also made a Chana Masala recipe from Chloe's Kitchen, a cookbook by Chloe Coscarelli.  The Chana Masala was a little bland.  Indian food needs rice so I made Perfect Brown Rice.  Now I know what you are thinking, "A recipe for rice?"  Well, Consumer's Reports, found that arsenic is in most of the rice produced in the US.  In order to limit your exposure, one of the recommendations is to cook your rice like pasta.  However, when I did this my rice ended up being overcooked, so I needed to learn a better way.  This way worked perfectly!  Turnip Greens rounded out the meal, along with Vegan Naan.

Vegan Naan

  Sunday

At least once each week, I want to make a traditional food vegan.  Sometimes I will try to "veganize" an old recipe.  Other times I will try to find a recipe someone else has already made plant strong.  For Sunday dinner, I decided to make Veggie Pot Pie.  This was a great recipe because it allowed for me to be creative with it.  Now pot pie is the ultimate one dish meal, but I still served it with  vegan maple wheat dinner rolls, even though it had a crust on top.  Since Sunday is the day before my shopping day, we were low on fruit so I served applesauce with the pot pie. 

All in all, this was a good week for food.  Thanks for reading.  Tell your friends!

Veggie Pot Pie

One More Thing

I was craving brownies.  Good vegan brownies have been hard for me to find.   I did a web search and found these Incredible Brownies.  The site is veganbaking.net which I have found to be a good place to find recipes that please everyone - vegan or not.  The host, Mattie, approaches recipes scientifically.  How good were the brownies? Let me quote the tweet my husband made, "Oh my. @culpritsmom makes the best fregan vegan brownies ever!!! That woman can vegcook!"  I think he liked them.  Try them, you will too!
Until next time...