Molasses Cookies

This is probably the most successful cookie recipe I've ever encountered. I've had my fair share of crumbly and dry vegan cookies, but these were just perfect. My only criticism would be the amount of canola oil, but I'll gladly compromise my weight for an exceptional cookie. These remind me a great deal of the molasses chew cookies the Starbucks I work at had about a year ago. These were also great comfort food after going to see Sam Saimi's new movie, Drag Me to Hell. Accredited with molasses cookie overload upon returning home: unspeakable acts committed against a kitten. WTF Raimi? I thought we were pals..

Black Bean Soup

I got this recipe from Show Me Vegan. This soup made me realize that I desperately need to organize my spice cabinet. While searching hurriedly for the cumin, I accidentally grabbed curry powder and added a heaping teaspoon of it. FML. This ended up not hurting the recipe, surprisingly. I also didn't have chipotle, so I couldn't call it smoky. Still so awesome.

bleh.

I haven't been in the mood to cook AT ALL lately. I've been living on a steady diet of Amy's burritos and ramen noodles; I'm not particularly proud of this. But, good news. I did make a trip to the grocery store today to load up on a lot of produce. More good news, my mom finished planting her garden today which means I shall have fresh basil, red peppers, cucumbers, and squash viddy viddy soon!

Since my last post, I've made another General Tao tofu plate, served over rice this time, and some VWAV mashed potatoes with punk rock chickpea gravy. Comfort food, glorious comfort food! I chopped up some kale and mashed it in with the potatoes, too. I also had to spell out k-a-l-e for the cashier at the grocery store so he could ring me up. Oh, Huntington and its inhabitants.

General Tao's Tofu

There was probably nothing healthy about this meal. It's only nutritionally redeeming quality was probably the steamed broccoli. As far as taste goes, I'd like to say: Daaaaaaaaaaaaayummmmm. I'm sure everyone has tried Vegweb's General Toa's tofu without complaint. I'd never tried frying tofu coated in cornstarch before, but it's now one of if not my favorite tofu recipes. I tinkered with the recipe a bit and used the sauce to coat the noodles as opposed to the tofu. Instead of minced ginger, I used powder which made the onion/garlic saute a tad sticky. This was fine because instead of veg stock, I had to use bouillon cubes and 1 1/2 cups of water. Other than that, I stuck to the recipe exactly, and it was nomz. Now, go! Make this tofu!

French Toast

Aside from breakfast casseroles, french toast was no doubt my favorite brunch food growing up. It's safe to say that I hadn't had french toast since I became vegan until I tried this recipe. It was really easy and didn't disappoint. I used Ezekiel bread for this recipe, which was great because the bread comes frozen. After it thaws, it's kind of tough, which is the preferred texture for vegan french toast. Here's the recipe for the french toast. I cut the recipe in half since I was only cooking for two, and I used half vanilla soy milk and half regular. It was still really sweet.

Savory Potato Bake

This recipe was kind of a fluke. It was originally intended to be a cheezy potato casserole. I tinkered with the recipe a bit and this is what happened. And, it was so, so good.

Savory Potato Bake

Ingredients:
5-6 medium russet potatoes
1/2 medium red onion, sliced
1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
a few dollops of Earth Balance
salt and pepper to taste

For the sauce:
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/8 cup soy sauce

Preheat oven to 450. Wash and slice potatoes width-wise into coins. Prepare an 8x8 baking dish and put the first layer of potato slices. Put 2-3 dollops of EB on the first layer and ad 1/4 cup of the sauce and some of the onion slices. Repeat for the second layer. For the third layer, repeat and sprinkle peas. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 45 minutes.