Food Reviews
Chickpea Cutlets with Mashed Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts
Jan 9th
Chickpea Cutlets with Mashed Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts
The chickpea cutlets are from Veganonicon page 133. Very, very good. Nice flavor and texture. I did make them a little thick because I tried to fit them all in our cast iron pan. That was a mistake. So, next time I need to make them thinner and do two rounds in the pan or maybe bake them. They were excellent fried, however- it would be better if they were crispier. Again, super tasty.
The kids ate them with ketchup (not surprising) and we ate them with dijon mustard.
Brussel sprouts have quickly become our favorite veggie… but not the kids. They do both eat a couple, so that is good and they do seem to like them, but it is always the last thing that they touch. We like to bake them with a tiny bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. It makes them so tasty.
The mashed potatoes were a little starchy, dense and shiny because of the Earth’s Balance (partly) and because I whipped them. They were really too dense. I think without cream, milk or butter- it is better to just smash the potatoes a little. Unless someone has a better idea?
BLT (Tempeh Bacon, Kale and Tomato) Salad
Jan 9th
Tempeh Bacon, Kale and Tomato Salad
This recipe is from Vegan Yum Yum. We have tried is a couple times and is a huge favorite for us. The kids eat a bit of it. We can’t say enough good things about it. Kale is a super food too, tons of vitamin K, A, and C. We on a constant search for good, kid-friendly recipes that have dark green leafy vegetables.
This salad is just way too good. We try to save leftovers for lunch, and this never lasts until the next day. We typically eat it as the main course. We give the kids the ingredients separately (kale with dressing, bacon, and then add some carrots… and half of a pb&j sandwich).
Tomato Basil Cream Pasta with Green Salad
Nov 25th
We tried a recipe from this awesome website that we found, Vegan Yum Yum, for Tomato Basil Cream Pasta which we served with a fresh green salad. The kids ate it with a smile- and it was super quick and easy to make. The “cream” is made with raw cashews, so we were able to use our new immersion blender- which has turned into a really handy kitchen tool. We were able to use basil from our garden. This will be even better when we have fresh tomatoes in the garden!
Vegan Yum Yum has some really great recipes and gorgeous photos of the food. It just makes me hungry to cruise the site.
Mexican Chopped Saled with Honey-Lime Dressing
Oct 1st
This recipe is right up our alley. We got the recipe for the Mexican Chopped Saled with Honey-Lime Dressing from Epicurious. We also did Chili Cornmeal Crusted Tofu from Veganomicon. The kids loved the tofu- we all did. It was crusty and tasty. The salad was awesome. We separated out a bunch of the ingredients for the kids- who seems to like that better than the salad all together.
Sweet Chili Lime Tofu with Steamed Collards and Quinoa
Aug 15th
Really great recipe from our dearest love, Vegan Yum Yum. Sweet Chili Lime Tofu with Steamed Collards and Quinoa is right up our alley. The kids liked the tofu and the quinoa (which we called rice and is seemed to work). Quinoa helps add a recipe to our whole grain family challenge as well, so that is always good. The kids didn’t really do much more that try a bite of the collards, but at least it was a bite. The tofu was sublime. This is going to be a family favorite.
Mexican Chocolate Tofu Pudding
Aug 4th
A Mark Bittman recipe for Mexican Chocolate Tofu Pudding- couldn’t be better. Better than any other pudding I have ever eaten.
Apricot BBQ Tofu, Avocado Marinated Kale Salad and Southwestern Corn Pudding
Jul 25th
This was an excellent meal. The Apricot BBQ Tofu is a repeat from Veganomicon. Good stuff. The southwestern corn pudding is the obvious standout in this meal. It was from Veganomicon. We love this recipe and we love this cookbook! We are also trying to get more kale recipies because how vitamin rich kale apparently is. This salad was excellent. We got the recipe from a friend’s friend. Thanks for passing it along, Brenda!
Avocado Marinated Kale Salad
Ingredients
1 head kale, destemmed- we used dino
2 avocados (can use 2 Tbsp olive oil instead- we didn’t)
3 lemons (or lemon juice)
2 large tomatoes
handful of mung bean sprouts (I usually don’t use, mostly because I don’t have them on hand)
sea salt to taste
cayenne pepper to taste
Method
Wash kale very well. Remove leaves for inner stem with you hands or knife. Place into a large mixing bowl and with yourhands rip the kale into small bite size pieces. Scoop out the avocado into the bowl. Juice the lemons into the bowl. Dice the tomatoes and add. Add the sea salt and cayenne and then dig your hands in an mush it all up until the kale softens. Add the sprouts about half way through to get them incorporated, but not demolished. This is good right away and also saves well.
Notes
Kale has the highest level of antioxidants of all the greens. The kids will eat it as well. They prefer dino kale- which we got for this salad at the farmer’s market.
Stuffed Artichokes with Italian Tofu and Pasta
Jul 8th
Our neighbor gave us some old issues of Vegetarian Times, which we discontinued several years ago- but we have decided to renew our subscription. We found a great recipe for stuffed artichokes. We found some nice artichokes at Kowalski’s, which were great (more expensive, but far superior). We had two from Kowalski’s Market and two from Whole Foods. The ones from Whole Foods were local and organic, but were like cardboard and flavorless. Obviously the artichokes weren’t a hit with the kids… I guess we kind of knew that going into it. Our oldest, 5, tried them at least. Our middle, 2, passed.
The pasta was obviously the biggest hit with the kids as was the Italian marinated tofu which was from Veganomicon. So far everything that we have really liked has been from this cookbook. It is quite a find.
Baked Apricot BBQ Tofu, Sweet Potato Fries and Broccoli
Jun 25th
This delicious meal was real hit. The kids loved the Apricot BBQ Tofu, which was from Veganomicon. Sweet Potato Fries are always a hit too with the kids and the two of us, since the kids can feed their weird ketchup addiction (I found our oldest dunking apples in ketchup the other day) and we both love sweet potatoes. My wife makes them with a little garlic, cinnamon, cayenne, salt… oil… she blanched them first this time and baked them on parchment paper- so they were nice and firm.
Hemp Dream (Original)
Jun 15th
We got the idea to try this from our friends in PA. I used this in a “Spicy and Cheezy Potato and Carrot Stirfry”
(shown) and it thickened up like… a dream… a hemp dream. Very creamy. The dish did have a weird taste which my wife and I attributed to the fact that I put kale into the mix. Not sure if that was it or the combination of the cheese and hemp milk- more experiments to come on this recipe, which isn’t ready for prime time… I KNOW the kids wouldn’t have eaten it, so I tried it on a night where it was my turn to cook and after the kids had been at a birthday party- so had already eaten. I think it would have been better without the kale and maybe some red peppers instead. The kale was an awesome addition, but it’s distinct flavor… with the rest… not so good. The cheese sauce was made with a rue and a little bit of queso fresco and colby jack cheese… even though we did start cutting cheese our of our diet… but I hate to see things to waste. Instead of just throwing it away- I thought of it as “making room for some non-dairy cheeses” in our cheese drawer. The weird flavor could have also been from the queso fresco and colby jack and kale and hemp milk combo… not sure… we ate it and think it is worth experimentation in the future… so that is something.
I tried it for breakfast as a beverage with the kids. I have just replaced their typical small glass of milk with rice, soy, almond and now hemp milk- and this one didn’t work at all. To me, original Hemp Dream isn’t drinkable by itself. To our oldest daughter, 5, who said, “something is wrong with the milk… it is going to make me throw up” referring to the taste AND then pointed out the hemp? chunks in the glass after she drank half of it. I tend to agree. The texture is… well… a little chunky to just drink alone. Maybe I didn’t shake it enough? Our son, 2, took a tiny sip… and while he didn’t spit it out… was done.
My wife picked this up at the local Kowalski’s Market. It was a little expensive. I know they have vanilla in addition the original flavor that we tried, but I don’t think they had that at Kowalski’s.