...to make these cookies from Dreena Burton. If I'm not, I'm finally posting a cookie photo that has a recipe so you can make them, too. The recipe is posted at Everyday Dish, and there are lots of other great things there, too, so check them out.

We liked these cookies. They were super quick and easy to make. Within a half hour, they were mixed and baked and burning my mouth in that wonderful chocolatey way. The taste is great ( I think that maple syrup and molasses are key in chocolate chip cookies) but the texture was a little soft for me. No crunch at all. Part of that could be because of our incredibly sticky weather right now.

If you haven't tried them, now is the time. You have to bake something while you're waiting for Kelly and Garrick's cookie book to come out!

This is another one from Bourdain's Les Halles and it required minimal veganization. Seriously, how hard is it to replace butter with eb, chicken stock with vegetable stock and cream with soy cream? The garlic and dill are my minor additions, but I really think they enhance the flavor. It makes a tasty, cool soup course that has a rich taste. I'm posting a 1/2 recipe which would easily serve 4 with a salad on the side.



Vichyssoise
2 Tbsp eb
4 leeks, white part only, sliced thinly
1 medium potato, cut into small cubes
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup cream
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch dill
salt and pepper
fresh chives, chopped, for garnish

In a medium, heavy bottomed saucepan, melt the eb. Add the leeks and sweat for about 5 minutes, but don't let them change color. Add the potato cubes and crushed garlic, cooking for about 2 more minutes. Stir in the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer. Cook at a low simmer on low heat for about 1/2 an hour, until the leeks and potato are very soft. Allow to cool for a few minutes before the next step.

Using a blender or food processor, very carefully puree the soup in small batches. Make sure the lid is on the blender and do not fill more than 1/2 full. When it's all blended, return to the cooking post, whisk in the cream, nutmeg and dill. Add the salt and pepper (I used both liberally). Return to a boil, turn down and simmer for 5 minutes. If it's too thick, add a little more stock to thin it out. Then let cool and refrigerate. Serve topped with chives.

Just in case you were wondering, I've made a couple more cookie recipes for testing, too! These are both for Autumn Vegan and Garrick. The Wedding Cookies are melt-in-your-mouth bites of goodness. Yum! The Kolaches are good, too.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Jam Kolaches

Dinner tonight: It depends on the Farmer's Market and our CSA pickup. Stay tuned!

from Veganomicon

Ice cream used to be a big thing in my life. We had a hand crank ice cream maker for as long as I can remember. For the 4th of July, we'd always get it out and take turns cranking. We'd nearly fight over who got to lick the dasher. Then the ice cream would get packed in more ice and burlap bags and put in the shade to 'ripen' for the whole day. The waiting nearly drove me crazy. So ice cream isn't just for eating in my world, it's really an activity, filled with anticipation and expectations, and followed by that wonderful reward.

It's no surprise that I had my doubts about the V'con ice cream recipe. Not only is my childhood a lot to live up to, this recipe has coconut milk in it and I absolutely hate coconut. I hate it to the point that I think I can taste it sometimes in things that don't have it, so I guess my hatred is coupled with coconutophobia. But Isa and Terry haven't steered me wrong yet, so I gave it a try. I'm so glad I did! I went with the Any Berry variation and did a 1/2 and 1/2 mix of strawberries and blueberries. I couldn't believe how good it was. I even tasted the vanilla base before adding the fruit... just as a test...and the coconut was so muted that I could barely taste it. When it's churned, it's wonderfully creamy and not icy like some homemade vegan ice creams can be.

These days I pull out the Cuisinart Ice Cream machine that I got for my birthday a few years ago and almost feel like I'm cheating. Then I watch it churn. I guess old habits die hard. All it takes is one taste and I don't care if it is cheating.

BBQ Soy Curl Sandwich

I finally got around to making BBQ Soy Curls after drooling over KatieJayne's at the PPK. These are really good, and I'd make them all the time if I wasn't so hooked on bbq seitan. Knowing me, I'll usually make it with seitan and sub curls every once in a while. I really like soy curls but think they're better as a short than as a full length feature.

On the side is a last minute broccoli salad, loosely based on the old omni standby. It goes kind of like this-
Steam broccoli lightly then run it under cold water. Add whatever other vegetables you want (I used onions, celery, carrots, cucumbers), some fancier stuff to make it interesting (grapes and toasted pine nuts) in a mayo/apple vinegar slaw style dressing. So easy and so customizable.

I looked at this Sweet Chili Lime Tofu recipe when it was first posted and for some reason, I thought I needed mirin to make it. I was out. Apparently you don't, but I put off making it because I was having a tourette's reading moment and kept inserting mirin into that recipe. When I finally READ it and made it...wow! This is so good and will be a regular. It fits my 'asian and spicy' needs and Jim's 'just not a stir fry' attitude really well. The recipe is from Vegan Yum Yum. I used chard for the greens, rice for the quinoa (with no extra seasoning) but threw some thai basil into the mix. I have a hard time following a recipe word-for-word, unless it's for testing, of course!

By the way, I just bought a small bottle of mirin- for over $5! It's not like I was buying gas or something. Geez.

How about another Teese Pizza? This one was pretty much perfect: onions, mushrooms, peppers, black olives and some gimme lean sausage. Here you see it, in all it's glory. I cracked my last tube and am going to have to place another mega order. If you haven't tried Teese Cheese, what are you waiting for?

CSA 1/2 Share

We finally joined a CSA! After a not-so-good experience about 18 years ago, we finally tried again. This is what we got in our first week! Can you believe it? We went out to the farm and helped pick our vegetables... and to think it's only going to get better over the summer! There were also some scapes that aren't in the picture but made it into the amazing seitan dinner we had.


Seitan with Scapes, Peas and Mushrooms
Serves 3 generously

8 oz chicken seitan, cut in strips
2 - 3 Tbsp olive oil
5 scapes, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
1 shallot, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup fresh peas (as fresh and sweet as possible!)
1 1/2 cups mushrooms, sliced thinly
1 cup white wine
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 Tbsp nooch
1 tsp herbes de provence, dried
1 tsp thyme, dried
salt and pepper

Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a pan. Lightly brown the seitan strips, then remove from the pan. Saute the scapes and shallots, then add the garlic and mushrooms and a pinch of salt. Add the last Tbsp of oil if you need it. When nearly cooked, add the cup of wine with the seitan strips and reduce to about 1/2. Turn down, then add the rest of the ingredients and cook until it's saucy. Adjust seasonings and serve over pasta or rice.

I've got to say, this is probably one of my top 10 recipes of all time. Nothing incredibly original, but the way this comes together is incredible. The peas and scapes were both from our CSA. They were the sweetest peas I've ever had!

Speaking of sweet, how about a Chewy Spicy Ginger Cookie? Another yummy tester from Autumn Vegan and Garrick. Their book just keeps getting better and better!

This is probably crazy, but I'm going to post a recipe that didn't make me do backflips. Jim loved it. The whole idea of butter on seitan sounded good to me, but the more I tried it, the weirder I thought it was. I liked the butter part and I liked the seitan, but together, not so much. That said, I'd love the butter on some vegetables or a baked potato, or used to enrich a sauce. So while this isn't a total loss, it's a veganized Bourdain that I'm not even sending to Hezbollah Tofu. That should really tell you what I think of it.

Check out the side dish, now that's good stuff! It's Shiitake Risotto for Yellow Rose Recipes II.


The original recipe for the entree is on page 129 in Les Halles. It's basically a grilled seitan cutlet topped with wine butter. This makes a lot of wine butter, so feel free to half the recipe or just keep it knocking around for other (better) uses.

Faux-Filet au Berre Rouge, Vegan Style

The Butter
1/4 cup red wine
1 shallot, chopped finely
1 stick of earth balance, softened
1 sprig of parsely, chopped finely
salt and pepper

The Marinade
1 clove garlic, sliced
1/4 cup red wine
1 Tbsp tamari
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp parsley (dried)
salt and pepper

4-6 oz seitan cutlets, one per person

Make the butter first. Combine the wine and shallots in a small frying pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until the wine has almost all evaporated, but don't let the shallots burn. Let it cool, then mix with the softened butter and salt and pepper. The book suggests a food processor, but I didn't need it. Either it was really hot here that day (it was) or I'm a better mixer than he is or both. Dump all your butter on a big piece of saran wrap, and work it into a log (using the saran) about an inch thick. Wrap it tightly and pop it in the fridge until it is hard enough to cut.

Combine all the marinade ingredients and let the seitan cutlets marinade for an hour or as long as you can. Then just grill them. Top with a little pat of wine butter.

Apparently they do serve steaks with butter on them, or at least in Jim's memory of his youth they did in the Northeast. This really wasn't my thing. Both parts are better than the whole so try it at your own risk. Then again, you might really like it. Jim did... and believe me, he can be very honest about my cooking so I trust him.

I think I'm going to go have a cookie to boost my spirits. It takes a lot of courage to post a recipe that you're not crazy about. Then again, somebody (besides Jim) may love it!

Tonight's Dinner: Pasta and Beans

If you've never tried scapes before, now is the time! Like fiddleheads (which I haven't had the courage to buy), these don't have an extended season. They're actually the tops of garlic and are delicious tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper and grilled. We've also enjoyed them in stir frys (cut them into 1 inch or so pieces for that) and in pesto. I'm sure I've only scratched the surface of uses, but the good news is that it's early in the season.

If you have a favorite way of fixing scapes, please let me know!

Easy No Bake Cashew Oatmeal Cookies

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

Cranberry Almond Cookies

Cashew Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I've really kept you in suspense, haven't I? To make matters even more challenging, keep in mind that these are all tester recipes for Autumn Vegan and Garrick's Cookie Book. In other words, you'll have to wait until 2009 to get your hands on the recipes.

Those of you who know me will be surprised to see that 3 of these 4 are made with nuts or nut butters. I'm really trying to learn to like nuts and the best way seems to be in cookie form. It's Nut Therapy through Cookies. Considering how delicious ALL of these are, it's working.

You have, too, if you've ever eaten artichokes. After having these today for lunch, I wiki'd for information. My big question was "who in the hell ever figured out you could eat these?" They're more work to eat than they are to prepare, or perhaps that's a fluke and this is just an incredible easy tester recipe that Isa whipped up. By the way, the recipe is Simple Artichokes with Ginger and Chervil.

It is believed that artichokes (which are actually perennial thistles) were first found in North Africa where they still grow wild. They popped up several places between then and when they were introduced by the Dutch to Henry VIII. In the 19th Century, they show up in the U.S., in Louisiana and California.

PSA: Apparently if you eat too many of them you can end up like Queen Catherine de Medici. A journal from 1576 says that she "ate so much that she thought she would die, and was very ill with diarrhea. they said it was from eating too many artichoke bottoms." Thank you, wiki!

So I'm no longer an artichoke virgin. These are unique and delicious and I'm glad I tried them for the first time in the privacy of my own home. Considering the mess I made eating them, I'd never order them in public. But at home, they're tasty and fun.

Chicken Salad (tester) for YRR and Gazpacho

Last night's super quick dinner was Chicken Salad, a tester for YRR II that is a standby, and gazpacho. I love gazpacho. Each time I make it, it's a little different, but I think yesterday's batch is the best ever. Here's the recipe.

Great Gazpacho
Makes A Lot
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes with chilis (Muir Glen)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 32 oz bottle Veggie Juice (tomato based, but your choice)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 a red pepper, diced
1/2 an onion, diced
1/2 a cucumber, cut in quarter moons
1 Tbsp fresh dill
2 Tbsp fresh basil
1 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp vinegar (I use a combo of red wine and balsamic)
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1/2 tsp celery salt
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all these together and let it sit in the fridge to blend. It's always better the second day, just be sure to adjust the seasonings. Some people like some of the soup blenderized, but we like it chunky with crunches of fresh vegetables. If you have fresh tomatoes, just sub them and add some diced jalapenos.

Tonight's Dinner: Shittake Risotto with something else.

for Crack of Noon (tester)

...and honest, they're coming. I've made 3 kinds lately, but want to wait and really give you a sugar rush when I finally post them. A vicarious sugar rush, because of course, I won't be able to post the recipes because they're all testers. But hang in there. They're coming.

Instead, check out this fantabulous Caramelized Onion Quiche (tester) for Crack of Noon. The texture, the taste, the all around greatness of this is mind-boggling. Barely peeking out from the side is a Roasted Green Bean and Red Pepper Salad. I came up with that on the fly. After all, it's 90 degrees and the oven is already on, how about throwing one more pan in there?

Roasted Green Bean and Red Pepper Salad
Clean enough green beans to serve 2 as a side dish. Slice half a red pepper into strips. Toss these ingredients with salt and pepper and a little bit of olive oil. Put in the oven at whatever temp the cohabitating dish needs. I'd say it takes about 1/2 an hour at 350 (so less time at a higher temperature) until done. You get the idea. When it's done, take it out of the oven and dump them into a bowl. Add 1/4 tsp dried dill, the juice from 1/2 a lemon, and a clove or two of crushed garlic. Grate a little bit of carrot in then let it cool, or refrigerate if you prefer. Check seasoning and serve. This would be great with asparagus, too.

from Quick Fix Vegetarian (sort of)

Last night's dinner was this Stuffed Portobello Mushroom, loosely based on Quick Fix Vegetarian from Robin Richardson. I tried a marinated Teese, Cherry Tomato and Basil skewer. It was ok. Next time, I'd do something similar but in appetizer form. It would be better with a piece of Teese wrapped in a basil leaf, sandwiched between two halves of a cherry tomato and all stuck on a toothpick. A great all-in-one-bite!

Tonight's dinner: Gazpacho and Chicken Salad Sandwiches. Remember- the cookies are coming!

This week I've learned to make the best Ice Coffee Ever, and so can you. It takes a little planning ahead (and a whole lotta ground coffee!), but the taste is amazing. It all starts with Toddy. Here's the recipe that Elissa posted at the PPK. I'll post it as written, but you might want to check out my asterisked notes below. Thanks a lot, Elissa!

Cold-Brewed Coffee
1/2 pound medium ground coffee -- darker roasts or coffee with chicory work best*
5 cups cold water

Pour coffee into a deep bowl or pot. Add water, stir to mix and cover. Allow to steep between 8 and 12 hours. Pour mixture through a fine-meshed sieve or coffee filter. Repeat filtering process twice if necessary.

Makes 3 cups coffee concentrate.

To make iced coffee:**

Add 1/4 cup coffee concentrate into 12-16 ounce glass. Add 1 cup cold water OR fill the glass with ice cubes. Add 3/4 cup - 1 cup soy milk of choice and stir.

One batch of concentrate makes 12 servings.

*I used Green Mountain Breakfast Blend coffee, because it is one of our favorites.

**To make even better Iced Coffee, this is what I did:
Fill glass 1/2 way with ice. Add 1/4 cup of toddy, 2 spoonfuls of sugar, and top with soymilk. Mmmmm! Now that I think about this, it sounds a lot like the 'coffee' my grandmother used to make when I'd stay at her house. It was basically a tiny bit of coffee and a whole bunch of sugar and milk.

from Just the Food

For a fast and easy lunch, we had Joni's Cheater Mac 'n' Cheeze. Whoa. This stuff is good. Really addictive, too. For the recipe, check out her awesome blog. This can be on the table in almost as little time as it takes to cook the noodles. If you pick mini wagon wheels, that's pretty quick.

Tonight's Dinner: Stuffed Portobellos. This weekend: more tester recipes!

for Crack of Noon (tester)

These have just the right sweetness, a great blend of berries and fantastic texture. They're also a tester for Crack of Noon.

Not a whole lot more to say about them except that they're pretty much perfect. Who needs a bakery when you can make them yourself?

For Hezbollah Tofu

Do you believe it? I wonder how awkward it was for Anthony Bourdain to actually publish a vegan recipe here and there in his book. I'm thinking it must have been traumatic and probably gave him more nightmares than all his days of butchering. Does he have other vegan skeletons in his closet or is this recipe is just a fluke? The book gives the original restaurant version and also "Tante Jeanne's" variation. The recipe below is a combination of both.

Tomato Salad
Serves 6

2 # heirloom tomatoes, cored, cut into wedges and deseeded
coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp good olive oil (recipe calls for 1/4 cup, but you don't need all that)
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
10-15 leaves fresh basil, torn

Place the tomato wedges in a colander and sprinkle with 1/2 Tbsp salt and 1/2 Tbsp freshly ground pepper. Let sit for 30 minutes, then brush off and remove from colander.

Mix crushed garlic, oil and vinegar in a bowl. Whisk together. Add tomatoes, shallots and basil leaves. Toss with dressing and adjust seasonings.

Bourdain's Book Notes:
This salad breaks down after a couple of hours so he doesn't suggest making it ahead of time.

Rather than actually add crushed garlic to the dressing, he just wipes the bowl with a slightly crushed garlic clove. I think that's wimpy and rather have it in the dressing.

The original recipe calls for 1 red onion (no shallots) sliced thinly and salted for 1/2 an hour just like the tomatoes. Squeeze out excess water before using.

"Tante Jeanne" is the one who uses shallots. She also uses red wine vinegar instead of balsamic and parsley instead of basil. Tomatoes and basil are a match made in heaven and I'm not about to break up that marriage. However, they might be open to inviting parsley to join them next time if I happen to have some.

Now from a gourmet salad to a diner Teese Seitan Steak Sub. This was today's lunch, shown topless and smothered with mushrooms, peppers and onions. Awesome!

Tonight's Dinner: probably Pad Thai.

Pasta Fresca

This is one of those no-brainer recipes that almost doesn't deserve to be written down. Except that it's so good. And it's perfect in the summer when you want to heat up the kitchen as little as possible.

Pasta Fresca
Serves 4

2 pints cherry tomatoes, cut in 1/2
1/4 cup olive oil (you can get away with 2 Tbsp if the tomatoes are juicy)
a really big handful fresh basil, chopped
6-8 big cloves of garlic, sliced
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper
1 # pasta, cooked according to directions

Throw everything together except the pasta and let it sit on your counter for at least an hour, but all day is better. When you're ready to eat, cook the pasta, toss it all together, check your seasonings and serve.

We had it with Italian Baked Tofu from Vegan with a Vengeance. In case you don't have the book, I searched the web and found the recipe for you here.

The leftover marinade was perfect pured over the sauteed asparagus for the last few minutes of cooking, making this a super easy but delicious dinner.

Tonight's dinner: Grilling if it isn't too hot. If it is, Vegan Dad's Tempeh Burgers (finally!).

Strawberry Tart

To celebrate, I made strawberry tarts. You know those tarts you always see in the bakery? Usually with a bunch of different fruit? I've never seen them vegan and even when I used to buy them before going vegan, they never tasted as good as they looked. This one is the answer.

I used the Best Pie Crust,Ever from Have Cake Will Travel (thanks, Celine!) which is a delight to work with! After baking and cooling, I used this filling, then topped with berries. The filling also makes a fantastic fruit dip!

Tart Filling
Makes enough for 4 small tarts

1/3 cup sour cream (tofutti)
1/3 cream cheese (tofutti)
1-2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 vanilla bean (cut and scraped, just the insides)

Mix all that together with a handmixer, or by hand. Test for sweetness before adding the 2nd Tbsp of sugar, so you can be sure to get it to your taste.

Variations:
Sub Ricemellow for the sour cream and taste before adding any sweeteners.
Or omit the vanilla bean scrapings and add a little fresh grated lemon peel.

If you have extra pie crust, make these little yummies! Just roll out the dough, spread with eb
then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. My mom has been making
these forever and they totally hit the spot.

Here's a little update on the Grilled Seitan Steaks for Hezbollah Tofu. The other night we were crunched for time. Rather than a long marinade time, I used crushed garlic and dried herbs. I let it sit as long as I could, then took out the seitan and browned it on both sides. Dumped the marinade back in and let it simmer until it was absorbed or evaporated, before topping with that delicious onion/parsley persillade. We might even like this version better.

Tonight's dinner: Pasta Fresca. Hello, hot and humid weather!

Chewy Spicy Molasses Cookies

I was trying to wait to post these pictures until I had a chance to make a few more kinds of cookies, so I could blow your mind with even more cookie goodness. My plan was to bake this morning, but it turns out we lost our electricity because of a thunderstorm and now I have to leave in an hour so I didn't get any baking done! However, the electricity is back on now and I do have time to post these most recent pictures which will just whet your appetite for the next cookie post, right?

Deep Dark Chocolate Truffle Cookies

The molasses cookies are fall in a cookie. If gingerbread morphed into cookies, it would hope to taste like these. The truffle cookies might be the darkest chocolate cookie that I ever tasted. Rick and wonderful!

Both recipes are testers for Kelly and Garrick's Cookie Book. I don't know how they do it, but they just keep coming up with more and more delicious stuff.

Talk about the star of the show! I had high hopes for this dish and it didn't let me down. It's elegant, easy and full of flavor. But I've noticed that I may be getting into a bit of cooking rut. I seem to do a lot of 'cook the seitan, make the sauce, throw it together' kinds of dinners. They've almost become a go-to kind of thing, but this one is more like a destination dinner.

Seitan Provencal
Serves 3

3 chicken seitan cutlets (mine were about 3-4 oz each)

Marinade-
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1/2 cup white wine
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1/4 tsp lemon pepper
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp herbes de provence
1 Tbsp agave
1 tsp mustard
salt and pepper

1-2 Tbsp oil for the pan for frying the seitan

Sauce -
3 shallots, sliced thin
1/4 cup black olives, sliced in rounds
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes, julienned (I used the kind in oil, but reconstituted would work fine)
1 1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced thin
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp herbes de provence
remaining marinade + garlic

This is super easy. Throw the marinade together and let your cutlets sit in it for an hour or as long as you can wait.

When you're ready for dinner, heat the oil in the frying pan. Strain the cutlets/marinade so you get the garlic out. Keep the marinade and the garlic separate.

Pan fry the cutlets until golden. Remove from pan, leaving any remaining oil in it.

Add the garlic and the shallots and saute until done. Add the sundried tomatoes, olives and mushrooms. When the mushrooms are lightly cooked, add the white wine and reduce. Add the rest of the herbs and the remaining marinade.

Check seasonings, add the cutlets back in and let simmer about 10 - 15 minutes. It will thicken slightly. Serve over pasta and drizzle some of the extra sauce over the cutlet. Garnish with parsley if you're in the mood for that.

This is one of those dinners that make it look like you worked really hard when you didn't.

In other weekend food, check out this Red Flannel Hash, a Crack of Noon tester. It's a great side! It looks a little scary when you're making it, like Lizzie Borden got involved with the chopping. But the taste and texture are awesome.

Tonight's dinner: possibly a stir fry over peanut noodles.