Vegan with a Vengeance Recipes
Posted by willwolf on Jun 05, 2008 · Member since Apr 2003 · 596 posts
I thought perhaps it would be a good idea to start one central thread here for VWAV recipe reviews. There seem to be a bunch of threads on individual recipes, but I think it would be easier to have all of the reviews in one place.
Last night, I made Isa Pizza, which I've made several times before, and it was fabulous as always. I had to cook my pizza in a toaster oven as I haven't had a working oven for a while now (too long!!), and it came out beautifully. I just love this pizza. The combination of the pesto and tofu ricotta is sooo tasty. If you haven't made this, what are you waiting for? Go make this awesome pizza now!
I made the White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup earlier today for the first time, and it is quick and easy to throw together and really delicious! The only thing that takes a bit of time is roasting the garlic. Other than that, the actual soup cooks for only a short time. I did have to use canned beans (2 15oz cans), and it still is very tasty. I imagine the soup would be even better with freshly cooked dried beans. This is a thin soup, so if you like your soup thicker, you might want to reduce the broth and/or increase the beans. I did use the entire 2 heads of roasted garlic and liked the end result. The soup is garlicky (though in that smoother and more mellow roasted garlic way) so if you're not that into garlic, you could probably get away with just 1 head. I served this soup with garlic bread and a salad, and it made a nice, lighter dinner. The recipe says it serves 6; I would say it serves 4 portions as a main dish or 6 as a side to another entree like a sandwich.
I made the White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup earlier today for the first time,
I really like this soup too.
I made, or should I say failed to make, the pizza dough last night. I didn't have quite enough all purpose flour so I had to use about a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of white whole wheat flour mixed it. It came out really hard and would not stretch without ripping. I couldn't use it at all and just had to throw it away. Totally my fault I'm sure. My best guess is that I shouldn't have used my kitchen aid to knead it (although I did use the dough hook attachment) and that made it too tough?
I made, or should I say failed to make, the pizza dough last night. I didn't have quite enough all purpose flour so I had to use about a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of white whole wheat flour mixed it. It came out really hard and would not stretch without ripping. I couldn't use it at all and just had to throw it away. Totally my fault I'm sure. My best guess is that I shouldn't have used my kitchen aid to knead it (although I did use the dough hook attachment) and that made it too tough?
I'm sorry to hear that the Pizza Dough was a failure for you. This is my standard pizza dough recipe, and I never have problems. I usually follow the recipe as-is, but I have subbed in a bit of whole wheat flour (maybe 1/2 c) for some of the all-purpose with no issues. I haven't used a stand mixer with a dough hook, but I always use my bread machine for the kneading part. Did you let the dough rest long enough? I know that if you don't let the dough rest very long, it won't be very stretchy (I think she mentions this somewhere in the directions.). Better luck next time!
I made two cookie recipes tonight. The Chocolate Thumbprint cookies and the Sparkle Ginger Cookies. Both came out good but were pretty difficult to work with. There is no way to roll either of those cookie doughs into balls and then flatten them out. They are so sticky and gummy I couldn't get them off my fingers. I had to use a spoon for both recipes and just drop dollops of dough onto the cookie sheets. For the ginger cookies you are supposed to dip one side into sugar but since that was pretty impossible seeing as I couldn't get the dough off my fingers I just sprinkled sugar on top of them once I wrestled the dough onto the sheet. Came out yummy just the same ;)
I made the Sparkled Ginger Cookies a couple weeks ago, and they were super delicious! I loved the crunchy turbinado sugar on top. My cookies turned out perfectly--fairly thin, crispy, chewy, and gingerry, mmmm!
I made the Sparkled Ginger Cookies a couple weeks ago, and they were super delicious! I loved the crunchy turbinado sugar on top. My cookies turned out perfectly--fairly thin, crispy, chewy, and gingerry, mmmm!
did you find the dough extremely sticky and gooey?
did you find the dough extremely sticky and gooey?
Hmmm...let me think. I don't recall having any particular problems with my dough. I was able to roll the dough into balls, though the dough was pretty soft. When I rolled the balls into the turbinado sugar, I did so gingerly (no pun intended) so the balls wouldn't smush and fall apart. If you find the dough too sticky to work with maybe just add a bit more flour and also flour your hands before rolling. Hopefully, next time they'll work out easier for you.
I made the Tofu Dill Sammiches last week and it was way better than I expected. I added slightly more apple cider vinegar and mustard than the recipe calls for. My omni bf loved it too. We're having it for lunch again this week. This is really quick and easy to throw together once you've pressed the tofu. Perfect for weekday lunches.
AC- are you up to making a VWAV recipe review thread? I looked and couldn't find one.
Anyway, reviews!--
Pancakes: for sure my go-to pancake recipe. Perfect every time.
Glazed Orange Scones: fabulous! My dad (he's really into junky foods and sweets) is always asking me to make these and says that they're better than the orange scones from Panera.
White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup: good. Garlicky and smooth, but it needed some zazz. I made some croutons with basil and Italian seasonings and floated those in it with some parsley and carrot shavings, which made it yummier. I'd definitely make it again though--super easy and quick!
Carrot Raisin Muffins: I added some extra raisins, and these were very tasty. Not overly sweet.
Hm..I'm sure I've made more recipes. I'll look through the book and then add more.
AC- are you up to making a VWAV recipe review thread? I looked and couldn't find one.
I don't have VWAV! I do have it on order (but it's a preorder with Vegan Table), so I don't know when I'll get it. I will definitely do it then, though!
:)
Maybe I'll try to put one together in Word, then copy-paste it to here. I'm feeling kinda antsy, so it'll be a nice activity q:
Maybe I'll try to put one together in Word, then copy-paste it to here. I'm feeling kinda antsy, so it'll be a nice activity q:
;)b I'd be happy to update it, if you want to type up all the recipes. You can even just make the list of recipe names, then I can add all the reviews to it. :iloveyou:
Since borrowing this book from the library I made the Black Eyed Bean Croquettes and the Baked Tofu with Pomagranate BBQ Sauce. (Apologies, I know I'm not getting the names exactly right.) In my family, black eyed bean recipes are hit and miss--sometimes we love them and sometimes we don't. Unfortunately, no one liked the croquettes very much and I'm bummed about that since they were fairly easy to prepare. The tofu with bbq sauce was a hit, however. I didn't use the full amount of 5 spice powder since I'm not a big fan of it and substituted smoked paprika instead of liquid smoke. The sauce wasn't a typical bbq sauce but it was yummy and qutie satisfying. I made two blocks of tofu and had sauce left over.
I definitely want to make the mango tofu before I return the book, so I might need to renew it yet again.
Tonight I made the Mango-Ginger Tofu. It was good--I made two blocks of tofu and all of it is gone, and everyone ate it without complaining! The only reason I am disappointed is because it was not as AMAZING as I had hoped (since Isa promised it would be). The mango-ginger marinade is a bit of a time-consuming pain to make--chopping, sauteeing, simmering, adding more stuff and then pureeing--it's something you don't mind doing when you have ripe mangoes on your counter and you're sitting around waiting for delivery or something like that. It's not something to be whipped together on a busy day, that's for sure.
Since I was making this to feed my family, I omitted the jalepeno and substituted canned green chillies. I'm sure that completely ruined one or more flavor dimensions. And for full disclosure I discovered I did not have any limes and had to substitute a lemon instead. However, there were lots of other ingredients involved so I'm not sure my substitutions accounted for the less than completely fabulous results. I also think that the tofu would have been better grilled and would be nice to bring in the marinade to a backyard barbecue.
But--roasting the mango and red pepper strips in the oven and serving it with the tofu really makes the dish, IMO. And this step was so simple. In the future, I might just use a regular easy-to-whip-up tropical type of marinade and serve the tofu with the roasted mango and pepper.
I made the Lemon Corn Waffles tonight for a late dinner, and they're super delicious as I knew they would be! I've had my eye on this recipe ever since I got this book, but I've never got around to making them until tonight. I'm not really big on pancakes/waffles in general, as I'm more of a tofu scramble/biscuits n gravy kind of gal; however, these are undeniably tasty. I did not make the accompanying Blueberry Sauce, as I had no blueberries. I did have a bottle of TJs wild maine blueberry fruit sauce that I topped my waffle with, while my boyfriend just did regular maple syrup with his; either way you top these, they're fantastic! **One note--I did find the waffle batter for these to be much thinner than your usual waffle recipe batter. I debated whether or not I should add a bit more flour. I decided to go with the recipe as written (except for one minor change--I used part whole wheat pastry flour and part all-purpose unbleached flour) and was just extra careful when filling the iron so as not to overflow. Everything worked out perfectly, and the recipe turned out gorgeous, golden waffles. I got 6 large Belgian-style waffles from this recipe. For those of you who don't have this cookbook yet, here's a link to the recipe as posted on PPK, the author's website: http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=181
Thanks for putting together the compilation threads, Allychristine! I find them very useful!! Here's a few more reviews for VWAV.
Sunny Blueberry Corn Muffins - Fabulous!! I made these a few times last year when I had a plethora of blueberries from my CSA and distributed the muffins. Everyone loved them. Great cornbread texture, little bit of sweet, fruitiness from the blueberries, and the added touch of lemon zest. I can't wait to make these again when blueberries are in season.
Corn Chowder - Great recipe that I plan to come back to time again. The red and jalapeno peppers add a nice zing and the potatoes help to thicken the soup to make it nice and hearty. Very tasty!
Chipotle, Corn and Black Bean Stew - comes together easily and the flavors compliment each other well. Very hearty and stands alone as a meal. Excellent with a side of corn bread.
Black Bean, Mushroom, and Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers - Tasty but nothing to knock your socks off. I would leave out the maple syrup next time and add more spices. The vegetable/quinoa combo is great but it just needs more seasoning.
Chickpea Broccoli Casserole - Since I like my food with lots of spice and seasoning, I had to hold myself back from adding anything so I could try it once, as is. Surprisingly, it was quite tasty. The veggies and broth add a nice mild flavor. I might make this again but definitely add herbs and use veg buillion for a deeper flavor. That's just my preference.
Falafel-decent recipe but it hasn't ended my search for the perfect falafel recipe.
Maple-Mustard-Glazed Potatoes and String Beans- Wow! This dish is amazing! Seriously, if you haven't made it yet, do it now. The maple-mustard glaze is delicious. My bf and I left no sauce remaining on our plates since we practically licked them clean.
Brooklyn Pad Thai-Great version of Pad Thai. Not the last one I'll try, but definitely a very good one that I'll probably make again. It's quite easy to make too. I'm not sure I liked the addition of tomato paste to this recipe and you definitely want to use tamarind concentrate and not lime juice. To me, pad thai is all about the tamarind. But hey, this is the Brooklyn version right? Still a great recipe.
Thanks for putting together the compilation threads, Allychristine! I find them very useful!! Here's a few more reviews for VWAV.
You are very welcome. You've added tons of great reviews! I think all of your posts are cookbook recipe reviews! ;) Keep 'em comin'.
Pizza Sauce--I love this pizza sauce! It's so super tasty, much better than anything you could get premade in a jar. The recipe calls for a 22oz can of whole plum tomatoes. However, I've never seen canned tomatoes in this size, so I use a 28oz can and add a bit of extra oregano and thyme. The sauce turns out quite a bit tastier when you spring for high quality plum tomatoes from Italy or California, though you can use regular canned tomatoes in a pinch.
Classic Pesto--I love this pesto! It's so awesome on pasta, gnocchi, pizza, whatever. This version made with walnuts, rather than pine nuts, is also much cheaper to make than your standard pesto.
Big Gigantoid Crunchy Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Cookies--Awesome! Sometimes, I make the gigantoid size, and other times I just make the regular size--either way, they're fantastic!
Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies--Fabulous! I do use the ground flaxseeds for that little bit of extra chewiness. I usually leave out the raisins (just because my boyfriend can't stand them). These make a great fall cookie. However, for pumpkin lovers like me, they're wonderful all year round.
Chocolate Pudding--Yum! This is your classic chocolate pudding. Cornstarch can also be used to thicken the pudding if you don't have arrowroot or tapioca starch. I really like the Chocolate Coconut Pudding variation, as well.
Pancakes--Tasty! I used part whole wheat pastry flour, and that worked fine.
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