VW'S 2012 COOKING CHALLENGE IS BACK HERE IS THE LIST!!! WEEK 8
We have all decided this cooking challenge will begin Monday 1/9/12 and end 12 weeks later on Sunday 4/1/12.
Each week will consist of 2 ingredients and 2 themes specified below. You can use however many ingredients/ themes specified for the given week.
Example for Week 1: You could use both black beans and mango (Ingredients) and the Caribbean/ Tropical (Theme) in 1 dish or you could just make 1 dish focusing on black beans.
Try to make a dish a day if possible or hit all 4 specified items that week.
Please try to take pictures if you are able and upload them. If not, it is still ok, a recipe review works fine (But ya'll know we vegans like some food porn).
On to the List:
Week 1 (1/9/12-1/15/12): Mango, Black beans, A cookbook(s) you haven't used since going vegan, and Caribbean/Tropical
Week 2 (1/16/12-1/22/12): Miso, Shrooms, Bryanna Clark Grogan, Chinese
Week 3 (1/23/12-1/29/12): Cayenne pepper, Buckwheat, Dip/ Condiment, Ethiopian
Week 4 (1/30/12-2/5/12): Leeks, Pineapple, Fusion cuisine, Soup
Week 5 (2/6/12-2/12/12): Lentils/Split Peas/ Dried Beans, Millet, Indian, DIY Milk and Ice Cream
Week 6 (2/13/12-2/19/12): Asparagus, Tempeh, Donna Klein, Italian/ Mediterranean
Week 7 (2/20/12-2/26/12): Silken Tofu, Cashew, Isa/Terry, Latin
Week 8 (2/27/12-3/4/12): Jackfruit, Coconut, Crockpot, Moroccan
Week 9 (3/5/12-3/11/12): Cabbage, Fresh Herbs (Mint, Thai Basil, Thyme), Raw, Salad (Pasta, Kale, Coleslaw, etc)
Week 10 (3/12/12-3/18/12): Eggplant, Chile Peppers, Robin Robertson,Thai
Week 11 (3/19/12-3/25/12): Quinoa, Amaranth, Colleen Patrick G., Meatloaf/ Loaf/ Roast
Week 12 (3/26/12-4/1/12): Broccoli, Polenta, Fermented/ Pickled, Blog/Online/VWRecipes
Post your stuffs on here!
OMG YAY!!!!!
Amylove, you're slacking..............what did you cook?
i am trying to catch up :( i will post soon... so far i've done 2 recipes with black beans, mango, and 2 caribbean/ tropical... i might incorporate the not used cookbook with week 2... the whole vw meltdown and my computer crashing has put me a bit behind, especially since i would like to upload the pics i took :/
We shall welcome you back, Ames!
I probably will not do anything else from this week, other than regular mushrooms. Miso, gross! I'm going to plan next week today.
eta: and I mean both Amys! <3 I was going to try to do a BCG waffle recipe today (don't have any of her books), but her websites/blogs just really annoy me. So, I'll just stick with the Chinese/mushrooms for this week.
Omg!! I just realized next week is Ethiopian, and I just received my Papa Tofu Loves Ethiopian cooking zine from Kittee! Excellent timing.
That's awesome AC. There's an Ethiopian that sells food at the market on Saturday and noticed he put up a sign in front of some of his food that says "vegan". I always stop by there when I go there.
For the Bryanna and mushroom aspects I used her cookbook World Vegan Feast and made Vietnamese "Fisherman's Soup"....this was pretty good in that it had a lot of ooomph to it...it has pineapple, shitake mushrooms, tofu, tomatoes, lemongrass, tamarind, mint just to name a few. It was a bit weird to me in that it didn't taste remotely "Asian" to me..probably because of the pineapple and tomatoes. But it was good nonetheless.
I made another thing that used miso..."spicy peanut sauce" for dipping spring rolls in. It has water, miso, peanut butter and hot Thai chilies. I enjoyed it fine.
That complete's this week's challenge for me as I made something using all 4 categories. We'll see what the rest of the week brings, but I'm working 12-hour shifts the next two days and eating leftovers and not cooking. We'll see if I jump ahead this weekend or stay with this challenge, or just cook something unrelated to the challenge.
So far so good. :)
Tweety - was that peanut sauce also from World Vegan Feast?
For week #1 Black Beans, Mango, Caribbean/Tropical, and Cookbook(s) you never used, I incorporated the first 3...
This was not a good week for cooking for me... most were fails...
Black Beans 1: I made VW's Cilantro Lime Tofu and Black Beans. I baked my tofu with half the marinade and sauted the beans with the other half... Too limey, I didn't like it much :( masked it homemade guac with other stuffs it was edible
Black Beans 2: I made a recipe I knew was good as I have made it before, the VeganMouse's Mini Wet Burritos ... I made them casserole style by just layering the tortillas this time instead of making them like enchiladas... Much easier and held together better, will always make them this way next time.
Caribbean/ Tropical: I made Gallo Pinto from Viva Vegan and doubled the rice but added too much additional liquid smoke and vegan worchestire that it turned out mushy (I never add the veggie broth she mentions either)... I also made Ethnic Vegan's Jerk Tofu that was ok... Tofu was baked and not as firm as I prefer... Will not bother making again :(
Mango: I made Mango Coconut Ice Cream ... Disappointing even though I used full fat coconut milk. The mango didn't shine through and the ice cream was still rock hard when frozen... Looks like I will be making fruity milkshakes to get through it.
This week should be awesome as I am good at cooking Asian stuffs I already have some recipes planned and a few made... Sorry for slacking!
Tweety - was that peanut sauce also from World Vegan Feast?
No. I probably should have clarified. It's from the Asian Vegan Kitchen...it went along with the transparent spring rolls.
ok!
i am going to be able to combine 5 items into 1 dish! From last week cookbook not used since going vegan, this week miso, shrooms, bryanna clark grogan... i think miso soup is japanese not chinese though so i am going to make the corn and tofu soup recipe fb sent me... From World Vegan Kitchen i'm making Potato and Mushroom Miso Soup tomorrow!
Ethiopian fest, anyone? ;)
For dip:
Carrot Butter from Vegan Vittles: I don’t know what I was expecting, but this kind of tasted like thick soup. I used it as a dip for crackers. My favourite was definitely the maple-cinnamon combo but R preferred the savoury version with nooch.
For buckwheat:
Buckwheaties from Choosing Raw: I didn’t really know what to expect but I really like these! Kind of like popped buckwheat. Mine were crispy after dehydrating and worked well with plain milk and berries for breakfast.
Recipe here: http://www.choosingraw.com/buckwheat-cereal-and-almond-milk/
For Ethiopian and cayenne(in my berbere):
Ethiopian Split Pea Puree from Olive Trees and Honey: Really enjoyed this. Used half a green chili and still mild (as it should be). Used half the oil and it still tasted very rich. Very similar to my favourite in a local resto so this recipe is a keeper. It is a mild stew, but not distracting. I forgot to mash it but it still tastes great. Next time will mash for a coarse puree. This was better than the Kik Alicha that I made from Papa Tofu (it was too savoury with cinnamon, etc).
Ethiopian Warm Cabbage and Green Beans from NY Times: I used my own niter kibbeh (from Papa Tofu) instead of the provided recipe and just used 1 tbsp instead of ½ cup. The ginger makes this spicy but otherwise very flavourful cabbage and green beans (used 1 lb of Napa cabbage and 1 lb of green beans). Worked well when I stirred with the split pea puree.
Recipe here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/dining/12vegerex2.html?ref=dining
Mini Injera from Celebrate Vegan: Complete flop. Not sure what went wrong but the pancakes were too holey and took way too long to cook to make it a feasible option. Also the directions were unclear as to proper temperature, length of time, etc. Would not make this again. Ended up trying to “Scramble” the batter instead but that didn’t work out well either.. although that’s how we ended up eating it anyhow. :P
Recipe here: http://girliegirlarmy.com/nosh/20100607/ethiopian-collards-on-mini-injeras/
Now, that's what I call a challenge! Awesome, bn.
btw, would you be interested in a Papa Tofu review? I'm a bit intimidated by it, as it's completely foreign to me!
Yeah, we hosted 2 back-to-back parties (one afternoon, one evening) and made a ton of Ethiopian food to feed both sets of friends. Because the injera didn't turn out R ended up running out to try to buy some but all the Ethiopian stores were closed or out of injera.... so he ended up in Little India buying some roti. ;) The injera scramble was kind of different though!
I'd love a Papa Tofu review. I didn't really like the yekik alicha in there, but not because it didn't taste good. It just didn't taste like the one I wanted to duplicate from the resto! Mesir wot #2 was pretty good, though! I found it a bit spicy with the 1 tsp of berbere. The nitter kibbeh recipe is great, though. We made a whole batch with one tub of Earth Balance and now pull it out whenever we want an Ethiopian stew.
For the dips/condiments - I made a nice Creamy spinach and white bean dip from Big Vegan. It was easy to make and had spinach, white beans and tomatoes. Spread very well on cracker and rye bread.
For Ethiopian and cayenne - I made a tasty Ethiopian lentil salad from World Vegetarian. The dressing is crushed mustard seeds, pepper, cayenne, lemon juice and olive oil.
Buckwheat - I've decided I don't like buckwheat but appreciate the challenge because I've never made it before. It could be the dish I picked was boring. I picked Kash Varnishkes from Vegan Deli which is simply the groats, pasta and caramelized onions. I thought it would make a nice side dish, but meh.
Not doing very well this week. :\ I was not at all prepared for doing authentic Ethiopian (getting there!), could not find buckwheat flour (only have buckwheat pancake mix on hand), and didn't have anything to dip in a spread. Cayenne is just kind of a given..
I am making soup with homemade broth, so maybe that can count for next week.
You can always grind buckwheat groats in a food processor to make flour, AC. I have a buckwheat bake I want to make, too, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
Hmm. Seem to be plum out of buckwheat groats, as well. ;)
i am behind as well... lets try to catch up... hopefully i will this weekend or early next week when my friend isn't staying with me... i have all the recipes picked out and most of the ingredients on hand =/
Yeah, there is totally time to catch up, guys! No stress!
I made this today:
Apple Spice Buckwheat Protein Bake from Edible Perspective:
Except I made lots of subs: pumpkin puree for the apple sauce, ground my chia seeds, added 1/2 tsp blackstrap molasses and found I needed an additional 3 tbsp of almond milk to get the proper consistency. It is not very sweet at all, but I liked it with the apple chunks. I like it, though.. like a dense muffin.
Recipe here: http://edibleperspective.com/2012/01/protein-stuffed-buckwheat-bakes/
now i have the flu on top of the other issues :( i promise to catch up soon!
Aw...get well Amy...sux.....
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