cookbook challenge, finale!

So I reached my goal...a few days after the solstice. I took the cookbook challenge, using Edward Espe Brown's Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings, cooking usually 3 recipes each week for an entire 3 month season.
There are still more recipes I'd like to try. But I'll be taking a needed break from cookbooks! This exercise reminded me that I should shuffle my cookbook around more often, and definitely pull out those few that I've barely used.
For the month of October I'll be officially participating in VeganMofo (vegan month of food) for the first time. I don't really have a theme in mind, but I post frequently enough and pretty much always on the topic of veganism in some fashion, so I don't need to do much to prepare.
Given the kids return to school and lots of stuff happening in general, I was feeling rather out of steam this last week. But luckily I had everything on hand to cook a final three recipes...

This Chinese Cabbage
Salad with Oranges
and Mint was not my
favourite, but it was
honestly better than I'd
expected. The orange and
cabbage together was a nice
combo.

What never ceased to amaze and confuse me was the authors use of salt on salads but not in most other dishes. I just HAD to add a touch of salt to these Tofu Burritos. The avocado and salsa was a tasty suggestion, but little salt for the tofu and to bring out the flavour of the avocado was a necessity in my opinion.
Only AJ was excited about these but then didn't eat more than a few bites. I think the red pepper turn him off. Everyone else demolished them...in fact I ran out of tortillas and only got one burrito for myself, sigh.

Another often simple
recipe from the book
to end on a fresh note:
the Garden Salad. Nice
fresh greens & herbs,
tangy balsamic vinegar,
with extra zing from
a shallot, topped with
sunflower seeds.

Thank you Edward Espe Brown for your gift of recipes and stories to the world. It was a pleasure reading and now finally cooking through your book! Bon appetit!

cookbook challenge, weeks 11& 12

A little behind again! But
since Ryan stayed home
with a stomach virus today,
I can finally catch up...

Black Beans with Garlic and Cumin is even easier
if you cheat like I did and
use canned beans. This is
certainly simple and tasty as is, but in the future it would make a great filling for enchiladas, burritos, etc. Nothing with lots of garlic and onions can be bad, right?!

We've been getting heaps
of cucumbers from the
farm lately, so I tried
this bare bones recipe
for Cucumber Salad. I
really hesitate to even
refer to this one as a recipe
it's so basic, but that's
okay, it was a way to use
up some cucumbers.

And so was this Cucumber
and Yogurt Salad. I had a
WholeSoy plain unsweetened
yogurt that was perfect for
this. Yogurt, mint, pepper...
refreshing!

And I've been combing the
discount racks at the back
of the supermarket for cheap produce lately to save money...

This Sauteed Zucchini
served to remind me that
sometimes it really is
best to keep things simple.
I didn't have any fresh basil
left in the fridge, so I used
dried, and it was still just
delicious.

I scored a big package of
slightly sprouting red
potatoes too, and used
them to make Oven-Fried
Potatoes. Nothing unusual
about this recipe at all, but
the suggestion to sprinkle
them with cider vinegar at
the end reminded me of my
days visiting Baltimore as a teenager. Boardwalk Fries introduced me to the concept of fries and vinegar, which is quite amazing in my opinion.

Up until this week, I'd
really only made one
recipe so far from Tomato
Blessings and Radish
Teachings that I didn't
care for, which I think is
pretty good considering
how many I've made.
However, these New Flaky
Biscuits fall into the "will
never bother with again"
category. But to be fair, I substituted a stick of cold Earth Balance for the butter, and one servings of prepared egg replacer powder for the egg. I was already hesitant to make these with the suggested whole wheat flour, but regardless, they didn't rise and they were really dry. Though AJ called them cookies, so I guess they weren't that bad. Topped with raspberry jam, or white bean hummus & cherry tomato halves, they were edible at least.

cookbook challenge, week 10

Can you believe I've been doing this cookbook challenge for 10 weeks?! Still going strong.
This week's recipes from Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings are...

A very basic Cheese
Quesadilla recipe.
I think I would
personally like to grill
these, or at least spray
the pan with a little oil
to brown the corn
tortillas slightly. But the
author prefers the fat-free
dry saute method, so that's what I did. On the right I used his suggestion of salsa for a filling. On the left I made my own with spinach. For both I used Daiya vegan cheese. Everybody ate them, but I think I can improve these. The Daiya made these.

Another extremely easy
recipe was Simply Spinach.
It's really more of a method
than a recipe, telling how to
wilt spinach in a pan with a
little water, adding salt to
the layers for seasoning.
I was fine, but I prefer
blanching because dare I
say it's even easier! I ate this for breakfast (yeah, I'm weird) alongside a BBQ Sunshine Burger with vegan pepper jack cheese, onion & ketchup on a wheat bun.

My final recipe for the week was another simple one, but wow was it a good one. I thought, "it's just melon. Why would I want to mess with it? It's perfect as it is!" Given that I had fresh local organic watermelon AND cantaloupe from our CSA, I had no excuse but to try this...
The flavours of this Melon Salad with Lime and Mint were bliss. The tiniest dressing of lime juice, maple syrup & salt, and the fresh mint leaves. Whoa. Fantastic. Everybody lurved it.
Until next weekend!

cookbook challenge, week 9

Despite the tomato drought at our CSA, I scored at the grocery store's discounted produce trolley. I bought a dozen mostly organic local tomatoes for a couple bucks, so this week 2 of my 3 recipes from Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings are tomato recipes.

Although very simple, this recipe entitled Celebrating Tomatoes! is likely my husband's favourite in the entire cookbook. I'm guessing it's the salt, pepper, & tons of sugar that he really likes so much. I could only bring myself to add HALF the sugar in the recipe, and I still found it to be very sweet. But he kept insisting it was perfect, and wanted to steal all the leftovers the next day.

Tomato Salad with
Provolone and Fresh
Herbs was much more
to my liking. I didn't
have any smoky vegan
cheese to replace the
provolone, so I just used
whatever I had, which was
vegan monterey jack style. The fresh herbs and balsamic vinegar were lovely, and the fact that one of our green farm tomatoes had ripened into a yellow tomato made it that much better.

Unfortunately I took the
photo of Red Cabbage
with Sake and Green
Onions late at night, when
I went back for seconds. I
was happy I used the whole
head of purple cabbage from
the farm for this, because
despite the recipe's mundane
appearance, this was really good! Cabbage paired with sake is just magical I guess.

cookbook challenge, weeks 7 & 8

Got a little behind after a very busy week, but I've made up the difference with 5 recipes cooked from Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings...

First off, before my husband left for GenCon, a Peach or Nectarine Crisp. I'm not big on baked fruit desserts, so I let the rest
of the family be the judges. My
husband loved it, and the kids
all ate it, so I guess as far as
peach crisps go it was adequate.
I froze the last two servings for
when he returns.

On to the Broccoli with Olives and Lemon...kind of an odd
combo, not necessarily something I'd make again, but not bad either. Again, the kids ate it, I finished it without reservation, but the flavours were certainly not something I'd have thought to put together.

My favourite recipe recently
is the Beets and Beet Greens with Red Chard. Utterly
fantastic. It's now my second
favourite beet recipe ever.
Spicy, sweet, with the red
onion and both chili powder
and cayenne pepper giving it
a really great tangy new taste...really good for a beet recipe.
I'll definitely be returning to
this one again what with all
the beets we get from our
CSA throughout the entire
season.

Next I tried the Carrots with Roasted Sesame Seeds. I
prepared mine in simple
rounds versus the suggested
matchstick presentation, but
come on, I have 4 kids; I'm not at liberty to spend hours in the kitchen on a Zen Monastery over a side dish like the author was.

I used agave nectar instead
of honey as a sweetener, but
regardless, sweet carrots just
don't do much for me. Maia
enjoyed them, but I don't
see myself making this one
again.


Finally, a quick dinner
for one on a hot night
was this yummy Tomato Salad with Avocado and Black Olives. Simple,
basic ingredients, with
a little kick from the hot
pepper and scallions.

So I did get to see Julie & Julia last week with a friend. Lots of laughs, cute, cheerful...not my usual movie fare, but I enjoyed it very well.

Meryl Streep was just
awesome as Julia Child.
And Amy Adams' cooking
meltdown performances
reminded me of myself
peeling kiwifruit, as I
often drop them because
they're so slippery. For some
reason that's the only thing
in the kitchen that has ever put me on the floor in tears...repeatedly. Ha ha ha.
Anyhow, go see the film, if you're in the mood for a laugh in good taste.

cookbook challenge, week 6

A bit of background about this "self assignment". If you're reading this blog, you probably like food enough to have heard about the new film Julie & Julia, based on two true stories that opens August 7th. For the summer season I have chosen a cookbook to cook through, not necessarily every recipe, but a hefty portion to be sure. I can't wait to see the film next week.

This was a hectic weekend, and I only had time for two recipes from Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings all week.

The first was a Potato
Salad with Arugula and
Garlic-Mustard Vinaigrette.
This was a fantastic way to
use arugula, and it went so
well with the dark dijon
mustard. Definite thumbs
up. I loved the way the
greens wilted over the
warm potatoes, then I half-chilled it in the fridge before serving with dinner.

Tofu with Mushrooms,
Carrot, and Spinach was
second. A little plain, could
have used more seasoning,
but good enough that the
kids enjoyed it and I looked
forward to the leftovers the
next day over some ramen
noodles.

cookbook challenge, week 5

More recipes this week from Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings.

First up was Focaccia:
Olive Oil Bread with
Fresh Rosemary. The
recipe said it would also
be great as round loaves,
but in the future I think
I'd prefer it flat. It was
tasty though.


Next was a most intense concoction, Baked Beets with Dried Cranberries and Sun-Dried Tomatoes. Whoa! Strangely yummy, but no one else would touch it.

Finally, Macaroni Salad
with Tomatoes, Bell
Pepper, and Red Onion.
This was a good idea, but
rather bland. The capers
saved it. But I must admit
that after trying a few bites
I globbed on a bunch of my
own pesto, and then it was fantastic! LOL.

Only problem with my new camera-download-to-laptop situation is the lack of photo editing software. I'll have to try to remedy that soon, because dark pics and red eye are annoying!!

cookbook challenge, week 3

Moving right along...I made 3 more recipes from Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings this week. But I didn't stay absolutely true to all of them. I cut back the heat on the chili, and it still ended up too spicy for the kids. And I used 1/2 regular flour in place of all whole wheat in the bread.

First up is the Black Bean Chili. Simple, hot, and my
husband and I liked it. If
it hadn't been too spicy, then
it wouldn't have made enough,
so in a way we got lucky. I
served it with grilled chreez
and tomato sandwiches.


Asparagus is hands down my
husband's favourite vegetable.
But everyone in the family
thought this Ginger Asparagus
recipe was fantastic. We usually
steam asparagus, sometimes
grilledor roast it, often stir-fry
it chinese style in a salty sauce...
but this was very simple, and
I absolutely will be making it
this way again!

I served the asparagus with
my baked bbq tempeh (recipe
being tweaked, but coming
soon!) and some Moo Potatoes
as AJ called them because Maia
liked them so much, but
basically just roasted red
potatoes with rosemary and
other herbs.

Last but not least, the
Overnight Wheat Bread.
I have never baked a
successful loaf of bread
myself from scratch. This
recipe looked so simple I
thought I couldn't screw it
up...and I was right! Yahoo!

It was a bit sour and wheaty,
even after replacing half the
whole wheat flour with
regular unbleached flour,
but Ryan and I still loved it.
My husband and Nate liked it
well enough. AJ ate it, but said
it wasn't his favourite.

The recipe made 2 loaves, so
I made one on a sheet pan
and one in a loaf pan.






The loaves didn't come out of
the oven until early afternoon,
but the first loaf was 2/3 gone
by evening. The second loaf I
am enjoying torn in chunks to
accompany a hearty soup.

cookbook challenge, week 2

So last week I started a personal cookbook challenge. During the past week I've made 3 more recipes from Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings.

First was the Garbanzo
Bean Stew with Spinach
and Saffron. Not so good.
It was not stew-like at all,
but more like a soup made
with water. My soup-adoring
oldest son couldn't even
choke this down. I didn't mind
it, but I won't be making it
again. I could tell from the ingredients that this wasn't going to be a hit, but I didn't want to go changing a recipe I'd never made before. Ironically, AJ loved it, and Maia enjoyed it too.

As a side dish I made the
White Bean Salad with Olives
and Zucchini. The kids weren't
fans, except Maia who loved
it, but my husband and I
thought it was excellent. With
zucchini about to arrive en
masse any day, this is a good
one to remember.

I was skeptical about this Lentil
Soup with Cumin, Coriander and
Lemon. I'm so stuck in my ways
about lentil soup needing a leafy
green. I was very pleasantly
surprised. This was a really tasty
lentil soup. Everyone liked it.
Hooray!

Can't wait to try something new
again this week! What cookbook
are you using right now?

cookbook challenge

So a bunch of online friends of mine are doing the cookbook challenge where you vow to make at least one recipe per week from one of your lesser-used cookbooks. I've read Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings, by Edward Espe Brown cover to cover, but made maybe one recipe. It's a great read, but now time to taste it! I vow to make one recipe per week through the end of the summer.

My first recipe is: Beet Salad with Watercress

I was feeding this to the kids too, so I opted to use some mixed greens from the farm instead of the watercress. Ryan especially loved the beets, which I was pleasantly surprised about, considering they're seasoned heavily with balsamic vinegar and allspice...

So what are you waiting
for??! You know you've
got a pile of cookbooks
just waiting to be used.
Join the challenge! What
new meal will you be
trying this week?