Tofu Burgers from "Peaceful Palate"

Mmm!  Forget those store-bought veggie burgers that look like frozen cow patties; instead, try a delicious homemade tofu-based burger from the Peaceful Palate cookbook.  Peaceful Palate was one of the first vegan cookbooks I bought and it remains an outstanding source for tasty and easy-to-make vegan meals, side dishes, and baked goods.  

They are sooo delicious!  I could eat them plain--the seasonings are just so savory.  It's very hearty, with bread crumbs and quick-cook oats mixed with crumbled firm tofu.  But the patties go really well with all the usual burger condiments.  The patties are a bit delicate so you may find a few pieces fall off when you eat your burger, but you'll just be glad to nab them up and eat them with your fingers :->

Vegan Brownies

If you are looking for a healthy vegan recipe, stop reading now!

If you want a delicious vegan brownie recipe that has zero redeeming nutritional value but tastes really good, this is the recipe for you.  

I needed something that would taste very similar to "real" brownies to have on hand when my in-laws arrived last week since my father-in-law is used to really decadent desserts (his father was a German baker!) but I didn't have time after work to make a really elaborate cake before their arrival.  The brownies really did the trick.  I was surprised that I didn't find any vegan brownie recipes in the cookbooks I had on hand, so I did a Google search and came up with the well-reviewed recipe on Allrecipes.com.  The result was tasty and very easy to make.  I cringed at the amount of sugar and oil in there, but for a splurge it was worth it.

The result is a bit more crumbly than regular brownies (I wouldn't recommend it as finger food) but tastes delicious.  I even melted some vegan marshmallows over mine.  Yum!

Pumpkin Pasties

 Presenting, courtesy of Dumbledore's Army, and our kitchen, Pumpkin Pasties:

Mmmm!  Sweet, pumpkin goodness.  I loved this treat!  Definitely the best "Harry Potter" recipe we've made so far.  My sister and I found the pumpkin pasties so delightful, we plan to make them for the rest of the Harry Potter movie evenings left in our marathon.  The crust is just wonderful, perfectly flaky and with a delicate, slightly sweet texture that is hugely satisfying.  The filling is also sumptuous, not quite like pumpkin pie, with a bit of a nuttier flavor (given the cashews).  If anything I would have liked more filling ratio to the crust, so we may experiment and make the pasties bigger next time.  Highly recommended, not just for Harry Potter fans, but anyone looking for a sweet treat perfect for Thanksgiving month.

Cooking with Coconut Milk (Pad Thai and Pineapple Fried Rice)

I decided to try Nava Atlas' Vegan Express again (thank goodness for library copies) and, while it's still not my favorite vegan cookbook since it does use quite a bit of convenience foods (or, at least, condiments) vs. cooking purely from scratch, I must say that I really did need the "Express" part last week so I was appreciative of the recipes.  

I started with the Pad Thai since I loved pad thai at restaurants but haven't found a vegan version anywhere.  I was a little repulsed by the ingredients list for the sauce (lite coconut milk, sugar, lime juice, soy sauce and ketchup!!!) but it tasted surprisingly similar to "real" pad thai (though not nearly as good; I'm sure a very good vegan version is out there, but it wouldn't take under thirty minutes to prepare!) though my husband remarked it tasted a bit like soda.  When I asked him to clarify what sort of soda, he was unable to do so.  Perhaps he's had a coconut-ketchup soda at some point in his life!? Haha.  Still, he did enjoy the recipe and went back for seconds, so I guess soda-pad-thai is a good thing ;-)  Oh, and I did not have peanuts on hand but the dish really needs the peanut flavor to seem authentic so I just mushed in a bit of peanut butter and it was delish!

Since I still had half a can of coconut milk left over, I tried the pineapple stir-fried rice the following evening.  It was tasty, but even better as left-overs the next day as the flavors had a chance to mingle overnight.  (Picture is dark as I snapped this at night and couldn't get the shadow out, sorry.)

I think both recipes would take on a bit of tofu nicely.  Since there is usually egg in the pad thai, it would be a familiar consistency and it would be nice to add more protein to these for main dishes.

Hagrid's Rock Cakes (with a few modifications)

Much as I love Hagrid, he is known for his big heart, not his expertise in the kitchen.  So when it came time to choose a yummy culinary compliment to enjoy with the HP DVD last night, we decided on a modified version of Hagrid's Rock Cakes.  You can find the recipe for Hagrid's (not horrible) Rock Cakes at the nom!nom!nom! blog, which has several other yummy looking recipes, too.

I  have to say the batter was really yummy! ;-p   I'm not so sure I loved the finished product; it was tasty enough, but wasn't sweet enough to really be a dessert and it had a bit too much baking soda flavor.  Admittedly, I cut the sugar in half which is usually plenty sweet for me but maybe in this case I should have gone the whole shebang.  Also, I completely blanked and forgot to have my sister bring over her supply of vegan chocolate chips, so we did without those and just used orange-flavored cranberries and chopped walnuts.  Not sure I'll repeat the recipe but, like a visit to Hagrid's, it was unusual, generally pleasant, and definitely fun for a change ;-) 

Vegan MoFo

October is Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo) and, while I don't have the dedication to write a vegan food related post every week day as suggested, I did want to post this great link to the Vegan MoFo  site because it's really inspiring! :-)

Also, if you  haven't yet, please check out my friend Lee's gorgeous blog, Plenty Sweet Enough because she is being wonderfully faithful with the Vegan MoFo and her recipes look mouth-watering!

Finally, since I may as well post something personal that is vegan food related, I absolutely fell in love with the Spiced Chai  Soy Latte at the local coffee shop.  I think it's going to be my guilty pleasure for autumn ;-)  I'm really happy because, while I love Chai, a lot of mixes give me headaches but this one did not.  Cruelty free for the animals and for my head, woo hoo! ;-p

Mustardy Portobello Mushroom Pasta

Here's my attempt at the Mustardy Portobello Mushroom Pasta from the awesome No-Meat Athlete blog.  You can find the recipe here.

I think mine looks a bit like some sort of weird collection of sea creatures, but it tasted pretty good.  We didn't have any dry white wine, so I used marsala cooking wine instead (which I love!) and it was tasty.  We also didn't have pine nuts but otherwise I followed the recipe and, while not my favorite dish in the world, it was easy to prepare, fairly quick, and a nice change of pace from our usual tomato-based pasta recipes.