Post Punk Kitchen Forum

thanks for the tip! I may have the patience, but I don't think my dining companion will. it sounds awesome...

FYI, pot roast leftovers make awesome stew.

Just made the Veggies and dumplings with optional soy curls. This maybe one of my favorite things I have eve eaten!

The Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies are sooooo very good ! I was a little concerned at first because the ingredient ratios are so different than other cookie recipes - way less fat, less flour, more chocolate chips, more vanilla. The cookies were so good that the entire batch was gone within 30 minutes of being out of the oven.

We are in the middle of yet another blizzard following days of -40 C weather (thank you for the weather system, Alberta) and we need to rely on the pantry. We played Vegan Diner for dinner and had root vegetable salad with the Creamy Tomato Dressing and the Blue Plate Special. All excellent!

Tomorrow the Double Cornbread Buns are on the menu.

I finally made the great smoky mountain cheese. i'm not big on smoked paprika, so i reduced it to a scant 1/2 tsp and i thought it was perfect.

I made the cinnamon sugar swirl bread this afternoon. I just had a piece and it was incredible!

I love that cinnamon swirl bread.

I made the garlic-dill bread for the first time today and it was super great and took all of 5 minutes to mix together and throw in the oven. A keeper for sure.

I had the tomato soup for dinner, and it's just as delicious as the first time! Man, I love that stuff. I'm considering making another batch of it to freeze just so I can always have it.

On the other hand, I tried the pot roast last week and was not in love. The seitan had a weird texture, the flavors were just okay, and it just wasn't worth the effort.

Everything else I've tried has been flat-out amazing, though, so no biggie. :)

I. Love. This. Cookbook.

I tend to buy a lot of cookbooks and look at them a lot. Flip through them. Ooh and ahhh.

This one, I immediately started cooking recipes. I did five recipes in the first two days!
All of the ones I've tried have been just fantastic.

I've done:
• biscuits and gravy (and I've made that gravy multiple times - my SO would drink it, if I let him! I sub half garbanzo bean flour and leave out the extra fat and it's still fab!),
• smoky soy curls (As often as I could until I ran out of soy curls. Woe! Holy. cats. I love these things! So good with Bee Free Honee in place of the agave. The apple flavor of that sweetener just works so well with the smokiness),
• brownies (multiple times. I'm VERY picky about brownies - cakey brownies can DIAF - and these ones are winners. Even futzing with the recipe as I am wont to do, they turn out perfectly delish. I use half garbanzo, half whole wheat pastry flour, substitute stevia baking blend for the sugars and reduce the oil. I also underbake slightly more to counteract the fat reduction. These are wonderful brownies!!!)
• waffles. Mmmm.

I've got that smoky cheese, many of the sliceable sandwich "meats" and the mac n' cheeze on my radar.
Honestly, the whole book sounds delicious. Not one recipe makes me go "eeeehhh, pass". That's saying something!

I finally made the smoky soy curls! they are just as good as everyone has been saying.

This weekend I want to make the smoky cheese and the pastrami.

last night I made the seitan pastrami. It was good, although there were a few problems (all my fault). I think I need a bigger/better steamer; I have one of the metal cheap ones and couldn't get a whole loaf totally inside. Another thing I'll do next time is go out and find a tea towel somewhere - I wrapped mine in aluminum foil and it just didn't hold together very well. But the steamer and foil issues are my fault, of course, and nothing to do with the recipe.

I was curious though why the directions call for only mixing the wet and dry ingredients until they are just moistened. The seitan recipe I make most often is the white seitan from VV, and that recipe calls for kneading the seitan for several minutes to develop gluten. The pastrami seitan was much less toothy and chewy than the VV seitan and I'm wondering if that's because I didn't mix it for as long. THoughts?

i love the garlic dill bread! it's easy and very tasty

I'm having some super strong cheesy mac cravings after reading Nebraskalaska's blog. I was going to pick this book up from the library, but it's on the hold shelf right now for somebody else. I guess I'll have to wait until it's my turn to make this mac. This thread has me super anxious and excited to try some of these recipes.

I love this book to pieces, but I'm in total agreement with everyone else in regards to the whole water not mentioned as an ingredient thing - it's crazy! I made the Two Pepper Golden Gravy the other day (delicious by the way) which states it makes 1-3/4 cups. Considering it contains 1 cup of soy milk & 2 cups of water (with no significant reduction time) that is simply inaccurate. Not including water as an ingredient is one thing, but allowing that to impact on the stated quantity/serves is crazy. Imagine if it was a recipe for lemonade or something, with 1/2 cup of lemon juice in it & 1.5 litres of water, & it stated "makes half a cup".

I'm making the grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner tonight. It's not even 10 a.m. here and I'm already excited for dinner.

As a note on the water issue, my gravy yields have been very close to what is stated in the book. I think it depends on how much liquid you allow to cook off. I like a thick gravy.

I made the creamy sage gravy again last night. The only different thing I do is to add a clove of minced garlic vs. powdered. I mix all the ingredients until the earth balance in my blender, and then warm on the stove. Really easy and good!

I followed the recipe exactly & the gravy was quite thick - a little thicker than I'd normally make it myself, but not too thick - & the time stated for allowing it to simmer is 5 minutes, so no reduction time. The recipe made almost twice as much as the 1-3/4 cups stated, due to the fact that the water was omitted in that estimated quantity.

I haven't tried any of the other gravy/sauce recipes yet, but considering the recipe on the opposite page for Rich Brown Gravy includes 2.5 cups of water in the ingredients list, & states that it makes 2.5 cups, I'd say the Two Pepper Gravy water omission & inaccurate quantity is an error.

Now I want gravy for dinner!

I always want gravy. And the rich brown gravy is so good, I would eat it on anything.

Gravy makes everything yummy. I'll be trying the rich brown gravy next!

Checked it out from the library a few months back and loved it! I need to get my hands on my own copy. Love the cornbread bun recipe and the homemade pancake mix!! Yum!!

FYI, the quinoa burgers freeze and reheat wonderfully. I made a triple batch last week, and it's fed me for a good week.

Sorry about that. The yield for that gravy is a typo. The new edition now says makes 3 1/2 cups. The reason that the water is called for in the instructions and not with the other ingredients, is because the publisher wants it that way. I definitely like water called for with the other ingredients, but unless it specifically calls for hot or cold water, it goes in the directions. Each publisher has their own style they go by.

Julie

question!

i got the book just recently, and my top priority is the mac & cheese recipe because of all the raves... so this weekend i bought cashews and smoked paprika, and i'm ready to go. BUT, i just noticed that the recipe says "10 oz pasta" which has stymied me. ;) i always, always make a full pound of pasta when i do something like this--are you guys just making partial-boxes of pasta? or are you upping all the ingredients for the sauce? or mystery third option?

Hm...I think I usually use whole wheat pasta and the brand I usually get, Barilla, is a 14oz box for some reason and I've used the whole thing. I hate using more than a half box of pasta, but not using the whole thing because then that leftover amount just sits around until one of us is home by ourselves and wants pasta. Anyway, I think the recipe would make enough sauce for a full pound of pasta.