Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Here's the thread for Chloe's Kitchen by Chloe Coscarelli.
If you don't have access to any of the cookbooks, you may also choose an alternate book, just remember to post all your results here.

Choose 3 or more recipes from the selected cookbook of the week and tell us about it! Post pictures, comments or anything else you can think of here. If you choose to switch books around and do this cookbook on a different week, feel free to come back and post in this thread anytime.

Here's the line up for the remaining weeks:

September 9 – Isa and Terry FREE CHOICE – Pick any book from the amazing duo – V’con, VV, AFR, VWAV, VB, etc.
September 16 – World Vegan Feast
September 23 – Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites
September 30 – Vegan Diner
October 7 – Yellow Rose Recipes
October 14 – Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day
October 21 – Isa and Terry FREE CHOICE – V’con, VV, AFR, VCIYCJ, VWAV, VB, etc.
October 28 – Chloe’s Kitchen
November 4 - American Vegan Kitchen
November 11 - Quick and Easy Low Cal Vegan Comfort Food
November 18 - 500 Vegan Recipes
November 25 – Isa and Terry FREE CHOICE – V’con, VV, AFR, VCIYCJ, VWAV, VB, etc.

My weeks got tossed around so I actually have access to my kitchen this week AND I have the book. I've only cooked one thing out of this (the alfredo, which I wasn't hugely impressed with) so I'm looking forward to trying more. I don't have it nearby so I'm not sure of the exact names of the dishes, but I'm planning on trying the meatloaf/gravy, scalloped potatoes, and the Brussels sprouts with hazelnuts.

i thought the alfredo was good, and it lasted me several nights...but it should be called something else as it's nothing like alfredo.

i made the miso glazed eggplant and it was awful..her recipe for it is easy, but at a price. i actually threw it outside and the raccoons (who eat all my gross leftovers, rotten fruit and scraps) wouldn't eat it.

i'll have to make some of the spinach artichoke dip this week. that's my favorite and i can eat the whole thing in a day without feeling guilty!

I'm hoping to get back into this with MoFo finishing up this week! I coincidentally got started last night - I made the date caramel from the spice cupcakes, and added it to some Snickers swirl brownies.



I've never been good at making traditional caramel (I can cook jam and stuff with no problem, but caramel success eludes me), so this was a great alternative. It took next to no time at all, and it's much tastier than I'd expected. I'm usually pretty skeptical of stuff made from dried fruit, but I would never have guessed that this was made from dates if I hadn't made it myself. I didn't tell Boyfriend, and he's been happily eating brownies with no idea that it's not a 'normal' caramel. I'll definitely make it again next time I need caramel for some reason (so, probably not that often, but the intention is still there!).

Erinnerung, that sounds interesting. I've never tried making caramel and I'm kind of intimidated by it, so it's good to know that there's an alternative.

I made the baked mac & cheese with red bell pepper and peas added in. I'm bending the rules here a little, because I've made that recipe before - hope you all don't mind. I like this recipe, it's quick and tasty, but I definitely recommend adding some veggies. Also, my soy milk is sweet enough so I always leave out the agave.

I'm planning on making the banana cupcakes with lemon icing this weekend.

I love Chloe's Kitchen cookbook!

Easy Peasy Pasta Salad (9) - Kid pleaser, nice make ahead summer dish
Maple Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Toasted Hazelnuts (10) -Great, never added the hazelnuts
Moo Shu Vegetables with Homemade Chinese Pancakes (10) -Husbands favorite vegan dish!
Best Ever Baked Macaroni and Cheese (8.5)
Ooh-La-La Lasagna (9)
Peanutty Perfection Noodles (10) - Family favorite, although I make with lite coconut milk
Country Meatloaf with Golden Gravy (8)
Orange You Glad I Made Crispy Tofu (8.5 to 9)

Chlostress Crème-Filled Cupcakes (10!) - These were soooooooooooooo good. I even adapted the recipe and made into a cake.

I have added my families rating system. I ask my husband to give my dinners a rating so I can tell what he likes and doesn't like. We have made a few not so good ones from this cookbook, and a few that were average, but the ones listed above are our favorites and repeated often. And I have made the chocolate cake out of the cupcake recipe twice for my family and they love it. I love saying that I make the cake from scratch and not a box.

In the middle of a fairly stressful week, I insanely decided to make all of my cookbook challenge recipes for this week in one day. Unfortunately, I was met with some kitchen disasters (having nothing to do with the book - like discovering moth larvae in my flour and breadcrumbs) so I ended up subbing or scrapping some things for convenience sake.

I ended up making the Country Meatloaf, using Panko instead of my normal breadcrumbs. This recipe was more time consuming than I had anticipated, but ended up being really delicious! I'll definitely make it again, but would use a different brand of tempeh because this one was a bit too sturdy to crumble well, so the meatloaf didn't stick together that well. Still the flavor combinations were perfect.

The plan was to make the Golden Gravy with this, until I had to throw out all my flour. So I ended up making gravy from a packet.

I made the Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Hazelnuts, but rather than toast the hazelnuts separately, I threw them in with the sprouts for the last 15 minutes. This might be a bit too sweet for my tastes, but still good.

And I decided that I didn't have the time or patience for the scalloped potatoes, so I did my own version of the Guilt-Free Garlic Mashed Potatoes, which would just be called "Garlic Mashed Potatoes". I didn't have the other vegetables she called for (cauliflower and another root veg, if I recall) so it was just potatoes. I discovered that I didn't have any unsweetened soy milk, and I was out of margarine, so I used some of the cooking water and olive oil instead. Despite all the subs, the roasted garlic really carried this, and I'll be adding that to my mash more often.

It's getting hard to get pictures nowadays because it's dark so early, but I'll try to get some of the leftovers I'm planning to eat at work later.

Banana cupcakes with lemon icing: good, but the banana flavour was a bit too subtle for me. Maybe my banana wasn't as ripe as it should have been?

LA-Style Chimichurri was sooooooo freaking awesome! It does takes commitment to make it since there are so many different components to make a taco. But the time spent was well worth it.



Also made Sour Cream to go with it.



Chocolate-Chip Brownie Bites are easy to make. I'm not good at baking at all and it actually turned out quite alright. The brownie bites are rich and moist. The small bite size makes it very easy to over-eat. haha...