. Since Neil is heading north to New Brunswick next week we won’t be having vegan Thanksgiving so we enjoyed it yesterday with two of my girlfriends, Monica and Laura. After we shared vegan Thanksgiving we spent the remainder of the afternoon in the kitchen baking cookies from Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.
Celebration Roast, Cumin Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes and Green Bean Casserole
Already to bake!
We made the Blackstrap Gingersnaps first; I received a sample NuNuaturals NuStevia Baking Blend and we decided to try it out with these cookies instead of sugar.
Yeah! Gingersnaps!
Look mom greasy hands!
City Girl Snickerdoodles
Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows
All of these cookies enjoyed with a nice cup of Boulevards Organics Dairy-Free Hot Chocolate
We also made some Lazy Samoas (not photographed) which were delicious and just like the caramel delights I enjoyed as a girl scout. The girls and I really loved this cookbook and found that all the recipes were fun and yet easy. A few things we really loved were that all the cookies were baked at 350F and that all took 8min to 12min which was great especially when baking 4 different kinds. I really loved all the cookies I have to say it’s a toss up between the Chocolate PB and the Snickerdoodles for my favorite.
The first vegan cookbook I ever bought as Vegan with a Vengeance I have used it so much over the years that it is stained with food and worn to pieces. Over the years I picked up Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World which I loved and actually used 2 of the cupcake recipes for my wedding cupcakes. Then I was given a copy of Veganomicon by my loving husband for Christmas 2007 – I honestly haven’t used this book as much as VWAV & VCTOTW and was actually disappointed with it compared to Isa’s two earlier books. However Isa Chandra Moskowitz has redeemed herself with Vegan Brunch which features a number of great vegan brunch recipes.
Vegan Brunch features savory recipes such as tofu scramble, frittatas, polenta ranchers, Tofu Benny and perogies. Of the savory dishes I tried the tofu scramble which was delicious, the texture was almost creamy which I loved and really had the texture of scrambled eggs (or at least what I remember-it’s been awhile). I also made the Cornbread Waffles which I loved because some days you just don’t want to have a sweet waffle and this was a great savory waffle. Lastly I made the Tofu Benny which I loved! The hollandaise was delicious and the Diner Homefries were nice and crispy.
To be honest I have yet to try any of the sweet brunch options and am actually much more of a savory breakfast person. I actually did have plans to make the Banana Rabanada (Brazilian French Toast) this morning but my husband forgot the baguette on his desk at work. I guess I’ll make it another day!
Some other dishes I have made and loved where the Samosa Mashed Potato Pancakes, Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes and the Mushroom Gravy. I made the Cheaspeake Tempeh Cakes for some of my omni friends and they couldn’t get enough of them. I ate the mushroom gravy this morning with my scramble and am using the leftovers in my greenbean casserole.
Over all this is a great book that I would recommend to anyone who loves breakfast. This book is great because although many cookbooks have breakfast sections none have the focus and devotion to breakfast items like Vegan Brunch.
You can pick up your copy of Vegan Brunch on Amazon.
Now that you have read what I have to say about this book I am going to give you a chance to win a copy yourself. If you would like to win please leave a comment letting me know what your favorite brunch dish is by November 24th, 2009.
For extra chances to win:
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Winner: Christina- “blueberry pancakes with a side of homefries and vegan sausage. yums!”
If you are vegan then you probably know about Vega, by Sequel Naturals which makes plant-based whole food products, if you haven’t heard of Vega yet then it is time to jump online read all about them and then head out to your local natural foods store and pick some items up.
I was given the opportunity to try Vega’s Complete Whole Food Health Optimizers and Vega’s new Whole Food Vibrancy Bars. The Complete Whole Food Health Optimizers are great in smoothies- I like the chocolate with 1 sliced frozen banana and 1 cup of nondairy milk (usually almond).
The Whole Food Vibrancy Bars are great I loved Green Synergy. I enjoyed it at the end of my work day when I need a pick me up before I went home to use the elliptical and it was great and kept me energized and satisfied through my workout until dinner.
There are a number of other products by vega that I have not tried yet but hear great things about; these include:
At the beginning of the week I was reading Sarah’s blog from SeeSarahEat and was inspired by her post on Green Monsters. Now I had very little knowledge as to what exactly this at first but after some searching I found the Green Monsters Movement website .
This morning I made hubby and I our own Green Monsters:
Recipe (almost raw):
1 cup oat milk
1 T Sun Warrior Vanilla Protein Powder
1 sliced frozen banana
3 cups spinach
Place in a blender. Blend until smooth.
I know it seems lately that I have been lacking in the food/recipe post and I am sorry! I have been working on recipes from a number of cookbooks as well as testing recipes for Happy Herbivore’s upcoming cookbook. I will be posting some more cookbook reviews including pictures of various dishes and well be having 2 cookbook giveaways – one of them a raw recipe book! So look for these in the upcoming weeks.
I was recently given the opportunity to try coffee from the Doi Chaang Coffee Company out of Vancouver British Columbia. This is a very unique company as it is the grower, roaster and marketer of the coffee.
“Doi Chaang Coffee produced by the hillside Akha tribe of Northern Thailand in Doi Chaang is Certified Organic, high altitude and shade grown, hand picked, fresh-water washed, sun dried and in all aspects cultivated with the sustainable farming practices of the 900 family co-operative that owns the coffee growing and processing operations. It is we believe, the only coffee (from anywhere) that from grower to seller is the same entity.”
This coffee has received great reviews and on the 100-point review (much like those in the wine and beer industry) conducted by Kenneth Davids it received 90 points on the Medium roast and 93 points on the Peaberry roast.
I received the Single-Origin Signature and the Single-Origin Peaberry roasts. I have at this time only tried the Peaberry roast and I found that it was amazing. I was really impressed with the earthy flavor. I am looking forward to sampling the Signature roast as well.
Currently the best way to get your hands on this great coffee is to purchase directly through the Doi Chaang website. However you can find it in select shops in LA & Ojai CA, as well as in various provinces in Canada. Where to Buy & Online Shop
