heidi swanson = the new rachael ray?

alternatively titled, someone else I love to hate.

As some of you may remember, I dislike Rachael Ray and everything she stands for (ie, dunkin donuts). AND YET she has some great recipes that I can't resist making/veganizing.

Rachael Ray has been replaced in my life, with Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks. For those of you too lazy to click on the link, 101 Cookbooks is a vegetarian food blog whose conceit is that the creator, Heidi Swanson, has 101 cookbooks and realized one day she had to start cooking from them before she could allow herself to accumulate more. Heidi Swanson posts gorgeous pictures with cute little stories and fairly healthy recipes.

Other than her loose definition of being a vegetarian (oh, you had soup made from chicken but wouldn't eat beef cheeks? that's okay then), I have no reason to hate Heidi Swanson. And yet every time gmail links to one of her recipes above my inbox, I groan. Stupid Heidi Swanson and her soothing white and beige blog and her so-pretty-they're-practically-pornographic pictures of food. I refused to try any of her recipes for months.

But then! I got home late one night to find a note from my roommate: she had made a tofu scramble, I could help myself if I was hungry. So I did. It was THE GREATEST TOFU SCRAMBLE I HAVE EVER HAD. I'm not exaggerating. The next day I told my roommate how amazing it had been... and she told me where she got the recipe.

I still irrationally dislike Heidi Swanson. But yeah, okay, now I sometimes check out her blog. And dangit, I pretty much always like the recipes.
Broccoli Pesto from 101Cookbooks.com

For the first time in a while, I too, have been turning to my cookbooks. Here are some of the results:
Smores Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies and Chocolate Chip Cookies, from Vegan with a Vengeance and Vive le Vegan, respectively.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie, from pamela's blog - but slightly healthier, I swear! I halfed the amount of chocolate chips and sugar, and instead put in a little extra tofu and some cocoa powder, and if you look closely, you'll see I used sliced bananas instead of a cookie crust:
I mean, it's practically health food, right?

And finally, Paradise Casserole from the Candle Cafe cookbook.
When I had this at the Candle Cafe, there were waaaaay more sweet potatoes on top. The recipe called for 4. Next time, I say at least 6! I made it for my mother when I was back in upstate NY. ALSO in upstate NY, I got to meet and enjoy delicious vegan milkshakes with bazu of where's the revolution?!

more adventure food: a quick post

I had a great dessert entry planned for you this week, but my camera ran out of batteries so it is not giving up the desserty pictures I have on it until I get new ones. Annnnnd since batteries are expensive, I figured I'd wait until I visited my folks back in NY to swipe some rather than buy my own (attn mom and dad: please pretend you did not see that).

I am normally not a soda person. Even natural/organic soda sodas. I simply do not like my drinks to be too sweet. I water down my juices whenever I can, for example. I do, however, like bubbly things... so sometimes I mix juice and selzer. I sometimes get italian sodas when I am out somewhere... but they're often really sweet (and who KNOWS what kinds of artificial sweeteners/colorings are in some of those flavor syrups!).

BUT THEN. I visited a local turkish grocery sore and found a whole shelf of syrups made from boiling down various fruits. It was a tough choice, but I ended up with Mulberry syrup (more often called mulberry molasses). Its only ingredient is mulberries, and it can be cloying in large amounts, but I've been stirring tablespoons into my yogurt and making an Italian-soda-like concoction of it and selzer:
Pretty, n'est-ce pas? Never mind the rainy weather out there. April showers and all that. It tasted pretty soda-y, like a knock-off dr. pepper. just not as sweet.

I also bought some carob paste (in the same kind of jar, but with even less english on it), for which I have yet to find a good use beyond putting in yogurt and pouring over (soy) ice cream. I'll figure something out. You'll hear about it, I'm sure.

One of the best things about spring, besides the weather: the produce that comes into season!
Organic asparagus was almost as cheap as conventional asparagus last week! So I've been buying a bunch of it. Normally I just steam it, but there's only so much steamed asparagus a girl can take, so I made Asparagus Potage with Garlic "Cream" from Myra Kornfeld's Voluptuous Vegan.
She calls for potatoes, I used sunchokes. Result? Very creamy, with that richness soups usually get from potatoes, with a nice strong asparagus flavor. I don't entirely understand why I went through the process of making the garlic "cream" only to have to blend it in with the soup, though - it seems like I could've saved time and dishes by just including the garlic from the start. Myra kornfeld, what were you thinking?

Seriously, though, I recommend it.

Expect a dessert-themed entry sunday night or monday, after I return from a weekend in upstate NY. It will be worth the wait. (Three words: vegan.gulab.jamun.)