Rasberry Chocolate Chip Blondies

While I didn't make this dish look very attractive, the blondies were easy to make and tasted great. I wonder if my 9 x 13 pan is really smaller or something because every time I make one of these bars that requires a topping, I never have enough topping to go to the edges of the bottom. It gets concentrated in the middle of I end up with edges that rise more than the middle and cook unevenly.

On another note, I am totally addicted to the Roasted Red Pepper Almond Sauce from the RSO in the post immediately below this. Make it a day in advance because it turns magical on Day 2!

Revolutionary Spanish Omelet with Roasted Red Pepper Almond Sauce

Why did I wait so long to make this???!?!?!? It's destined to become one of my favorite VwaV recipes, right up there with the chickpea and broccoli casserole. Both are sheer comfort food. This was easy but a bit time consuming to make. I used my new mandoline to slice the potatoes and managed to keep my thumb intact this time. The photo shows the omelet bottom side up. It came out of the pan very easily, but I thought the bottom was more attractive. At least it is in person. My favorite tapas place serves the standard vegetarian version of this tortilla with a thyme alioli. I wonder if I could replicate that with Nayonnaise .

Falafel

Not the most attractive of photos, but I barely had time to snap it before a herd of ominivores shoved me out of the way on their way to the pita. This recipe was a snap to put together, but I'm not so good with the frying. After reading the issues PPK board people have had with their falafel turning to moosh during the cooking process, I thought about baking these, but it was too hot to turn on the oven. My patties didn't quite stay firm, but didn't fall apart. The taste was very good. The only variation I made in the recipe was panko instead of whole wheat bread crumbs. Using what I had on hand.

Brooklyn Pad Thai-Southside Style

I had such high hopes for this, but they were dashed by rice noodles that refused to soften. I boiled the noodles according to package directions, testing every 2 to 3 minutes. After 20 minutes they were bendable, but never even got close to al dente. It's a good thing the sauce and basic recipe sans noodles is very very good. Definitely a repeater if I get different noodles.

Fabulous

These two recipes are a couple of my favorite so far from VwaV. On top we have Mushroom and SunDried Tomato Rissoto. I've made rissoto before and never thought it was worth the work--the flavor just was kind of bland. Isa's recipe has many layers of flavor that blend to create something bigger than the individual ingredients. The oregano is really important here. I served the risoto with locally grown asparagus, harvested the same day. I've been cooking a lot of grocery store asparagus, but this is my first local batch of the year. Amazing how different it tastes.

The bottom shot is No Bake Black Bottom Peanut Butter Silk Pie. I was prepared to be annoyed with the final product because the recipe seemed cranky, but in the end, the pie is really great. I fed it to a bunch of carnivores who were groaning with delight. I couldn't find chocolate wafer cookies for the crust, so I used chocolate Teddy Grahams. This is the first time I've worked with agar, and I think I didn't use enough because the pie never got firm. I solved that issue by putting it in the freezer. I highly recommend it frozen.

Really Good

Following on the subjective food theme, I really liked these three recipes. The orange glazed scones were very easy to make (I'm dreading the Hazelnut ones), and very pretty. For some reason, the orange smell drove one of my dogs insane. I practically had to pull him off the counter when these came out of the oven. The middle picture is orange glazed beets. If I'm only eating beets once a year, this is definitely the recipe. The orange glaze really elevates the beet. For a while I was worried that the glaze would never appear. It took forever for the cooking liquid to reduce and turn glazey. The last photo is Asian Tofu. It will become a staple in my kitchen. The marinating liquid was also really good over roasted asparagus and mushrooms.

Not My Favorites

I think it's to be expected that in a cook book of 140+ recipes, somethings will be favorites that I'll cook over and over, some things will be good, and somethings will not be to my personal taste. After all, isn't food highly subjective? I wasn't surprised that I didn't dig the Black Soy Bean and Beet Soup. I can do beets about once a year, but for some reason, I really dislike soybeans in whole bean form. It's a textural thing. I'm really surprised that I didn't like the Lemon Corn Waffles. I love lemon with cornmeal and blueberries. This could be put down to the fact that I'm still learning how to make waffles. The cornmeal didn't seem to get soft at all; it remained very grainy and therefore had a bad mouth-feel. It's probably unfair to include the Tangine of Spring Vegetables in the "not my favorites" category, as it was ok, but just ok to my taste. I ate it and enjoyed it, but the flavor combo isn't on my Top 10 list.

Millet and Spinach Polenta with Sundried Tomato Pesto

Just from reading the recipe, I thought this was going to be a lot more work than it turned out to be. The only trick is allowing enough time for the polenta to set up if you want to cut it into shapes to fry. I started the recipe at 5:30 and didn't want to eat at 9:00, so I rushed things. Anyway, this is a really delicious dish! Take the time to toast your millet, and you will really be able to tell in the final product. It adds a depth of flavor often missing in grains. I cooked the millet in the rich vegetable broth from the matzoh ball soup recipe. I think you could put that broth on anything and it would be good! I subbed parsley for basil and walnuts for almonds in the pesto with no problem.

Scones, Curry, Brownies

Of these three recipes, the Bananna Split Pudding Brownies and ChickPea Spinach Curry were among the best VwaV recipes I've tried thus far, and the scones were ok. I was concerned that the scones would be difficult to make, but they turned out to be surprisingly easy. My boss who visits Scotland quite often says that the lumpy bumpy look is authentic.

I made the brownies for a trivia night with omnis. Everyone loved them. I ran out of banannas, so only made half the topping. It worked out so well, I can't imagine the recipe with twice the amount of topping.

The curry is something I will make on a routine basis. I think I ended up with more tomatoes that called for, but they worked really well in the recipe. I made this for someone who licked his plate. I used half sweet curry powder and half hot curry powder.

In Which I Ruin Two Recipes

Take this as a cautionary tale, my children. Don't try complicated recipes or new appliances when you're upset about yelling neighbors, unreasonable students, and have had little sleep. I finally bought a $20 waffle maker so I can knock out the 4 VwaV waffle recipes. The top photo here is the Ginger-Pear Waffle, which I probably will attempt again, since I learned a few things this first go round. First of all, I learned by waffle maker needs to be on the highest setting, and that it takes exactly 3/4 cup of batter. I also learned the most important thing in making this particular recipe is that you should not microplane the pear, even if your microplane grater is already dirty from the nutmeg. The microplaned pear added way too much moisture to the batter, turning it thin and running. Get out the box grater! So potential, but I messed up.

The bottom picture is the Fauxtess cupcakes, which are supposed to look like Hostess Cupcakes. I learned something about myself through this recipe. I am not meant to put frosting into little bags for squirting. Just not in my genetic makeup. I thought this recipe was an incredible amount of work. There are three different icings and the cupcake. I've never been able to find the beaters for my electric mixer since we moved, and you really need it to make the fluffy white filling icing in this recipe. I could never get the sugar to melt, which resulted in a grainy filling, but it still was surprisingly delicious.

Pumkin Oatmeal Cookies

These babies are destined to be one of my favorite VwaV recipes. The recipe is really quick and easy. I followed it exactly except for the substution of whole wheat pastry flour. The recipe makes so many cookies that I ended up eating them for breakfast for over a week. Not as decadent as it sounds, because with nuts, raisins, pumpkin, oatmeal, and whole wheat, these are really soft little granola bars.

Ginger Macadamia Nut Carrot (Cup) Cake(s)

I thought Carrot Cake would be a nice Easter dessert, but decided to try the recipe as cupcakes rather than a layer cake. I also used whole wheat pastry flour, as I do in almost all of my baked goods. This was a great recipe which I will try again sometime as the cake. The only problem I had was that I got the bright idea to use pre-shredded carrots, which were on sale. They were way too thick and didn't cook down quite enough. Grate your carrots!

Roasted Garlic White Bean Soup

I've been putting off this soup because I am not the world's biggest fan of roasted garlic. I don't know what it is because I love non-roasted garlic. Anyway, I'm close to the end of the soup chapter, so I decided to confront my fears. I'm glad I did. The great northern beans blend perfectly with the TWO WHOLE HEADS OF GARLIC. Unlike most soups, I think this one is better day of. The leftovers were ok, but seemed to loose some flavor.

Fronch Tost

I don't know how to describe this. Unbelievably life-like? Seriously, who knew chickpea flour could taste so much like eggs. I used a stury country bread since it's what we had in the house, and of course Earth Balance and maple syrup. I didn't think I liked this very much when I was eating it, but I find myself craving it now.

Matzoh Ball Soup

While this matzoh ball soup wasn't difficult to make, there were many steps and the directions need to be followed to the T! If you don't properly refrigerate your balls, they will fall apart in the cooking process. Truthfully, the cooking process scared me a bit. I was unable to head Isa's warning about NOT REMOVING THE LID, and peeked a couple of times to make sure things were falling apart.

The recipe also features the rich veggie stock recipe. I've made several veggie stocks, and this is absolutely the best. I think it's the parsnip.

Catch Up Time

I have only been cooking periodically since I had surgery in February. Here are several items, all good, all VwaV! I don't feel like writing descriptions right now-I just need to get these posted or I never will.

1. Millet Olive Stuffed Zuke
   
2. Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
   
3. Kugel
   
4. Chocolate Chip Cookie
   
5. Braised Cauliflower
   
6. Potato Asparagus Soup
   
7. Apple Cider Muffins