Scraps and Snippets ~ Recipe Book Review ~ Peas and Thank You...

The best thing about writing book reviews is when you score a free FABULOUS book to review. So thank you, Peas and Thank You marketing team. That said. I don't write glowing reviews unless the book deserves one.


When I get a cookbook, I look through the recipes and try a few that sound good to me. And if there are five or ten recipes I will add to my life recipe file, I consider the book a keeper. I'm pretty picky. If a recipe book has only two or three I want to try, I don't buy it. If I'm given the book with just a few keeper recipes I usually will copy down the recipe, put it in my file and get rid of the book. I just don't need a huge shelf of books that aren't being used.


Peas and Thank You is a keeper. A lifetime member of my recipe shelf. The recipes I've tried are delicious, they turn out when I follow the easy directions, and they don't taste like someone is trying real hard to make tasty food healthier. Everyone who has tried the recipes I've made from Peas and Thank You, whether Vegan or meat eater, cautious eater, or don't-give-a-rat's-rear-end-what they put in their mouth, rave about the food.

I have only tried nine of the recipes, but three of them I've made several times. These are the recipes I've tried and love. And they are SO worth the stinking sticker price. Heck. I'm tempted to send a check to someone.


Apple Cinnamon Pancakes
Lemon Lentil Soup
Cutout Sugar Cookies
Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt
Almond Joy Cookie Bars
Peanut Butter Blondies with Ganache
Double Chocolate Single Chin Brownies
Grand Old Biscuits
Lemon Rosemary Roasted Chickpeas


I have about a dozen more that I must try. More recipes are marked than not.


Mama Pea (Sarah Matheny) is a talented and engaging writer as well and she shares charming and sweetly twisted stories about each recipe. I don't often laugh when reading a recipe book. I did with this one. She also shares pantry information, details about why they went vegan and most of her recipes are designed for busy folks and use convenience items. If you are newly Vegan, want to explore meatless, or love cookbooks, you need to add it to your list.


The only thing I did not love was the recipe title appeared at the beginning of each recipe, but not after the story and right before ingredients. So some recipes are a page or two after the introduction/story. So you have to do a little page flipping to make sure you are on the right recipe. Otherwise I LOVE it. Don't even ask to borrow it. This little sucker is part of me now.

Scraps and Snippets ~ No Bake Cookies Vegan Style, and Mouth Nirvana "Chicken Salad"

Insanity. Making cookies a half hour before needing to be on the road. This kind of sums up my life. Sadly. The insanity and the cookie parts. Ha.


Before the cookies let me share the "Chicken Salad" Recipe.

I had a love/hate relationship with Chicken Salad when I ate meat. Biting into gamey or bland Chicken Salad was the worst!!! GAG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But every once in awhile you could find one that was a party in your mouth. Texture, flavors, YUM. I've been trying for the past few months to find that mouth Nirvana.


This is pretty flippin close for me. Rob even said I should make it again. Trust me. High praise. Ha. Ha.

This is the One - "Chicken" Salad

Bread of choice. ( : ) ) Or not. Eat it out of the bowl if you want.

3 TBSP Veganaise

1 TBSP rustic mustard (just not the yellow plain)

Add:

1 small diced apple (firm sour is best)

a handful of chopped pecans

1 Cup of small diced, nicely flavored Seitan (if your Seitan is bland, (I used the lemon/garlic one) you could add some seasonings)

1 Celery rib finely chopped.

Finely chopped onion to taste, I didn't add this and it would be the final blast of taste I was looking for. I'm thinking a small wedge would do.

Mix all together and enjoy! Loved the texture/taste combo.

And finally, the cookies. Here's the thing about me of late. I have come to the understanding that taking favorite recipes and Veganizing them is almost easy. Doi!!!! After months of trying to create from the ground up, I figure this out. Anyhoo. I took the No Bake Recipe my mom used to make and tweaked it Vegan style. (NOT TOUGH, Sheesh!) and the cookies were awesome. Didn't take pictures, they didn't last that long. Ha. Ha.

No Bake Cookies (Veganized)

1 3/4 cups Vegan sugar

1/2 cup almond milk

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup Earth Balance

4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup peanut butter

3 cups oatmeal

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup dried cranberries

Combine sugar, milk, coconut oil, Earth Balance, and cocoa in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, and cook for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in peanut butter, oatmeal, and vanilla, when mixed add cranberries and stir well. Drop blobs onto wax paper. Let cool until hardened.

Just like my Mama used to make. Kind of, mostly. I want to try decreasing the sugar to see if I can't make them a wee bit less sweet. But that may throw off the chemistry and make them not harden.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Panic, the Mother of Creativity... Or At Least Decent Meals

I mentioned an upcoming/looming camping trip yesterday. And that Friday night hit and I needed 4 meals ready to prepare over campfires or to eat out of a cooler. Panic. Did I mention Rob's two meat eating friends wanted to try a little bit of our Vegan food, too? Yikes.


I had leftover Lemon/Olive/Garlic Seitan cutlets. I could have frozen the cutlets. But I needed food ideas now, and since I had them, creativity (for me) often comes from panic. Here are my not so necessarily creative recipes, that worked.

Seitan Phillies

Bread or Vegan Naan

Slivers of seitan slices (3/4 cup or so)

Onion slivers (about 1/2 an onion)

Peppers slivered (a pepper or 1/2 a bag of Trader Joe's frozen Pepper Medley)

Mushrooms (a cup or so)

Saute onions/peppers in a wee bit of oil or Earth Balance. Add mushrooms, When they are all tender, add Seitan. Serve it up. Rob put Vegan ranch on it. I didn't put anything on it. Pretty tasty.

Seitan Three Bean Chili

1 1/2 Cups (or 1 rinsed and drained can) White Beans

1 1/2 Cups (or 1 rinsed and drained can) Pinto Beans

1 1/2 Cups (or 1 rinsed and drained can) Black Beans

1 Cup diced Seitan

1 Small jar Salsa (1/2 Jar Water)

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Cayenne

1 tsp Garlic Powder

2 diced tomatoes (or a can of diced tomatoes)

Toss all together and let it simmer.

This had bite which wasn't aiyii hot, but nice. The heat of the salsa would make a difference. Mine was a homemade medium.




If my mad dash to prep food Friday night wasn't enough, Saturday morning as I packed up the food, I decided we needed some chocolate treats. It occurred to me that No Bake Cookies would hit the spot.


Come back tomorrow for that recipe.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Ginger Maple Pear Sauce

Rob and I camped over the weekend. It was a perfect few days to spend outdoors. But Friday night found me feeling unprepared foodwise for four meals on the go. So I had to get creative. A couple of Rob's buddies were joining us and they wanted to try out some of our Veg food. Extra pressure for sure.

Creativity and four pears that wouldn't survive the weekend gave me a bit of inspiration. I had plans to make Vegan french toast. And I thought a pear sauce would maybe be nice. I was right.

Maple Ginger Pear Sauce

4 peeled sliced or diced pears
3 TBSP Maple Syrup
1 tsp powdered ginger

Put all in a saucepan. Simmer for about a half an hour. As the pears get softer, begin smashing the bits until the mixture resembles applesauce.

When it is cool, place in a jar and refrigerate. It makes about a cup. Use within a week or so.
 

We spread it on our french toast and it was pretty delicious.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Smiling is My Favorite ~ Blue Planet

I don't write a lot of restaurant reviews. Heck, I don't know that I even know how to write one. But here goes.

We've got a few locally owned eateries around and about that we like to go to when we get the hankering for food we don't have to prepare.

One is a place we've only been to a handful of times over the past few years. It's pretty close, ten miles or so from us, and reasonably priced, too. But for whatever reason, I haven't been to Blue Planet since we went Vegan in April.

Yesterday we dropped in for lunch. I hadn't scanned the menu before for Vegan friendly foods. And I was really surprised to see how many Vegan items there were available. The staff members were extremely friendly and helpful.

While we waited for our lunch we sat near the kitchen. Couldn't help but notice a couple of the cooks having a great time. Don't you just love seeing people love their jobs? I do. Anyhoo. The food prep included a few riffs on the air guitar and some songs. I overheard a conversation about smiles between two cooks and the owner/manager (a guess). When our Vegan Caprisi pizza was delivered I understood the conversation and we had to smile.

Caprisi v vg $7.99 Natural Italian sauce, slices of tomato, basil, and natural mozzarella or vegan cheese

Why? Well, because a) they had plastered the thing with smiles. b) and because it was delicious.

So. If you are ever in the Omaha area, give them a visit. Good stuff, and good attitudes = smiles for all.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Party on the Fly and Being Social

Cooked up a storm last night. & (the unpronounceable (not really, it's an ampersand, but humor me) symbol for my daughter who has formerly been known as 21, 22, 23, 24 and ^.) Anyhoo, & made these delicious muffins. However, she subtracted 1/4 cup of sugar, added two handfuls of walnuts and a handful of chocolate chips. Yum.

She made these because a friend is in town. & turned 25 yesterday. And tonight she's got a few friends coming over to celebrate. (One friend can't eat grain, hence the bean flour muffins.) Not sure how this party happened, actually. The list of attendees grew. A few will be dropping in for dinner. I'm making Seitan Scaloppine with Lemon and Olives . This recipe was chosen mostly, because her cute friend wants to stop eating meat. :  ). And she wanted some ideas on how to get the meat "feel" and taste. Last night I showed her how to make seitan and gave her a few recipes.

Finally, for dessert I made Mama Pea's Peanut Butter with Chocolate Ganache Brownies. (Two pans, one for trying and one for tonight's impromptu "party.") 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Yes, Virginia, You Can Have Your Cake and Eat it Too...

Vegan Ice "Cream" Cake (Plan ahead, needs at least overnight in freezer to really set up, 24 hours would be better.)

The Cherry Pie (Vegan, of course) made a delicious ice "cream" cake for her a costume party last weekend. Ms. Cherry Pie, formerly known as 24, now, because her grandma thinks this unpronounceable symbol (^) doesn't say enough about her pretty sweet awesomeness is going to now be known as &. She poses with Leslie and Tom from Parks and Rec. But, I digress.

Non-Dairy Ice Cream Cake

2 Large Containers (or 4 small) Non-Dairy ice cream. She used Trader Joe's Soy Cherry Chocolate Chunk (YUM!)

1 Box of Vegan sandwich cookies. (16-20 oz)

1 Cup Veg Chocolate Chips

1/2 Cup Non-Dairy Milk 

Fingers and a Tombstone and a Raven. (Note. If you have dogs like ours, put the Raven and the fingers in a place that the dogs cannot reach. The Raven lost his legs and a few feathers, and the fingers, well, let's just say they looked a little more horrible after being chewed (and scrubbed, of course.)

A Spring Form Pan.

Let ice cream sit out until soft. Not soupy, but soft. Sitting out at room temp for 10 minutes or so unless really, really frozen.

Grease Spring Form Pan.

Crush cookies.

Melt chocolate chips in double boiler (or microwave), add non-dairy milk and stir til mixed.

Spread 1/3 of the cookies crumbs on the pan base. Scoop 1 container of ice cream onto crumbs and press down with a spatula or spread with knife. Place 1/3 of crumbs over the ice cream and drizzle 1/2 of the ganache (chocolate chips/ non-dairy milk mixture)over the crumbs. (At this point if things are getting soupy, place in the freezer and let it firm up for an hour or so.

Add the remaining ice cream, spread as smooth as you can. Pour rest of ganache over this layer and cover with the remaining cookie crumbs. Stick fingers into the top layer. (No Silly, not your fingers, the chewed on plastic ones from the dollar store that appear to be severed and horrifying.)

Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze overnight. Carefully remove the side of the spring form pan. You may have to run a warm knife around the sides to loosen the ice cream. Recover in plastic, take to your party. At the party, put the base of the spring form pan on a bigger platter, and secure the tombstone and/or raven to the platter. Ms. Cherry Pie aka & used a folded piece of cardboard and good old fashioned duct tape. 

Slice. Serve and enjoy.