Cookbooks and stuff.

I love weekends. It's on Saturdays and Sundays that my husband and I have time to spend together and we end up doing a lot of the same things we did when we were dating, like dining out, shopping for music and especially bookstore browsing. We hit up two stores today: one was a dollar used bookshop and the other mega-bookstore Borders. At the dollar shop I got lucky and found some great old cookbooks:


This is what I got:

Toll House Heritage Cookbook (1980): This book is chock full of dessert recipes that use Toll House baking products and loads of dairy and eggs. No matter. I will try and veganize some of these recipes using animal free products like soymilk, egg-replacers (like cornstarch or mashed bananas or tofu), vegan margarine and dairy free chocolate chips. Some recipes that sound good: Cookie Brittle, Oatmeal Marble Squares, Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies and Bourbon Balls. I know I'll have fun veganizing these. My neighbor Shannon is a vegetarian but loves to bake vegan and she takes on the challenge with great results. So I will follow her example with this book.

Veggie Lovers Cookbook: I scored with this one as it's completely vegan with a ton of simple and practical recipes such as Vegetable Loaf, Miso Macaroni, Curried Sauté, Carob Mousse Pie and banana ice cream. It looks like a very healthy book as the recipes do not contain sugar or salt but instead use things like date sugar, brown rice syrup and tamari.

America's Favorite Recipes from Better Homes and Gardens (1966): This one is going to be a blast to veganize. Such crazy sounding recipes like Oriental Chi Chow, Asparagus Delicious, Burger in the Round and Vegetable Trio with Zippy Sauce. I know with some of the meat dishes I'm going to have to use meat substitutes like tofu, tempeh or seitan. Can't wait to experiment!

The Simpler Life Cookbook from Arrowhead Mills: i wonder if this is the same company that makes the vital wheat gluten that I buy? (off to check online...) Why yes it is. This book is vegetarian (it has recipes with dairy and eggs) but most can be veganized. A lot of them utilize all kinds of grain such as whole wheat, millet, barley, bulgur, oats, rye etc as well as other healthy staples like beans, lentils, vegetables and nuts. Some recipes that look good and healthy: millet patties, barley rice burgers, millet casserole and garbanzo goulash.

Fit For Life: I've heard about this book after reading interviews with Bryan Adams (yes Bryan Adams, the singer songwriter) and his vegan diet. He recommended this book for it's healthy lifestyle full of fresh fruits and vegetables. It looks like a weight loss book about food combining and eating the right foods in the right combinations at the right time. Might give it a try one day.

And I also got a few non-cookbooks:


Twins: the book that was the inspiration for the film Dead Ringers.
The Forbidden Tower: oooh....scary! Haha! I'm a sucker for these gothic suspense novels that are from the 60's and 70's.
Doctor Who: The Pirate Loop: My husband got me this from Borders. Yay! I looooooove Who.

Oh, I should mention what I had for lunch: Subway $5 footlong! I had a Veggie Delight on white with mustard (no mayo, no cheese) and filled with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, green peppers, onions, olives, carrots plus avocado, oil and vinegar, salt and pepper, pepperoncinis and jalapenos. It was yummy!

Seitan and Snow Pea Stir Fry

My mom made this for me! This past weekend my aunt bought me a hunk of seitan from the asian market near her house and it had been in the fridge since then. The seitan was plain and unseasoned so I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it. My mom to the rescue! She quickly whipped up this stir fry with snow peas and carrots and seasoned it with mushroom soy sauce and garlic. Very tasty!

On another note, Chocolate Covered Katie is giving away a box of Jocolat bars!!! Mmm mmm! Go here for more details.

Fat Free Pineapple Coffee Cake + African Pineapple Peanut Stew

I've been craving desserts. After the three week detox, I'm a little wary of going full force with desserts just yet. Yes, I dream of layer cakes with buttercream filling and cookies with gooey chocolate chips but I think I want to do it a healthier way today. I got this yummy coffee cake recipe from the fat free vegan blog which I visit regularly. Susan V. has a treasure trove of fat free or low fat original vegan recipes that you can incorporate into your weekly meals from breakfasts, lunches, dinners and desserts! I've made this coffee cake about 2 years ago when I first went vegan and I loved it. I'm glad I have gotten around to making it again. It's very moist and healthy cake made with whole wheat and oat flours, no oil, very little sugar and a crunchy cinnamon sugar topping. Perfect for your tea or coffee break!


I didn't have raw turbinado sugar so I used regular sugar for the topping. I also didn't have Ener-g egg replacer so I substituted 2 TB of cornstarch with no problems.




Edited to add:


I made this African Pineapple Peanut Stew using the leftover pineapple from the cake. I added some chickpeas, sweet potatoes, a little water and way more peanut butter than the recipe calls for! It's delicious served over rice or couscous.

Tofu Cacciatore

Here's another comfort food meal which is super easy for a weeknight. I got the recipe from a vegan recipe site called 'Ethnic Vegan'. This particular recipe is called "Better Than Chicken Cacciatore". It originally calls for a chicken substitute but I used baked tofu chunks instead. (You can probably use extra firm unbaked tofu as well.) I had already prepared some baked tofu and tempeh bacon this morning to make club sandwiches during the week so I was all set. Just needed to add some red and green bell peppers, onions, mushrooms and tomato sauce and presto!: tofu cacciatore. I omitted the last step in the recipe where it requires you to bake the cacciatore. I was fine with just simmering it in a saucepan for a while. Mmm. mmm!


On top of linguine!


Here's the baked tofu that I made. I used half for the cacciatore and saved the rest to make club sandwiches. I brushed both sides of the tofu slices with a marinade of olive oil, soy sauce, dijon mustard, garlic and black pepper. I baked them on an oiled baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes flipping them halfway.

All you need is comfort food!

Today I needed something warm, hearty and comfort foody. Pot pie to the rescue! I've been wanting to try the 'Vegetable Pot Pie' recipe from the Country LIfe Vegetarian cookbook for quite some time. I'm glad I did as it's a little different from the pot pies I usually make. The gravy is creamier with the addition of soymilk and flavorful from the 'country style seasoning' which is another recipe in the book. I didn't make the 'Flaky Oat-Wheat Crust' that is supposed to go on top because I didn't have all the ingredients so I used a frozen pie crust that had been languishing in my freezer for a while. I just thawed it and popped it out of the tin pie plate and flattened it out with a rolling pin and cut out little biscuit shapes for the crust. Came out real nice.




The insides: potatoes, green beans, carrots, onions, corn, celery and broccoli. I was going to put mushrooms in here but I forgot!

Edited to add the pretty purple smoothie I had after a long dog walk. Blueberry/Strawberry/Applesauce/Soymilk

Blackened Tempeh Sandwich

I ate a lot of snick-snacky things today including Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos, Spicy Wasabi Rice Crackers, Snickerdoodle cookies and more date brownies. Not very good for my first day off the diet, huh? Need to slow down...

Lunch was fantastic. I made this sandwich using blackened tempeh (dredge thin slices of tempeh in cajun seasonings and pan fry in a little olive oil on both sides until browned), cashew cheese spread, lettuce, tomato, sauerkraut and thousand island sauce (vegenaise, ketchup, capers, dijon, pepper). Yum! It's kinda sort of like a reuben except I used french bread instead of pumpernickel.

Last day!

Hooray, I made it! Today is the last day of 3 weeks of healthy eating. I feel really good and so proud of myself that I was able to get through it without any issues. I've really enjoyed cooking healthy meals and eating much more veggies, fruits and whole grains than usual. I will definitely incorporate all I've accomplished into my daily routine. I learned that it doesn't take much to make healthier choices. It's not expensive or as time consuming as one may think. I've heard time and time again that healthy cooking/eating is expensive. It really isn't! In fact for this particular diet, my grocery bills were nice because all I bought were fruits, veggies, beans, tofu and whole grains. No processed, packaged products at all which really cut down on the expense.

I feel like after doing this, I will keep making better choices and learn to center myself and not give in to too many unhealthy cravings. I've even lost about 4 pounds, so knowing that will help me try to maintain it rather than gain it all back again!

Last day eats:


Breakfast: Green smoothie (spinach, banana, dates, mango)

Snack: Celery and sunflower paté plus a square of date brownie and later on, a banana.


Lunch: We went to The Veggie Grill today and I tried my best to make a healthy choice. This was the soup of the day: "Chickin'" Gumbo. It was delicious.


This was the Baja Fiesta side salad. It has romaine, papaya, avocado, roasted corn salsa, quinoa, cucumber, cilantro and a ginger-papaya vinaigrette. Yummy!

Dinner will probably be leftover pizza from yesterday. And most likely another salad. And maybe a brownie? :)