Thursday 10 February 2011

Recipe Round-Up: 1000 Vegan Recipes (and finger woe!)

More fun things to share from 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson. Every week I make my lunch to take to work with me. Lunch is not a set time or duration, it is something that I just squeeze in when I get the chance, so having something prepared and delicious really helps. Here are some salads and a couple of wraps that I have made and taken a long with me.


German-Style Potato Salad was a yummy sweet and sour salad. You cook the dressing - be careful not to cook it too long or it can go a bit gummy! The recipe calls for 1/2 cup olive oil in the dressing, but I decreased it to 1/3 cup with no problems and next time would probably decrease it even a bit further.


Carrot and Orange Salad with Carrots and Cilantro is a fantastic and refreshing combination. It keeps really well too, which I was a bit surprised about. It is sweet and nommy, and the cashews are fantastic... add more!


Tropical Black Bean Salad with Mango was full of promise but fell a bit short for me. After taking the photo I added a two cups of cooled brown rice and tossed through as suggested to bulk it up. There was not enough mango in here for me, next time I would use two... or maybe even three if I was adding the rice again. I like the Vcon version of this salad much better.


This salad did live up to my expectations. Chinese "Chicken" Salad is like an Asian coleslaw with a thick peanut sauce - delicious! When I took it to work I put some shredded lettuce in the bottom of the container, which was great. The book suggests serving in lettuce-leaf cups, which would be adorable. It would also be delicious as a wrap.


Puttanesca Seitan and Spinach Salad was one of my favourite salads. Seitan, olives, capers, spinach, garlic, tomatoes... how could it be wrong?


White Bean and Broccoli Salad with Parsley-Walnut Pesto was another winner, it was sooooo yummy. If you are not eating it right away, don't mix the nuts into the salad or they go soggy. Take them along to work in a separate container and add them on the day.


Roaster Cauliflower and Rice Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette was yummy... it really did start an intense love of roasted cauliflower, it was a miracle any of it managed to make it into the salad!


This is a crappy photo, but Provencal White Bean Salad is a great salad for packing for the week. The book suggests tossing through some cooked pasta or sliced potatoes, I just took it over some greens. Though now I think about it, sliced potatoes would have been so fine.

Sometimes the salad is enough on its own, especially if it is full of beans, pasta, vegetables, tofu or the like. Sometimes I make a sandwich or a wrap to take along as well to round out the lunch.


I love this photo, if I may say so. I'm an average to crappy photographer of food, but every now and then one just works... and I think this looks beautiful. Arugula and Apple Salad with Creamy Mustard Dressing is a lovely salad. To take to work, take it in parts, the greens, the apple (tossed in a little bit of lemon juice) and the dressing and mix there. I only used 1/4 cup of oil in the dressing instead of 1/3 cup.


The above is not enough to fill up my hungry lunch-time belly. I also took along some Tempeh-Walnut "Chicken" Salad Wraps, which were great. The recipe called for 8 ounces of tempeh, but the blocks I normally get are 300g and I just used the whole block, and it was fine.


This intriguing looking thing is Tahini Broccoli Slaw, using shredded broccoli stems instead of cabbage as the base of the slaw. Yummy! My love of broccoli stems continues to grow. The tahini dressing is very thick and very delicious.


With the above salad I also took along some Tofu Waldorf Salad Wraps, correctly thinking that the sweetness of the wraps would be a nice counterpoint to the tahini dressing in the slaw. I used some of the Pureland soy mayo for this, which is already quite sweet, so if you are using this or another sweet prepared soy mayo then no need to add the sugar in the dressing. I also found that the amount of filling made enough for eight wraps using the mountain bread wraps I used, rather than the 4 wraps the recipe suggested. The recipe says use 4 10-inch tortillas, and I can't imagine the amount of filling would not exceed that as well.

Finger Woe

As I type this, I only have nine fingers at my disposal. On Monday at work a cat scratched the tip of my little finger on my right hand so bad and so deeply that some of the inside bits were poking through to the outside - OUCH! I went to the doctor, who put some sticky strips on it, but when I went back the next day for her to check it she decided it needed stitches. Now, I spend all day wielding needles, but point them towards me and I turn into a nervous wreck of terror. Local anaesthetic injections hurt like hell, it turns out, but at least after that I could not feel what she was doing. I now have three stitches in my finger, which I find incredibly disturbing and I cannot wait to hopefully get them out on Monday. Anyway, in the meantime I cannot get my finger wet or use it in any meaningful fashion. Annoying.

Cute Kitty Picture of the Post


This is Blaize. I have mentioned her before, she is one of our adoption kitties who has a bad heart defect, there is no way of knowing when it will take her. I am happy to report that Blaize is now over two, and recently came in for her yearly vaccination. She is doing really well in her new home, and has a little kitty sister now as well to play with. She is certainly having a wonderful life, hopefully fate will make it a long one!

(% '1000 Vegan Recipes' Blogged: 10.4%)
(Over 100 recipes blogged, hurrah! I've actually cooked over 200 recipes, so lots more to come)

1 comment:

  1. Ohnoes! I had lots of comments on your food, but I forget them all when I read about your poor finger! How awful - I never would have guessed that cats can even scratch that hard. Hope you heal very quickly!

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