Catching up: Some #VegCookbookClub cooking this week

I haven't been posting about the recipes I've been cooking from this month's #VegCookbookClub book, Vegan Holiday Kitchen by Nava Atlas, but I've been busy.

Consider this post a bit of a catch-up. And since it sems like I totally shot my was participating in Vegan MoFo in October (and have barely blogged since). One of my New Year's resolutions is to blog more.

(I'm using a new app called Lift to try to track some of my goals in a very simple way, in case you're interested.)

So, what have I cooked? I will try to recreate from my Photo Stream!

Previous recipes cooked and blogged: Massaged Kale Salad and Pueblo Corn Pie and Black Bean and Sweet Potato Tortilla Pie.

 

Since then:

I made the Smashed Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy, and I confess they were so good i headed strtaight into devouring them before taking a single shot. I always forget about the technique of using a little cornstarch and water as thickener for gravies and sauces. It's so simple, but it really does improve texture and mouthfeel most of the time.

I also made the Red-Wine Roasted Brussels Sprouts. I got a little creative as I reported to the Cookbook Club:

 Although as per usual, I changed it up a bit. I did include the carrots, but I’m no a huge red bell pepper fan, but I do loves me some roasted cauliflower, so i used that instead.

I also couldn’t resist tossing on some almond flour for the last 10 minutes of roasting (a trick form one of our other VegCookBooks that I use all the time now.)

Here are the before and after roasting shots:

I also made two dishes that were perfect to bring to work for lunch during the week:

Black Rice with Corn and Cranberries...a really beautiful dish with the red, yellow, black and green from both pumpkin seeds (and the recipe calls for green onion, which I didn't have on hand):

I also made a dish from our *previous* VegCookBook, Forks Over Knives (because I just can't seem to stick with one book), a Pumpkin Pinto Bean Stew. (The recipe called for Adzuki beans, I think, but said Pintos were a worthy substitute...and since I hand Pintos on hand...) It was yummy:

For Christmas I made the Hearty Lentil and Mushroom Shepherd's Pie. This was relatively easy, true-to-its-name-Hearty, and gave me a chance to use one of adorable Le Creuset casserole dishes. It requires a few simple ingredients (spinach being the main one that isn't already captured in the name of the dish itself). Here are a few shots of the process and the finished product:

The filling mixture:

You spread bread crumbs on the bottom of your baking dish and then fill with the mixture:

The  top it with mashed potatoes (made pretty much like you make mashed potatoes) :)

And here's a shot of a cut slice, so you can see the layer:

Super savory and yummy.

I also made the Decadent Almond Cake with chocolate ganache for Christmas dinner. I'll confess that the cake was very moist and yummy, and that the ganached tasted really good, but the texture was definitely not right. This recipe was from Hannah Kaminsky's My Sweet Vegan, and I feel like she could have had more detailed instructions on the *technique* that should be used to make the ganache. I'm not sure just tossing chocolate, soy creamer and syrup in a pot and melting is all there is to it.

But again...very tasty. The cake part alone I would make again, just because I love almond anything:

Yesterday I made two dishes, Coconut Butternut Squash Soup from Vegan Holiday Kitchen for lunch, and Fried Plantains with Black Mean/Chile Mash, Avocado and Roasted Poblanos, which I got from Serious Eats. 

The soup was super-simple and marks my first use of an immersion blender. Pretty slick:

Here's the before shot:

And here is after the immersion blender:

Easy peasy :)

The Fried Plantains were not bad at all for a first try. I was a little scared off by the deep drying aspect, so I can't say I was very religious about following the recipes. I didn't measure the temperature of the oil, I didn't really deep fry them, although the oil did *almost* cover the plantain slices. And yet, the slices came out crispy just as they were supposed to, so it all worked out. And really, you can't go wrong with black beans, diced chiles, poblanos (that added a lot of heat!) and avocado to cool it down.

Here are a few shots of the process and finished product:

Charred poblanos (under the broiler):

The black bean/diced Chile mash:

Frying the plantains (in my new cast iron skillet!):

And the finished product: Twice-fried plantain chip, topped with black bean/chile mash, avocado, and strips of roasted poblano. (The recipe had other stuff too, but these were the ingredeients I had right on hand, and it was *plenty* tasty and spicy just with these.)

Don't those look adorable AND decadently awesome? They were. 

So, that's the round-up, Sorry for the marathon post, but I've been saving up. And we already know I'm not that good blogger who would parse it out for days, thus ensuring I actually had content for more than one day out of every month. Why have so much fore-thought?

Happy New Year everyone! I plan to make a black-eyed peas recipe I found via Leite's Culinaria...how about you?