Cookbook Challenge Week 1: Veganomicon - Recipe #5 The Recipe: Fresh Dill-Basmati Rice with Chard and Chickpeas

Cookbook Challenge Week 1: Veganomicon - Recipe #5

The Recipe: Fresh Dill-Basmati Rice with Chard and Chickpeas (p 116)

Well, the challenge I took on was for 3 recipes. I couldn't stop with Veganomicon, so I was a bit of an overachiever this week. I was going to tell you not to get used to it. But then I was looking through Vegan with a Vengeance to start next week's list and it might just happen again.


The Reasoning: I have a confession to make. Actually, I have 2 confessions to make. I'm 38 years old (not part of the confession) and I don't think I have ever steamed a vegetable any other way than in the microwave. I also generally make terrible rice. It's way too sticky and it just comes out in big lumps. I realize it is asking a lot of one little recipe hiding in the "Mix and Match" section of Veganomicon, but I was hoping it would help me remedy both of these. I also have never tried chard.

The Substitutions: I used the water option, but 2 cups water to 2 cups of rice seemed like so little. I used 4 cups of water. My bunch of dill wasn't as big as what was suggested (probably between 1/4 and 1/2 cup), but it was enough.

The Process: A little labor intensive, but not difficult. I had to cook it about 10 minutes longer than the recipe said, but I think that was because of using extra water.

The Review: Yum! Mediterranean comfort food with a little lemony kick. I have fallen in love with fresh dill. And miraculously, the rice wasn't lumpy! It looked and smelled so good that it needed special treatment. I've been reading up on caterers and saw a couple that had potato martini bars. Serving food in martini glasses? How cute! This rice dish is even supposed to be garnished with a lemon wedge. Could it be more perfect? Although I love the lines of a martini glass, they are generally trapped in a dark cabinet until they come out for holiday mocktails. One-sixth of this recipe filled up the glass just right and filled me up too. I'm glad it's a balanced meal by itself because it actually bordered on too much food for me. If you cook ahead like I do, you'll be happy to know it tasted even better warmed up today for lunch.


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Points information - 1/6 of the recipe (a rounded cup)=6 points.
This is not figured or endorsed by Weight Watchers. I figured the points value myself using an online point calculator.

Cookbook Challenge Week 1: Veganomicon - Recipe #4 : Jelly Donut Cupcakes

Cookbook Challenge Week 1: Veganomicon - Recipe #4

The Recipe: Jelly Donut Cupcakes (p 253)

The Reasoning: Going to hang out with friends for the final installment of the Matrix trilogy, and I wanted to take a little something. I had all the ingredients, or rather, seemingly reasonable substitutions and only 1-1/2 hours before having to leave the house. The recipe states it takes 40 minutes.

The Substitutions: This is obviously not a gluten free recipe. So I had to replace the flour with 1 cup of my go-to all purpose flour, 1/4 cup each garfava flour and sorghum flour and 1/4 tsp xanthan gum. I didn't have preserves or jam, so I used squeezable grape jelly. I also used arrowroot in place of cornstarch. Because of a previous corn sensitivity, I always do this and it generally works out great. I also did my usual replacing of baking powder with 1/4 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp cream of tartar. Gee...looking at all this I'm now amazed they came out even relatively well.

The Process: Having to measure out various flours to make something gluten free is always a little more of a hassle than just using regular all purpose flour, but you adjust to what you have to. The rest of the recipe was really quick and easy. Do take note that the batter is thicker than normal cupcake better. Also do better than I did by noticing that these are supposed to sit overnight or better yet, 24 hours. I took the 40 minute preparation time to heart without reading the rest of the recipe. Needless to say these didn't go with me to movie night.

The Review: Please keep in mind that this review is for my gluten free adjusted version of these cupcakes. I've never made the originals because I keep the general rule that I don't cook what I don't eat. Being single and having no children makes this a pretty easy rule to abide by.

When I first took these out of the pan, I would have said these were an epic fail. As you can see, most of them have a big indentation in the middle. The jelly just kind of melted into the cupcake instead of giving that jelly-filled look. Even the next morning, the outside of the cupcake papers were oily. I debated on tossing them right away. But I decided to wait the 24 hours and tasted one. Despite the fact that the outside of the papers were oily, the inside was just a nice moist cupcake. After 36 hours, they had finally taken on a little bit of that donut chewiness. The flavor is reminiscent of the cake donuts I used to love at Dunkin' Donuts. So, while not a glowing success, not a complete failure either. They were at least tasty enough to perhaps try again. My guess is there needs to be less of the dense garfava and more of a light flour like the gf mix or some tapioca starch, but that is just a guess. If I ever make a successful gf version, I will definitely share. If you do it first, let me know!


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Points information - 1 cupcake=4 points.
This is not figured or endorsed by Weight Watchers. I figured the points value myself using an online point calculator.

Cookbook Challenge Week 1 - Veganomicon; Recipes 2 & 3 Brocolli-Millet Croquettes and White Bean Aioli

Cookbook Challenge Week 1: Veganomicon - Recipes #2 & 3
The Recipes: Broccoli-Millet Croquettes (p 51) and White Bean Aioli (p 62)

The Reasoning: Big bag of broccoli sitting in the refrigerator. I'm not a big fan of steamed broccoli. As far as the aioli, I see no reason to explain anything filled with garlic. It's almost always a good idea.

The Substitutions: Sit down...don't pass out. No substitutions on either recipe!

The Process: The croquettes would have been a lot more labor intensive without the food processor. Some days, I think I'd die without my food processor. I chopped the broccoli the day before and made the millet broccoli mixture in the morning in between showering/dressing/having breakfast. When I came home from church it was all cool and ready to make the croquettes. As the recipe warned, I must not have cooked the millet quite enough. The mixture was a little dry so the croquettes were falling apart in the pan. I ran a little water over and reformed the ones for the second pan full and they held together much better. I was also trying to skimp on the oil, so a little more oil helped. With, a thawed package of beans from my freezer and my handy-dandy food processor, the aioli was easy.

The Review: Besides being a little crumbly, the croquettes were really good. I'm guessing just because they were fried in oil, they were a little reminiscent of fancy tater tots to me (can you tell I don't eat much fried food?). They were crunchy on the outside and soft inside. I think I want to try to bake them next time.

The aioli was fabulous. I thought 6 cloves of garlic was going to be way too much. But for the garlic lover in me, it is perfect. It is some of the creamiest bean dip I have ever had. I have a feeling that I will be making it to go on everything soon. Served with roasted asparagus and roasted red/orange bell peppers (also dipped in aioli), 3 croquettes and 1/4 cup of aioli was a nice meal for lunch. When I ate leftovers for breakfast this morning without the vegetables, I was hungry pretty quickly after the 3 croquettes and aioli - must add some raw tomatoes/carrots/etc for a breakfast if it's gonna get me through the morning.

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Points information - 3 croquettes with 1/4 cup of aioli=8 points. I lost track of exactly how much oil I was using in the pan, but that's close. I figure if I bake them, it will be 4 croquettes with 1/4 cup aioli=8 points.
This is not figured or endorsed by Weight Watchers. I figured the points value myself using an online point calculator.

Cookbook Challenge Week 1 - Veganomicon; Recipe 1 Butternut Squash and Pumpkin Seed Rice Paper Rolls.

Ok, if you happen to be seeing this and you're on the ppk boards, you know that I'm jumping ahead of the game. But I have a good reason for it.

For those of you who don't know what Cookbook Challenge is, let me give a brief summary. There are apparently a lot of vegan cookbook addicts out there who buy a cookbook, get a few good recipes out of it and make them over and over, neglecting all the other gems that might be hiding within its pages. I don't have a ton of the books, but I am guilty of the cooking rut.

So in order to get out of our ruts and try new things (and take away some of the guilt for having so many cookbooks), a group on the ppk message boards (about 40) cast their votes on a poll of vegan cookbooks. The votes were based strictly on whether you own or have access to the book and not how much you like the book. The top ten vote getters were chosen for the Cookbook Challenge. Each week, for the next 10 weeks, we'll use one of the books (in order of popularity) and each participant is supposed to cook 3 recipes out of that book that they've never fixed before. So this is the challenge I have taken on.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm jumping ahead. The cookbook challenge technically runs from Monday-Saturday. But, I don't generally cook during the week. I cook enough Sat - Mon for the upcoming week because of my long hours in the middle of the week. So I did recipe 1 today.

Cookbook Challenge Week 1: Veganomicon Recipe #1
The Recipe: Butternut Squash and Pumpkin Seed Rice Paper Rolls (p 50-51)

The Reasoning: I decided to use this challenge to not only try new recipes, but to try new ingredients or new techniques. I've never rolled a spring roll and I had a butternut squash (on sale in summer) sitting just waiting to be used. I was going to use it for a previous V'con favorite - Butternut Squash w/crushed coriander seeds, but when Cookbook Challenge popped up, this recipe jumped off the page.

The Substitutions: The rolls themselves were allergen free for me, so I was able to follow the recipe exactly (yay!). The dipping sauce uses soy sauce, so I used my usual substitution of 1 part blackstrap molasses to 2 parts balsamic vinegar for the soy sauce.

The Process: I've been afraid of rolling anything in rice paper thinking that it was going to be too hard. It wasn't. It took a little bit of work, but using the instructions, it was actually pretty easy. I cut the butternut squash and roasted/chopped the pumpkin seeds the night before so it took a lot less prep time when I made the actual recipe. Since I cook over the weekends, I do a lot of that kind of prep ahead - it makes for a more relaxing weekend. (Warning: now that I've learned how to use the rice papers and found out it's no big deal, you will most likely see the mango spring rolls from Vegan with a Vengeance next week). So if you too have been hesitant, just jump in!

The Review: The rolls - yum! Especially yum to the ones that were made near the beginning and had a little more butternut squash in them than the others - I must get better at estimating how much should go in them. The sauce - while the balsamic/molasses sub works great in stir fry, I thought it was a little too vinegar-y here. Assuming these will make ok leftovers, I'm going to try the next serving with storebought duck sauce. I may even try another mix of the dipping sauce because I loved the hot chile oil in it. Served with some stir-fried green beans with almonds, 2 of these yummy rolls were REALLY filling. I thought I'd still be hungry and I'm actually a little stuffed.

Update: Sauce that it fantastic - 1 Tbsp store bought duck sauce, 1 Tbsp rice vinegar, 1/2 tsp hot chile oil. (Takes point count up by 1 and worth it!)

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Points information - 2 rolls w/4 tsp of dipping sauce = 6 points
This is not figured or endorsed by Weight Watchers. I figured the points value myself using an online point calculator.