Book Review: Appetite for Reduction

I've been a bit of a slacky blogger as of late, so to make it up to you- I'm going to sift through some food porn, write up some of my favorite dishes and hopefully blow your ever loving mind with vegan goodness. Before I do that, I have to gush about my favorite Christmas present. I've been an obsessive fan girl since I picked up Isa's first book "Vegan with a vengeance". At that time, I was a new vegetarian with the cooking skills of a seventh grader. A lot of the recipes sounded amazing, but had weird ingredients that required some searching and a lot of trying strange things. They also required skills and time management in the kitchen that I didn't have yet. So I made lists, went on ingredient treasure hunts and dove in feet first. I had so many delicious results that I had to have each book as they came out (many were co-authored by the awesome Terry Hope Romero, who me and Jules got to see in person at the Toronto Veg fest) :Veganomicon, Vegan brunch, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, and Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar. I couldn't even begin to choose a favorite. Veganomicon is a vegan Bible, with basics like how to cook rice and beans plus recipes for just about every veggie or occasion under the sun. Vegan brunch has the best tempeh bacon in the world. As for cupcakes and cookies, I use these about every other day. Certainly not healthy, but amazingly delicious! When I want to show people how fantastic vegan food can taste, I look no further than these two. Appetite for Reduction doesn't have deserts, but it makes up for it with incredible, fast and easy recipes. All are under 400 calories and many are under 200; if you care about that sort of thing. Our favorite so far has been the Caesar Chavez salad with eggplant bacon. It's creamy, it's smokey, it made me weep with happiness. We also loved the blackened tofu with butternut squash coconut rice. Epic win! Isa started off in Brooklyn, and an international flavour in her cuisine really shines through.Check out some food porn from the book here. If you are just starting your vegan journey, are veg curious, or just looking for some great new cookbooks-I highly recommend picking up one of these bad boys. You might start a novice, but you'll leave a pro!

Vegetarian Chilli: A food cliche

Is there anything more overdone in the vegetarian world than veggie chilli? Hellz yes, it's name is the veggie burger. The only thing though, is that chilli is warm, homey and easy to make. There is a reason it's repeated at nauseum. On the chopping block for this evening was Field Roast Chipotle Sausage. If you've never tried Field Roast, you haven't lived. It is way, waaaaaaaay better than any other fake meat I've ever tried (I'm looking at you Tofurkey-gag). It is in no way a diet food, with roughly 20 grams of fat per link. That's why it taste so delish, fat = taste. They come in Italian, apple sage and chipotle-all of which we tried and loved in a borderline obsessive way. I've been so congested lately that spicy was in order. For this little ditty, I used garlic, red pepper and frozen corn. I also cooked up a mixture of chickpeas, pinto and black beans. Making your own beans is easy peasy and cheap. They usually say to soak overnight, but it seems like every time I do that it's epic fail. So, just a rinse and then boil them until soft-usually a few hours. I added all of those things to a pan with two chipotle sausages, plus a can of organic tomato sauce and a can of water. I then added salt to taste and about 1-2 tbs chilli powder. I simmered for about 30 minutes while I whipped up a batch of Jalapeno cornbread biscuits. Costco has these dehydrated jalapeno pieces that are the bomb for cooking with. *swoon* The recipe for the biscuits came out of " Vegan Brunch" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Isa is my vegan superhero. I'll save my love fest for some other blog because I need more room, but if you need a good place to start your vegan cookbook collection-start with hers.
I added some lime to my chilli to replace the sour taste I once got from sour cream. A little cilantro and this bitch was dreamy.