Vegan with a Vengeance - A Review

So for the past week... well few weeks, I have been trying out recipes in a recent cookbook, Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Overall I did like this book. unlike Veganomicon, this book was a little more into the realm of comfort food and focused on recipes that a novice cook could complete successfully.

Like most vegan cook books, Vegan with a Vengeance begins with a nice introduction on why she wrote this book and where she came from and how she got to being the Post Punk. She tells you what the essential tools are for the vegan cook and what she thinks should be stocked in a vegan pantry. Well-written and does a very good job at telling the story, not just telling you what to do.

Some of the recipes are for beginners, she even goes so far as to tell you how to chop tofu. However, these staple items are a really good foundation for vegan cooking. I kind of wish this was my first vegan cookbook or at least one of my firsts.

Isa also brings her flavour and spice combos into this dish, I personally think she is a master at the sweet, salty, spicy, sour combo. I think it really takes someone talented and trained in matching and combining flavour to produce some of the items in her book.

I think my biggest criticism of this book is that I wish there was more variety in the flavours. I think Isa has her favourites and her books reflect them. It's not fully a bad thing, but I think I would use the book even more if there was a bit more, especially in the entrees. I am not even sure how to articulate this one in words. I think that there are a lot of similar spices in many of the main course dishes (cumin, coriander, curry etc)

Anyways, in summary, I highly recommend this book for the beginner vegan, the flirt (part time vegan), vegan curious etc. There are recipes in this book that I will be going back to and altering to make them my own.

Here is what I tried:

Fronch Toast

Tofu Salad

No-Bake Black Bottom Peanut Butter Silk Pie

Homemade Seitan

Double Wammy: Jerk Seitan and Coconut Rice







So, the bottom line: Highly recommend this book. This is just a small snapshot of what she has to offer.

No Bake Black Bottom - Peanut Butter Silk Pie

Well, as some of you may know, I have managed to kill my oven about 10 days ago and in true ADD style, I have yet to get around to calling the landlord about it. Instead, I planned my week sans oven. I am working my way through a variety of recipes from Vegan with a Vengeance written by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I have never let the lack of an oven or any kitchen appliance stop me from having dessert and this week was no exception. I scanned through her book and found something perfect for testing - A no bake pie.

These sort of recipes scare me a bit. I get a little nervous when the instructions are to dump in a package of tofu into anything that is meant as dessert. Combine that with my fear of gelatinous sea vegetables and got a recipe full of fear! Some use love as a secret ingredient... not me!

Agar Agar anyone?

So it is time to get over this silly fear. What's to be scared of? Luckily this recipe is going to drown the scary ingredients with chocolate, peanut butter, and more chocolate. Besides, I think the animal derived alternative should be considered much scarier. I mean it is made of cartilage and connective tissue of animals... ew.

So here is the recipe and my review of it below:

No-Bake, Black Bottom-Peanut Butter Silk Pie
For the crust:

• 1 1/2 half cups of chocolate cookies, crushed
• 2 Tbsp of granulated sugar
• 1/8 tsp of salt
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 Tbsp of rice or soy milk

For the chocolate bottom:

• 4 oz of bakers chocolate
• 1/4 cup soy milk

For the filling:

• 12 oz  extra firm tofu silken tofu
• 3/4 cup creamy all-natural peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup of coconut milk
• 1 1/4 cup of boiling water
• 3 Tbsp agar

Prepare the crust:
Combine the sugar and the wafers in a food processor and blend until it is fine crumbs. Pour into a pie plate and add the oil and mix with your fingers. Add the milk and mix again and press into the bottom of the pan. Put in the fridge to chill.

Chocolate bottom:
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. When the chocolate has melted, add the soy milk and whisk until smooth. Remove from the heat. Pour most of this mixture on to the crust reserving a couple tablespoons for drizzling on the pie. Put the pie crust in the fridge.

Make the filling:
In a blender combine the silken tofu, peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla and blend until smooth. In a sauce pan boil the water and add the agar. Stir constantly until it is completely dissolved (about 10 min). Pour it into a glass measuring cup (not plastic). There should be about 1/3 of a cup or so. Add this to the blender and then add enough coconut milk to make a cup (i.e. if you have a 1/3 agar, you will need 2/3 cup of milk). Pour the milk in the blend and blend until smooth and combined.

Slowly pour the filling into the pie crust. pour the remaining chocolate on top and make a pretty design. Put it back in the fridge and cool for three hours.

So when I made this recipe, my chocolate did not turn out ok. I wonder if maybe the recipe has a typo and really it should have half the amount of baker's chocolate. It still worked, but the chocolate layer I had was too thick and it over powered the peanut butter filling. Other than that, this recipe, was easy and super yummy! I recommend for a hot day when you don't want to use an oven.

Sorry about the lack of pictures on this one, I forgot to put my memory card in while I was snapping away, so all I was able to get were pictures of the proof that I did eat a quarter of the pie for dinner. :)

Fronch Toast

Good morning, or maybe afternoon! I got a bit lazy this week with testing recipes from Vegan with a Vengeance after making a delicious risotto, I lived off of that and salad for the remainder of the week. Now that the long weekend is finally here, I figured I would start it off right with a little brunch.

Isa Chandra Moskowitz has a very simple recipe in her book that promises to make a Fronch toast that looks and tastes great. This is a brunch staple I have not tried since switching to a vegan diet; despite the fact that it was always my favourite.

Fronch Toast

• 1/2 loaf of somewhat stale french bread or baguette
• 1/2 cup soy creamer (I used soy milk with some soy milk powder mixed in for extra creaminess)
• 1/2 cup milk (I used soy)
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 cup chick pea flour
• Oil (I didn't use)

Preheat a skillet or griddle to medium heat. After cutting up the french bread mix together the soy creamer and milk then add the corn starch. Stir until it is mixed. Next add the flour and stir. It is OK if it is a little lumpy. I added a bit of vanilla to this recipe and if I made it again I would add salt and cinnamon as well. I can't believe I forgot that was my favourite addition to a regular french toast recipe. Vanilla, Cinnamon and Salt... perfect brunch combo.

If you are using a skillet, the recipe says to add a few table spoons of oil until the bottom of the pan is coated. I used my griddle, so I just used a little bit of cooking spray. I mean, I am already eating a half loaf of french bread, I figured I should scale it back where I can. Cook for about two minutes a side and top with syrup, powdered sugar and berries.

My thoughts on this recipe? It looked just like french toast and is smelled like french toast and it had the texture of a french toast, but I found something was a bit off with the taste. It was good, but just didn't taste as I expected. I do think you should try this recipe and keep an open mind. It is a really basic formula so I think it really could be altered to suit your tastes.