Quick and Easy Hanukkah Menu

Happy Hanukkah! Working on the Hanukkah chapter of Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations was one of the most fun yet most challenging weeks in the kitchen mostly because of recipes like Challah, and the baked and fried version of Sufganiyot which both require time to rise which means I had way too much time on my hands to sit around anxiously waiting to see if the recipe was a success. As it turned out these recipes were some of the big favorites of my book testers and  by the time the book was wrapped and off to the printer nearly all the dishes in this Hanukkah chapter worked their way into staples in my home. Here's my Quick & Easy Hanukkah Menu:

Portobello Brisket

Roasted Vegetables

Potato Latkes

Sweet Potato and Parsnip Latkes

Cauliflower Latkes

Challah

Sufganiyot

Baked Sufganiyot

Applesauce Donut Holes

Portobello Brisket and Roasted Vegetables (Carrot, Parsnips, Turnip, Celery Root)

Final Day of VeganMofo: Turning Housing Projects into Community Gardens (Truly Living Well Urban Farms)

On this last day of VeganMofo I could think of no better way than to round out this incredible month of food than to share a bit of outstanding news about my CSA Truly Living Well Urban Farms. The Press Release below says it all and I couldn't be more thrilled for Rashid and all the great hard working folks over at TLW.

Ground Breaking Ceremony, Sunday, December 5, 2:00 p.m.
Corner of Hilliard Street and Old Wheat Street NE, Atlanta GA 30312

The site will be called The Truly Living Well Wheat Street Garden. We are creating an urban farm that we trust will be embraced by the greater Atlanta community as a source of quality food, a learning center and an essential element in building community. The site was formerly a housing project. We will grow in regenerated soil, raised beds, greenhouses and hoop houses. The black and white picture below is of a site in Vine City circa 1893 that contains elements similar to what we intend to create.

Mayor Reed recently released a plan that, among other things, seeks to bring "local food within 10 minutes of 75 percent" of Atlanta residents. Truly Living Well will assist him in reaching this goal.

The work is being funded by generous investment from the Arthur M.Blank Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency. 

So many of you have been very supportive of Truly Living Well over the past five years. We would really appreciate your presence at the ground breaking event. Here is a link to the press release being distributed.

Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture to open in Old Historic Fourth Ward

Ground Breaking Ceremony, Sunday, December 5, 2:00 p.m.
Corner of Hilliard Street and Old Wheat Street NE, Atlanta GA 30312

Gardein's Savory Stuffed Turk'y with Gravy

Everything has been so hectic around here that I didn't get my thanksgiving menu together until just yesterday. Thankfully, I wrote a book with an entire Thanksgiving section so it was as easy as turning to page 171 and picking out what I wanted to make. I decided to test out a couple new recipes for my main dish on Thanksgiving but wanted to have a quick and easy back up plan that I only needed to heat and serve just in case. I spotted Gardein Savory Stuffed Turk'y with Gravy in the Whole Foods refrigerated section and decided to give it a go. The turk'y was a little pricey coming in at around $7.50 for two but when I looked on the back and saw that one little stuffed turk'y was only 270 calories and had 22 grams of protein I was sold.

It's been pretty touch and go with me on gardein's stuffed products so I decided to try one of the stuffed turk'ys today just in case they weren't very appetizing. I popped it in the convection oven for 30 minutes while I baked candied yams in the conventional oven and put a started making a little cranberry sauce on the stovetop. 25 minute later the yams were cooked to perfection, the cranberry sauce was cooling and I was pulling the savory stuffed turk'y out the oven. I wish I could capture how delicious it looked straight out the oven as I drizzled the gravy over it but my camera is broken and my phone doesn't take the best pictures in the world. This turk'y is indescribably good! I could kick myself for not buying more of these while I was at the store and there's no way I'm going to brave the Thanksgiving crowd's to go back to Whole Foods and get another package. However, this item is seasonal so as soon as the crowd's die down I'm heading back out and grabbing up at least 4 packs of these before they're gone. From looking on the back of the package apparently these turk'ys are supposed to be frozen but my Whole Foods had them in the refrigerated section so look for them in both places.

Smokey Maple BBQ Beans (made with Jones Soda Co. Bacon Flavored Soda)

This afternoon I came home to a box little rectangle box filled with 4 clanging bottles of Jones Soda Co.'s new Bacon Flavored Soda. This new bacon flavored soda is 100% vegan but the moment I opened the box I knew in my heart I would never be able to drink it. But there has to be some redeeming value to a big box of bacony soda so I put on my thinking cap and started thinking about ways to incorporate the soda into delicious recipes. After mulling over it all afternoon I looked in my fridge and spotted the huge bowl of navy beans I just cooked up last night that had no particular culinary destination in mind. Right then and there I knew I had to make BBQ beans. I adapted my Smokey Maple BBQ Sauce recipe from Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations into the base for the beans. I was really worried about how the bacon would effect the taste of the beans, I haven't cooked with or eaten food with pork in it since the early 80s, so I stirred the soda into the pot 1 tablespoon at a time, tasting it after every stir. Before I knew it there was 3/4 cup of bacon flavored soda in the beans! This is my new favorite BBQ beans recipe and I'm glad it turned out well because the recipe makes a really big batch of beans so I'll be eating these throughout the Thanksgiving holiday season and freezing them for Christmas and New Years.

Smokey Maple BBQ Beans
Makes 8 Servings

1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
3/4 cup diced white onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups ketchup
3/4 cup Grade A maple syrup
3/4 cup Jones Soda Co. Bacon Flavored Soda
1 to 2 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
5 cups cooked navy beans

Warm canola oil in a large saucepan or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Stir in the ketchup, maple syrup, soda, Worcestershire sauce and red pepper flakes. Then slowly stir in navy beans. Stir until navy beans are completely covered with sauce. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Cookbook Review: The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur by Kelly Peloza

Right now I am nibbling on the most perfect little wafer of soft eggnog cookie with just the right amount of rum glaze and a cold glass of almond milk. I don't even like eggnog but these cookies make my heart smile. I made my first batch of Eggnog cookies about 3 weeks ago and have since made over 5 batches. I've brought them to classes, meetings and eaten more than I feel comfortable saying. These cookies are so amazing I wish I came up with the recipe myself but I didn't. All the credit goes to the author of the new book The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur Kelly Peloza.

Kelly has created what will now and forever be known as the gold standard in cookie books. The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur  contains over 140 cookie recipes is divided into 11 sections: Cookies inspired by drinks, totally nuts and seeds!, blissfully chocolate cookies, no bakes, DIY Version of Mass-Produced Cookies, Fruity Cookies, Bar Cookies, A Take on Tradition, Healthier Cookies and Baking for Specific Needs, Nostalgia: Everyone's Favorite Cookies, and Cookies You Would Find at a Tea Party.

The most used section of the book for me is the Cookies Inspired by Drinks section. Obviously the eggnog cookies are my favorite (although I've renamed them rum glazed sugar cookies for those who hate eggnog like me and wouldn't try them unless i renamed them) and the entire section is filled with one mouthwatering treat after another. The glazed rum raisin cookies are superb as are the fiesta margarita cookies. I had a little misstep when making the chai spiced cookies and they ended up coming out as hard as rocks but I know that they would have been phenomenal otherwise. To avoid the same mistake I made flatten these cookies out almost level to the thickness you want the end product. I kept looking into the oven waiting for the chai cookies to flatten out on their own and they never did which led to me over-baking them. And trust me, if you over bake these cookies by even a minute they will be as hard as a rock once they cool so keep an eye on the timer.

The Nuts and Seeds section had a couple notable treats like peanut butter cups and almond cloud kisses. My kisses didn't come out as pretty as the one's in the book but I find that the uglier a cookie looks the better it taste, and these cookies were damn good. I also highly recommend the Glazed Lime Cookies, Mexican Wedding Cookies and the Carrot Cake Cookies which I used to fool myself into believing I was eating something healthy. My dogs even got to get in on the tasting action and promptly devoured the Peanut Butter Dog Treats (and 1/2 a carrot cake cookie while I wasn't looking).

The only miss I found in the whole book was Kelly's version of a Rice Crispy Treats. I'm just not a fan of the corn syrup sugar mix that I've seen used a couple times to make these childhood favorites. I'd much rather just buy a big bag of dandies, some crispy rice and make the traditional recipe.

The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur  is a must have in every kitchen (vegan, omni or otherwise). Even though testing from this book made me gain 5 pounds and lose the ability to fit into most of my pants I don't regret one moment of it. My top 5 favorite recipes for this book are:

Eggnog Cookies

Chai Cookies

Carrot Cake Cookies

Peanut Butter Dog Treats

Glazed Lime Cookies