Slow Pho

My lady did the prep for most of the soup (I did the last bit after all the yummy ingredients simmered together). It was quite tasty. The 2nd item we've made in our slow cooker. The recipe is out of Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. The soup was really tasty. More noodly than I expected, but very flavorful. It was also the first time that we used seitan in a dish. It was good; sauted/browned it before adding it to the stock. We even got to use our new onion soup bowls we got as an early wedding gift. Topped it with some green onion & bean sprouts. Unfortunately we forgot to take pictures of the soup; our schedule was thrown off with our impending handfasting and having an out of town guest staying with us. Would like to make the soup again, it was good.

Spinach Artichoke Risotto

This dish was very disappointing. Nothing we did wrong in preparing it, but the dill was way too strong for either of our likings. Neither of us ate much of it and unfortunately the leftovers went to waste. It was from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers by The Moosewood Collective. With spinach, artichoke hearts, garlic, scallions & feta, I thought it would be very good. We may make it again but cut back on the feta and half the dill (or omit it completely). This is the first herb that I've run across that I just don't care for much. Maybe it was just too much at once. I will try & keep an open mind and allow the possibility of using dill in the future though; give it a chance to let us enjoy it.

Frittata Rice Bites

These were taken from a recipe I found online. Now whether it was some sort of vegetarian recipe group or website, I know not.
Prep took awhile although we were able to prepare everything else while the brown rice was cooking.
They consist of rice, eggs, zucchini, red pepper, garlic, onion, mozzarella, milk, plus seasonings.
They weren't bad, although they didn't come out of the pan very neatly. In fact, a good third of them stuck in the pan. Unfortunately, it killed the pan, which was not new by any means, but still, we soaked it, ran it through the dishwasher, soaked it some more.
Anyway...the dinner was good although next time we make something like this, I think we're going to use metalic cups rather than directly in the pan. The bites could have been a cooked some more, they were a little loose I think, but still tasty.

Broccolini Cheddar Melt

Tonight we had Broccolini Cheddar Melt from the book Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers by The Moosewood Collective. It was pretty tasty actually, but....next time I think we'll double the recipe as it was only one melt each (one slice of whole wheat bread with the stuff on top). Also, the bread got a little over done in the broiler. Will have to note that for next time around. The stoneground mustard really gave it a nice undertone beneath the garlic-sauted broccolini and cheddar. And it was the first time I've cooked broccolini. Very tasty and tender! Will have to use it some more I think. I was unable to snap a picture of the dinner as our rechargable batteries were all deader than dead at the time. Oh well, there's always next time, and hopefully the edges of the bread won't be burnt!

Baked Barbecue Tofu & Peppers

This dish was fairly easy to make. It's from the book The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet by Nava Atlas. It was, meh, ok. We've had a similar dish from the same cookbook that we both liked better. I think the other one was sauted and this one was just baked. Felt like it should have been cooked more, I think. Not bad though, and Amy's Honey Maple BBQ Sauce added a nice flavor. Probably won't make this particular dish again as there are so many more recipes to try and ones we know we really like already.

Cheesy Garlic-Stuffed Artichokes

This is our first dish with our new slow cooker. It's from our, yet again different, newest cookbook, Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. It didn't take very long to prep and cooked for 4 hours on low. Make sure you snip all the pointy ends of the leaves before shoving the stuffing in between them. The stuffing was super tasty. However, the artichoke was overcooked unfortunately. I'd like to make the stuffing again but this time stuff bell peppers with it and bake them. It consisted mainly of soy crumbles, garlic sauted in olive oil, whole wheat bread, parsely, parmesan & asiago chesses and just a couple dashes each of cayenne, salt & black pepper.

We're aiming for a nice bean-based soup to try in the slow cooker next. It was kind of nice just to have dinner ready and not have had to prepare it right then. However, it was also odd not to be "in charge" so to speak of when the meal was done, having done all the prep work 4 hours earlier. That'll just take some getting used to on my part and working out the timing better.

Tomato Tortilla Soup

We made this yummy soup tonight from the book Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers by The Moosewood Collective. It was different, not what I expected from a tortilla soup. We blended the chips into a portion of the soup and then added it back to the rest of the stock. We topped it with various things: the bowl on the left has cheddar cheese and cilantro while the bowl on the right has advocado, cilantro and just a sprinkling of cheddar cheese. Some ingredient must have reacted with the cheese as it was an odd texture and stuck to everything; such as our teeth, the spoons, the bowl. All in all, a good soup. I even used our new wok to make it; the large soup pot we currently have is severely lacking in quality. Looking forward to the leftovers tomorrow evening.

Red Bean Ratatuille

Tonight was Red Bean Ratatuille from the book 150 Vegan Favorites by Jay Solomon. It was very hearty and flavorful! The leftovers kept really well too. The beans added a nice texture and some protein to the veggies. We topped it with some mozzarella, what a surprise eh? You know Luinda loves her cheese!

Cashew Tofu

We had Cashew Tofu tonight, adapted from the book Tofu Cookery by Louise Hagler. The original recipe is Almond Tofu, but we both prefer cashews.
We've made this before, and liked it. Tonight I used peanut oil to brown the marinated tofu to see if it would add a deeper peanut taste (the marinade has peanut butter in it). I think there was a tad more peanut taste. It's a good dish and I'm sure we'll have it again when we have an easy day (prep takes a while as the tofu has to marinate for 2 hours) ~ would like to try it with rice one time too.

Rarebit Risotto

Tonight we had Rarebit Risotto from the book Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers, our newest cookbook. It was pretty yummy! Very different than most of the stuff we've been making and a lot richer too. Had a very unique flavor with the beer and mustard. The tomatoes and broccoli gave it a nice splash of color. I'm amazed that the 1 1/2 cups of risotto soaked up 5 cups of vegetable broth and 12 oz of beer! All in all, pretty tasty.