Book Review: Chloe's Kitchen by Chloe Coscarelli

I love this cookbook! It's written by Chloe Coscarelli, the first VEGAN baker to win Food Network's Cupcake Wars. She has been a vegetarian all her life, but has been vegan since 2005. She's gone to school in both California and New York. She has even studied Cornell University's Plant Based Nutrition Program by Dr. T Collin Campbell (The China Study). I can go on, and on about her credentials and her awesomeness, but that could be a whole blog post in itself. LOL! :)

Chloe released her own cookbook earlier this month and I bought as soon as it was released. I HAD to have it! I love all her recipes from her website: http://www.chefchloe.com/ and have had lots of success recreating many of them.

Chloe's Kitchen

This cookbook has 125 awesome easy vegan recipes and some nice pictures. Although, I prefer cookbooks with pictures of all their dishes. (Maybe next book!) Most of the ingredients are those I keep on hand, and the recipes are easy to follow. There are lots of small kitchen tips, like how to cut a mango and what a "Chiffonade" is. :)

Here are some of the many items I have made from her cookbook already! Every single recipe has been fabulous, even my anti-vegan teenage daughter loves them. :)

Jalapeno Corn Poppers

Artichoke-Walnut Pesto, Warm Spinach-Artichoke Dip and
Cajun Yam Fries

Miso Glaze Eggplant

Peanutty Perfection Noodles
made with Buckwheat Noodles

Skillet Black-Eyed Peas

I hope to actually work my way through the whole book. The hard part is which recipe to make first. :) Since all her recipe look amazing! Way to go Chloe!! :)

Currently, Chloe is on a book tour promoting her book. You can check if she is coming to a town near you, on her website. All I know, is that there are NO Canadian dates right now, so there no chance of me ever getting my book signed. :(

BUT...I know we have an AMAZING annual Vegetarian Food Festival in the Summer, maybe Chloe could come do a book signing! *fingers crossed*

Do you have a favourite Vegan cookbook? How many recipes have you made from it?

Happy Cooking!! :)

Vegan Gluten-Free Lasagna

Tonight's dinner was especially made for my husband. His favourite meal in the whole world is Lasagna! :)

Vegan Gluten-Free Tempura Veggies

Today, I had been super lazy and haven't done much of anything today. Then, I got a sudden craving of tempura veggies. Mainly because I had a ton of veggies starting to go bad. :(

I love tempura veggies because they are so simple to make. Today, I used Cauliflower, Sweet Potato, Zucchini, Broccoli and Mushrooms, but you can use just about anything. You need to make a simple batter to thinly coat your choice of vegetable, meat or seafood.

My kids love vegetables, even more so when I lightly fry them up. Although, Logan still prefers raw vegetables. :)

Vegan Gluten-Free Tempura Batter

Ingredients:
1 cup corn flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups very cold soda water (or gluten-free beer), more if needed
1 tsp salt

Directions: 

1. Combine all ingredients and mix well. Add more water if needed, batter should be the same consistency as pancake batter. 

* I deep fried all my veggies in canola oil, over medium high heat until golden brown. :)

Try this super easy recipe and tell me what you think. :)

Happy Cooking!! :)

4th Annual Totally Fabulous Vegan Bake-Off

Last Saturday, I volunteered at the 4th Annual Totally Fabulous Vegan Bake-Off  hosted by the Toronto Vegetarian Association. It's part of my New Years Resolution to volunteer my time this year. This was my first event I signed up to volunteer for. What can I say? It was super easy for me to decide to sign-up - FREE DESSERTS!!

When I arrived, there were no signs outside of the venue to advertise there was a Vegan Bake-off inside. I was a tad worried there wouldn't be many people to come out for the event. Well, wasn't I wrong?! It was a huge turn out. I'm not exactly sure how many competitors there were, but there were 8 categories: Vegan Cookies, Vegan Bars, Raw Vegan Desserts, Vegan Cupcakes and Pastries, Gluten-Free Chocolates, Gluten-Free Sweets, and two Professional categories.

It was an awesome vibe - very easy going and fun. Unfortunately, I didn't stay to the end, so I missed 2 things. 1) George Stroumboulopoulos (@strombo) and 2) all the winners. :(

I tried 2 categories: Vegan Cupcakes and Pastries and Vegan Professional 1. The clear winners for me were Super Banana Split Cupcake for the Vegan Cupcakes and Pastries and Kindfood's Mile High Browine for the Vegan Professional 1. My father-in-law loved Katie Brock's Pecan Cinnamon Rolls. He couldn't get over that it was 100% VEGAN!! LOL!

My biggest disappointment was Brunner's The Lumberjack. I know what they were going for, but failed. I was so excited to try their creation, but it didn't taste as good as it looked. My daughter spit it out and she doesn't do that. Really, she doesn't, she is as much as a foodie as I am. Oh, well you win some you lose some, right? Next week, I plan on making a trip to Brunner's Bake Shop and trying a few different treats. I have been told by Brunner's The Lumberjack is not on their regular menu. Whew! So, I am SUPER excited to try their other delicious creations because they all look amazing! :)

Where you at the Vegan Bake-off? What was your favourite? Do you have an awesome Vegan dessert recipe you want to share?

Happy Baking!!  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

TTD: Tempeh Tomato Daiya

Today's lunch was pretty simple, and full of flavour! I made a Vegan Grilled Cheese. Well, I cooked it in the broiler, but still super yummy!

Mexicali Sliders

Tonight's dinner was Chloe Coscarelli's Mexicali Sliders. I made these a couple of weeks ago, but only made the patties. Tonight, I actually made the Sliders with the Spicy Mango Sauce too. It was amazing. Adding the Mango Sauce added another level of YUM to these Sliders!

Miso-Ginger Tofu with Ginger Snow Pea Salad

I made this recipe last weekend with chicken it was fabulous. Today, I made swapped out the chicken for tofu. It was delicious!

Pumpkin Spiced Latte Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream and Pumpkin Syrup

I love all things Pumpkin Pie and I love Soy Lattes. So I created a cupcake in tribute to one of my favourite desserts and my favourite coffee drink. :)

Yes, these are 100% Vegan!!

Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles

Today, I tested another cookie recipe for my cookie boxes. Yes, it was another vegan cookie. Yes, it was another success! :)

Baked Vegan Spring Rolls

For some reason, I never sleep until it's wwwaaaayyyy past my bedtime, then I wake up grumpy and cranky. Hmm...I think there is a reason for it. I just can't put my finger on it. LOL!!

Well, with me up so late every night, dinner at 6 PM doesn't keep me full until breakfast time. I always seem to have a craving of some sort of snack at 1 AM. Tonight, it was spring rolls. I made some super quick BAKED not FRIED spring rolls.

They were crispy not soggy and very yummy! :)

Mexicali Patties with Coconut Lime Quinoa

I love, LOVE Chloe Coscarelli! Ever since I saw her on Cupcake Wars. Yes, she was the smiley adorable one, who won with Vegan, yes that's right, Vegan cupcakes! She is who inspired to bake mostly vegan cupcakes and other treats. Since then, I have dabbled with vegan cuisine. You can see my blog is full of random recipes I have tired and thrown together. I have been trying to cook more vegetarian and vegan meals, ever since I saw Forks over Knives and now Earthlings. Both AMAZING documentary about food. Next on my list, are Black Gold and Vanishing of the Bees.

Anyway, back to Chloe. :) I have made many of her desserts and a few meals, but the Mexicali Sliders scared me the most. Mainly, because I was really worried it would be too dry. Well, I am pleased to announce it wasn't. It was delicious, just like all her other recipes. I did make a few minor changes. I made them gluten-free, for starters, skipped the Mango sauce and added my favourite vegan cheese, Daiya (in Pepperjack).

Mexicali Paties with Coconut Lime Quinoa, Guacamole, Salsa
and Vegan Sour Cream

Vegan Oatmeal Cookies

Today, I made a batch of the most amazing Oatmeal Cookies! Yes, they were vegan. No, they were not rock hard. They were a little crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. My husband ate almost all of them in one sitting. He's a self-proclaimed "cookie connoisseur". He said they were"moreish". I think that's a good review. :)

On the Food Network's website, they are advertising the 12 Days of Cookies. I picked a few yummy ones that caught my eye. I'll be making my favourite recipes and posting them soon.

Vegan Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

On the Road to a Vegan Thanksgiving - Part 2

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to all my US friends! I wish you the most food and drink you have ever had. I hope you didn't forget to save room of dessert. :)

Last night, I celebrated with a Vegan Thanksgiving of my own. I had every intention on making Chloe Coscarelli' Harvest-Stuffed Protobello Mushrooms, but got lazy. I was running out of time. It was already nearly 6 PM and I hadn't even started dinner yet. (Yeah, I'm  a procrastinator!) So I changed it up a bit, but this was dinner:

Portobello Mushrooms stuffed with Cranberry stuffing served 
with Sauteed Brussels Sprouts and "Bacon", 
Mashed Potatoes and vegan gravy

On the Road to a Vegan Thanksgiving - Part 1

I have been working on recipes for a very Vegan Thanksgiving tomorrow. It's not really Thanksgiving, since I live in Canada. We celebrated in October with a Traditional Turkey and Baked Ham. Yes, it was yummy and I don't regret it. However, to redeem my holiday, I have decided to celebrate with my fellow American neighbours , with a vegan meal. :)

Today, I did some prep work. I decided to make one my desserts ahead of time, Four Ingredient Pumpkin Pie. Instead of an actual pie, I decided to make put them in little shot glasses and didn't bake them. Boy, were they good. Especially, topped with some coconut cream. 

Vegan Thanksgiving....kinda!

Recently, I have been in a cooking funk. I haven't been inspired to cook anything. In fact, I haven't really been craving anything either. Which is really weird, so I thought I was getting sick. Well, I'm not sick. Just uninspired....until today. :)

Thank goodness, I have crawled out of my funk - it's a cold, dark and foodless place. SCARY!! I have decided to have a Vegan Thanksgiving. I know Thanksgiving was in October, we'll it was for us Canadians. I guess I can  have it both ways - turkey in October and vegan in November. I'm starting to like the sound of this new Tradition. I shouldn't call it a Tradition yet, let's see how they like it.

Stay tuned for pictures and recipes from my upcoming adventure...My Vegan Thanksgiving! LOL!

Happy Cooking!! :)

Vegan Gluten-Free Eggplant Lasagna with Romanesco Broccoli topped with Herb and Chives Cheddar Cheese Sauce

Yesterday, my mom gave me a very odd looking vegetable. At least, I think it was a vegetable. Originally, I thought it was a cauliflower, but after much Google searching, I found it is actually a cauliflower called a broccoli, a Romanesco Broccoli. Make sense? Nah, at least not to me. LOL!

Vegan Mushroom Tacos

As a last minute dinner, I decided to make some simple tacos. At first I was going to use the ground turkey I have sitting in my fridge. Instead, I opted for Vegan tacos, mainly because my wonderful mushrooms were looking like they were on their way out very soon. So Vegan tacos it was! :)

I love tacos, especially because I get to top the tacos with whatever I want. I tell my daughter, it's a la carte. Sounds fancy: Vegan Mushroom Tacos a la carte. LOL!

Kat loves tacos too, but tonight was a fight. She didn't want Vegan tacos. I told her I was going to make it out of ground turkey, last minute I didn't use the meat. She loved the tacos and I didn't have the heart to tell her there was no meat. Oh well, she'll know soon enough, when she reads this blog post. LOL!

Review: Sweets from the Earth

Ok, get a glass of soy or almond milk ready. I picked up some cookies at Melissa's One Stop Gluten-Free Shop. I had never seen cookies made from cashews before, of course I had to pick it up. These were Gluten-Free Vegan Cashew Cookies made by Sweets from the Earth.

Review: Forks over Knives

A couple of nights ago I finally got my hands on a copy of Forks over Knives. I heard about this documentary a couple of months ago. It was pretty random, I think it was one of the advertisements on Facebook.

Zucchini Apple Pecan Cake

I love zucchinis! They're so yummy! I bake it, roast it, bbq it, stir fry it, and bread it, so I always have lots in my fridge. Since, it's apple season, I have tons in my fridge too. I don't usually have nuts kicking around in my house, but I did make pralines recently. I was craving zucchini cake (or bread) but wanted to change it up a little. I have been working on this recipe for a little while now. I have tried making a vegan, sugar and gluten free version, but haven't had much luck. However, when I used all-purpose flour and sugar, it was great! :)