Chocolate Peanut Butter Shells

This afternoon I made the Chocolate Peanut Butter Shells from The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes — yum! They are so delicious, but very rich.

The chocolate dough was a dream to work with, but the peanut butter dough was a pain in the butt. However, I chalk that up entirely to my own stupidity. I got overzealous and started mixing the peanut butter filling ingredients before reading the directions. Do you know how hard it is to combine a bunch of peanut butter with a bunch of powdered sugar? I’ll give you a hint — VERY. I’m sure it would have been much better if I’d slowly added the powdered sugar, as the author so helpfully suggests. D’oh! In the end, it all came out okay, though.

Hurry Up Alfredo

I made Hurry Up Alfredo for dinner tonight, from the new Vegan Yum Yum cookbook. And, I hate to say it…but my faith in the author is shaken. It looked NOTHING like alfredo sauce {it was pink!} and tasted NOTHING like alfredo sauce. I’ll admit that it was yummy, and we did snarf it {the Supertoddler especially!}, but I was really hoping for some good alfredo.

I read the recipe over at least 10 times, trying to figure out what I did wrong. The Ninjahusband finally said to me “Sweetie, unless she knows about some sort of blond soy sauce and white paprika that we don’t know about, there is no way that sauce is going to come out white…” And of course, he’s right.

It was quick, and it was yummy, so definitely make it {the recipe is on her blog at veganyumyum.com} — but don’t expect it to taste or look like alfredo.

Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

I had the opportunity to pull out The Urban Vegan yesterday for the first time since getting it. The first recipe that caught my eye was in the desserts section {naturally}, this beautiful Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake.

The cheesecake was perfect, with a texture akin to standard New York cheesecakes, however I failed to put it in a water bath while baking {or rather, the recipe failed to mention the necessity of doing so} and the top came out horrifically cracked.

Oh well, no harm, no foul, and definitely not something that a can of cherry pie filling can’t fix!

Curried Mushrooms and Roasted Kale

Dinner last night was a lucious, creamy, and perfectly spiced Thai-style mushroom curry over Basmati rice, with crispy roasted sesame kale on the side. The recipe was adapted from one found in Robin Robertson’s Vegan Fire and Spice. The curry was so delicious, I think it’s going into regular meal rotation. Yum!

Mac n' Cheese

Mac n’ Cheese! This is one of the best vegan mac n’ cheese recipes I’ve tried — and believe me, I’ve tried a lot. The sauce is a little reminiscent of potato cheese soup, but it’s still really really good. It actually tasted really cheesy. The recipe is from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food. I’m excited to try other recipes from this book!

Coconut Lime Bars

Coconut Lime Bars from The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes.

I made these tangy little beauties for a family gathering, and they were a hit. I came home with little but crumbs in the bottom of the pan. I was expecting that they might be more creamy, they were more “gel”y than I’d anticipated, but it wasn’t a bad thing. I think I would definitely make them again.

Polenta with Sundried Tomatoes and Basil

We got back from vacation today a little worse for the wear. The last thing I felt like doing was cooking, but with a little family to feed and this little blog to update, I knew I had to press forward.

To me, comfort tastes like polenta. If I have a tummy ache or just need comforting in some way, I make myself a big cozy bowl of polenta and top it with whatever I have on hand.

Tonight I used coarse polenta, and topped it with sundried tomatoes and basil chiffonade, with a couple of pats of Earth Balance melting down over the top.

Batgirl’s Tip: I buy the massive jars of sundried tomatoes from Costco. They are only about $8 a jar, they keep a long time in the fridge, and they spruce up any wrap, hummus, or bowl of polenta you can throw at them.