so many new cookbooks, so little time. But Vegan Express, the latest offering from Nava Atlas is made for those who have little time. And with a baby on the way I'm sure we'll have much less time for spending in the kitchen in just a few more months. So when Nava graciously offered to send us a copy of her new book to check out, we couldn't refuse. We cracked it open tonight for the Quesadillas with Black Beans, Broccoli and Portobello Mushrooms. These are baked quesadillas, stuffed with black beans, salsa, broccoli and portobellos. On the side were Rosemary Roasted Potatoes with Black Olives, and I also made the Instant Roasted Red Pepper Sauce to go on top. Nava suggests that you could also use extra salsa instead of the red pepper sauce but the sauce really is a snap to make and it was the highlight of the meal - it's just silken tofu, roasted red peppers, lime juice, parsley and salt all blended together in a food processor. At first glance it seemed a little involved to make all of this stuff but it came together quickly - less than 45 minutes from start to finish (and I got a few dishes done during the last few minutes of baking too). Plus there's enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Which I'm quite looking forward to because this was all D-lish!
Prolific cookbook writer extraordinaire Robin Robertson is back with a new book, Vegan Fire & Spice, and she was generous enough to send us a copy to check out. Her collection of spicy international recipes is organized by geography and we've already bookmarked quite a number of pages. This tofu/broccoli stir fry is probably not the most sexy dish in the book but we started there because it looked like something simple and delicious for a quick weeknight meal. Many of the recipes are about kicking up the heat level, but even so, in most cases it's easy to adjust the spiciness in either direction. In this case Darlene wasn't too into having anything spicy so I just left out the chili paste and then the sauce was just hoisin, soy sauce and water - it can't get much easier. The ginger and scallions give it a small kick and I dashed some hot sauce on top of my portion for good measure.
These are a few tips I have accumulated over the years that I actually use and have made my life way easier:1. Cutting board stogare: Go to your office supply store and get a file holder, you can stuff the boards in there and make them more accessible. 2. Slicing Strawberries: Use an egg slicer, it makes pretty slices and it's way easier than cutting them by hand. 3. Stuffing Manicotti: It's a pain to do this, unless you use pastry bags
