Three meals from My Current Favorite Cookbook

By: Matt Frazier

My newest cookbook/love/obsession, 1,000 Vegan Recipes, is still batting 1,000.  I’ve made four meals from it and all of them have been very good.  I already told you about pasta with white bean and garlic sauce; here are the next three I’ve tried.

Red bean chili:

The stuff that kinda looks like meat — bulgur wheat!  This chili was delicious, but just a bit too spicy.  Still, the best vegetarian chili we’ve had.

Ziti with roasted pepper-walnut sauce:

No, that’s not parmesan cheese on top… it’s ground walnuts!  The sauce in this one was really flavorful — roasted red peppers, tomato paste, onions, garlic, and some spices, combined in a food processor.  Better than any non-vegan ziti I’ve had.

Salad with fennel, macadamia nuts, and dried cranberries:

Of everything I’ve made from 1,000 Vegan Recipes, this salad is the best so far.  It has a light, sweet vinaigrette dressing with shallot that goes really nicely with the cranberries and nuts.  Here’s my adapted recipe for that one:

Vegan Macadamia Cranberry Salad

Ingredients for the salad:

• 1 head green leaf lettuce, chopped
• 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1/2 cup Craisins
• 1/4 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

Ingredients for the dressing:

• half a small shallot, minced
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• salt and pepper to taste

Combine the salad ingredients in a bowl.  Process the dressing ingredients in a blender or food processor.  Mix and eat!

The one problem I’ve had with the book so far is one that a commenter mentioned — some of the measurements seem a little off.  This isn’t a huge deal for me, since I usually eyeball ingredient amounts anyway, but it can be a problem.  Exhibit A:

My freaking Dutch oven got scorched!  And we’re still trying to get the char off of it.  This is what I presume happens when there’s not enough water in a chili recipe and you let it simmer for 45 minutes.  As we were adding the water, I mentioned to Erin that it didn’t seem like enough.  Should have done something about it.  Luckily, we salvaged the chili.  And eventually, the Dutch oven will be cleaned.  For now, it sits soaking in the sink and filling the house with wonderful aromas.