Snack Review: Morinaga Pachi Pachi Choco Ball

Who follows my snack reviews for a while, might remember that I just love Morinaga choco balls. Too bad that they are so hard to find. Therefore I consider myself very lucky that I was able to get my hands on a new flavor over at J-list.

The outside of these little balls are just made of milk chocolate. The inside however is crispy, a bit like crispy M&M's. But there is another surprise inside. Do you remember those frizzy candies from when you were a child? Well that is exactly what is going on in here. The is some frizz powder hiding in the inside that is tingling in your mouth. Quite funny actually to experience that again. I would think it is fun to offer one to a friend who wouldn't expect a thing ;) (But I guess that all of my friends will read this review, so I can't use that trick). Anyway, if you are in for a taste of nostalgia, hop over to J-List. They are only $1,75 a box. But better be quick because it might be sold out in no time!

And for those who missed it last time.. here is the Japanese commercial ;)

Enjoy ;)

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Weekend Cooking: Vegan Eats World

Title: Vegan Eats World
Author: Terry Hope Romero
Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books
Release date: October 2012
Length: 376 pages
I got this book: for review through NetGalley

Summary:
From Goodreads:
"What If the World Was Vegan? The true building blocks of cuisines across the planet are the spices, herbs, and grains—from basmati rice to buckwheat, coconut to caraway seeds. Apply those flavors to vegan staples such as seitan, or tofu and even straight-up vegetables, and the possibilities? If not endless, pretty darned expansive.

So what if the world was vegan? Your own cooking is the answer to that question; fire up the stove and make a green curry, simmer a seitan date tagine stew, or hold a freshly made corn tortilla piled high with chile-braised jackfruit in your hand. Chart your course in the great, growing map of vegan food history. Award-winning chef, author of Veganomicon, and author of Viva Vegan Terry Hope Romero continues the vegan food revolution with more than 300 bold, delicious recipes based on international favorites. With chapters devoted to essential basics such as Spice Blends; The Three Protein Amigos; and Pickles, Chutneys & Saucier Sauces, you can make everything from salads to curries, dumplings and desserts. Vegan Eats World will help you map your way through a culinary world tour, whether you want to create a piergoi party or Thai feast, easy Indian chaat lunch or Your International House of Dinner Crepes."

Personal opinion:
I know that almost everyone I know LOVES this book. But I am afraid I am the odd one out in this case. It is not that the book is bad. In fact the recipe I did try was delicious! But it is just not a book for me. The recipes are often long and require a lot of cooking time even though there are recipes that have a lot of down time. I like recipes that are quick and easy and I didn't find a whole lot of that in this book. Second of all, the book often calls for ingredients, that to me, as a vegetarian who cooks vegan about twice a week, aren't that common. So all in all this book overwhelmed me. Therefore I think this book will be great for the more experienced vegan, because the recipes do sound delicious, but not really for the newbie vegan. However on the Dutch vegan forum, they are doing monthly cookalongs from this book, so I might change my mind later on. Of course I will let you know when I do.

Purchase links: The Book Depository
Challenges: Foodies reading challenge, cookbook challenge
Other reviews: none yet.
If you have reviewed this book and want your link here, please leave a comment with the link, and I will add it :)

I will share a really tasty recipe for Ginger Peanut Squash Soup with my own spin of course.

Ginger Peanut Squash Soup (serves 6-8)
- 680 gr zucchini, diced
- 1 tbsp peanut oil
- 1 spring onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, diced
- some chili powder to taste
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- a piece of fresh ginger, minced
- 1 tsp coriander
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 400 gr canned tomatoes with juice
- 2/3 cups peanut butter, chunky or smooth
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- some salt and black pepper

Sprinkle salt over the zucchini and leave it in a colander over the sink. Leave it to drain while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. In a large soup pan heat some oil. Saute onions for about 5 minutes. Then add carrots, garlic, ginger and coriander and stir fry for about 1-2 minutes. Add the vegetable broth with the bay leaves, some chili powder and tomatoes. Set the heat to medium high to bring the soup to an active simmer.
Scoop the peanut butter into a mixing bowl and scoop out 1 cup of hot broth out of the pan (avoid the bay leaves) and pour this over the peanut butter. Stir with a wooden spoon until you have a creamy sauce. Return the peanut sauce to the pot. Also drain the zucchini from the last moist and add to the pan. Bring the soup back to an active simmer, then turn heat to low, cover the pot and leave it be for about 15-20 minutes until the zucchini is tender. Stir in lime juice, some salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning. Turn of the heat and leave the soup be for 5 minutes. Optional you can stir in some cilantro leaves before serving.

You can serve it as is, or blend the soup, if you like that better. I will do that next time, because I like that more.

This post is part of Weekend Cooking, hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Please hop over there for your dosis of food inspiration.

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Dutch Baking: Oudewijvenkoek

Just a quick post today to show you all how the baking mix I got from Groningen in my latest Foodie Pen Pal Package. It is a mix for oudewijvenkoek (old maidens cake).

We made it on Monday and it was a really easy recipe. We used the mix, 1 egg, 200 ml milk and 35 gr apple syrup. It is a bit of a gingerbread cake. (for the Dutchies, it tastes like taai taai pop). I really like this cake and I just might have to order another mix. Luckily they have a website so I don't have to travel all the way up to Groningen. Visit bakboerderij for this mix and more :)

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Snack Review: Petit Pastel Ice Cream Chocolates

From Tofu Cute I got these cute little chocolate ice creams from the brand Kabaya. I reviewed several snacks of this brand before and in general I like this brand. Let's continue to get to know this fun little snack.

As you can see it are milk chocolate cones with colored "ice cream" on top. The smell of these things is really sweet. Not too much but just sweet enough to boost your appetite. The cone is a bit like M&M's crispy and this is a nice addition, in my opinion. The colored chocolate does taste a bit sweeter than the milk chocolate cones. There are two bags in the box and each bag contains 10 little ice creams. This is just a fun and tasty little snack which I wouldn't mind buying again. You can do so at Tofu Cute for 2,50 pounds.

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Weekend Cooking: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World

Title: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World
Author: Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Release date: October 2006
Length: 144 pages
I got this book: from my own collection.

Summary:
From Goodreads:
"The hosts of the vegan cooking show The Post Punk Kitchen are back with a vengeance — and this time, dessert. A companion volume to Vegan with a Vengeance, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World is a sweet and sassy guide to baking everyone's favorite treat without using any animal products. This unique cookbook contains over 50 recipes for cupcakes and frostings — some innovative, some classics — with beautiful full color photographs. Isa and Terry offer delicious, cheap, dairy-free, egg-free and vegan-friendly recipes like Classic Vanilla Cupcakes (with chocolate frosting), Crimson Velveteen Cupcakes (red velvet with creamy white frosting), Linzer Torte Cupcakes (hazelnut with raspberry and chocolate ganache), Chai Latte Cupcakes (with powdered sugar) and Banana Split Cupcakes (banana-chocolate chip-pineapple with fluffy frosting). Included also are gluten-free recipes, decorating tips, baking guidelines, vegan shopping advice, and Isa's true cupcake anecdotes from the trenches. When Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, no dessert lover can resist."

Personal opinion:
This is such a cute book! When I got interested in vegan baking, I just knew I had to have this book. I heard good reviews about how fail proof the recipes from this book were, so for me as a newbie in the vegan kitchen, this seems like a good choice. The book is filled with pretty pictures and there is something for everyone. From the most basic cupcakes to cupcakes I never heard of. In the front of the book is everything you need to know about vegan baking and ingredients. Those ingredients are the only downfall for me, because some things are still a bit hard to come by. That is the reason that I haven't used this book as much as I wanted. But I am sure this will be much less of an issue in the USA. I am really happy that I got this book and I hope to make many more delicious vegan treats from it because the Lychee cupcakes with coconut glaze I made, were so good! I dare to say they were even better than a lot of non vegan cupcakes I made in the past. So don't be shy! Give it a try :)
Other cupcakes I want to try include the pistachio rosewater cupcakes, coconut lime cupcakes, chocolate and vanilla marble cupcakes and chocolate cherry creme cupcakes.

Purchase links: The Book Depository
Challenges: Foodies Reading Challenge, Cookbook Challenge.
Other reviews: The Broke and the Bookish,
If you have reviewed this book and want your link here, please leave a comment with the link, and I will add it :)

And of course here is the recipe for those delicious Lychee Cupcakes!

Lychee Cupcakes with Coconut Glaze (makes 12)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 5 tbsp ground flaxseeds
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1/4 cup coconut milk
- 1 can (115gr) lychee fruit, drained and chopped, syrup reserved
- 1/4 cup lychee syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla extract

Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners (I forgot to do this ;) ) In a large bowl sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. In a separate bowl beat ground flaxseeds with 6 tbsp water with a fork until gelatinous. Add oil, coconut milk, chopped lychees and lychee syrup to the flaxseeds and mix to combine. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients, mix to combine. Fill the cupcakes liners full and bake for 22 to 25 minutes in a pre heated oven at 350F (175C) until a toothpick comes out clean.

Coconut glaze:
- 2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
- 1/4 cup coconut milk

Mix sugar and coconutmilk until smooth. Pour over the completely cooled cupcakes.

This post is part of Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Hop over to get inspired by a lot of yummy food posts.

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Recipe: Pepernotencake

Today in the Netherlands we celebrate Sinterklaas. And those festivities come with their own traditional treats. One of them being pepernoten or in this case technically kruidnoten. These are a kind of gingerbread mini cookies. All though I don't really celebrate Sinterklaas this year, I did so some baking and today I want to share that recipe with you.

I pinned that recipe on Pinterest, so this is also my first pin for another round of the Pin It and Do It challenge from Trish at Love, Laughter and a Touch of Insanity. You can find the Dutch recipe and original pin here.

Now for all my non Dutch readers, this recipe might be hard to make because of lack of pepernoten. But I am sure you will be able to find something that tastes similar. I just wanted to share a piece of Dutch tradition today.

Pepernotencake
- 250gr cake mix
- 200gr white castor sugar
- 200gr butter
- 3 free range or organic eggs (m)
- 75gr shaved almond
- 100gr kruidnootjes (gingerbread cookies)
- 1 tbsp Dutch "koek en speculaas" mix (a mix of cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, clove, ginger, cardamom and orange peel)

Use butter to grease a cake tin. Mix the butter and the sugar together. Add the eggs one by one. Only add the next egg when the previous egg is well mixed in the batter. Then add the cakemix and the "koek en speculaas mix" and mix until you get a sticky batter. Add the "kruidnootjes" to the batter. Scoop the batter into the cake tin and sprinkle the almond on top. Bake the cake for about 60-70 minutes on 160 degrees. But it is different for each oven. Mine took 80 minutes. I baked the last 20 minutes with silver foil on top to prevent the cake from getting too dark. The cake is done when a wooden pick comes out clean.

Some process pictures:

 Before the cake went into the oven. The batter is sticky and a bit of a mess. That's okay.

 After it was baked.

I hope that everyone who celebrates Sinterklaas tonight, will have a great time! This is a great recipe btw to use up your leftover "kruidnoten" even when they are stale, because they will soften in the oven anyway.

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Snack Review: Pocky Almond Nutcream

Regular visitors should know that I like to review different types of Pocky that I can get my hands on. Today the Pocky Almond Nutcream will be in the spotlight.

When I opened the package, the Pocky smelled a bit strong and mocca like. Don't let this put you off though, because it doesn't taste like that at all. It taste more sweet and reminded me of x-mas flavours. I thought these were very tasty and addicting, therefore I am glad that this package does contain two sachets with 10 sticks each. Not bad at all.

Most Pocky nut flavours include chuncks of nuts on the outer coating, but that is not the case with this Almond nut cream flavour. This Pocky just has the biscuit stick and a creamy coating. Therefore this snack is perfect for people who like nutty tastes, but not nuts itself. This could be my new favourite Pocky of the moment! They can be bought for 2,50 pounds on the Tofu Cute website!

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Cookbook Challenge November Wrap Up

The Cookbook challenge is officially over... awwww. I very much enjoyed hosting the challenge and participating as well. But also to see what other people made from their cookbooks. I will only post about what I made in November from my cookbooks. My wrap up for October can be found here.

I cooked mostly from the Meatfree Monday Cookbook this month because it has so many great recipes that go so well with my vegetable bag. My review can be found here.

First off I made an apple-radish salad with halloumi cheese. It was my first time eating halloumi cheese and I thought it tasted a bit like pineapple. Anyway, I liked it but the BF didn't so I don't think this will be made again.

I also made a noodle stir fry with bok choi, and this one we enjoyed very much! We love noodle dishes and the sauce from this one was great!

Then we tried the mac & cheese with cauliflower, but my BF bought a broccoli instead. No matter ;) We liked this enough, but we will be continue are search for the perfect home made pasta and cheese recipe.

Lastly was the eggplant and potato stew that I shared earlier on this blog. Together with the noodles, this was my favorite recipe from the book.

I also cooked from other cookbooks. I made another recipes from the Karma Chow Ultimate cookbook. This is the Indian Spiced Coconut soup, but we didn't really enjoy this one. It smelled great but the taste wasn't good at all.

I made another soup from the book Vegan Eats World (review with recipe to come) for a cookalong on the Dutch vegan forum. This is a ginger squash peanut soup. Next time we will blend it, but other than that, this is a keeper!

I also did some baking this month. From Vegan Cupcakes take over the world (review with recipe to come) I made the Lychee cupcakes with coconut glaze which I totally LOVED! Must make again!

And last: from the Dutch cookbook Appeltaart (review with recipe to come) I made a French apple pie. It has a custard topping that surrounds the apples. I did encounter some challenge with this recipe and it isn't perfect, but it tasted so good!

Well this was what I made in the previous month. Please look here for the general wrap up post, where you will find links to all the recipes that were submitted for the challenge. If you participated: thank you for making my first ever challenge a success! I will probably host another round in Feb. 2013. I hope I will see you again!

This post is part of Weekend Cooking, hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Please take a look if you need some foodie inspiration!

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