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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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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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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Book Review: The Meat Free Monday Cookbook

Because I got the Dutch version of this book for review, I will write this post in English and Dutch, so Dutch readers who can't read English that well have better access to this review.

Title / titel: The Meat Free Monday Cookbook / Het Meat Free Monday Kookboek
Author / schrijver: Annie Riggs, Paul, Stella and Mary McCartney,
Publisher / uitgever: Fontaine Uitgevers BV (Dutch edition)
Release date / verschijningsdatum: March 2012 (English edition)  / Oktober 2012 (Dutch edition)
Length / lengte: 240 pages (English edition) / 208 pagina's (Dutch edition)
I got this book / ik kreeg dit boek: from the publishers for review / van de uitgever om te recenseren.

Summary:
From Goodreads:
"In 2009, Paul, Stella and Mary McCartney launched the Meat Free Monday campaign as a simple and straightforward idea to show everyone the value of eating less meat - and to make it easier for us all to do so. "The Meat Free Monday Cookbook" is for everyone who shares the campaign's aims and consists of menus for each of the 52 weeks of the year. Packed with recipes such as Spiced Pumpkin Pancakes, Basil and Mushroom Tart, Pilau Rice with Cashews and Watermelon Granita, as well as vibrant spring soups, inventive summer salads, appetising autumn bakes and comforting winter stews, it includes contributions from Paul, Stella and Mary McCartney and celebrity and chef supporters of the campaign such as Skye Gyngell, Giorgio Locatelli, Theo Randall, Yotam Ottolenghi, Kevin Spacey and Vivienne Westwood."

Samenvatting:
Van Bol.com:
"Dit boek maakt het voor iedereen makkelijk om de stap naar één vegetarische dag per week te maken. Paul en zijn dochters hebben recepten verzameld voor alle 52 weken van het jaar – with a little help from their friends, want o.a. Jamie Oliver, Giorgio Locatelli, Bryan Adams, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Koons, Joanna Lumley, Kevin Spacey, Sheryl Crow en vele anderen leverden hun favoriete recepten en tips. Het Meat Free Monday kookboek bevat maar liefst 104 recepten: voor elke week van het jaar een voor- en hoofdgerecht óf een hoofd- en nagerecht. Dit boek is ideaal voor iedereen die zich zorgen maakt over het milieu en graag wat minder vlees wil eten, maar daarbij wel wat inspiratie nodig heeft. Meat Free Monday is een door Paul McCartney en zijn twee dochters Mary en Stella gelanceerde campagne om mensen aan te moedigen een rol te spelen in het verlagen van onze ‘CO2-voetafdruk’, en om aan te tonen dat een kleine verandering in onze manier van leven al een enorme positieve uitwerking heeft op de aarde."

Personal opinion:
First of all, I am very enthousiastic about this book. The book has one complete menu each week for one meat free day, including breakfast, 2 kinds of lunch, snacks, dinner and dessert. I don't cook a whole menu like that myself because I am a vegetarian already, but it does give many options. It is also divided by season so it is also easy to cook with seasonal veggies. I use the book in 2 ways: Or I choose a recipe and buy the veggies, or I already have vegetables from my vegetable bag and search for a recipe to match my veggies. This book is very suitable for both ways of cooking and therefore I was able to cook from it a lot already. The recipes I made include: Vegetable stir-fry and noodles, Mac and cheese with cauliflower, black eyed bean stew with cilantro, warm apple and raddish salad with halloumi cheese and eggplant, potato and bell pepper stew. And there are a lot more recipes I want to try!

Persoonlijke mening:
Laten we voorop stellen dat ik erg enthousiast ben over dit boek. Het boek heeft per week van het jaar een menu samengesteld voor 1 vleesvrije dag, waarbij ontbijt, 2 soorten lunch, snacks, avondeten en dessert aan bod komen. Nu gebruik ik het boek niet als dusdanig dat ik dat hele menu ga nakoken, want ik eet tenslotte alle dagen al vegetarisch. Maar het geeft hierdoor heel veel opties. Verder is het dus ingedeeld per seizoen zodat je ook nog met seizoensgroenten aan de gang gaat. Ik gebruik het boek op twee manieren: Of ik kies een recept dat ik wil maken en haal daar de groenten bij, of ik heb al groenten uit mijn groentetas en kies daar een recept bij uit het boek. Voor beide manieren is dit boek erg geschikt en hierdoor heb ik er al veel uit gekookt. Recepten die ik al gemaakt heb zijn: Roerbak van voorjaarsgroenten en noedels, knapperige bloemkool en macaroni, stoofpot van zwartoogboontjes met koriander, warme appel-radijssalade met halloumi en stoofpot van aubergine, aardappel en paprika. Er zijn nog veel meer recepten die ik wil uitproberen!

Normally I always share a recipe with a post, but because this post is so long already, I will share a recipe from this book tomorrow in a seperate post.

Normaal deel ik altijd een recept uit het boek, maar omdat deze post al zo lang is, zal ik dit morgen doen in een aparte post.

Purchase links / aankoop links: The Book Depository (English edition), Bol.com (Dutch and English editions)
Challenges: Foodie 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 :)

This post is part of Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Please hop over to see what other people have been up to.

Also part of the Cookbook Challenge, hosted by myself. Please look in the left sidebar for more info.

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Cookbook Challenge October Wrap up

This is my personal wrap up post for the month of October.

I made a total of 6 recipes this month from 5 different cookbooks. Some were on my to review pile and others were from my own stash. I could have done more, but I also cooked from my pinterest for the Pin it and Do it challenge. And of course I also don't feel like tryin g new recipes all the time ;)

The recipes I made were:

Bell Pepper and tomato soup from Soup of the day. For a full review of the book and the recipe, click here.

Sweet Potato Hummus from the Karma Chow Ultimate Cookbook, which you can find here.

Cheesy Herbal pasta from a very old book from my stash. Now you're cookin' cheese can be found here.

Savoury Stuffed Pittas, which can be found here with my full review of a vegan taste of Greece.

Black Eyed Bean Stew from the Meat Free Monday Cookbook. (review and recipe to come)

Curried Leek and Apple Soup from Soup of the day.

How did you all do? Don't forget to link up your progress here. The linky was down, because I forgot to pay for the linky, but that should be fixed now ;) If not, I will have to look into it, but just leave a comment then :)

Luckily we have the rest of November to continue (or start!) cooking from our hardly used books! I have planned 3 more recipes within the next week :)

This Post is part of Weekend Cooking, hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Please hop over to for lovely foodie inspiration.

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Weekend Cooking: A Vegan Taste of Greece

Title: A Vegan Taste of Greece
Author: Linda Majzlik
Publisher: Jon Carpenter Publishing
Release date: April 2004
Length: 128 pages
I got this book: bought it

Summary:
From the Book Depository:
"This collection of cookbooks interprets the savory flavors of international cuisines for the animal-free, vegan diet. Each region's most famed dishes are detailed or redesigned to be meat- and dairy-free. With recipes for appetizers, breads, salads, main courses, desserts, and drinks, each cookbook covers the entire culinary palate. Vegan cooks can reproduce the traditional flavors of Greek cuisine with this book, which includes recipes for walnut-stuffed mushrooms, chickpea soup, gyros, and baklava."

Personal opinion:
I like cookbooks that focus on world cuisines. I actually have a lot of those little cookbooks in my collection. But because these are all from my pre vegetarian period, I don't use them as much anymore. So I was happy to discover these low budget vegan cookbooks that focus on just one area, in this case Greece. The book doesn't contain any pictures, but it has a lot of recipes. From what I can see, most of the recipes are fairly simple to make and not that time consuming. I didn't think the recipe I tried really had traditional Greek flavours, but then again, I am not sure if I really know how Greek food normally tastes. I reckon that the Greek food served in Dutch restaurants is also adjusted. However, I did expect more flavour. To me it isn't really a problem because I am used to playing with herbs and spices until I get it the way I like it. But if you just want to follow a simple recipe and are not that big on expermenting with spices, I wouldn't recommend buying this book. A real shame, because the recipes are otherwise easy enough for beginners. Recipes I want to try from this book include the sesame bread (or cookies), Gyros, Briami and lemon and garlic roasted potatoes.

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

I made the Savoury Stuffed Pittas from this book. It isn't listed as a main dish, but I served it as such. The original recipe uses mini pittas, but those are a bit hard to come by here. So I just used regular pittas. 2 stuffed pittas each with a salad on the side, make a good main meal to me. Of course it can also be made as a lunch dish. I adjusted the spices a bit to my taste.

Savoury Stuffed Pittas (makes 4, or 8 mini)
- 250 gr eggplant, finely chopped
- 100 gr tomatoes, chopped
- 100 gr minced textured protein
- 1 spring onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 dessertspoon tomato puree
- 175 ml vegetable broth
- 3 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- black pepper
- 4 pittas
- lettuce
- soy yoghurt

Fry the eggplant, oinion and garlic in oil for about 15 minutes. Add the other ingredients except for pittas, lettuce and yoghurt. Bring to a boil, then cover and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Then uncover and simmer for 10 minutes more, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has been absorbed and the mixture is thick.
Warm the pittas and fill them with some lettuce and the stuffing. Serve with the yoghurt.

This post is part of Weekend Cooking, hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Please check out the other participants for more weekend yummyness.

Also part of the Cookbook Challenge hosted by myself. We are cooking from hardly used cookbooks. See the banner in the left sidebar for more info.

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Weekend Cooking: Now you're cookin' Cheese

Title: Now You're Cookin' Cheese
Author: Rebo
Publisher: Rebo Publishers
Release date: 2002
Length: 96 pages
I got this book: from my own collection

Summary:
"Rebo’s Now You' re Cookin' Series comprises more than 45 different titles that focus on the most popular themes of contemporary cuisine. A great collection of mouth-watering recipes complemented by superb photography, these books capture different aspects of the world’s best main courses, desserts, tapas and cocktails. Perfect for everyday family meals or relaxed entertaining!"

Personal opinion:
I got this book and some other books from this series, I think maybe 7 years ago. It was that time when I first started to buy cookbooks and these have a low price. This book focusses on cheese recipes, of course. All though most recipes are really simple to make, I didn't cook much from the book. I only remember making cheese muffins once. So when Zeronic wanted to eat a cheesy pasta, I pulled this book from my shelf to see what was in there. I found several recipes that I could make and other cheese goodness. I have to say that now I picked this book up, I am quite enthousiastic about cooking more from this book.
Receipes I would liek to try include: several oven dishes, some stuffed pastries and those cheese muffins that I made a few years back. The book isn't vegetarian but a lot of recipes are and others are easily adjustable. Of course vegans, wouldn't get much out of this book. In one sentence I would say that this is a decent cookbook for cheeselovers on a budget.

Purchase links: It seems this book isn't around in digital stores, I still see the Dutch versions around in cooking stores and the like. Hopefully this is the same for international copies.
Challenges: Cookbook Challenge

This time a very easy and quick recipe!

Cheesy-herbal pasta: (serves 3)
- 250 gr pasta
- 100 gr spinach
- 250 gr mushrooms
- 80 gr garlic butter
- 1 clove of garlic
- 80 gr grated cheese
- salt and pepper

Cook the pasta until soft. Meanwhile clean and cut the mushrooms, spinach and garlic. Drain the pasta. In the garlic butter, bake the mushrooms, garlic shortly. Add the spinach until it starts to shrink and then add the pasta. Heat it through. Add some salt and pepper if needed. Serve with a handful of grated cheese on top.

The post is part of Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Please hop over to see a lot of tasty foodie posts!

Also part of the Cookbook Challenge, hosted by myself. This challenge is about cooking from books that have been hardly used.

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Weekend Cooking: The Karma Chow Ultimate Cookbook

Title: The Karma Chow Ultimate Cookbook
Author: Melissa Costello
Publisher: Health Communications
Release date: October, 2012
Length: 264 pages
I got this book: For review through NetGalley

Summary:
From Goodreads:
"The more than 7 million vegetarians and 3 million vegans in the United States alone are proving that chowing down on planet-friendly fare not only helps them look and feel better, but it can be delicious, too. In her debut cookbook, Karma Chow creator and celebrity chef Melissa Costello shares an exciting collection of 125+ recipes that will be a welcome addition for anyone already following a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle or for the growing number of people embracing more plant-based meals.

With her "keep it simple" and "make it tasty" approach, she offers a smorgasbord of dairy- and animal-free appetizers and desserts, breakfasts, and dinners, as well as holiday- and company-worthy menus. The Karma Chow Ultimate Cookbook shows anyone how to reconnect with their food and honor it as Earth's source for keeping us alive all while finding it easier to rock their workouts and sculpt a well-defined physique. It's a winning recipe for success for anyone looking to transition to a healthier way of life."

Personal opinion:
Basically when a vegetarian or vegan cookbook appears on NetGalley, I always pick it up. I wouldn't want to miss the oppertunity to try and review any of these! Personally I am not really sensitive to the focus on getting more healthy, because I already know that I am. So to me that is nothing new on the horizon. But I am sensitive to fast, easy and tasty recipes. I really like the "keep it simple" approach because then I know that I will actually cook from a book. All the extra's are all nice and good, but I buy a cookbook for it's recipes. Luckily there is plenty of good stuff in this book that I wanted to try and I was creating a lot of bookmarks! Mainly in the spread, burger and soup department, which are my favorite things to try. Including: Kickin' edamame dip, Indian spiced coconut yam soup, veggie seed roll ups and dreamy avocado mayo.

One thing I can't tell much about are the pictures. My version didn't include the real pictures yet, but I did see that there were full pages reserved for them. The recipes are indeed easy and so far tasty. I tried the Greek Tomato Burgers from this book, which did fall apart but tasted good. And the latter could also be clumsyness from my side. I also tried another recipe that I will share below with you. I like this book because it is easy for people who are just beginning on their vegan path, but also offers recipes that are original enough for the people who are vegan for a while already.

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 :)

As always a cookbook review isn't complete without a recipe. I was looking for a spread or dip for last weeks' readathon, so I choose to make the Garnet Hummus from this book. But I couldn't get garnet yams, so I just used the ones we had here. It was totally delicious! Of course my version is adapted slightly from the original recipe.

Sweet Potato Hummus (makes about 2 cups)
- 500 gr yams, cleaned, with peel
- 425 gr canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- juice from 1 large lemon
- 1-2 tbsp tahini
- 1 tbsp maple syrup (original had agave nectar, but I had this at hand)
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp sea salt
- dash of cayenne pepper
- 3 tbsp olive oil

Place some parchment paper on an oven tray. Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees (400F). Make plenty of holes in the yams with a fork and put in the oven for about 40-60 minutes. (this really depends on your oven, I found out). Leave it to cool. (I sliced the yams in half for faster cooling). Scoop the flesh out into the food processor. Add all the other ingredients except for the oil. Mix it up well and make sure to scrape down the sides so you will mix in all the ingredients. Add the oil and keep mixing until you have a smooth mixture. Add more oil or a bit of water if needed, but in my case it wasn't.

This post is part of Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Please hop over to get inspired by all kinds of yummy food.

And also part of the Cookbook Challenge, hosted by myself. Where we cook from book that we have on our (virtual) shelves that we never used much. It is a great way to pick up those neglected cookbooks or to go through your stack of books for review, like I do now.

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Weekend Cooking: Soup of the Day

The Cookbook Challenge that I am hosting, also offers an oppertunity to look into the cookbooks on my virtual shelf. I picked up this soup cookbook from that shelf to finally make some recipes from.

Title: Soup of the Day
Author: Kate McMillan
Publisher: Weldon Owen
Release date: January 2012
Length: 304 pages
I got this book: For review through NetGalley

Summary:
From Goodreads:
"Williams-Sonoma Soup of the Day offers a tantalizing collection of 365 soup recipes: one for each day of the year. Colorful calendars at the beginning of each chapter offer an at-a-glance view of the dishes best suited for the ingredients, occasions, and typical weather of the month. From January to December, you’ll find a seasonal soup that will satisfy any craving, and match any meal ranging from a quick weeknight supper to an elegant dinner party. A handful of the recipes are even appropriate for the holiday table, while others are perfect for using up a leftover roast or chicken. Notes accompanying each recipe offer ideas for ingredient variations, garnishes, and other helpful tips. All of the soups can be dressed up or dressed down; served in rustic earthenware mugs or on heirloom china; garnished with a flourish of fried herbs or dollop of pesto, or stripped down to the bare, tasty essentials—the possibilities are endless, but always delicious."

Personal opinion:
I just love soup! That is why this cookbook was calling to me and I just had to check it out. I am so glad I did because when only leafing through, I bookmarked many recipes already that I want to try. I first tried making my own fresh soups during last fall and ever since homemade soup is a regular on the menu here. This book is perfect for soup lovers because it offers such variation. Another plus is that this is a seasonal cookbook. I really like that because it helps you picking veggies that are in season and that is always a good thing. The cookbook is very basic with easy and quick recipes, just the way I like it.

There aren't pictures with every recipe, but still there are plenty of full page pictures in this book. This book offers a good variation of recipes and is also a good option for vegetarians. There are many vegetarian soups on the menu and a lot others are easily adapted. Vegans might have a harder time though. But for vegetarians: this is as vegetarian friendly as normal cookbooks get. I expect that this book will become one of my favorites very quickly.

Purchase links: The Book Depository
Challenges: Foodies reading challenge, Cookbook challenge.
Other reviews: Beth's Book-Nook Blog,
If you have reviewed this book and want your link here, please leave a comment with the link, and I will add it :)

And now of course a recipe that I slightly adapted from this book:

Roasted red bell pepper and tomato soup: (serves 4)

- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 spring onion, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 875 canned diced tomatoes (including juices)
- 2 roasted red bell peppers, chopped (or about 3 canned)
- some heavy cream
- 3 bay leaves (optional)

Heat the butter and oil in a large pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook shortly until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the bell peppers and cook for another 3 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes and the bay leaves and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to medium-low and let it simmer, uncovered for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Remove the bay leaves and puree the soup with a handheld blender. Add cream and bring the soup to a boil. Remove from heat, add some salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Vegan option: Use plant based butter and soy cream.

This post is part of Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Please take a look for your next food inspiration! Also part of the Cookbook Challenge hosted by myself. You can sign up here!

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Cookbook Challenge Updates & Wrap Up

This is the place where you can link up any updates or wrap up posts regarding the Cookbook Challenge.
If you have no idea what I am talking about, please go to the introduction post. Haven't signed up yet? You can do that there too! Want to spread the word? You can grab the big banner in this post, or the smaller one in the side bar.

You can update and link up as many times as you like! It doesn't matter. You can share full recipes or just a collection with pictures. Even full reviews are a way to go, it is all up to you. Either way: please share your progress with us through October and November. The linky will stay open till November 30, 11.59 PM CET.

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Weekend Cooking: Announcing the Cookbook Challenge

I thought I would offer something fun during this Bloggiesta weekend and for Weekend Cooking! I know you must be like me: having tons of cookbooks laying around but you barely used most of them. Well I thought it would be nice to change that! So I am hosting this challenge to we get our butts in gear and use those cookbooks!

We will be doing this during the months October and November. This will give everyone plenty of time to sort out which cookbooks you want to start cooking from and actually do it! Also with the holidays approaching, it could be a nice chance to try things out.

Some rules:
- You can use any cookbook you like, one or multiple, it doesn't matter BUT
- It have to be cookbooks that you barely used, so no cooking from your favorites
- Make a post you are participating in the challenge and link that below
- Please make a short post about your accomplishments, it doesn't have to be full recipes (you can if you want), but a wrap up with which recipes you tried is also fine. (there will be a link up for that later)
- Sign ups stay open during the whole of October and November so jump in any time you want.

Levels:
Bashful Baker - 1-2 recipes
Creative Croissant - 3-5 recipes
On a Cinnamon Roll -  5 - 10 recipes
Swedish Chef - 10+ recipes

This is the first time I am hosting a challenge like this! I would really be grateful if you can help spread the word in any way :)

Edit: To link up progress and wrap up posts, please go here.

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