Vegetarian Times Recipes Tested: Feb 2007

Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of these dishes, as I had not even thought of doing a food blog until now. I received the subscription as a Christmas gift, and I am loving it! Here are the recipes I have tried so far from the February 2007 issue of Vegetarian Times:

pg 38: Mini Chocolate Lava Cakes (Thanks to Mausmi for posting the recipe on her hub page)
They were OK, but not as tasty as I would have liked. I was disappointed with the flavor. I might have overcooked them by a few minutes, so be careful about that. I think maybe a dash of vanilla would have helped bring out the flavor.

pg 41: Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup
Very easy and quick to make! I used veggie broth instead of the cup of water. Oh, and I didn't bother to put a sour cream heart on top.

pg 46 Indonesian Tofu-Peanut Fondue
Tasty. It's funny but we liked this dish a lot, until we tried the Thai Satay sauce featured in the March issue. Now we prefer the Satay on pg 86 of March issue.

pg 54: Caponata Stew and Hummus Cakes (pictured above)
Both are delicious! And they go well together. We've made them more than once already. Very comforting food. An addition I make to the caponata is to add bell pepper in addition to the jalapeno. I also add a bit of Spanish paprika. I use whatever mushrooms are on sale. Actually the version in my photo doesn't have mushrooms, but zucchini instead. Since this is good to eat at room temperature, I have brought it on picnics and it's great for that. (As I live in Florida, I have been on picnics recently). As for the hummus cakes: they are tricky to make. The batter tends to get very sticky. Mine end up looking more like cookies than bean cakes. The ones in the photo are unusually brown because I didn't have enough garbanzos, so I used some pintos! And, I also add some finely chopped cilantro to the batter, and that is a great touch. The bean cakes can tend to be a bit dry and crumbly, even when undercooked. I'm not sure how to prevent that.

p 79: Millet-stuffed portobello mushrooms
Mmm. Nice!

p 80: Quinoa Curry [For a beautiful photo of this dish and a description on how to make it, check out the Desert Culinary Blog.]
Very good and satisfying! I've made this twice already. You could also add other beans and onion. And I don't serve it w/mango chutney. Mango allergy.

p 80: Hearty Grain Soup with Beans and Greens Great! I used barley instead of kasha, as that's what I had on hand I also added red poblano pepper, carrots and celery. And, I used a 24oz can of tomatoes rather than 15oz, and I doubled the quantity of beans.

p82: Mozzarella-Stuffed Arancini [Many thanks to the Kitchen Space Blog for posting the recipe with a great photo!]
Quite good! Although, my dough was too wet and sloppy so it was hard to form the balls. Next time, I will add one egg and a time, because one egg is probably enough, rather than two. I also think I will make the rice w/3 cups of water rather than 3.5. I ended up adding bread crumbs to my mixture to make it less wet. I also used cubed mozzarella instead of fresh balls. Also of note: Pedro got home late the eve I made these, and they got dried out in the oven on warm. I'm not sure if having the extra bread crumbs in the mixture contributed to them having a dry consistency, or if it was just being in the oven.

p87: Tortilla Lasagna With Swiss Chard (recipe was published by the magazine, click link to see)
Nice! Funny to call it lasagna, it's basically chilaquiles. I suppose the point was to make a Mexican dish Italian. But, I recommend using enchillada sauce instead of tomato sauce. You can substitue hot basil for regular basil. I also added a red poblano, mushrooms, zucchini and garlic.