eating my way through a slew of new cookbooks

Before a few days ago, if someone would have suggested I make my own bagels, the concept would have confused me. That's like me trying to wittle a toothbrush out of a pine tree or something. Why bother, when vegan bagels are cheap and plentiful? Well, I'm here to tell you why. Because homemade bagels taste better than any other bread product in the whole world, that's why. I know this now. I've grown a lot since Monday.



The recipe for these lovely bagels can be found in the new Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Don't let the idea of bagel-making scare you, either. They were insanely easy to make. I've been excited about this book since I first heard about it, because I'm all about some breakfast foods. As expected, the book looks awesome, so I'm sure I'll be cooking from it plenty.

Another new title I picked up this week is The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. This book is set up nicely, with seasonal menu ideas for entertaining. While we rarely entertain anyone besides our cats (and they would probably say we're not entertaining at all), I'm sure we will still get a chance to enjoy some recipes from TVT. Last night, we tried the Caramelized Tempeh Shwarmas.

Open shwarma on lavash bread:


A look at the caramelized tempeh:


All wrapped up. I need a lesson on lavash folding:


Overall, Ken and I were just lukewarm on these. I really like tempeh in general, so that wasn't the issue. I think the problem for me was the ingredient amounts were a bit off. The recipe was supposed to make four servings, but 8 oz of tempeh divided four ways would have been pretty scant. So rather than having one shwarma each then saving one each for lunch the next day, we ended up splitting up the tempeh between the two of us. Also, the sauce was delicious but the amount was so tiny, we barely had enough for the two shwarmas. We really wanted more sauce. The cucumber/tomato/onion/parsley combo made way too much, enough to stuff 6-8 shwarmas. I don't know if I'll bother with these again, but if I do, I will definitely triple the sauce amounts, half the veggie amounts and double the tempeh amounts. I know that this could totally be personal preference, so you should consider that, too.

Hey, have I mentioned that I'm one of the lucky testers of Terry Hope Romero's upcoming cookbook Vegan Latina? Of course I have. It's exciting! Here's a look at a yummy Cuban Style Black Bean Soup from Vegan Latina: