Vegetarian Cooking Class

Good morning yet again! I think I have determined that daylight savings, mixed with needing to get up and water my garden, with a pinch of going to bed at a reasonable hour are all coming together to bring you (almost) daily morning updates. Weird.


About a month ago my mom surprised me by taking me to a vegetarian cooking class at this cooking store called Great News. She had told me about this store filled with cooking gadgets and also that they often held cooking classes. I was slightly disappointed when I learned that the class was not going to be hands on, but it turned out pretty great regardless and I had a lot of fun. Everything had the option of being vegan and we got to eat samples of everything made. The class was a little high on the tempeh and seitan levels but all in all, pretty good vegan food (especially for non vegans). I would love to find another vegetarian cooking class that focuses more on fruits, veggies, beans, grains and nuts. Now that would be cool. Sorry for the fairly low quality photos as I was a bad food blogger and forgot my real camera (and had to use my phone). In addition, I also forgot to take a picture of the first dish until my mom reminded me and my bowl was already cleared.

 If you can read that, it lists the menu and the venue. The first dish was a coconut milk curry corn chowder. It was really good considering how few ingredients it contained. They served it with tempeh bacon which was not a winner in my book.

Next up was fried falafels in warmed pita bread with tahini sauce and smoked paprika tomato onion relish. This was so good. And convinced me to buy smoked paprika.

Tempeh reuben with vegan cheese and spinach, mushroom and..and...something else. Can't remember now. This was just all right.

This was the star of the show. Seitan risotto bolognese with portabello mushrooms. My friend Rachel and I recreated this that week with brown arborro rice and leaving out the seitan. A lot of work, but if you have a friend in the kitchen (especially one who likes to cook) it isn't really that hard. And it is mighty delicious.

And finally, coconut pudding with crushed pineapple. Really simple and really delicious. I recreated this at home but failed on the cornstarch front and had lumpy pudding. It was salvageable though since it was sort of like rice pudding.

I did also try the coconut curry corn chowder at home but I wasn't as impressed.

Alrighty, I am off to work now. Have a great day!

Have you ever been to a cooking class?

Chocolate Covered Katie Love

Today I finally threw together some fudge babies following Katie's recipe.  I found a digital scale right before xmas and have loved having it.  I attempted 3 kinds.

First

Cashew Cookie Larabar
These ended up a little too gooey so I rolled them in shredded coconut.

Then I had a little fun and added some almonds to the top.

Next

 Original Fudge Babies

These were also a little gooey but I think my dates were extra juicy.  I think I could have added a few more walnuts.  But they weren't so gooey that I needed to roll them in coconut.

Finally I attempted the original fudge babies sans cocoa powder but with the addition of chocolate chips.  Unfortunately this one did not come together because it was a little wet.  Doesn't mean it wasn't delicious, it just didn't form into bars.

I also spent some of the day looking over Katie's older posts.  So far I want to try Texas Caviar and Sweet and Sour Seitan.  My boyfriend and I went to dinner at Sipz on Wednesday and though I am usually not the biggest fan of the restaurant or of imitation meat, their "chicken" had the most realistic texture ever.  I really want to try to master seitan.  When I was looking up seitan I came across this recipe that I also really want to try.

And in case you haven't heard, Katie is giving away a vita-mix blender.  If you have ever wanted one, I suggest you visit this page.

Thanks!