Chickpea Cutlets with Mustard Sauce and Artichokes with Tangy Dipping Sauce

We've got the super-jumbo artichokes in season here; they can almost be a whole meal in and of themselves but I wanted some protein to go with, so I threw together the always good chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon. The mustard gravy (also from V'con) is what we always serve with these, the flavors just go together superbly. I've been reading PinkVegan's blog, she's cooking her way through all the recipes in The Vegan Table and The Conscious Cook, to see what I want to make next from both of these books. A while back she made the tangy dipping sauce for artichokes and it went over well with her family; it sounded great and I'd been wanting to try it. That's the sauce in the background of my picture, I halved the recipe, and it still made a whole lot. I used basil as my herb of choice and it was super good. It was creamy and definitely tangy--it tasted great on the artichokes. We had a lot of this sauce left; I used some of it in an upcoming dinner post and I'll have to think of something/s for the rest (it's mostly Vegenaise, so it makes a great spread).

Gardein "Chicken" Scaloppini with Shiitake Sake Sauce, Braised Pea Shoots, and Crispy Udon Noodle Cakes

I'm no Chef Tal, and I may not be able to reach his level of presentation, but I was definitely able to enjoy this dish looking the way I threw it together. I decided not to make circles out of the cooked udon noodles because it seemed wasteful to me and that pretty much killed the presentation right there. Gardein is still pretty new, so it can be hard to find. I wasn't able to find the Chick'n Fillets which are fresh, and instead used the Chick'n Scaloppini, so I left it in one piece since they couldn't be cut while frozen. I subbed creminis for shiitakes because I couldn't find those right now either. I also used vegetable broth instead of faux chicken stock. But anyway, everything else was the same! Oh, except I didn't use as much Earth Balance for the sake sauce either because I didn't think it was necessary. And that sauce was good!

This dish tasted amazing. It was the first thing I've made from this book, and reading this recipe was actually the reason I bought it, so I'm glad it lived up to its high hopes. As soon as we were done eating this my boyfriend said: "you can definitely make this one again!" Sounds like a winner to me.

Vegan Giveaways!

There have been a plethora of giveaways for cookbooks and treats recently. Just thought I'd clue you in to some that are still open so you could give it a shot!

From VegNews: Marshmallow Ghosts from Sweet and Sara



Enter to win here. Sweet and Sara marshmallows were the first I had after becoming vegan; I first tried them just a few months ago. They made me very happy, they're so good.

Next up, a plethora of cookbooks:

Go Dairy Free and My Sweet Vegan: Passionate About Desserts here. I don't own either of these books, but based on Hannah Kaminsky's blog (she contributed to GDF and wrote MSV), I'm sure they're both great.
















Robin Robertson's new tome 1000 Vegan Recipes is available here from PETA. Again, I don't own this one; it's pretty new. There is some great food porn from it here though. There are also a few recipes on Robin's site.



Also from PETA, The Conscious Cook is up for grabs. This won "Cookbook of the Year" from VegNews magazine and is both highly rated and a top-seller on Amazon. I just recently acquired this one. I have not yet made anything from it but some of Tal's dishes certainly look amazing; his dishes are certainly ones that will impress vegans and non-vegans alike.



Some of these are ending quite soon, so make haste. Good Luck!