PPK Cook Book Challenge '11 - Isa and Terry - VwaV

I love cook book challenges. For that matter I like any excuse to have a food type theme. It also gives me motivation to pull some books out I haven't used in a while. This week we could choose from any book written by Isa Chandra Moskowitz or Terry Hope Romero. It is always a hard choice because their books are so great! I decided this week to go back to the beginning. Vegan with a Vengeance was the very first vegan cookbook I ever bought. It was the book that helped me realize vegan food could be fun, delicious, easy and satisfying. I am forever grateful. You will be too if you bust out a copy. The recipes are all pretty inexpensive too!

This time around I made a few recipes I hadn't tried before. First up was the Tempeh and White Bean Sausage. It was a pretty simple recipe. It was a bit more crumbly than I normally like something called "sausage" to be, but it was pretty tasty.

As an accompaniment I chose the Sweet Potato Hash with Watercress and Five Spice. I didn't have watercress, so I subbed spinach and added a touch of white pepper. I really liked the hash. I love greens and sweet potatoes. The touch of five spice was awesome in this. Yum.

Tonight Fred made dinner. I chose the Stewed Tofu and Potatoes in Miso Gravy for him to make. I was up for some comfort food goodness. I know Fred likes gravy once in a while. It has been some time since we had anything like that. So it was a nice treat. We both loved this dish. The miso gravy had the perfect amount of saltiness and earthiness to complement the mushrooms. The tofu was perfectly tender and juicy. Oh and the potatoes...heavenly. This would be a great dish in the middle of a cold winter. MMMMmmmm.

Next week the featured cook book will be Tami Noyes' American Vegan Kitchen. I so love this book, so I'm excited to try some new stuff from it.