Veganomicon

I posted something the other day about "Appetite for Reduction" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I loved that book so much that it sent me running to the Kindle store for the famous but new-to-me 'Veganomicon'- this lady is rapidly becoming my new hero. Recipes that are detailed in the suggested order of steps (there can be a lot of steps in any scratch cookery, not only vegan!)- but also allow the cook to use common sense and preferences should she or he have any of either. 'If you haven't tried white balsamic vinegar, this recipe is a good place to try it. Otherwise use regular'. Same idea with miso. Isa opens my eyes to the variety of inspiring ingredients out there, without creating recipes that require a pantry full of awkward and strange ingredients found only in the great cities of the world.

I'm the kind of shopper and cook who prefers to have a menu for the fortnight planned. Now more than ever it really helps to know that I have the necessaries on hand to cook evening meals for most of my 2 week pay cycle- I top up fresh stuff during the period, but really our new fridge is so good that properly stored veggies seem fine after a few days. Mostly I sit down with a little notebook and plan say 12 meals, writing them down ia list, on one page, and a shopping list of corresponding ingredients on the other page. Often most if not all of the recipes I plan to start from come from blogs or sites like taste.com.au, lately from some of the great blogs you see in the right hand sidebar. This week, I thimk almost all of my plans came from Veganomicon, and that's just a few of the meals I want to try. Here's my plan... Let's see how closely I stick to it!

• spinach noodle kugel with sweet potato and pear tsimmes
• seitan pot pie (veganomicon contains detailed instructions for homemade seitan! I am super excited because the canned stuff is good, and I want to make my own. Gluten flour was ordered today, hope it comes soon!)
• eggplant/potato moussaka
• pineapple quinoa stirfry
• lasagna (made this tonight... Used isa's recipe for vegan ricotta... Mindblowingly good!
• pumpkin saag
• spaghetti and beanballs
• risotto
• mujadarah
• burgers
• mac and cheeze
• curried kidney beans (again so soon? They were pretty awesome)

Here's a pic of the lasagna I made tonight- seriously delicious and eaten up by all the meat eaters at the table.