What I have been up to lately:

I want to update you in words what I have cooked over the past two weeks. I don't have pics at the moment but I will start to take them again next week.

1) Chinese stir fry(I made this recipe up) It had tons of veggies, hoison sauce, seschueun sauce, sesame oil, a little agave nectar. I cooked all the veggies in white wine, great option, the whole thing came out great. I added a bit to much crushed red pepper flake and you needed to eat it with a gallon of water, next time I will cut back on that. Oh yeah and I added raw cashews to the dish as well, forgot about that. I give this recipe an A-, it would be an A if it were not for to much hot!

2) I have been loving Neal Barnard's updated website and his recipes, great low fat ideas. Anyway, last week I made his recipe called Seitan Cousselet from "Breaking the Food Seduction" I used store bought seitan, which was a little to sweet for me, I would rather have made my own, but it was quicker this way. I few things I added to the recipe were kitchen bouquet for a darker gravy and thyme and marjoram. The next time I make this I will use fresh rosemary, I love fresh rosemary. Anyway, the recipe was good with some potatoes, it is a good "meat" and potatoes meal. I give this recipe a B+

3) Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce, from the Millennium Cookbook (love this cookbook!) I served this with WW pasta and broccoli. I liked it, but I swear I can't find anything to taste as good as cheese, I just have to give it up. This recipe was not memorable but I did like it. I will give it a B- Next time I will add some earth balance, but last week when I cooked it I was on my McDougall kick. As you will see, I go on and off the low fat bandwagon every other week or so.

4) Chicpea Patties with Hain Golden Gravy. The chicpea patties are from Dreena's new book "Eat Drink and be Vegan" The patties were awesome, we loved them and the gravy made them even better with some mashed potatoes and veggies. I fried them and it made a crispy coating, delicious. I give this recipe a B+ because as I said I was on my McDougall kick and the fact that I fried them bugged me...........

5) Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies, again from Dreena's new cookbook. These were very healthy and delicious. I love how Dreena uses a lot of alternative flours, I love experimenting with them, there are so many. Anyway, this gets an A. Also instead of the three tablespoons of oil I used only two with 1 tbsp of applesauce.

6) Browines by Neal Barnard. These were fat free and so good. Again I got this recipe from the "Breaking the Food Seduction" book. I used silken tofu in this recipe so the brownies came out very moist and delicious, would have been good with some vanilla soy ice cream. A-

7) I got the DVD "Everyday Dish" with Bryanna Clark Grogan, Dreena Burton, and Julie Hasson. I loved it and I made a recipe from it right away. It was Julie's Deli Noodle Soup, so good and so nostalgic. It was just like the chicken noodle soup I used to eat as a kid. I have been eating this soup all week for lunches and a few dinners, it gets better everyday. I used TVP chunks in it, like real chicken, it is scary. We had this with some chewy Iggy's garlic bread with some Earth Balance. This gets an easy A.

8) I made the chicpea patties again only I baked them. I have to say I like them better fried (of course!) also I used Roads End Organics Shitake Gravy, it was not good at all. It was dry and flavorless. Anyway I give this a C, these will be fried for now on.

9) Tube of Polenta! I bought a tube of polenta at Whole Foods and sliced it up and grilled it with some zucchini, roasted reds, and portebellos, so good. I used olive oil spray to get those awesome grill marks. I also made some tomato garlic sauce to smother them in, then I added my fave Galaxy brand vegan parmesan to the top. I wanted to add cannelini beans but I did not have any, next time and maybe some toasted pine nuts. Easily an A.

10) Last Friday night I was dying for pizza (what's new) and I decided to make my own pizza crust. So I used the simplest recipe I could find, which was white whole wheat flour, baking powder and a bottle of beer. Also there was no need to knead the dough, just mix and spread on pizza stone. No fat. I also added roasted garlic, rosemary, roasted reds, tomatoes, portebellos, sun dried tomatoes and salt and pepper. The crust took forever to cook and I realized I should have let it cook on its own before I added the toppings. Next time. Anyway it also got stuck to the pizza stone it took a few minutes to get it unstuck. It was pretty good, it was crispy on the bottom and doughy and soft in the middle. A little too doughy so next time I will cook it before adding the toppings and I will add some fat, it did need it. Otherwise not bad, I will give it a B-.