Recipe Review: Bulgur Pilaf

So, once again this recipe is from my all time favourite blog, Chocolate Covered Katie. Her delicious, simple, and easy to follow recipes are always the first things I look at when I’m in the mood to cook or bake. Katie, if you see this, your blog is amazing! Keep it up! 🙂

This recipe is a lunch and dinner-time favourite of mine. It takes a bit of preparation because the bulgur needs to be cooked, but it’s oh so worth it.

In my meals, I’m a fan of mostly vegetables and less grains and other things, so I altered Katie’s recipe a little. I substituted the bok choy for kale, and used half the bulgur, but it turned out delicious! I had never cooked bulgur before seeing this recipe, but I sure do cook it often now!

The Recipe 

Bulgur Pilaf

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

1 cup vegetable stock

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2 1/2 teaspoons fresh, grated ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 zucchini, chopped

5 green onions, cut into about 1-inch pieces (don’t use the roots)

2 medium carrots, finely diced

3 cups bok choy or spinach (EVTK’s version: use kale)

1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic

4 cups cooked bulgur (it works best if you chill this in the fridge for a few hours before using) (EVTK version: 2 cups)

Directions:
1) In a bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients. Set aside.

2) Preheat a pan or wok over medium-high heat and sauté the carrots and zucchini in your sauté-liquid of choice.

3) Add in about 1/4 of the stock mixture. Stir-fry for 3-5 minutes.

4) Add the green onions, bok choy (or spinach or kale), garlic, and another 1/4 of the stock mixture, and stir-fry for another 3 minutes.

5) Add the bulgur and the rest of the stock mixture. Stir constantly for about 5 minutes.

(All credit for the recipe goes to the lovely Katie) 🙂

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Vegan Test Kitchen Recipe: Delicious Tofu Cookies!

I’ve made these bad boys a couple times, making variations as I go. The first time I made them I used oil instead of applesauce and white flour, and they were rock hard within a few days. I also used extra-firm silken tofu. A few days ago I used the ingredients below, and they were fantastic. They were chewy and moist, oh so delicious, and they didn’t get hard! I’ll definitely keep this recipe in my good books.

 

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup vegan “butter”

1/4 cup soft/medium silken tofu

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

chocolate chips (as many as you want)

 

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Combine the sugars, applesauce, and vegan butter in a food mixer and cream for 5 minutes. Puree the tofu and vanilla until smooth, and add to cream mixture. Mix well. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl, and then add chocolate chips. Mould dough into balls and put on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for about 15-25 minutes.

 

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Recipe Review: Boatmeal

This recipe is from Chocolate Covered Katie‘s blog. I have tried a lot of her things from cookie balls to bulgur pilaf, and I must say I’ve absolutely loved every single recipe! I am proud to admit that I was not disappointed in the least with this recipe. I tried her basic boatmeal recipe, and added a few of my own things to it. First I tried chai concentrate and pumpkin puree, then I did bananas and banana yogurt, then I tried coconut milk and vanilla with an apple pie-type crust. Everything was delicious!

I would highly recommend trying out any of her stuff. The boatmeal is delicious as a meal, a snack, and a dessert! I’m sure savory boatmeal wouldn’t be too bad either. I will definitely use this recipe again!

 

The Recipe

• 1/2 cup oats (50g)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (and 1/8 tsp nutmeg, if making pumpkin version)
• sweetener, such as 1 1/2 to 2T maple syrup or 1 to 1 1/2 packs stevia
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin or applesauce (50-60g)
• 1/4 cup milk or creamer or water (60g)
• heaping 1/16th tsp salt
• Optional: 1 to 2T oil or favorite nut butter (if oil, scale the milk back a tiny bit)
• Optional: raisins, walnuts, brown sugar for the top

Preheat oven to 380 degrees. Combine raw oats, spices, pumpkin, and milk. Pour into a small baking pan, 1-cup ramekin, or mini-loaf pan. Cook for 20 minutes, or more until it gets firm. Finally, set your oven to “high broil” for 3 more minutes, or until it reaches desired crispy-ness (or simply just bake longer, but broiling gives it a nice crust).

(All credit goes to Katie!)

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Recipe Review: Banana Soft Serve

This recipe is from a blog known as Choosing Raw.

The recipe is simple and the method is quick and easy. I made some just out of curiosity, and ended up eating almost the whole batch! I’m probably going to finish the last of it tonight for dessert. 🙂

The banana “ice cream” involves one ingredient: bananas.

That’s it! All you do is throw 2 or 3 frozen bananas into a food processor, pulse until the bananas are blended, and then process for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy.

I had a bit of trouble with getting the bananas to stay near the blades, so I added about 2 tablespoons of coconut milk. I also added about 1/2 tablespoon of Maranatha no stir almond butter for some sweetness. It turned out delicious! I’m definitely going to make this recipe again; maybe even today! Haha.

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Introductions Are Not My Strong Suit!

Why hello there! My name is Emily. I’m a 16 year old high school student with a passion for photography and water polo. I love cooking and I love being active in animal’s rights even more. I have vegetarian on and off my entire life, and I have been a committed vegetarian for about 3 and a half years. I am currently making the switch to becoming vegan, but I am spending a lot of time working at it and doing my research before labelling my lifestyle as such.

This blog, however, will not be a personal one. I will be reviewing, commenting on, and researching vegan, gluten free, and vegetarian recipes, cook books, food items, and more. Recipe reviews from blogs and cookbooks will make up most of the blog, but I will also talk about different kinds of tofu and soy products, and much much more!

Stay tuned for my first review from a fabulous cookbook called “The Complete Guide to Vegan Food Substitutions”

Enjoy!

– Emily

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