Aug 8, 2013

"grills gone vegan" + black bean and carrot soup

Greetings from the new website!

Weekly Vegan Menu has moved to Zsu's Vegan Pantry and I am excited to introduce the new website. Please bookmark this new site: www.zsusveganpantry.com. 

Not only has the blog's address and site have changed, but so has my family's location. We are now in San Diego, California, hoping to get out of our cramped apartment and into a more spacious house in the near future.

Right now I am cooking in a small kitchen, where I can reach from the fridge to the stove to the sink in a single step and where our teenage girls are sharing a room. Eek! NO teenager should ever have to share a room with another teenager  -- even though I remember doing the very same thing in my teens years; somehow it seems harder now. Generation gap.

Now that our family is semi-settled from our cross-country move, it is time to thank Tami from Vegan Appetite and author of Grills Gone Vegan, to extend a gratitude for announcing my photo of  her Corn-on-the-Cob recipe from the Grills Gone Vegan cookbook as her second place winner. My prize was a gift certificate to her very, very favorite online spice store, Penzeys Spices. I haven't had the chance to use the prize funds, yet, but I have taken a gander through their catalog and I have some great ideas!
Check them out!

Since grilling season is still in full swing, I made a couple of more recipes from GGV: The Red-Eye Tofu Steaks (page 82) with Creamy Harissa Sauce (page 172) and Lemon-Kissed Coucous (page 104).






It was amazing. Tami always knows just how to coax flavors. The tofu was smoky because of the marinade and the sauce was perfectly spicy without over-kill. That couscous really is lemon-kissed; even my husband who doesn't care for lemon in anything savory really loved this couscous. The couscous recipe is actually part of another recipe on that same page, Tunisian Skewers -- another one I highly recommend.

Since I can't give you those recipes, how about one of mine: Black Bean and Carrot Soup. No grilling-comparison, but it is a pretty good weeknight meal recipe.





Quick and easy soup using a few cans of black beans and four large carrots, this soup is blended a bit to get rich and thick while staying gluten free. I added spices and four to five large handfuls of fresh spinach at the end for added nutrition. Top it with crispy tortilla strips and fresh jalapenos and dinner is ready in around 30 minutes. Deep flavors without a lot of time.



Black Bean and Carrot Soup Print-Friendly Recipe

Jul 7, 2013

happy fourth + "grills gone vegan"


Harissa Seitan Burger



Roasted Corn with Chipotle Butter and Basil-Caper Butter



Happy Independence Day! 

Fourth of July in America, the celebration of the birth of the nation, is observed with fireworks, parties and cookouts. And cookouts mean grilling. If grilling season has escaped your attention thus far, the Fourth brings it into the foreground and prominently into your view. 

 For the past few years, I have reached for some lackluster vegetarian grilling cookbooks, ones laden with dairy and eggs. For years I suffered through replacing ingredients, changing up recipes and, I am sure, altering the flavors that the authors originally had in mind. A lose-lose situation.

 Luckily, I do not have to endure another blah grilling season since Tamasin Noyes has written the most amazing grilling cookbook, Grills Gone Vegan. I tested for this cookbook and have had a giveaway for the book, but now Tami is hosting a contest for a bunch of goodies and I couldn't resist participating. I am not entering the contest because I'd love for some lucky vegan to receive the bounty of her talents, but since I was cooking from the book anyway, I figured taking a few pics wasn't too taxing. 

Our first cookout in San Diego included my American Potato Salad and Tami's Harissa Seitan Burgers and her Roasted Corn on the Cob with Flavored Butters.  Those butters are amah-sing!! So easy to make, but adds so much flavor to the corn. 

That burger is packed with flavors, too. And if you can't find harissa, Tami has a recipe for that too. I made the harissa from her book and was quite impressed with the recipe. I would blend it in a blender in lieu of a food processor, but that was my only hang up. 

Since grilling season has just started, don't delay and get your own copy of Grills Gone Vegan. It will knock your socks off, I promise. And don't miss the recipes that Tami has posted on her blog from the cookbook.