Weekend cooking: Healthy Soups & etc

This weekend I went to visit my grandmother who is ill right now. I made two healthy soups: french lentil from 'Voluptous Vegan' and 'Brocolli and Potato' from Veganomicon. I also made the quinoa cashew stir fry from Veganomicon, though I sub'd white rice for the quinoa (not reccomended), because I was concerned quinoa was "too wierd" for my grandmother. I also made the bananna flapjacks from Vegan Brunch and I must say they are the best pancakes I have had in YEARS. I must admit, I did coat the pan in earth balance when cooking the pancakes, I always do because I like my pancakes that way. I just really loved those pancakes, so fluffy, actually almost too fluffy, I feel I could have reduced the baking powder and still had excellent results.

The brocolli soup was just too healthy tasting though. Kinda blah, and I followed instructions exactly. I think it would be improved with some cashew cream and nut yeast. I froze single serving sizes of the leftover soup. Its worth fiddling with anything with broccoli to get the recipe right, rather than just giving up because its so good for you and its good to eat it in a variety of ways so as not to get bored with it. Once I purchase a camera I can take photos of these foods I make and then the blog would be something people might want to read! :) I hate food blogs without food pictures. I also need to buy a new winter coat before they run out of all the on-sale coats. And practice guitar. And do my taxes.

Mushroom Stroganoff

Last night I finally satisfied my ongoing mushroom stroganoff craving properly. I have made previous attempts and they just stank. I modified a recipe from Vegetarian Times cookbook, and instead of using soy sour cream & silken tofu, just used Wildwood brand plain soy yogurt. It worked out quite well. Well, actually I think I should have made it stronger, b/c I made the sauce perfect, but then when it got on the pasta it became a bit too mild for me. However, it shouldn't be hard next time. It involved soy sauce, sherry, dried ground yellow mustard, dried dill and a dash of paprika. Half an onion, 8 oz. pasta, 1 container Wildwood soy yogurt in plain (the only plain yogurt that's not all sugary tasting - what are the other yogurt makers thinking, really?). Also one clove garlic. I winged it with the qty of flavorings, just to taste. I served with haricots verts (skinny string beans), because I love them and was too lazy to make dinosaur kale which I think would go well with this. Also I added Gardien's new veggie "beef" tips - not a necessity but they were in the freezer and they worked well in the recipe. I recommend slicing them up thinly so they spread evenly throughout. If I'm going to do a food blog I really need to get a camera. While I'm at it, a new computer, and since I'm spending loads of dough, why not a new dresser, trundle bed, and wall-top storage cabinets? Ah, life would be grand! However, I am super indecisive so shopping is hard for me. Having those things already is nice, but the whole 'which should I go with' and researching and stuff, I don't like. I'm greatly troubled that I might get the wrong thing and regret it later.