Country Fried!

Hey ya'll! I finally got around to re-testing one of my favorite cookbook recipes last night. And this time, I took some much-needed advice from my testers (thanks testers!). Here's my new and improved Country Fried Tempeh Steak with Soymilk Gravy:

It's not health food. That's for certain. It's breaded, fried, and smothered in definitely-not-fat-free gravy. But it's good. And sometimes that's what matters. Fried foods are great in moderation (or so I choose to believe).

On the side, I tried Susan V's Wasabi-Roasted Asparagus from Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen:

It was tasty, but next time I'm adding WAY more wasabi. Susan's recipe calls for as little or as much as you want, based on your personal taste for spiciness. Since I love the sinus burn from wasabi, I needed much more. I used 3/4 teaspoon of wasabi powder and I could barely taste it. Even still, the sesame oil gave the roasted asparagus a tasty flavor.

I also made a batch of Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread from Bean Vegan:

Stephanie (Poopie Bitch) gave me a jar of sourdough starter that she made from her batch (which she got from Bazu in the mail). This was my first time working with the starter (which I've named Lestat, like the vampire ... cause it will live forever so long asI feed it), and I was really impressed with the strong sourdough flavor. I slathered a slice with Earth Balance and ate it with this meal.

On a final sweet note, I made these Neopolitan Bars from the April issue of VegNews:

They're one of Hannah Kaminsky's (of My Sweet Vegan fame) recipes, and man were they delicious! The cake part was a bit like a blondie spiked with my hand-picked organic strawberries. These are topped with a rich chocolate ganache. My only complaint — the ganache recipe calls for way too much liquid. I had to add extra chocolate chips to make it creamy, and though the picture in the magazine shows the ganache all firmed up, mine never set. Still tasted delicious though!