Super testing extravaganza!

Since my husband left for two weeks of training at another base, I decided to take advantage of not having to cater to his picky pallet and knock out a good chunk of test recipes for Joanna. Keep an eye out for the first issue of her cookzine, which is going to have all of these recipes and more.



Black Bean and Sweet Potato Flautas, with Tangy Sour Cream mixed with salsa for dipping.



Refried Black Beans, with a little FYH mozz on top for a burrito. I was supposed to save them for the Flautas but they only made it to lunch.



Carrot Salad with Herb Lime Dressing.



Aloha Bread, in the form of muffins.

Chili, cornbread, tacos, and chickpea salad wraps.

No talk today, just pictures. You can click through for descriptions.

Some testing and part of my day, in food.

I go through periods where i'm obsessed with food: I want to make lots of things, I spend way too much time looking at food porn on Flickr, and I always think i'm hungry. Then I go through spots where I don't want to do anything food related, and try to get by on snacking and sammiches. This is not one of those times.

First off, we have another recipe i'm testing for a fellow PPKer. After three recipes I feel that I can trust her cooking abilities, so i'm probably going to step up my testing of her recipes, so that way when i'm ready to test the bulk of mine I won't have to feel bad for not doing hers anymore. That was kind of babbly, I think. It's six am, i'll come back later and edit it if it really is. Anyway, Kasha Varnishkes:



Then we have my very first test recipe. I've made up stuff before, but i've never written my own recipe so I was a little nervous that I was going to mess something up. A few things were off taste wise, but I could see where I went wrong and what the best possible solution is, so i'm confident that it won't take long to pull these bad boys together. Did I just say bad boys? Pizza biscuits:



I feel like i'm lying when I tell people I have a job, because it doesn't feel like work to sit here and surf the internet all day while waiting for a ding so I can...surf the internet for someone else. Either way, i've started eating like I have a job. That's right, frozen Amy's burrito for lunch today:



I was going to take pictures of my dinner, but I was having problems with someone bitching me out on the phone while I was making it, so then I wasn't hungry, and when my hunger came back I scarfed it down too fast to care about pictures. I made bbq tempeh (made with my own super-secret bbq sauce), sweet potatoes that I boiled and then sauteed in butter with brown sugar, and sauteed green beans. It was wonderful, even after I had to nuke it.

Then in my sadness, I went and bought ice cream. And Hersheys magic shell, because I had heard at least one of them was vegan (and it is), and I was feeling bitter about not getting hot fudge sundaes. Take this, hot fudge.



I'm not too crazy about the chocolate peanut butter Soy Delicious. I thought it was kind of bland and watery. Oh well, I guess that means i'll just have to put more magic shell on it next time.

Test/New Years Eve food.

First off, we have a test recipe from a cookzine that one of the PPK members is putting together. I made it once a few weeks ago but forgot to take pictures. Sundried Tomato Cream Sauce, over pasta with some chik'n strips and marinated artichoke hearts on the side. I actually ended up not eating the artichokes because they were really bitter.



Brian and I purposely made no plans for the new year. Sure, we have no friends in this state, but I really don't like this particular holiday. Too much pressure to party party party. What if I just want to watch a movie or go bowling? Anyway, I decided we'd have a nice dinner and leave it at that. I went with an asian themed dinner. We had our favorite sushi, inari. I also made a single elephant roll, my first attempt at an outside roll. It went pretty well, I think.



Then I made General Tsofu and broccoli to go with it. I was going to make the sweet and sour sauce from The Everyday Vegan, but Brian actually prefers this bottle Tso sauce so that's what we have. Did I ever mention that there is no overhead light in our living/dining area? We have one lamp. Sometimes I don't realize how dark it is in there until I have to take a picture.



For dessert, I made coconut lime cookies from Vive le Vegan. They were really good, normally i'm a chocolate girl but Brian isn't, and since I was trying to keep with the theme of our dinner I chose these. It was a nice change of pace.