soba noodle salad with ginger peanut dressing

Yuuuuuum!   Simple.  Healthy.  Delicious.  What more can you ask from a recipe?  The most brilliant part of this recipe is the sauce, which is without a doubt the best peanut sauce I have ever made.  Peanut, ginger, lime, cilantro, garlic, in perfect balance.  At first glance, it might look a little high-fat because of all the peanut butter, but it takes a bit of water to get it pourable.  And a little of this sauce goes a long way.  Once the sauce is made, you just cook up soba noodles and chop up some veggies.
Summary: Best Sauce Ever.
Recipe from the September 2009 issue.

double chocolate waffles

Well, how could I not make these?  They were really good, and not as unhealthy as you might think.  Waffles are already not that healthy anyway.  The waffle itself was delicious, not very sweet at all, and very moist. 
The sauce was amazing, but it kept clumping.  I think using regular milk instead of soy milk might help.  The instructions say to keep it warm, which is a good tip.  The sauce was was a perfect mix of chocolate and maple flavor, but I used real grade-B syrup, not corn-syrup-based. 
This is a really dramatic and rich-looking dish, and it would be perfect for a brunch for friends.  But the truth is, I didn't really want to eat more than half of one in one sitting, so unless you're making it for a crowd, it might not be worth all the work.  I didn't try freezing them, but I bet that would work really well.  September 2010.

cauliflower mash with miso and sage

This is really healthy.  And it's not unbelievably delicious, but it is good.  It has a nice nutty flavor.  The browned onions and carrots make the dish look kind of muddy.  It's really not very pretty.  It would be a great dish to make to get kids to eat their veggies or if someone were on a special diet.  The other comment I would make is that it does not reheat well, as it gets thick and pasty the next day, so only make what you're going to eat in one sitting.

ricotta-basil stuffed tomatoes

So here's the deal.  I can't stand food that is stuffed into vegetables.  I just don't want to eat a whole zucchini, or bell pepper, or whatever.  But in this case, the actual reason was that tomatoes are just too darn expensive, and 2/3 of the people in this house would not eat them anyway.  So I made the filling and baked it in a casserole, which ended up being super easy.  Oooooohh, and it was so delicious!  I bought fresh corn (sweetest ever) and cut it off the ears.  I didn't have any parmesan, but I didn't even miss it.  If I were making it for other people, I would definitely put parmesan or bread crumbs on top to make it a little brown.  It was warm and hearty while still being light and fresh and summery.  A perfect dish!!  From July/August 2010, recipe here.

sweet potato wedges with cider reduction

OK, everybody knows how to make sweet potato wedges, and you know whether or not you like them.  I would, however, love a tip on how to get them as crunchy as oven fries, if anyone knows.  But what I really wanted to make here was the cider reduction....and I guess I didn't really like it.  It tasted too much like apple goo, or apple jelly that sat out for a long time.  I tried adding a little cider vinegar to it, but it was just not good.  I think maybe it was too sweet.  Next time I will make a balsamic reduction, which I already know I love.  No picture, what a lame blog.
September 2010 issue.

tofu scramble brunch ring

Did you know that Pillsbury crescent rolls are vegan?  I really don't know what to think about that, other than the only reason must be because chemicals are technically vegan.  Anyway, don't ask me why I made this.  I think I just really wanted to make something veg that my family would eat.  Anyone who knows me knows I do not use pre-packaged food.

So, back to the recipe, this was good, though not the healthiest thing ever.  I did not use the nutritional yeast, as I have stopped buying wacky ingredients that never get used up.  You could even make this with eggs instead of tofu, but then it would just be an all-out typical trashy kind of checkstand-magazine kind of a recipe.  You know what I mean?  Scramble eggs with frozen broccoli and onion, cheese it up, then wrap in a pastry made in a factory.

I'm just bitter because that pastry tastes really, really good, which I hate to admit.  Hmmmm....... re-channeling my pacific NW eco-mom....

This is how you assemble it:

Bake'n'serve:

And here is the link to the recipe.

indian samosa casserole

Well, no good news to report here.  How good does this recipe sound?  Well, it was dry and bland.  Ouch.  It might have turned out better if I had made it at home, but we were at a beach house with friends, so I had to bring all the ingredients with me.  I really loved the idea of this-it's actually more of a pot pie than a casserole.  I really think the recipe could be improved upon, so I might try it again.
My main complaint is that because the potatoes are mashed, they soak up every bit of moisture, leaving the filling very dry and pasty.  Also, the amount of spice in the recipe was waaaaaaay too little.  I would double or triple the curry powder and cumin next time. 
I think to get around the dryness, I would use about 1/2 (or less) of the potatoes, just cube them, and make a roux-based creamy gravy like you would for a regular pot pie.  I think that might actually turn this into a really delicious dish.
So, for whatever reason, I didn't take a picture of it, so I will instead leave you with a picture of the bridge in Astoria from our amazing beach weekend.
Oh, and here's the recipe.

apple custard pie with oatmeal crust

I refuse to acknowledge that this is a pie, mostly because I ate it for breakfast on more than one occasion. I have actually made this twice. I used butter instead of vegan margarine and 2% milk instead of oat milk. What in the world IS oat milk, anyway? Someone I know and love would say that it's "hippie crap."
Anyhoo, the reason I allowed myself to eat this for breakfast is that in the whole entire pie, there is just a little over 1/2 cup of sugar and 4 T of butter. The rest is good, wholesome stuff-eggs, oatmeal, apples, milk - breakfast, right? I was shocked to see that a custard made out of 2% and eggs (the whole eggs, not just the yolks) would set so perfectly, and maintain its texture perfectly when refrigerated for a few days.
The crust is pretty much a big oatmeal cookie. BUT..... don't add to much water. It should not be sticky like cookie dough at all, or else it will stick to the pie plate. It needs just barely enough water so that it will stay together when pressed.
It's just so easy to throw together, and sort of good for you, so just go and make it already.
Oh! It's from the February 2010 Vegetarian Times.  Here's the recipe.