Yakisoba, escarole, bars, muffins, a loaf, saag, gumbo, seitan plate, and tea sandwiches

Alexis Croswell
Jun 12
5 min read

I had a banner nineteenth week (I made seven out of these nine recipes then), and then my blog crashed and I lost my entire draft. So here we are in week twenty, where I try to remember what I wrote and hope my past self didn't use up all of my wit.

Here's what I made:

Omaha yakisoba with red cabbage and corn
Chickpeas and escarole in white wine broth
Chewy coconut-date bars
Cherry chocolate chunk mini loaves
Coconut chana saag
Lemon-blueberry loaf
Okra gumbo with chickpeas and kidney beans
Warm potato salad with grilled seitan and asparagus
Cucumber-avocado tea sandwiches with dill and mint

Omaha yakisoba with red cabbage and corn

I probably won’t make this again
I made a few substitutions
I don’t think this would freeze well

This isn’t my favorite flavor combination and I did make a few substitutions. I used frozen corn instead of fresh because I had it on hand and I still don’t see fresh corn in the store. I should have drained it before adding it to the dish because it did make the sauce a bit too watery.

The picture that accompanies this recipe shows zucchini, but the recipes calls for broccoli…so if I used zucchini did I really make a substitution?!

I was able to find a 2-pack (this recipe says it’s two servings but I think it’s more like four) of thick udon noodles (KA-ME Udon Stir Fry Noodles) which were delightful. I bet the Asian grocery store near me has a good fresh version as well.

Chickpeas and escarole in white wine broth

I probably won’t make this again
I made 0 substitutions
I don’t think this would freeze well

Nobody in my circle knows what escarole is, and neither did I. I learned it's in the family of chicory and therefore tastes bitter so I was not really looking forward to this one. I did not think I’d find escarole (having never heard of it) but what do you know my local Publix delivered! It really does just look like a curlier version of romaine.

Uncooked, it’s very bitter, but once you cook it, that goes away. That said, this was kind of like eating wet wilted lettuce. I don’t understand the appeal! You also need to make something to serve it with, the recommendation being roasted potatoes which is what I chose. So I don't know that I'd seek this out to make it again, but I like white wine and caper sauces.

Chewy coconut-date bars

I probably won’t make this again
I made 0 substitutions
This would probably freeze fine

I found this overly sweet and kind of dry. I ended up warming it up and putting it on top of some of the chocolate ice cream from the tasting party I had left over. If I did make these again, I would probably dip them in or drizzle them with chocolate and do the flaky sea salt on top like I did for the peanut butter chocolate bars.

Cherry chocolate chunk mini loaves

I would make this again
I made 2 substitutions
This would freeze well

While I do think mini loaves would be adorable as Isa says, I have never seen them in my shopping so I made these in muffin tins instead. I also used frozen instead of fresh cherries because it’s what I had on hand and I hate pitting fresh cherries! This time I did squeeze the liquid out before I added it to the recipe. I also used regular chocolate chips because they are what I had and I don’t actually see vegan chocolate chunks that often.

Coconut chana saag

I might make this again
I made a few substitutions
This would freeze well

Another chickpea recipe from this book! I did a quick search on the recipe titles and there are eight with “chickpea” in the title, so I want to say there are probably at least 10 or so that feature chickpeas. I thought it would be more!

I used spinach instead of kale because I don’t really like kale in soup or sauce applications and I used canned tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes. Grocery store tomatoes right now still smell like nothing, which means they are going to taste like nothing, so I go with the can.

The recipe says you can use lite or regular coconut milk, and I used lite but would go for the full fat in the future to make the sauce a bit more punchy.

I have cooked more Indian food during this project than I have in probably the rest of my life. It’s a very common vegan cuisine since so much of it is already vegetarian, but I just didn’t grow up eating it.

Lemon-blueberry loaf

I would make this again
I made 0 substitutions
This would freeze well

This didn't rise well, and I don't know why, but it tasted good. The glaze is listed as optional but I love anything that adds more lemon flavor, so I included it. I did spring for the wild blueberries as well and I don’t know why they are cuter because they’re smaller, but they are.

I’m not sure why this is in the breakfast chapter, because as you can see, it's obviously a cake.

Okra gumbo with chickpeas and kidney beans

I would make this again
I made 0 substitutions
This would freeze well

Isa says that this will be “not slimy” even though it has okra, but mine definitely still was. That said, it’s a gumbo so you don’t really notice or mind it I think. I’ve made gumbo from one of my other cookbooks, Mississippi Vegan, (fun fact, the authors are friends!) and I feel like this one came together faster and was just as tasty.

Warm potato salad with grilled seitan and asparagus

I would make this again
I made 0 substitutions
I’m not sure how this would freeze

This made a very cute plate and also reinforced my love of having a grill pan! Seriously, get one if you don’t have one yet. This makes a lot of potato salad, which I don’t really mind, but proportionally I think you will finish the seitan and asparagus first. If you have seitan on hand already (I did from one I froze a few weeks back) then this recipe comes together really quickly. It’s definitely one for spring or early summer since this is when asparagus shows up!

Cucumber-avocado tea sandwiches with dill and mint

I would make this again for a party
I made 0 substitutions
This would not freeze well

While I didn’t cut these up all cute, I got the flavor profile and it was fine. I am not a huge mint-in-savory-applications person (outside of a vietnamese fresh roll) but for people who like it, I think this is great. I do think that if you went through the trouble of cutting these nicely and putting them on a pretty plate they would work well for a tea party.

Weekly reflection

Last week I went to a potluck, and as a vegan I tend not to expect that there will be a lot for me to eat, unless it’s specified that there will be vegan options. I brought my lemon blueberry loaf (cake) and had some bread and jam, dried fruit, nuts and olives. AND THEN.

I went back into the kitchen after a new person arrived and the most glorious looking vegan AND gluten free chocolate cake I have ever seen was sitting there. The only thing stopping me from eating a huge slice was that I hadn’t had an actual dinner yet. In hindsight I wish I had taken some home. Usually I find frosted cakes to be too sweet, but I could have eaten this frosting like it was pudding. I did get the recipe (from Nora Cooks) and I very much look forward to recreating this masterpiece.