Friday, October 17, 2008

Why I didn't do this earlier I do not know.

During this month, one of my goals was to cook from a cookbook I haven't before. I don't have a lot of those but I am ashamed to admit there are a couple. I chose Hot Damn and Hell Yeah, Recipes for Hungry Banditos by Ryan Splint and Vanessa. I picked this up from Food Fight Grocery when I placed an order with them a while ago for the Vegan Passport. We were taking our first trip to Greece and were preparing for people to not understand that we didn't any animal stuff to eat. Turns out, over all people understood just fine. Just about everyone speaks enough English to communicate this but the passport is still a good thing to have around just in case.

Anyway back to the book. I've had it for over a year and looked at it from time to time but never got around to making anything from it. It's a cool little book actually. One half is Hot Damn and Hell Yeah but you flip it over and it's another book, The Dirty South Cookbook. I'll have to make something from this too.
I figured I should go for something kinda unhealthy. Why not right? I had a craving for mashed taters and comfort food. I seem to get this craving often actually. Here's what I went for . . .
Country Fried Tofu and Vegetable Mountain with Gravy

I would buy this book for this plate of food alone. It was that good. The tofu marinade flavored the inside while the crispy lightly spiced fried outside made for happy mouth times. The vegetables were a quick and easy side dish to pile on top of my mashed taters. The gravy was the perfect diner quick basic gravy. Holy cows this was tasty. I shared this with my husband, who I share most of my food with. he also enjoyed it. Enough so he made a comment that would not be appropriate to share with the general public but it was complimentary anyway.

This book is pretty fun to look at besides cook from. The descriptions are written with a bit of a southern twang. The illustrations are da bomb diggity. I couldn't find any examples online (I didn't look super hard, maybe they are out there) but they're pretty cool anyway. I'm not going to try and describe them. You should just get the book.

17 comments:

Destiny's Kitchen said...

I love comfort food too! Thanks for recommending the cookbook/zine/thingy. I think I'll have to head to Food Fight soon to pick it up. :o)

Anonymous said...

That looks like a very cool zine! Also look like some darn good food!

Anonymous said...

Oh no, don't talk to me about new cookbooks ;)
That looks so yummy!

Virginia said...

country fried tofu? oh em gee! that looks amazing!!

Jen Treehugger said...

They have used copies of this book dirt cheap on Amazon.co.uk - I've been eyeing it for a while. Now I think I'll just go ahead and get it on this meal alone!

Leslie Richman said...

I love this cookzine! I can't remember which side it's from, but try out the curry with green jasmine rice. It is excellent and people always beg for it when they come over to eat!

Anonymous said...

Perfect. Comfort. Food. Enough Said. *Stomach Growls*

VeganView said...

Wow that meal looks so warm and comforting. I never even knew there was country-fried tofu! Sounds excellent. Great choice I say!

Anonymous said...

Good to hear you such success in Greece! What time of year did you go? I'm just asking because I've been told that during Greek Lent (I think from early Feb to late March usually), their "fast" traditionally includes abstaining from all animal products, not just meat. Spring may not be the best beach weather in Greece but it may be just the time to find more vegan eats.

Bex said...

don't worry about money when adding this one to your wishlists guys, it's like $7.

pixie - now that I've had this I'm convinced these are all drool worthy. I'll be sure to try that one soon.

terry - This year we went in early June, last year it was early August. It's a delicious place to be! I did talk to a couple people about lent. It seems like it's a some people do some people don't thing so it would probably not be strange to request no animal products. It is before the big tourist season so there will be more Greeks around, especially on the islands where we stay.

allularpunk said...

comfort food is the best. that's why it's comforting, i suppose. and that does look really, really good. like...really good.

Lindsay I-F said...

i want this cookbook and i want that food

Joanna said...

omg does it get any better than country fried tofu! that gravy looks so good. before veganism, i was obsessed with biscuits and gravy. i haven't had it in years. could u send me that recipe? i would really appreciate :)

Bethany said...

that looks so good. haven't had country fried tofu in such a long time. Thanks for reviewing. I have that cookbook and haven't made anything in it yet. I need pictures (which you have so kindly provided).

Anonymous said...

Country Fried Tofu! So GoOd!

KitteeBee said...

vanessa is a great lady, she used to live down here with us in new orleans, i have a second zine she did as well, and have the first one in a zine format too!

xo
kittee

Bethany said...

I did it. I made the country fried tofu as well as their biscuits and gravy. YUMMMMMM!

thanks again for the inspiration.