Spinach and Roasted Red Pepper Layered Tempeh Loaf

(No, this picture was not taken in the 1970's--my house is just VERY dark and un-camera-friendly at night.)
This recipe makes not one but *two* loafs. Unfortunately, I was unable to enjoy this perk upon realizing that one of my packages of tempeh was moldy. Meh. Bad start.

This loaf ended up being perhaps the busiest set of instructions I've had in preparing a meal. I like short and sweet and simple, I've realized. Once everything was situated, it was fun making the actual loaf itself: smooshing and wedging and jamming it into a loaf pan.

The results tasted strangely similar to a good meatloaf, but with roasted red pepper and spinach housed within. Not bad, and definitely makes for good leftovers. But next time I'd use more spinach.

Recipe: HERE

Verdict: B

"Cheesy" Potato Casserole

(Worst picture ever--*sigh*)
Recipe: HERE

As for the taters, the cooking time was *way* off in this recipe--supposedly these took only 1 hour total time. But they were in my oven for at least and hour and a half, and the taters were STILL hard. Despite that complaint, the cheesy sauce did not taste too different from your standard scalloped potato cheesiness despite being vegan (perhaps a tad bit more bitter)--I was impressed in that regard. And these were *fantastique* upon microwaving (because it finally cooked the hard potatoes all the way through). My recommendation: plan on at *least* an hour and a half of cooking time.

Verdict: B (Leftovers: A)

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies

~ from Sinfully Vegan

Made these for my mum for her birthday.

These are the strangest and most disturbing peanut butter cookies I suspect I've ever made, mainly because they shun anything remotely healthy: no soy milk, no egg replacer, nothing. They are made of peanut butter, oil, vanilla, sweetener, and flour. Fucked up.

I ran out of maple syrup so I had to substitute in some sugar instead (with my handy-dandy keenness for substitutions as of late). They came out good, though perhaps a bit dry and not as sweet as my sweet-tooth is fond of.

Verdict: B