One of the first vegan cookbooks I bought is called "How It All Vegan" by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer. I still have the book, and use it. It appealed to me then (and now) because it's simple, there's funny banter in the book, and the gals look fierce. If you didn't know, Sarah Kramer is in the middle of kicking cancer's ass to the curb. I do not know Sarah Kramer, in fact I've never even met her. But, through the years I've checked in with her books, her cooking, her on line presence and such. Since her diagnosis, she's been very public with things, certainly anything I may write here isn't personal knowledge divulged, it's simply through following her as a fan. So, I've been sending a lot of love and light to Sarah as she shares her good days and bad days with cyber world fans like me.
I thought I'd pay a little tribute to the warrior known as Sarah Kramer by pulling out this first cookbook, making something, and then posting it on her page with a little note.
I decided on pierogis because vegan versions don't exist down here, and I happen to really like pierogis. I've made her recipe before, it's simple (as I said). I decided I wanted to make a gluten free version considering my own personal efforts of late. Mistake, BIG mistake.
I made the filling, and then I made the dough. I have my own favorite "go to" gluten free flours that I use in baking, they're the best combo I've come up with for the weather conditions down here. I really do not do much gluten free COOKING with flours, usually my gluten free cooking is about things like vegetables, beans, and such.... no flours. And, certainly I've never made gluten free pierogis. My pierogis came out so bad, that I won't even say "technically I've still never made gluten free pierogis," as the fact of the matter is there's no "technically" involved. It's blatant. These are awful, and they are not pierogis.
Note to self: do NOT deviate from the written recipe EVER AGAIN.
The dough tastes actually quite good, I used the Vegg egg yolk replacer instead of regular egg replacer. The flour combo I used didn't result in too much "grit" (a huge peeve of mine with gluten free), but the problem is the texture. It's far too crumbly when rolled out, and the dough dries out even more when waiting to be cooked.
This is the worst compost walk of shame I've made in a while, but in the spirit of VeganMoFo, I'm putting up a picture of my tragic, gluten free, wanna-be pierogis.
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| This is NOT what Sarah Kramer had in mind when she wrote the recipe! |
Today I sent more love and light to Sarah Kramer, but no pictures of the really bad pierogis. She's got enough to deal with right now, she really shouldn't know about idiots like me ruining her perfectly good recipes.
Love and light Sarah Kramer. Love and light.
Oh, no! Well, at least they tasted good? I have that cookbook as well - I call HIAV, The Garden of Vegan, and La Dolce Vegan my "Holy Trilogy" of cookbooks (though I've been using my PPK cookbooks like crazy as well). I can't wait to get back to Austin (where the cookbook is) and try that pirogi recipe with the Vegg!
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