Happy Herbivore & Vegetarian Times

In the background, you'll see a tasty BBQ test recipe from Happy Herbivore. Run out and buy her cookbook as soon as it's available! Ok, I realize that you won't be able to get your hands on it until later this year, but it's going to be worth the wait.

In the foreground is a Vegetarian Times recipe for Asparagus Scones that I veganized. You may recall that I was the lucky recipient of two vegan cheeses from Galaxy Foods. I still had the block of cheddar unopened in my fridge and I had a bunch of asparagus that needed to be used. I'd had my eye on this recipe for a while and I finally got to it.

As I said, I veganized the recipe, so my version used vegan cheddar, Earth Balance, fat-free soy milk, and I went for spelt flour (per Dreena Burton's Vive Le Vegan, I added an extra 6 Tbsp of spelt flour) instead of the all-purpose. Another blogger (I apologize for not remembering exactly who) once posted a tip for recipes that call for cutting Earth Balance into flour: freeze the EB and grate it into the flour instead. I used that trick for these scones. My dough was extremely sticky and I had a very hard time getting the asparagus well incorporated, so I opted to make these drop scones (they're more like biscuits, really) as opposed to shaped scones.

The scones actually managed to bring some flavor out of the cheddar, which basically had no taste on its own. They also had some good spice due to the cayenne and black pepper. I think these would be good for a brunch party. They are very good and I think roasted broccoli would be a good substitute for the asparagus when it's not asparagus season.

I also made Happy Herbivore's Fiery Brussels Sprouts on Saturday and took them to the Angels game on Sunday for lunch along with a couple of those Asparagus Scones. For the Brussels sprouts, I made a few modifications: roasted the sprouts instead of steaming them, substituted maple syrup for the sugar and water, and omitted the garlic (mine is vacuum packed in pouches of three cloves and I didn't want to open a pouch for just one clove). They were incredibly delicious (as if there was any doubt)!