White bean plate

Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen's "New Orleans style white beans" with the infamous vegan blue ribbon corn bread recipe (with cheddar Daiya and scallions mixed in) and something I am calling "trail mix greens". I sauteed collards with garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and a little orange juice, then tossed in some slivered almonds and dried cranberries and let it cook down a bit.

Udon noodle salad

Is there anything not improved by peanut sauce? No, there is not. Summer, winter, hot, cold, spicy, sweet, on satay, noodles, banana pie, anything. I ate a peanut butter sandwich every single school day of my childhood. I am likely made up of 90ish percent peanut matter. The cravings are now cell-deep.

Tomas made this long ago. It's udon noodles, chopped raw spinach, scallions, red peppers and zucchini with homemade seitan (the Viva Vegan "red" recipe, so excellent) and peanut sauce, garnished with sesame seeds and lime.

Birthday worthy desserts. Maybe I will blog more-ish this summer?

The best (worst) kind of blog post: dessert pics and a reminder about how I never post anymore! Blah, blah, blah grad school. Blah, blah, blah summer break from grad school now occupied by full-ish time work. I am the *most* fun of all the overworked depressing documentary watching people *ever*!




Anyway, these were coconut mini cupcakes topped with the dulce de leche recipe from Viva Vegan. I had them at my birthday. In January. Also consumed were these double chocolate chip mini cupcakes with my own invented (and since refined) pomegranate frosting. Tomas also made empanadas (seitan-potato-tomato, and butternut squash-black bean), tostones and sweet plantains. Apparently I did not photograph these things! My underfed social work grad students buddies loved it all! Then again, they love everything--they are professionally trained Nice People.

















Last week was Tomas' birthday. I made him a vegan-approved ice cream cake that was experimental, but happily successful. I made a chocolate chip brownie crust (doubled the Joy of Vegan Baking recipe, added chocolate chips) in a spring-form pan, then smooshed in a layer of chocolate cookie ice cream, crushed newman-o's, strawberry ice cream, whipped topping (recipe in Joy of Vegan Baking) *and* chocolate covered strawberries. Tomas also made the courico tacos with pineapple salsa from Vegan Brunch again. His friends were again astounded that he managed to keep the fact that he can cook from them for so many years. His favorite gifts included a box of assorted sunglasses, an adopted chicken from Woodstock Animal Sanctuary (what's up Pearl, how's the feed up there?!) and some fine haberdashery.








Party!

Chick-pan-dilla just doesn't like labels!

Part chickpea pancake, part quesadilla and yet filling a distinctly omelette-y role, this is something I maybe invented. Or something. This was the result of random leftovers + having secured a steady sources of locally available Daiya: two savory chickpea pancakes (aka pudla, cheela, socca or farinata depending on what country your recipe came from) made with scallions, cumin, turmeric and pepper sandwiched with white Daiya vegan cheese, chopped tomato, onion, fresh cilantro and spinach. Accompanied by some store-bought cilantro-chili chutney.

Potato Bread with Scallions

I regret that I let yeast doughs intimidate me for so long. Making bread at home is really easy, it makes your apartment smell super. Barring some crucial mishap (and I haven't had one yet, and I doubt you will) you'll have better bread than you'd be eating otherwise and you'll pay less for it.

This is from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson. The recipe is for potato bread with chives but I used scallions and substituted whole wheat for some of the white flour in the recipe. The onion flavor was subtle, but nice. Oh, and it made a two fat, happy loaves!

The thing is-- pizza always looks good...

Nothing new, but the picture was so nice I figured I'd post:

Pizza with basil-tofu-cashew ricotta, tomato sauce, spinach, cherry tomatoes and breaded fried eggplant. Asparagus, zucchini and red onions with some olive oil, salt and pepper made in a grill pan.