Sunday, April 20, 2008

Black Foods

I’ve been plagued by seasonal allergies lately. The weather has been beautiful and I’m trying to enjoy spending time with my family while my sister is here visiting. We’re keeping my mom company and helping her take care of things around the house. I was in charge of salads for the three of us on Saturday night, and as I was loading the food into the car to take over, I thought to myself, This is how you can tell I don’t feel good. All my food is black!

I was asked to bring my Black Bean Salad which everyone loves and I’ve made a hundred times, but here’s another look. This one has black beans, yellow corn, orange bell pepper, purple onion, tomatoes, and cilantro. It’s much better with an avocado too, but we had eaten all we had on hand so it didn’t make it into this salad.




The second salad was Black Rice and Chickpea Salad. This salad also has green onions, sunflower seeds, and chopped dried apricots and is seasoned with a mustard vinaigrette and some cumin. This was really tasty.





I brought sweet treats too! In keeping with my black mood, I made Double Chocolate Mini Muffins. These are a test recipe for Happy Herbivore, so I’ll just let you look.



See, all black!
I've also made a couple of other test recipes for HH – yummy Maple Glazed Veggies



… and super fabulous Apple Oat Muffins. I think they were even more delicious the second day!




One more treat – Celine’s Oreo Cookie Cookies. Mmmmmmmmmm! A HUGE hit! I heart all of Celine’s recipes. I especially heart this one because she adapted it from Anna.




I have one more day to spend with my mom and sister, then my sister goes home early Tuesday morning. Thanks for coming, Sister. It’s been great having you here and especially great for our Mom!

I’ll be back later in the week with a few pictures from our Saturday farmers market/Earth Day Celebration!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry about your allergies! Hopefully all these antioxidant rich black foods will help you feel better.

And I can't wait until I can try those chocolate muffins!!

Maggie M. said...

I ALWAYS want to make the food you post. That black bean salad is fantastic; my mom makes a similar version.

jd said...

Both of those salads look so good!

I *love* black bean salads & end up making them far too often... However, I've never seen a black rice + chickpea salad before - that combo is really interesting. I'll have to give it a try it sometime!

Oh, & I guess it goes without saying that those Oreo Cookie Cookies look amazing... Mmmm!

PS I hope your allergies aren't keeping you too miserable! Take care :)

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

I LOVE the "all black food" theme - too fun!! Both of the salads, muffin varieties, oreo-cookie cookies, and maple-glazed vegetables look absolutely fabulous (and I'm sure that they taste even better! yum!).

I do hope that your allergies clear up soon, and that you enjoyed your last day with your mom and sister!! And have a safe trip home, of course :0)

Can't wait for your Saturday farmers market/Earth Day Celebration post!

Erin said...

Nothing wrong with black food as long as it tastes great! Black rice is so cool.

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

sorry you feel lousy. i am struggling with allergies here in Atlanta. the black rice and chickpea salad looks great though!

urban vegan said...

Those are the most colorful black foods I've ever seen.

funwithyourfood said...

Im super excited for Earth WEEK :)
I convinced my work to give us carpool incentives and I get to send out "green tips" to the entire company everyday this week!!

I need to try those oreo cookies! i have a box of "oreo"s left from some cookies and cream cupcakes that are dying to be used.

Have a good week!

Teddy

Vegan_Noodle said...

I know what you mean about seasonal allergies this time of year, they can really get you!! And even though there's lots of black, most of it's still good for you (even the muffins!). How great to have your sis in town for a little while!!

Jenni (aka Vegyogini) said...

I haven't tested those 3 recipes yet (I can't wait to do so!), but I tested 3 others last night! I'm sorry you're not feeling well. I get crummy allergies, too, and they're awful. I recently read a couple articles about foods to avoid and foods to consume while you're experiencing allergies, so load up on pineapple and papaya!

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Atxvegn—Thanks so much for your kind words on my blog. You really are wonderful.

Your black bean salad looks almost exactly like something my family makes! It’s our version of Texas Caviar—a real crowd-pleaser.

Have fun with your sister. I’m excited because my own sister is coming back to Texas in May :o).

Lindsay (Happy Herbivore) said...

minis!! I wish i had a mini tin! SOOO CUTE!! I think the oat muffins are better the next day to (same with pumpkiny things)

ps. thanks for sharing Earth Day photos - I scored some free vegan cliff bars at our street fair too!