We’ve Been Artful Vegans

Saturday night we made “Broad Noodles with Southeast Asian Peanut Pesto and Five-Spice Baked Tofu” from The Artful Vegan. Though we’re not big fans of pasta, we thought it was time to make a noodle dish, so we were happy to find one without tomato sauce. This recipe is an array of interesting flavors that come together for a light but satisfying entrée. It’s probably one of the easier recipes from this book. You can bake the tofu, make the pesto, and cook the fettucine ahead of time, then it all comes together like a quick stirfry.

I’ll begin with what I found at the farmers market Saturday morning.




The peanut pesto is to be made with fresh roasted peanuts, so I was glad to see the peanut vendor Saturday morning. I used the green beans and one-third of the monstrous zucchini (which was $1) for side dishes. The hot chilies were used several times. The gala apples are for baking a nonvegan cake for my mom (who doesn’t have or want a stove) to take to the IGNC Fall Fiesta. My parents are very active in the Austin Chapter of the IGNC and I’ve been baking for their events for many years.

Now for the dinner. First I baked the tofu in the five-spice sauce. The house smelled so good while it baked. It baked for about 40 minutes, until it had a caramel glaze.

After you shell almost half a bag of peanuts (boring!), you make the pesto. I must say as a peanut lover eating her first fresh roasted peanuts, these were amazingly delicious. The pesto was a wonderful blend of the peanuts, cilantro, mint, Kaffir lime leaves, lime juice, and chili pepper.

While the fettucine cooks, prep your stirfry veggies, and when the noodles are done, stirfry, and you end up with this:

For myself, I reserved some pesto and added it to rice and then put some veggies on top, so my wheatfree soyfree plate looked like this:

I HAD to have a bite of the real deal. My rice version wasn’t anywhere near as good as the noodle version. The peanuts in the pesto gave the noodles a parmesan look and feel. If you have The Artful Vegan, I recommend you give this recipe a try.

Early in the day I made tortilla size sesame seed crackers from the King Arthur Baking cookbook. Chase liked them; I didn’t. All I can say is they certainly look homemade.

I also made a salad. Do you ever substitute zuke for cuke? I always leave the skins on, but I recently ruined a cucumber salad because of some very bitter skins. So I’ve been subbing in raw zucchini in a lot of cucumber salad recipes. I made this simple salad of zucchini, mango, purple onion, cilantro, lime juice, and S&P. We ate lots of this.

While Chase stirfried, I steamed the green beans and tossed them with lots of garlic, some cilantro, and a spicy red pepper. We ate all of these – yum!

Finally, a dessert of my own creation (mostly) with not spectacular results. Here’s the step-by-step.

The crust was super fantastic, better than I dreamed of. It was inspired by “Barley Coconut Crust” from ExtraVeganza. I mixed together 1-1/2 cups ground oats, 1 cup toasted unsweetened coconut, ½ cup sweetened coconut, 3 tablespoons brown rice syrup, 2 tablespoons canola oil, and a pinch of salt. I pressed it in the pie plate and baked it at 325 degrees for 30 minutes, until very brown.

When cool, I layered on sliced bananas.

I made a double recipe of “Banana Cream Pudding” (which is really vanilla pudding on top of bananas) from More Great Good Dairy Free Desserts. I only used half of it. This was an omen that I had just goofed. I poured the pudding on top of the bananas.

I put the pie in the fridge to set. After a few hours I took it out to finish. It didn’t spill out, so I was hopeful the pudding had set well. I topped it with toasted coconut and “Ultimate Chocolate Sauce” also from MGGDFD. I only made half a batch of that, thank goodness, because it truly is the ultimate in chocolatey goodness.

Isn’t it beautiful? Too bad the pudding didn’t set.

I think I didn’t cook the pudding long enough. The recipe says to simmer one minute, but maybe since I doubled it I should have cooked it longer. I was terribly afraid of ending up with rubber, so I didn’t want to overdo. But this deserves another attempt. The crust is like those Nature Valley granola bars that are really crunchy, and the coconut flavor is so nice. The pudding was made with my cherished Mexican vanilla that imparts such a wonderful flavor and my bananas were the perfect ripeness. And then topped with Ultimate Chocolate Sauce. Oh, yeh, it deserves another shot.

Chase and I are going to a vegan baking class at Whole Foods on Wednesday night. I have a few questions I need to ask! I’m not familiar with the guest instructor. Here’s a description of the class.

Vegan Baking 6:30–8:30 p.m. $45

Lex Townes, Chef, Veg Advantage

Lex Townes trained at the New York Restaurant School, has more than 20 years of experience in the restaurant world and now works solely on developing vegan and vegetarian dining options with Veg Advantage. Here is your opportunity to add some innovative recipes to your dessert repertoire! Lex will demonstrate and discuss techniques for creating scrumptious vegan desserts, as well as share tips on substitutions you can successfully make to convert favorite recipes to favorite vegan recipes. Guests will sample: Avocado Key Lime Parfait; Chocolate Layer Cake with Vegan Mousse; Coconut Ginger Ice Cream Sandwiches; Fruit Tart with Lemon Pastry Cream.


I hope I have time for a broccoli salad before class because I’m not used to a dinner of desserts only! If any of you have any questions for the chef, let me know before Wednesday evening and I’ll be glad to ask him.

I promise to visit you all soon!

Recipes – Two Salads and Pesto, and a Meme

I made Chase two salads Sunday night he could make into sandwiches or wraps and eat between classes this week.

Blackened Tofu Salad
Adapted from Whole Foods Market “Blackened Chicken Salad”

Salad:
1 lb. tofu, cut into 4 slices
1/3 cup Cajun seasoning*
1 cup shredded carrots
½ medium red onion, finely diced
3 green onions, including tops, thinly sliced

Dressing:
¼ cup miso mayo (or your favorite vegan mayo)
¼ cup Dijon mustard
2 T. cider vinegar
2 T. olive oil
¼ cup Italian dressing (I use Kraft fatfree)

* Cajun seasoning:
I used a combination of a spice mix called Cajun Dust...






… and added in about a teaspoon each of onion powder, cumin, dried basil, and dried oregano. The Whole Foods Market cookbook has a great saltfree recipe.

First, blacken the tofu:

Coat the four slices of tofu in the seasoning. Place in a hot nonstick pan. After four minutes, turn the slices over and cook another four minutes. Remove to a plate to cool. Don’t move the slices while cooking. Let them blacken. This is how they will look:

I know it doesn’t look terribly appealing, but it’s really delicious and lots of fun to make.

While the tofu is cooling, make the dressing. Just mix everything together and adjust to your taste. (I have never liked mayonnaise. If you like it, add plenty. I didn’t really like my dressing until I added in the bottled Italian, and I only added it because the tofu sucked up what I had originally made. I’m going to try using a cup of soygurt for my next batch.)

When the tofu is cool, cut it into bite size pieces and put it in a large bowl. Add in the carrots and onions and mix together. Add the dressing and coat well.

I had a taste and thought it was really good. I asked Chase on Monday if he had a tofu sandwich with him and he said no because he ate it all Sunday night! Needless to say, he loves it and wants more.

Kasha Salad
Adapted from Whole Foods Market “Wheat Berry Salad”

1-1/2 cups kasha, cooked in 3 cups broth for about 20 minutes, and cooled
½ cup toasted sunflower seeds
1 can red beans (kidney beans), rinsed and drained
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, seeds removed, finely chopped (optional)
½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped (or parsley)
¼ cup fresh lime juice
2 T. olive oil
salt to taste

Mix all together in a big bowl.

That’s it. This was my first time to use kasha. I know it’s eaten like oatmeal for breakfast, but I must say that Chase and I both thought it tasted like mashed potatoes! I told Chase it would also be a good idea to fill corn tortillas with the kasha salad and top it with some salsa like enchiladas, and I was so proud – he said, Mom, I already did that!

Now, especially for Vicki, the recipe for Smoky Sundried Tomato Pesto.

This recipe was given to me by a former Casa de Luz chef at a cooking class. She now works for the Blossoming Lotus in Kauai. She used 4 smoke-dried tomatoes in her recipe. As far as I know you can only get smoke-dried tomatoes from Boggy Creek Farm here (check out the recipe ideas). They are $7.95 for a 2-ounce bag! I came up with an easy, perfect substitute.

½ sweet yellow onion, chopped
12 sundried tomatoes
½ jalapeno, seeded and diced
2 cloves crushed garlic
½ teaspoon pimenton (smoked paprika)
dash of salt

Put the above ingredients into a sauce pan and add enough water to cover. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the water evaporates.

Combine in a food processor with 1 cup toasted almonds (or walnuts or sunflower seeds), 1 teaspoon salt, and about 3 tablespoons of olive oil (or water) to desired consistency.

In class, the chef also made a Pepita Cilantro (or Basil) Pesto, which was also fabulous, and served the 2 pestos on stacked polenta rounds. One round with a thick layer of red pesto, then one round with a thick layer of green pesto, and then topped with mushroom gravy. All I have is a sad little cellphone pic of my attempt at home, but you can get the idea.

I’ll bet just one round of polenta with the tomato pesto and a mushroom sauce would be just as wonderful.

I know this is already a long post, but I gotta play the name game meme since VeggieGirl and Emmie tagged me.

1. Players must list one fact, word, or tidbit that is somehow relevant to their life for each letter of your first or middle name.

2. When you are tagged you need to write your own post containing your first or middle name game facts, word, or tidbit.

3. At the end of your post choose one person for each letter of your name to tag.

4. Don’t forget to leave a comment telling them ,they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

5. If I’ve tagged YOU (the bloggers that I've tagged are listed at the end), please join in on the fun!

DIANN

D – DOING something – always. I am restless and find it very difficult to relax. Remember, I suck at yoga. I don’t believe in wasting time or “doing nothing.” Whatever I do has a purpose and is never done half a**. I am intolerant of laziness, especially at the office.

I – IN NEED OF A CHALLENGE. I thrive on it. If there’s a deadline at work – great. It can’t be done? Let me try. I guess I’m competitive, but mostly with myself. I don’t need to be the best at anything. I just need to do it the best I can do it. I LOVE weight training. I think it’s way cool to lift weights so heavy I have to strap myself down so I don’t come off the bench.

A – ADORE ALL THINGS AUSTIN. I was not born here, but I was totally raised here. I am casual, easygoing, eclectic, just like this great city. I love all my food markets and I love that food critics loath chain restaurants and support our local chefs. I’m proud to be in the same community with the University of Texas, Michael Dell, and Lance Armstrong. It’s so cool. KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD!

N – NOT SPONTANEOUS. I bet you’re not surprised. I have never “lived for the moment.” I am the most regimented person I know. Everything I do is done according to the plan, routine, list, or calendar and it's terribly upsetting to me if things don't go according to plan. (Yes, blogging was on the list for tonight.) But I’m not completely boring - I do pencil in time for fun and even a little sleep.

N – NETI POT! My new favorite thing and man I hope it continues to work. If you suffer from allergy or sinus problems, this is the cure. It’s a salt water nasal irrigation which I would have never done until someone told me to think of it as taking in the salty air as you walk along the beach. I got Chase into it too and he loves it. Check it out.

Now I must tag 5 people. I tag:

Amey, Vegan Eats & Treats
Laura, Eden in the Kitchen
Erica, She Sees Color
Judy, Judy’s Pages

Carrie, House of Simon

Chorizo Stuffed Poblanos, Baked Rice, Tropical Slaw, and Ice Cream

This spicy meal was built around Chase’s request for Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream for dessert. All the recipes have chilies in them.

I think I mentioned earlier that Chase is pesto crazy these days. I had Smoky Tomato Pesto ready for us in the afternoon to eat with tortilla chips. I made it once quite awhile ago, and it is Chase’s all-time favorite pesto. It’s not beautiful, but it does taste amazing, using sundried tomatoes, toasted pumpkin seeds, serrano peppers, and a little pimenton for a smoky flavor.




The entrée was homemade chorizo stuffed into roasted poblano peppers. I can buy Lightlife soyrizo, which Chase loves, for $3.99 a pound, but now I can make it for under $2. I haven’t cooked much from “The Complete Vegan,” but I used 2 recipes from it for this meal, including Tofu Chorizo “Sausage.” The only ingredient that looked out of place was peanut butter, but Chase said it tastes exactly like the Lightlife. I made myself VWAV Breakfast Veggie Chorizo, using finely chopped mushrooms instead of TVP. Both of these recipes are very robust, and you probably wouldn’t enjoy them plain. Chorizo needs to be eaten stuffed into a tortilla, like I did, or a poblano, like the soyeaters did.

Once the fillings were made, we worked on the sides. I have never baked rice before and I have always thought it was a great idea. Using another recipe from “The Complete Vegan,” I made Baked Rice with Black Beans, Corn, Tomatoes, and Epazote. It also has 2 serrano peppers in it. I substituted green pigeon peas for the black beans just because. This was so easy to make and it turned out fantastic, which is a good thing because it makes 8 main dish servings! Somehow I didn’t get a picture of it in the giant casserole, but I got a shot of the leftovers I kept for myself, along with an epazote leaf. Around here we use epazote in homemade beans. (It’s supposed to reduce their gaseous effects.) Here’s the baked rice. And I was right – baked rice turns out perfectly.

While the rice baked for 45 minutes, we began work on the rest of the meal. I made “the best salad ever” - a wonderful spicy sweet Tropical Slaw. First I made a dressing of 2 T. miso mayo, 2 T. olive oil, 2 T. lime juice, 2 T. cider vinegar, 2 T. Dijon mustard, and the juice from a small can of pineapple slices. Then I made a base of chopped pineapple, avocado, red pepper, purple onion, mango, jalapeno, a small can of mandarin oranges, and a bit of fresh dill and cilantro. I mixed them all together in a big bowl and poured about half of the dressing into them, then let them chill until dinner.

It looked good enough to eat right then, but at dinner time I added in a bag of broccoli slaw and topped it off with toasted coconut and crushed tortilla chip “croutons.” Here’s a side shot.

And a top shot.

For the main event – We roasted the chilies on my stovetop. Chase is wearing the Ove Glove for protection. Anyone remember those?

After roasting and peeling, we stuffed the chilies with the tofu chorizo. The rice came out of the oven and we baked the peppers just to get warm, about 20 minutes. This is Chase’s plated pepper.

This is mine made with mushrooms, which I thought I would eat on leftover chili tops, but I put it into a tortilla.

I know it’s a pain sometimes to take pictures before we eat even though we’re quite used to it by now, but deep down Chase really likes food styling and photography. Here’s his lovely plate.

A spicy, high flavor meal needs a soothing dessert. We took an eating break while the ice cream maker churned, and 20 minutes later this Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream was the perfect ending. Chase topped his with leftover toasted coconut.

It was completely yummy and since we don’t really like leftover ice cream, we ate the whole quart :)

Tester Burgers and Wheatfree Goodies

Last night I made Spinach, Brown Rice, and Oat Burgers with Pine Nuts, a tester recipe for Joni. The recipe makes a giant batch. I baked six patties, because that’s all I could fit on the baking sheet, and panfried one. Here are the patties ready to bake.




Here’s a baked one.

And here’s a panfried burger – my favorite.

I only ate the patty plain, but I’m certain it would make a fantastic burger on a bun. Thanks to Joni for coming up with a gluten and soy free burger for me to test. Three cheers for veggie burgers!!!

I also made gluten free “Ricebread Squares” from Food Allergy Survival Guide, written by three of my favorite vegans. This is a sweet cornbread made with brown rice flour. I substituted quinoa flakes for some of the rice flour. It was too sweet for my taste, but that can be adjusted, so it definitely has possibilities. It will be great with chili this winter.

Out of the oven.

A cut square – you can see it rose nicely and has a wonderful texture.

I have a recipe for you for Wheatfree, Low Fat, Low Sugar Banana Muffins. Well, you know how to make muffins; I’ll just give you the ingredients. It makes 12 nice sized muffins.

Wet:
3 large mashed ripe bananas
½ cup sugarfree applesauce
2 to 4 tablespoons granulated sweetener, depending on the ripeness of your bananas
¼ cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla

Dry:
2 cups brown rice flour
1 cup spelt flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup nuts, raisins, and/or chips (optional)

Bake at 350 for 17 minutes.

I added in craisins and walnuts. They turn out so nice and I think they taste awesome, and they’re not even chocolate!

I know some of you have been experimenting with different types of flours. I’m not (yet!) an expert, but I am really having fun on this new avenue of baking. I want to encourage those of you who enjoy baking to stroll through the bulk bin aisle and try out some of the different flours available. You can enjoy new flavors and textures and let the creativity come alive.

Austin had a Free Day of Yoga on Labor Day Monday. Free classes were offered all day long at studios all over town. Chase and I went to a class in the afternoon. It was more “healing arts” than yoga, but we got to partner up and relax and stretch and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Don’t you wish all weekends were 3 days long?

Happy Birthday to My Blog!

Eat’n Veg’n is now one year old. I began this blog with a rededication to the Eat to Live way of eating because it is the healthiest way for me to eat and the plan that makes me feel best. I am not strict in my adherence, mostly due to my love of chocolate and baking, but I do believe with all my soul that it is possible to be a healthy vegan (even a wheatfree and soyfree vegan!) and that eat’n vegan is in fact the healthiest way to eat.

To celebrate this occasion, I selected some of my favorite healthy foods and put together a pretty tasty menu. The dishes included, in ABC order, beans, blueberries, broccoli, chocolate, nuts, oats, onions, quinoa, spinach, sweet potatoes, tofu, and tomatoes.

Spinach Salad with Blueberries and Walnuts
Inspired by 12 Best Foods

Salad:
4 cups fresh spinach leaves
a few mint leaves, chopped
½ cup blueberries
¼ cup toasted walnuts
fresh cracked pepper

Dressing:
Juice of ½ a lemon or lime
1 T. balsamic vinegar
1 T. chopped onion
1 T. agave
½ t. salt
½ T. olive oil

Mix together spinach and mint leaves. Make dressing by combining lemon juice, vinegar, onion, agave, and salt. Whisk in oil. Pour dressing over salad. Divide salad among 4 plates. Top with blueberries, walnuts, and pepper. This salad was an outstanding combination of flavors and textures and just a spoonful of my sweet and sour dressing was perfect.


Quinoa Salad with Black Beans, Green Peppers, Onions, Corn, and Tomatoes

Saute one chopped green bell pepper and ½ a chopped large onion. Add to one cup quinoa cooked in veggie broth. Add in 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained, and one chopped tomato. Season with salt and pepper and top with parsley or cilantro. Serve warm or cold. I made this the night before and served it right from the fridge. I know we’ve all made this 100s of times, but it’s always so good!


Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Broccoli
Inspired by 12 Best Foods

Boil and mash one large sweet potato; season, add milk, margarine – however you like them. Steam 2 crowns chopped broccoli florets and some chopped onion. Mix together and serve. It’s mashed potatoes and broccoli – of course it’s great!


Tofu Steaks with Onion Gravy

Bake 4 tofu steaks using your favorite marinade or seasoning. Make gravy: Slice one large onion into thin strips and cook until golden brown in 1 T. olive oil, about 7 minutes. In the meantime, prepare 1-1/2 cups veggie broth and add in 1 T. cornstarch and mix well; set aside. When onions are done, add in 4 T. balsamic vinegar, 1 T. vegan Worcestershire sauce, and 1 T. Braggs or tamari. Slowly add in the broth mixture and stir until thickened. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Add the tofu steaks and heat through. A vegan diner style smothered steak – Chase loved it. Here's his plate.

I made myself some homemade anasazi beans for my protein. I also made some scallion biscuits. Here’s our table.

Dessert - Ooey Gooey Caramel Bars

I made these bars from TEV, but used the oat crust from Vive’s Pineapple Lemon Bars recipe because Chase says it’s the best crust ever. I think I agree, but there are so many good ones! I probably added more chocolate chips and coconut than the recipe called for – I didn’t measure, just covered up the top. These bars were very, very good and very, very rich.

What does the next year hold? Right now I’m into gluten free baking and exploring all the wonderful, tasty, wheatfree flours. Maybe I’ll get some new gadgets and explore different cooking methods. I’ve always dreamed of opening my own spice store – perhaps I’ll broaden my use of seasonings and study more global cuisines. And maybe I’ll cook at least half of the recipes I’ve tagged as “must try.” Of course I’ll continue to be inspired by all of your wonderful blogs. Otherwise, I hope to continue to showcase colorful and healthful foods, and an occasional treat, and promote a healthy vegan diet.

Thanks to everyone who visits here.

Sizzling Corn, Roasted Salt, and “Why Didn’t I Think of That?”

Earlier this week I made Urban Vegan’s 10 Minute Meal No. 48 and served it over rice. I call it Sizzling Corn - quick, delicious, perfect.



Did you see that she's done something similar this week with zucchini stuffing? I wish I had seen that post before I made this - an Italian Stirfry of fresh broccoli, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, and parsley. I served it with cannelini beans, and fresh sliced tomatoes.

I came across a recipe I had torn out from Sabroso! magazine, a wonderful but not really veg friendly southwestern magazine. The recipe is "Roasted Pepper-Salt." It’s simply ½ cup kosher salt and ¼ cup peppercorns roasted 5 minutes over medium heat in a dry skillet. The recipe recommends Szechuan peppercorns, which I thought I had but didn’t, so I used black peppercorns and red pepper flakes. Warning: turn on the hood vent before you begin cooking!

Grind it up when the 5 minutes are up, and sift to remove any pepper husks. The red peppercorns would have been much prettier.

I tried some on fresh tomatoes.

The chef also recommended using green chili peppercorns. Have you ever run across these? I’ve never seen them. He also says any peppercorns can be used, and the seasoning is all purpose. Use it in soups, on salads, and in breakfast scrambles. If I hadn’t inhaled the red pepper flakes so thoroughly, I might be able to give a better critique. Anyway, I thought it was interesting.

THE BEST thing I ate this week was a Hummus Spring Roll at a favorite lunch spot called Koriente. Why do we all think hummus has to go in a pita? Look at this roll – it was fabulous! The pic is from the website, but I swear what I got looked just like this.

Hummus Roll: $4 Our homemade hummus, avocado, organic greens, red cabbage, cucumbers and carrots in a thin tapioca wrap. Served with your choice of peanut sauce or a spicy red pepper sauce.

It was incredibly good, stuffed tight with all those crispy veggies and creamy hummus. The hummus was like Dreena's!

I also got this…

Spicy Noodle Salad: $3 A spicy vegan treat made with a wide variety of vegetables and chilled myung bean noodles tossed in a spicy korean pepper dressing.

They also brought us a special tea "on the house" because they thought they took too long to serve us. It was all of 3 minutes. A tiny handmade bulb was put into the bottom of a glass pitcher, and when the waiter poured the hot water over it, the bulb bloomed so big it filled the pitcher. It was just beautiful and smelled heavenly.

Who’s ready for the long weekend? I am, I am!

Texas Tandoori

I’m not sure if that’s proper nomenclature, but we grilled Indian spiced veggies and tofu for one of the best meals ever. I used the marinade for "Mixed Grill" from World Vegetarian and it was fabulous. We had our first grilled broccoli and cauliflower, along with onions, portobellos, peppers, potatoes, zucchini, and tofu.

One mishap. I must have thought this pepper was from the farmers market, but it had a grocery store sticker I didn’t see.

I had so much fun making chutneys. Chase found the elusive curry leaves for me at our neighborhood Gandhi Bazar and I am completely in love with the flavor they impart.

I made a cooked tomato chutney, using my favorite parts of many different recipes, which was perfect with all the grilled veggies, and added great color.

I also made a cilantro chutney, which tasted just like my favorite jarred chutney from Gandhi, so I just added it to my near empty store bought jar. Chase made a tamarind “yogurt” chutney, but wasn’t happy with it. The BEST chutney recipe came from this week’s food section in our local paper. It’s made with ridged gourds which I buy frequently from my neighborhood grocer. (They’re called Chinese okra there and I buy them because they look like star shaped zucchinis!) The article was entitled “Vegan Chutney Wins Our Hearts.” One of the editors had just become a father and his in-laws from India came to help out with the baby and household chores. One day he brought a chutney (which he called “Indian guacamole”) to work for his colleagues to enjoy on toasted bread. The food editor was so impressed she asked for the recipe and the opportunity to watch it being made. Here’s the link to this wonderful article with the recipe and excellent ingredient tips. And here’s how mine turned out.

We also made "Lentils with Spinach" from World Vegetarian.

And "Coconut Milk Rice" from Rice and Spice which was like risotto and fabulous.

My plate.



I needed a colorful cool salad, so I tossed together one with greens, slaw, cilantro, chickpeas, radish, mango, and tomatoes – yum!

Peanut Butter cookies were our treats. I made Isa’s big soft cookies from this recipe on ppk. These were OMG fantastic! I made the whole batch of 40. I substituted spelt flour for the whole wheat. I added chocolate chips to one third, craisins to another third, and the other third were plain. The ones with craisins were my fave.

The cookies were also a great snack while we prepared dinner.

Chase starts classes tomorrow and has a full load this semester, so we’re going to do family feasts on Saturdays instead of Sundays. The only thing I dread about school starting is the 50,000 students who return to UT and create a traffic nightmare. My commute time will now double and that makes for a dreadfully long work week. I'm going to try to post more frequently with make-ahead and portable type meals for my hard working student, and I also need to get more creative for myself. My diet seems so limited without tofu and wheat (seitan) and although I've been enjoying lots of salads and steamed veggies, I've really gone into a summer slump.