Photos galore

I am so hopelessly behind on the blog, that I've decided to just do an uber-photo post. So here it is: what we've been eating at home the past month or so.


Vcon's Seitan Picatta!
So freaking delicious. I actually used the seitan recipe from Yellow Rose Recipes, which might just be my favorite. But mmm, what's not to love about lemony-white-winey-capers-and-olive sauce?! OMG, I want it every day. Served over a bed of mashed taters.

Down Home Summer Supper

This meal was actually kind of disappointing. No matter what I do to BBQ tofu, it's just always bland. And it's not the BBQ sauce, because this was awesome (jarred, but we LOVE it). I even froze the tofu first this time, but still, just not very BBQ-y. Anyway, also featured is smoky-garlicky kale (Vcon collards recipe) and a tomato cobbler - kind of a flop. Wedged tomatoes topped with a cornmeal-biscuit type cobbler crust. Just no there there. At least the kale was great!


BBQ Pizza

Kind of another flop! The crust was frozen, from our natural foods co-op. Not sure why, just wasn't lovin' it. Too wheat-y. The other problem is that I made the sauce in the crockpot, but when I was ready for pizza the sauce hadn't reduced enough and was too watery*. This made for very dry, wheat-y pizza. Topped with sauteed mushrooms, patty-pan squash and basil.

*Just wanted to note that after cooking in the crockpot all night with the lid off, the sauce was reduced and perfect! We froze almost four quarts of sauce. Yay, local food for winter!

Tofu Tostadas
This we made so long ago that I'm a little sketchy on the details. But I think it was the enchilada tofu from Louise Hagler's Tofu Cookery (best! tofu! ever!) on a corn tortilla with some sauteed garlic, mushrooms and squash, topped with chopped butter lettuce and guac. YUM!

Lentil Pancakes of Joy!
This was a hit! Have you ever made lentil pancakes? No, me either. But it's easy! This recipe was from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, one of my faves. It's brown lentils soaked for a while then food processed with some other spices (and water) to pancake consistency. The ultimate glory of this meal was the FABULOUS pear onion chutney that our friends and former neighbors, Rick and Mary, gifted to us on our way out of town. It is SO GOOD I want to eat it on everything. We're currently rationing it. I need to get the recipe and then finally conquer my fear of actually canning something! Oh, and those are some steamed roma beans on the side. YUM.

Ratatouille + Pesto = Bliss
Ratatouille is the answer when you have so many vegetables in your fridge that you would rather go out to eat than deal with them all. It's easy - just slice, toss with copious amounts of olive oil, garlic and salt and roast for an hour and a half or so, stirring every half hour. Pesto on top is seriously the bomb, but it's not strictly necessary. This incarnation we had over brown rice pasta.

More ratatatouille, this time on it's own with a salad. It's versatile, in my opinion.


Olive Oil Veggie PastaThis was a stovetop pasta aglio olio, with sprouted whole wheat noodles. Nothing fancy, just veggies, evoo, garlic and some Parma!

Curried Tofu and Nuts Over Noodles
This was AWESOME! From Tofu Cookery, one of my new favorites! It's reignited my love of the 'fu. I've sort of been a tempeh girl, but this book may just change all that. I'm loving the previously frozen tofu lately, it's just so chewy and fabulous! The tofu is marinated in a combo of peanut butter, agave nectar, curry powder, soy sauce and some other good stuff and served over noodles with almonds and in this case, broccoli. So GOOD!

Blueberry Plum Crisp
With plums from our backyard tree. Delicious! Incidentally, our plum tree didn't produce nearly as much as I thought it would. I think it's missed several years of good pruning and doesn't get enough sun. We were just happy we got any at all! :)


TLCCT
That's tempeh bacon, letuce, cashew cheese and tomato for y'all who didn't know. Some rice pilaf and carrot sticks on the side.

The Ubiquitous CSA Stir Fry
With tofu. Need I really say more?

Chili Mac
Courtesy of Susan V. I liked this recipe, but I wanted it to be something more...not sure what. More pungeant, more intense, something. It was good and saucy, but kind of forgettable. I didn't want to eat the leftovers, ykwim?

Polenta Pancakes
From Eat, Drink and Be Vegan. These were just ok. Polenta (preprepared) sliced, dipped in cinnamon and sugar and fried up quick. Eh. Just not enough something. Just ok. I prefer the regular pancake. Oh, and that's an apricot up there on the plate. For, you know, garnish. :/

Chickpea cutlets?
I swear I can't remember what this is. I think it's chickpea cutlets, not sure. With Good Gravy from Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook. Oh, and sungold cherry tomatoes. ;)

Dal over Indian Spiced Potatoes and Cauliflower

This I know, because we ate it tonight. :) The Dal recipe was from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison - it was good, but I like my dal a little spicier. This one did utilize coconut cream, though, and how can you go wrong with that?! We had it over Indian Spiced Potatoes and Cauliflower, a recipe from The Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook by Robin Robertson. Realllllly good. I was a little freaked, because I can count on one hand how many times I've cooked cauliflower, but this was delicious. The cauliflower kind of mushed into the potatoes and you almost didn't know it was there. I used the potatoes we dug ourselves (!!!) at the farm this past weekend - it was so fun. If you get a chance to pick your own potatoes (especially with a toddler) - do it. It's just fun. You get to use a pitchfork!

Ok, y'all. I've signed up for VEGANMOFO, which starts Oct. 1. I'm dedicating to blog every freaking weekday for the month of October. I'm nervous. I really hope I can do it! Wish me luck!