Amost Irish Stew

One of our newer tried & true slow cooked favorites as of late. Although this time I completely forget to add the kale and by the time I had dished it out we were too hungry to wait another 15 minutes! Was yummy without it but I do really enjoy the chewy greenness that the kale provides. We have made this a few times now; the first being great (if interested, the recipe is included in the first post), the second being a bit mushy for unknown reasons. Although we both love this, I don't want to make it too often or we'll get sick of it!

Summer Veggie Tacos

An easy, adaptable favorite in our household. We have made this a few times before and they are always a little different and always delicious. This time we used butternut squash, zucchini, yellow squash, corn, bell pepper, onion, tomatoes, and red leaf lettuce. We used a new green chili corn tortilla we had sampled recently at our farmers market and they added just the right zest that we were hoping for. When we're at a loss for a meal or 2, we'll just grab a bunch of complimentary veggies and make these delicious tacos.

Spinach Couscous with BBQ Tofu

I'd been having a craving for couscous and this recipe from Vegetarian Times appeared in my inbox. It was really easy to make, steam the spinach, make the couscous, saute the baked tofu in some bbq sauce and put it all together! Was quite tasty and satisfying.

Shepherd's Pie with Potato Topping

This is the second time we've made this dinner from The Big Book of Vegetarian by Kathy Farrell-Kingsley and it was still really yummy. Chock full of fresh veggies like corn, carrots, peas and onions with veggie crumbles and then a mashed potato topping. It yields quite a lot of food and I had leftovers for lunch for a couple of days after, which is always good. A nice hearty dish.

Slow Cooked Ziti Casserole

This casserole from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson was tasty but not worth the calories for the serving size. Especially compared to some of the lower calorie dishes we've been making. It wasn't bad, just didn't feel satisfied for the caloric intake. Was easy to make; just softened up the onion and garlic and put them in the slow cooker with crushed tomatoes, veggie crumbles, red wine, basil, salt, pepper, ziti, and parsley. Added a small amount of freshly grated parmesan after it was cooked and viola! Nice flavor, but probably won't make it again in the near future since we're trying to lose weight and eat lighter meals.

Oaxaca Tacos with Black Bean Stew

Words can't even describe how flavorful and satisfying this meal is. The black bean stew is so complex in its flavors due to the various seasonings that goes into it. And the potato/cheese mixture is delightful with the smoked mozzarella. This came from the Cafe Flora Cookbook by Catherine Geier with Carol Brown and was just as delicious as we remembered from making it before. We haven't made the stew on its own yet, but most likely will as it is so darn yummy!

Slow Spanish Rice and Beans

Another great recipe from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. When we sat down to eat it, it tasted a bit bland and we were quite confused until I realized that I was worried I over-salted the dish last time I made it when in actuality, it brought out all the flavors. We salted it a bit and ta-da, the yummy goodness we remembered appeared. This will be one of our slow cooker staples for sure. I've noted to use more salt in the cookbook to avoid the confusion again in the future!

Sweet and Sour Tofu with Vegetables

A great easy to make stand-by at our house from The Compassionate Cook. The sweet and sour sauce has such a nice flavor and all the great veggies (bell pepper, onion, carrot and celery) mix together nicely. A good, low calorie flavorful dish we both enjoy. This is one of the recipes we've probably repeated the most as it's pretty easy to throw together.

Jewelled Vegetable Rice with Crispy Fried Egg

Another one of our recent favorites. As you can tell, I didn't get this egg quite as crispy as the last time we made this. It has such a wonderful flavor and keeps so nicely for leftovers. Again, this came from The Wok Bible, by Sunil Vijayakar, Becky Johnson & Jenni Fleetwood.

Almost Irish Stew

One of our new found favorites. This version ended up a little mushier than the previous one we made but was still quite flavorful. I'm not sure if I stirred it too often or what to make it mushier so next time I will let it be and not mess with it so much. This came from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. I really like the heartiness that the kale provides.

Honey Lace Cookies

These cookies were really yummy! We got the recipe out of Martha Stewart's Holiday Cookies magazine from 2005. The ingredients were minimal; butter, brown sugar, honey, flour and a pinch of salt. My lady did a wonderful job on these. She had never made cookies quite like these. We ended up eating them all! Granted they were light, but still! So yummy! A nice way to finish off our Thanksgiving meal.

Harvest Pot Pie

This was the main dish for our Thanksgiving dinner and was the featured recipe in the November/December issue of Vegetarian Times magazine. We had great success with their Thanksgiving recipe last year. It was good. We didn't have the right size bowl for the puff pastry to sit on top correctly, but that's ok since it was flavorful. The veggie mixture consisted of onion, celery, garlic, thyme, white wine, butternut squash, red potatoes, green beans and corn. Was pretty tasty. It's kind of hard to tell in the picture but the puff pastry crust had cut-outs of hearts and other things on it. We looked for a small leaf cookie cutter but were unable to find one easily. We also had some boxed stuffing that I'd been wanting to make for some time (sage and onion) and it was so very disappointing. I am now on the hunt for a good vegetarian stuffing recipe we can make at home rather than using a boxed one. We enjoyed some wine with our candlelight dinner for two; all in all, a nice meal.

Roasted Tomato Soup with Garlic

Another five ingredient soup from the November/December issue of Vegetarian Times magazine. I have to say it was really bland. It consisted of olive oil, garlic, fire-roasted tomatoes, vegetable broth and basil. I don't think we'd make it again unless we figured out a way to add some flavor by experimenting with some seasonings. Oh well, everything we make can't be a hit unfortunately!

Stracciatella Soup (Italian Egg Drop Soup)

This soup came out of the November/December issue of Vegetarian Times magazine. It was really yummy. It was reminiscent of a chicken noodle soup actually. It's much more pasta-y then it should be as I added about twice the amount since the original amount was hardly noticeable. Oh well, it was still good. We will probably make it again since it was really easy and only contained five ingredients; vegetable broth, pasta, egg, parmesan and spinach. Just won't use extra pasta next time!

Slow Spanish Rice and Beans

Another great dish from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. Prep was minimal, just softened up the onion, garlic and bell pepper prior to adding to the slow cooker and then cooking the rice closer to when the bean mixture was ready. It had a great taste. The recipe said it serves 4 but we probably got closer to 6-7 servings from it. It kept really good and as with some dishes, I liked the leftovers better than the fresh meal. It was firmer. Not to say it was runny out of the cooker, just a little different after being refrigerated. We'll definitely make this again. I really like using our slow cooker and so far we've had great success with it.

Corn Omelet with Smoked Mozzarella and Basil

This omelet was fantastic. It came from Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen by Deborah Madison (obviously). It was very easy to make. It consisted of fresh corn & basil, 2 eggs, smoked mozzarella and salt & pepper. One of the more decadent things we've made lately. We used butter which you could also really taste. Lately when I've made us eggs I use a bit of oil rather than butter. It was a heavier meal, that's for sure, but so satisfying and filling it was definitely worth it. We shall make this again. Plus now that I know I can make a good flat omelet, I can play with the ingredients and come up with other concoctions.

Tofu and Bean Sprout Soup

Our second dish from The Wok Bible by Sunil Vijayakar, Becky Johnson and Jenni Fleetwood. This soup reminded me a little bit of the Vegetarian Hot Pot which we like so much. I did make a note not to use as much lime juice next time as it overpowered the overall flavor for me. It called for the juice of one small lime; I think half a lime will be sufficient. I think I added a bit more chopped peanuts than needed per bowl but I didn't want to waste the ones I chopped (not realizing I was only making 2 bowls not 4 and wasn't sure about putting the nuts in the leftover containers). Other than that, it was very yummy. The sprouts added a nice crunchy texture to the noodles. At first I thought the mixture of fresh herbs (mint, cilantro and basil) sounded odd, but they complimented each other quite nice. I even went so far as the slice some green onion and red bell pepper for garnish which gave it a great splash of color as you can see. A good soup that we will make again; prep was pretty easy.

Harvest Chili

This recipe came from somewhere online but is said to be inspired by The Vegan Family Cookbook by Brian P. McCarthy. It was quite a hearty chili with both black and pinto beans, butternut squash, bell pepper, carrot, onion, green chiles, and crushed tomatoes. The color was quite appealing with all the orange & yellow fall vegetables in it. The only spices were fresh garlic, cumin, chili powder and salt. I enjoyed the leftovers quite a bit the following day; seemed to have thickened up a bit and the flavors melded together more completely. The recipe called for squash or pumpkin so it can be versatile as well. Not one of our favorite chilis we've made, but it was still pretty good.

Jewelled Vegetable Rice with Crispy Fried Egg

This was the first recipe we made out of our newest cookbook, The Wok Bible, by Sunil Vijayakar, Becky Johnson & Jenni Fleetwood. The book was discounted and I couldn't pass it up. It has a bunch of great looking recipes (and images galore). Being as how I love cooking with my wok, this book will be heavily used. This meal has more calories that what we've been making but it was well worth it. You have to treat yourself every now & then, right? It's basically a different version of fried rice. The vegetables used were: fresh corn, red shallots, a red chili pepper, carrots, green beans, and a bell pepper. It called for green Thai curry paste which gave it a unique flavor unlike most fried rices I've had. Having the crispy fried on egg on top of the dish was nice too. We had leftovers without the egg and they were just as yummy. We'll be making this again when we want to splurge a little.

Oaxaca Tacos with Black Bean Stew

I have been on the hunt for a potato taco recipe and finally got one in my newest cookbook, Cafe Flora Cookbook by Catherine Geier with Carol Brown. These were really good. The filling was a mix of mashed potato, smoked mozzarella, cheddar and red bell pepper. Such a nice flavor to them. They were baked to melt the cheese and make the tortillas a bit brown & crispy. The black bean stew was very flavorful and we will probably make it again without the tacos (although we'll be making the whole dinner again for sure). The stew consisted of black beans, corn, cilantro, cumin seeds, chili powder, garlic, red pepper flakes, brown sugar and oregano ~ it smelled so good while cooking and the taste didn't disappoint. All in all, a fantastic, flavorful dish which made the new cookbook definitely worth buying. The prep was pretty easy too.

Eggplant Rollatini with Tomato Basil Sauce

This recipe came off the internet, I belive in one of my vegetarian recipe groups I'm in or it may also have come from Weight Watchers. It was a really yummy dish. However, I have not used our oven much yet since we moved and it cooks at a much higher temperature than it says so I lost about half of the eggplant slices, which was ok as there was still enough for dinner, just not any leftovers. Next time we make this I will make the eggplant slices thicker ~ when I was cutting them, I kept thinking that they needed to be thin enough to roll up; not keeping in mind that they soften and shrink when you bake them. Oh well, live and learn is Luinda's motto. All in all, it was really yummy and my lady and I both enjoyed them and will make it again. The sauce was made from scratch using canned crushed tomatoes and herbs; came out quite good if I do say so myself. A good low-cal dinner even with the small amount of cheese.

Vegetarian Hot Pot

We have had this dish before and it was still yummy. As you can see from the previous post, it looked, and tasted, a little different than the last time we made it. Still very yummy and something we will make again. A nice hearty, not too heavy soup.

Golden Pepper and Yellow Tomato Soup

This delicious and appealing soup is from Deborah Madison's book Local Flavors. We had purchased all the ingredients at the farmers market with the intent to make the soup for a harvest celebration with our circle sisters. That unfortunately fell through, or has yet again, been postponed. My lovely wife and I went ahead and made the soup and it was great. The yellow tomatoes were a pain to peel but other than that, it was really enjoyable. The color of the tomatoes and peppers were really visually appealing. We didn't have smoked Spanish paprika, but I added a splash of liquid smoke to keep the smoky undertones. This is the first time we've used opal basil and I really liked it. Although I love basil in general, so that's not surprising. Notice how lovely the color blends in with our fall decor, thanks to my lady.

Almost Irish Stew

This was such a flavorful dish and made the house smell so good! That's a perk of using the slow cooker. The recipe is from the book Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. Even though only a relatively small amount of potatoes were used, it was rather robust. The kale was put in about 10 minutes before serving and added such a nice chewy green-ness to the dish. It said to cook for 6 to 8 hours; we had to have at it a little after 6 hours. We'll definitely make it again.


Update 10/3/6 ~ got a comment asking for the recipe, so...here it is!

Almost Irish Stew
With the slow cooker doing all the work, you will have time to make a loaf of soda bread to accompany this “almost Irish” stew. Chunks of seitan may be substituted for the beans for a “meatier” alternative.

Slower Cooker Size: 4 to 6 quart
Cook Time: 6 to 8 hours
Setting: Low
Serves: 4

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 ½ cups baby carrots, halved lengthwise
6 very small white potatoes, halved or quartered
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 ½ cups slow-cooked or one 15.5 ounce can cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
¼ cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons tamari or other soy sauce
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 large kale leaves or other dark leafy greens, chopped, cooked in simmering water to cover until tender, and drained.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, cover and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
Transfer the onions to a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker. Add the carrots, potatoes, garlic, beans, stock, bay leaf, wine, tamari, and thyme and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours.
About 10 minutes before serving, stir in the cooked kale. Serve hot.

Pasta with Fresh No-Cook Tomato Sauce

This was very fresh & clean tasting. Yet another recipe I downloaded from some un-recalled source but it's by Cait Johnson, inspired by The Tomato Festival Cookbook, by Lawrence Davis-Hollander. There is an absolute abundance of tomatos at our farmers market so I have been on the prowl for recipes to feature them in. We used both beefsteak and heirloom varieties (as you can tell by the beautiful striations in the image). The only other ingredients were basil, garlic, olive oil, a small amount of walnuts, and of course, the pasta. I'd like to make it again with an even larger variety of tomatos before they're gone for the season.

Summer Veggie Tacos

These tacos were outstanding. They were so flavorful and satisfying, words can't describe. I downloaded the recipe from somewhere I can't recall; it credits inspiration by The Rancho de Chimayo Cookbook, by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison. The basic is this: grab a bunch of in season summer veggies (we used an ear of corn, zucchini, bell pepper, onion, green onion, jalapeno, cilantro, tomato) and cook them, or not, accordingly. I sauted up the peppers, zucchini & onion together, cooked the corn and used the rest cold. We used Amy's beans (the green chile one is yummy) and some premade shells. We elected to add cheese. All in all, they were really good and you can use any variety of veggies you want! We will be having them again in the near future

Spicy Fried Tofu with Basil

Although the dish is called Spicy Fried Tofu with Basil, tonight's version was without basil due to an oversight on my part during the last farmers market visit. However, the dish was still flavorful. The green beans add a nice splash of color against the tofu. I think the beans could have been sauted a bit longer as they were a bit crisper than we prefer. The recipe was taken from the January 1999 issue of Vegetarian Times magazine. It was not overly spicy, but it did have a bit of a kick to it, which was nice. I'd like to make it again with basil; I bet the contrast it provides with the pepper is lovely.

Quick salad with Simple Summer Dressing

Tonight we had a nice easy salad with Simple Summer Dressing from the book Witch in the Kitchen by Cait Johnson. The dressing is a breeze to whip up and although simple, the flavor is quite wonderful. By the time I had put together the salad, my lady had the dressing ready.

Sweet and Sour Tofu with Vegetables

We made this dish again and it was still very tasty. My lovely lady and I started Weight Watchers this past weekend and this delicious dish is very low points. I think the one we made this evening was a bit different, as I don't remember having celery the last time we made it. There was enought to satisfy us and for us both to have leftovers to take to work.

White Chip Brownies

My lady made us some delicious brownies from scratch. Her first from scratch brownie venture and they turned out fabulous! Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures for some reason, but we'll probably make them again. She got the recipe from her mother's Hershey's cookbook we photocopied; except we used Scharfenberger cocoa (yummy!) instead of Hershey's, although we did use Hershey's white chocolate chips.

Tomato Cucumber Salad with Mint

This salad was very tasty. My lady found the recipe at Allrecipes.com. It has such a nice flavor to it, especially the fresh mint. Prep took a little bit only in that the cucumbers need to marinate in the dressing for about an hour. We will be making this more during this summer I'm sure. We ate it as a meal; but it would probably be better as a side dish next time around. Would also be a great thing to bring to potlucks, etc. as well.

A Big Tomato Sandwich

This was a great sandwich, and just what the title implies ~ a big ole sandwich! We got the recipe from the cookbook Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets by Deborah Madison. It's a really great book. The sandwich was yummy. It was on a loaf of ciabatta bread and had tomatoes, bell pepper & mozzarella on it plus a tasty herb vinaigrette we whipped up. The loaf of bread we got wasn't as round as would have been ideal; it was more oblong, but it still worked out ok. I sliced the top off, took out some of the bread, put the dressing on and then added the items. The leftovers kept pretty good; just the bottom bread got a little soggy from the dressing, but not bad at all. I'm sure we'll have this again. Especially with all the nice big tomatoes and peppers that are available at our Farmers Market right now.

Soba Noodles with Sesame Seeds

This was an extremely simple dish to make and it tasted pretty darn good! The recipe is from the book Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson. The only actual cooking was of the noodles and the toasting of the sesame seeds; the rest was just a quick sauce and some scallions. Another great cold noodle dish. The only gripe I have with the cold noodle dishes is that they're not nearly as good as leftovers after refrigeration.

Sweet Glazed Tofu Cutlets

This glazed tofu had an excellent taste, and texture. I really really liked it. I got the recipe from on of my online vegetarian groups. I overcooked it slightly as the bottom of the tofu got a little burned, but other than that, it was delicious. Very simple to make too. I ended up just putting all the ingredients in the skillet and mixing them while it heated and then tossed the tofu cutlets in. We ate it as a meal but it would be probably be nice with something else on the side. I will definitely be making this again. I got a suggestion to double the glaze to use on some brown rice so I may try that too.

Eggplant Balls

This recipe came from one of my online vegetarian groups and it was, meh, ok. The directions were kind of vague as to what texture they should be/how to tell when they're done. The flavor was really good, but the inside didn't seem quite done to me and I couldn't get over the unpleasant texture. Fairly simple to make though; just steam the eggplant and mix it up with bread crumbs, parmesan, parsley, eggs, water, garlic and olive oil. I wonder if we would have made them patties instead of balls if they would have cooked more thoroughly...

Hasselback Potatoes

These potatoes were so yummy! The recipe comes from Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson. When I went shopping, there were no fingerling or otherwise nicely ovaled potatoes so I hand picked the best baby reds available. I was a little nervous doing the cutting of them as I didn't want to cut all the way through and yet I wanted to make sure they were cut enough so they would fan out properly. Now that I have a better feel for them, I may cut deeper next time. The seasonings consisted of butter, olive oil and sea salt. A very unique potatoe dish and quite visually appealing; the texture was good too as they were not too crispy yet not too soft. We ate them with various condiments like BBQ sauce and ketchup. They kept pretty well as leftovers too.

Pasta with Butter, Sage and Parmesan

This very simple recipe came from the book How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. I've been desperate to find recipes that highlight using sage and out of all the cookbooks we had at the time, this was really the only one with a sage recipe. It was basically just pasta with a sauce of butter, parmesan & sage, like the title says. However, I was really disappointed in it. It was good, but not outstanding like I had hoped. Just was a bit dry really. Oh well...may try it again or hopefully find a new sage based recipe.

Tofu Vegetable Curry

This dish was taken from a small magazine we have entitled Fresh Meals (from the editors of Organic Style magazine). It was ok. The tofu broke up more than I would have liked. The flavor was nice; but it definitely wasn't one of the better curries we've made. I think part of the problem was that we went with what the recipe said and used frozen veggies (a mixture of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots & snow peas) rather than fresh. What a difference! As much as I love broccoli, I don't think I ate any of it as it just didn't look right. If we ever make this again, we'd use all fresh ingredients.

Tortellini with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Feta

This dish was taken from the book Recipes from a Vegetarian Goddess by Karri Allrich. I didn't care for it all that much, but my lady seemed to liked it and so did her family when we brought the leftovers over for a dinner. I think there was too much feta for my liking; I've been noticing that I don't care for feta in large amounts, just a small sprinkling. There was something else I wasn't accustomed to in it, perhaps the capers, a bit much for me I think. I was disappointed that I didn't care for it actually as I love pasta.

Vegetable Pizza Primavera

This pizza was excellent. I got it from Simple Vegetarian Recipes somewhere online. The veggies we had on it were yellow squash, tomatoes, broccoli, red onions, and artichoke hearts. We used a basil tomato sauce and a Boboli crust. Threw some fresh mozzarella, parmesan and basil on and yummy!! Will definitely make this one again. May even try making our own crust sometime.

Tomato Basil Soup

This recipe came from the book Recipes from a Vegetarian Goddess by Karri Allrich. It was really good! The only problem with it was that we cut the potatoes a bit big so they all didn't cook through. We've made a note on the recipe to amend that next time. Once we get out of summer, I'm sure we'll be making this again as it was quite tasty and hearty.

Vegetarian Hot Pot

This noodle and tofu soup had a fabulous taste. The recipe is from the Winter 2004 edition of Eating Well magazine. It was fairly simple to make and I really enjoyed the flavor. This is also the first time we cooked with bok choy so that was exciting too! The only thing missing was the carrots; all we had were baby carrots and I was trying to juilienne them and had a little meltdown so...no carrots. However, we went out & bought a julienne peeler so that won't happen again. I would like to make it again when the seasons change and we're not in 100 degree heat. The picture doesn't it do it justice either; doesn't make it look as scrumptuous as it was!

Penne Pasta and Artichoke Salad

This is a delicious cold pasta salad that my lady has taken to making. It's from the book 150 Vegan Favorites by Jay Solomon. The first time she made it was for a potluck with our pagan community and we liked it so much, she made it again just for us. This time we added some broccoli and feta to personalize it a bit. The vinaigrette dressing is pretty tasty and simple to make. This will definitely be a repeat dish in our house.

Pad Thai

Looks are deceiving. Although it looks yummy, this Pad Thai was soooooooooooooooo disappointing! The lime was way too overpowering (the lime in the image is solely for looks, we didn't add any more juice). I even used just under the amount the recipe called for. We got the recipe out of our newest cookbook, The Big Book of Vegetarian, by Kathy Farrell-Kingsley. We only took a few bites each and neither of us could stomach it. I've been on a mad Pad Thai taste testing frenzy so I was very excited when the cookbook had a recipe. I have one other recipe for Pad Thai that I've made and it was really good. I definitely won't be making this one again though. Even without the lime overload, the under flavor wasn't as good as the other one either. :-(

Shepherd's Pie with Potato Topping

This "pie" actually has no crust. Just veggies & soy crumbles topped with mashed potatoes. It's the first recipe we've made from our newest cookbook, The Big Book of Vegetarian by Kathy Farrell-Kingsley. It came out really good and the bonus was that I got to use 3 out of 4 of our new pots. It was great! I really enjoyed being able to cook multiple aspects of the meal at the same time. The dinner was good. The canned tomatoes really helped give the soy crumbles a nice hearty flavor. The potatoes came out great, used the new stockpot and added some veggie broth, mustard & seasonings then my lady whipped them all up. The veggies consisted of fresh corn, frozen peas, canned tomatoes, fresh onion, fresh garlic. An easy dish to toss together with whatever items may be on hand. The leftovers kept extremely well, always a plus.

Spicy Peanut Noodles

This was a really good cold dish. All the veggies (bell pepper, cucumber, onions) were raw and the noodles cooled right off while being tossed in the peanut sauce and veggies. A great, hearty meal when it's too hot to think about warm food, etc; plus the only cooking was of the noodles. This is another recipe we used from the April 2006 issue of Vegetarian Times. I love that; actually using the magazines and books we buy. We will definitely be making this again and adding more chile paste since I used the smallest of the recommended amounts this time. My only "gripe" would be that although there were leftovers, the meal is best served room temperature and it is hard to recreate that once the food has been refrigerated. I did bring it to work with me once and let it sit out for an hour before eating it, it was meh, alright. But fresh, it's excellent.
Note the nice new chopsticks we received as a wedding gift.

Herbed Tofu Lasagna with Zucchini

We had this delicious lasagna for dinner this evening. The recipe is from the April 2006 issue of Vegetarian Times. It turned out really good; the only problem we had is that our blender isn't much of a food processor so most of the pine nuts were still whole, which was okay of course. There's a ton of leftovers too. We even used the fancy new lasagna server we received as a wedding gift.

Strawberry Margaritas

We had some strawberry margaritas this evening. I used the mixture we normally use but we added a handful of fresh strawberries along with a fresh kiwi. As you can tell by the picture, it was nice & fruity with kiwi seeds sprinkled throughout. It was very good. Our goal is to eventually make all our cocktails by hand, no more pre-mixed mixers. They normally taste so much cleaner, crisper when we're in charge of the ingredients.

Sesame Tofu

Tonight we had Sesame Tofu from the cookbook Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers by The Moosewood Collective. It was excellent! Prep and cooking time was minimal. It was supposed to be served on a bed of baby spinach leaves, but unfortunately the spinach had gone bad when we went to make it. We opted to make it anyways and it was really yummy. Quite flavorful with just a few ingredients; sesame seeds, sesame oil, soy sauce and a splash of hot sauce. The leftovers kept really well too, which is important in this house. We will definitely be making this again, with the spinach. I don't know if it's because this was the first healthy thing we made since we got back from the honeymoon or what, but we both liked it very much.

Naughty Luinda

Well as you can see, not many home cooked meals have been made this past week+. We had our wedding and then the honeymoon. We did make a couple of ok meals while gone (easy stuff like soy sloppy joes, tofurky sandwiches and egg scrambles) but we ate a lot of crap we hadn't been (snacks, donuts, lots of soda, etc etc). My poor body was very angry with me when we got back. I'm still recovering I think!
You will see new dishes here soon, I promise!

Slow Pho

My lady did the prep for most of the soup (I did the last bit after all the yummy ingredients simmered together). It was quite tasty. The 2nd item we've made in our slow cooker. The recipe is out of Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. The soup was really tasty. More noodly than I expected, but very flavorful. It was also the first time that we used seitan in a dish. It was good; sauted/browned it before adding it to the stock. We even got to use our new onion soup bowls we got as an early wedding gift. Topped it with some green onion & bean sprouts. Unfortunately we forgot to take pictures of the soup; our schedule was thrown off with our impending handfasting and having an out of town guest staying with us. Would like to make the soup again, it was good.

Spinach Artichoke Risotto

This dish was very disappointing. Nothing we did wrong in preparing it, but the dill was way too strong for either of our likings. Neither of us ate much of it and unfortunately the leftovers went to waste. It was from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers by The Moosewood Collective. With spinach, artichoke hearts, garlic, scallions & feta, I thought it would be very good. We may make it again but cut back on the feta and half the dill (or omit it completely). This is the first herb that I've run across that I just don't care for much. Maybe it was just too much at once. I will try & keep an open mind and allow the possibility of using dill in the future though; give it a chance to let us enjoy it.

Frittata Rice Bites

These were taken from a recipe I found online. Now whether it was some sort of vegetarian recipe group or website, I know not.
Prep took awhile although we were able to prepare everything else while the brown rice was cooking.
They consist of rice, eggs, zucchini, red pepper, garlic, onion, mozzarella, milk, plus seasonings.
They weren't bad, although they didn't come out of the pan very neatly. In fact, a good third of them stuck in the pan. Unfortunately, it killed the pan, which was not new by any means, but still, we soaked it, ran it through the dishwasher, soaked it some more.
Anyway...the dinner was good although next time we make something like this, I think we're going to use metalic cups rather than directly in the pan. The bites could have been a cooked some more, they were a little loose I think, but still tasty.

Broccolini Cheddar Melt

Tonight we had Broccolini Cheddar Melt from the book Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers by The Moosewood Collective. It was pretty tasty actually, but....next time I think we'll double the recipe as it was only one melt each (one slice of whole wheat bread with the stuff on top). Also, the bread got a little over done in the broiler. Will have to note that for next time around. The stoneground mustard really gave it a nice undertone beneath the garlic-sauted broccolini and cheddar. And it was the first time I've cooked broccolini. Very tasty and tender! Will have to use it some more I think. I was unable to snap a picture of the dinner as our rechargable batteries were all deader than dead at the time. Oh well, there's always next time, and hopefully the edges of the bread won't be burnt!

Baked Barbecue Tofu & Peppers

This dish was fairly easy to make. It's from the book The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet by Nava Atlas. It was, meh, ok. We've had a similar dish from the same cookbook that we both liked better. I think the other one was sauted and this one was just baked. Felt like it should have been cooked more, I think. Not bad though, and Amy's Honey Maple BBQ Sauce added a nice flavor. Probably won't make this particular dish again as there are so many more recipes to try and ones we know we really like already.