French Onion Soup

This soup was fantasic! I have always loved French Onion Soup and I've been on the lookout for a vegetarian version. My lady found the recipe in The Big Book of Vegetarian by Kathy Farrell-Kingsley. It was so filling and rich; especially compared to the lighter dishes we've been focusing on. We used Gruyere cheese and it was delicious on top of the French bread. My only gripe would be that I didn't carmelize the onions enough so they weren't quite as soft and sweet as I would have liked. Something to work for next time we make it though! We heated up the leftovers for another dinner, threw it in the broiler after adding the bread and cheese and it was just as good as the night we made it. Yum!

Spicy Black Bean Chili

This yummy chili came from the book, Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. It had a really nice flavor and not too spicy for my lady to enjoy. We had it with some Jasmine Rice; very satisfying. It had minimal ingredients: onion, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, tomatoes, black beans, green chiles and salt & pepper but packed a flavorful punch. Will probably make it again.

Sesame-Crunch Tofu

Another recipe featuring Jasmine Rice from Entertaining for a Veggie Planet by Did Emmons. The tofu was very tasty. We marinated it for a few hours; the book suggests anywhere from 1-24 hours to marinate. It says to drain the tofu keeping the marinade for a drizzle. There was no marinade left! I put together a little mixture of soy sauce & sesame seed oil as a drizzle since the marinate consisted of that plus fresh ginger and garlic. The tofu was rolled in a flour and toasted sesame seed mixture then fried and turned out nice and crunchy. It was pretty flavorful although I don't think my body liked the flour too much. A nice filling dinner.

Tofu, Broccoli, and Tomatoes with Curried Peanut Sauce

Not the most original name, but a unique tasting dish from a cookbook we recently received from a good friend; Entertaining for a Veggie Planet by Didi Emmons. The dish had quite a different flavor to it than we've been having. The Curried Peanut Sauce had a very strong flavor. A small amount drizzled on top was just enough; more than that would have been overpowering. Another different thing was cooking the tomatoes; not used to eating warm cherry tomatoes. A very odd sensation for us. We put the mixture on some Jasmine Rice as suggested in the book. A good meal; will we make it again? I'd say probably not. The best thing I liked about it was the broccoli, it's been a long time since I'd had any and boy was it yummy!

Sweet Glazed Tofu Cutlets

I've been wanting to make this again for some time and finally got around to it. We both really liked it last time we made it and it was as flavorful as I remembered. I could have cooked the tofu just a bit longer but it still came out ok. It was a bit more chewy last time and I think the tofu we used this time was fresher so there were a few reasons the texture was different probably.

More recipes coming soon

Luinda has been on vacation and then sick so we haven't done a lot of home cooking these last couple of weeks. That will change this week so stay tuned! Happy New Year!