Easter Eats!

My family is not religious, but someone many generations back must have been - because we still celebrate holidays like Easter and Christmas. Our celebrations are secular in nature, but filled with the warmth and love that we all share for each other. This year we had an Easter lunch together, in my grandparents' beautiful backyard. They have a very large garden - with raspberries, green beans, winter squash, summer squash, garlic, plums, oranges, lemons, apples, tangerines, nectarines, artichokes... you get the idea!

I made two things for the festive feast - This is the Asparagus and Sun-Dried Tomato Fritatta from VwaV. YUM! I've never made this before, but I've seen Don't Get Mad Get Vegan raving about it many times... so I was finally inspired to make it for myself. It was a huge hit with absolutely everyone in my family - awesome! The only change I made to the recipe was to add a little bit more sundried tomatoes than Isa recommends, and a LOT more asparagus.

I also made hot cross buns, which I make every year. These turned out GREAT! Perfect amount of sweetness (not too sweet - but the frosting gives it that little extra sugary delight). I used candied citron, currants, and golden raisins for the fruits in mine this year. I also used half whole wheat pastry flour - and they were so delicious. I had two! ha ha. And, happily, I've got one more left for tomorrow. Hoorah!

Here's the whole feast - all vegan! How awesome is my family that they are all happy to celebrate with an all-vegan lunch, even though only my aunt L and I are vegans. We had a great fruit salad, strawberries, vegan english muffins with Earth Balance, Bruschetta (with tomatoes, basil & garlic), creamy roasted potatoes, the frittata, hot cross buns, and also some gimme lean sausage cooked up in little patties (not pictured here). I ate myself silly - and loved every bite! Healthy and delicious.

For dinner tonight I made up something fun and tasty. After seeing Susan's post about giant Lebanese couscous, I found some at a middle Eastern shop over in San Jose. They are so fun to eat! I followed the simple directions on the package (ratio of 1:1, add to boiling broth and simmer 10 min, let sit 10 min off heat but still covered). While the couscous was cooking - I decided to take a tip from this afternoon's frittata and cut up the other bunch and a half of asparagus in our fridge. I sauteed it with a little bit of spicy olive oil, some garlic, and some sundried tomatoes. I added in some veggie broth & a big splash of red wine & let it simmer away for a few minutes. When the liquid wasn't reducing very quickly, I added a little arrowroot, which did the trick. I mixed it all together with the finished couscous, added a big handful of chopped up fresh basil - and ouila! A fun dinner. I'm excited to eat more of this fun couscous.

Hope you all had a great day, whether or not you celebrated Easter!