Monday, March 24, 2008

Vegan Easter Brunch!

A mere three days after my No Rooz extravaganza, I also hosted an easter brunch for my family. We don't really celebrate easter, but we always enjoy a reason to get together and enjoy each other's company. Especially on a lovely, sunny spring morning. We had a delicious, all-vegan feast (except that my little nephew's easter egg hunt included a few hard boiled eggs that he and my mom and my brother made together).

Of course, the penultimate spring vegetable. I got a few big bundles of asparagus at the farmers' market. At first I had it on the grill, but when I went to check on it, I found that we were out of propane, so I ended up with half-grilled, half-roasted asparagus. Either way, it was delicious!


I also made a big batch of Susan V's legendary Mini Crustless Tofu Quiches. Always delicious. So incredibly savory and tasty. I wasn't sure just how many people were going to show up (darn the decline of the RSVP!), so I made a bit too much... now I've got some more batter left over to cook up in the next few days. I really love these little babies, and they were a hit as always.

Last time I made these, my grandma really loved them and kept gobbling them up. Remembering this, and her, made me both sad and happy, in a bittersweet way. A sweet memory, and yet one that I wish had not become a memory so soon.


Can one really have a brunch without a gorgeous fruit salad? Other than the mangos, which I found irresistable, all the fruits are from the farmers' market: kiwis, oranges, apples, blood oranges, and strawberries. However, the lure of yummy creamy perfect mangos lured me away from my eat-local-eat-organic ideals. And, they really were good. (meek admission!) Musty and I gobbled up the leftovers later in the afternoon. I Heart Fruit Salad.

And, my annual easter baking endeavor, vegan hot cross buns. I have an old recipe from the internet that I've veganized. These turned out really well. Oh, they are so so so good. We had two left over, and I woke up with great anticipation this morning... looking forward to eating another tasty bun - half way between fluffy and dense, perfectly mildly sweet in a very sophisticated way... only to find that one of our two NAUGHTY dogs had taken them off the table and EATEN THEM! Stevie Wonder (the perfect doggie) never does bad things like that. And Dottie Bonkers (formerly good doggie) used to be very good. But then we got Snoopy Snoppy, and he taught Dottie B. all about stealing food off the counters, and now *nothing* is safe. Oh, it took me many hours to forgive them. Actually, it still makes me squint my eyes in their general direction! I had to have an orange for breakfast instead, a poor substitute.

And lastly, we had an easter egg hunt for my cool little nephew CW. In addition to his few hardboiled eggs, we hid some vegan jelly beans around the backyard, which was all spiffed up for the occasion.

Then we all sat out in the sun and soaked up some early spring rays. This sure is a beautiful part of the world... and after all my travels, I feel so grateful to live here. Ahhhh....

24 comments:

  1. Looks like another fun feast! I'm loving the asparagus available now & of course, I'm always down for a fruit salad. The hot cross buns looks awesome!

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  2. Aw, but how can you blame you dog when those buns looks so good? ;) Very nice spread, and now I'm seriously craving asparagus!

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  3. Yeah, I would totally steal those hot cross buns off the counter too! =)
    The feast looks magnificent, especially the fruit salad. How lucky you are to get all that produce fresh and local!

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  4. I love your gathering posts! What a brunch feast... wow. I can't wait to see the first asparagus of the season. And like you, I can't always eat locally- a life without tropical fruits seems really sad to me. All about moderation, I guess!

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  5. I love those Tofu Quiches too, although there wouldn't have been any leftovers if I'd been there hehe.

    What naughty dogs! Sounds like two other dogs that I know...

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  6. P.S. May I add you to my blogroll?

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  7. Amey ~

    My Snoopy Poopy is the SAME! Sunday we made a double batch of waffles and then went for a bike ride. Come home and she had eaten an entire batch of waffles! That snot!

    She once ate two entire loaves of bread. How does she do it?? I don't even think I could eat two WHOLE loaves of bread!

    Must be a Snoopy thing. :)
    Ruthie

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  8. Anonymous4:19 PM

    Where could I find the recipe for the quiches?

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  9. Hi Anonymous!
    here's a link to the quiche recipe:
    http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/12/mini-crustless-tofu-quiches.html

    they are great!

    :) Amey

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  10. "half way between fluffy and dense, perfectly mildly sweet in a very sophisticated way..."

    that's it exactly! sucks about the dog-munching, though. ;_;

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  11. Sounds like a splendid way to celebrate Easter! Your hot cross buns look delicious... too bad you couldn't enjoy them the next day! (well, at least someone did enjoy them).
    I'm sure your grandma was wishing she was there with you to gobble up those mini quiches. Hold on to those memories, they are so precious.

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  12. Mmmmmm... asparagus :)

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  13. The little quiches are so cute.

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  14. What a fun celebration! Love that shot of the jellybeans in the succulents and of course, we were hoping to see a shot of hotcross bun stealing in action- that would have been too cute, not that I'm condoning theft- but I bet they would have been extra cute pics...

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  15. What a treat for your family! Everything looks great, especially that fruit salad - yum! Love springtime colors!

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  16. I just had asparagus for the first time this season tonight--it was so good. Spring is really coming!

    It's a mixed blessing to having powerful emotions brought up by a food. It's sad, but there's something to that connection and memory and the work of making quiche that will always keep your grandmother with you in another way.

    Such a bummer that the pups stole the buns! That's a lot of work to sneak off with...no wonder it took you more than a minute to forgive them. Our cat, Odin, once ritually licked every single donut in a whole freshly made batch, removing all of the sugar and soaking the donuts with his little kitty saliva. I couldn't believe him!

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  17. Anonymous1:47 PM

    Hi Spring,

    My name is Shannon and I'm the editorial assistant at Foodbuzz.com. I am very impressed with the quality of your posts and to that end, I’d like to invite you to be a part of our newly launched Foodbuzz Featured Publisher program. I would love to send you more details about the program, so if you are interested, please email me at Shannon@foodbuzz.com.


    Cheers!

    Shannon Eliot
    Editorial Assistant, Foodbuzz.com
    shannon@foodbuzz.com

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  18. Hi again!
    Just wanted to pass on this information ...

    Boston Magazine recently published an article all about us this month - here is the link:

    Oh So Soy!

    If you have a few minutes to spare, could do us a huge favor and read the article and comment at the bottom of the page? We're very excited about getting such great press, especially from a magazine of this caliber. If everyone drops by and leaves a quick comment, soon there will be no doubt in any publisher's mind: YES, readers absolutely do want to know about vegan happenings and developments. Please don't hesitate to repost the article on your blog and spread the world!

    Thanks!
    Emily @ Wheeler's Frozen Desserts

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  19. Your buns were too irresistible for hungry doggies!

    The brunch sounds like it was full of great food and family. The fruit looks very beautiful!

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  20. Your brunch sounds so light and tasty and a perfect way to enjoy the company of family! Your foods always look so gorgeous.

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  21. Why does asparagus just seem to be the ultimate spring-y veggie? Surely there are other vegetables that are perfect this time of year, but none reel me in like asparagus. They look great! As do the hot cross buns... that might be a project for me next year.

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  22. Anonymous4:57 AM

    Oh my--I wish I could say my easter meals were that delicious! The hot cross bun look very interesting and tasty--I don't blame your dogs for stealing them XD I've actually never seen/tried these buns before, but now I'm tempted to try and make some!

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  23. what a lovely Easter brunch spread!! yum!! everything looks wonderful, as always. I can only imagine how great you feel, being home from all of your travels :0)

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