Good Things I Made and Then Ate

Phew! I've been keeping myself busy with lots of yoga, planning a couple of workshops, watering the garden, doing a fun yoga challenge on Instagram, teaching, eating as many cherries as possible, and even cooking quite a bit. But not really blogging. Oops! So, here's a post with just a few things I've made recently...

Chile Rellenos from The Abundance Diet

So, I just love this Chile Relleno recipe so much - even though, I must admit, the recipe as it is written in the book is a bit flawed. The flavors are PERF, but it's just too liquidy. I had a note in the book to cook it 45 minutes longer than called for... This recipe takes a little while to make all the parts and put it together. I spent some time making it and then I set off to walk the dogs and left Mr. VE&T in charge of taking it out of the oven. Meanwhile, when the buzzer went off, he just turned off the timer and NOT THE OVEN. When I came home 1.5 hours later and realized that it had been in the oven for 1.5 hours longer than called for, I was so grumpy! But then I realized that actually it came out pretty perfect. Ha ha! How many recipes could you say that about? 

But I still love it and will continue to make this casserole because it's just so damned tasty. Still, this recipe has my undying affection. It reminds me of foods I grew up with, and the tastes and textures are unlike anything else I've had or made since becoming vegan 16+ years ago! I chatted with Somer and she has some ideas for how to refine the recipe, so I'll get back to you about that soon! 

dinner with my friend Sandy. Great dinner, crummy picture! ha ha.

My sweet friend Sandy was in town and we got to have her over for dinner, which was so fun and special. I made two new-to-me recipes from The Abundance Diet:  the Cream of Broccoli Soup and the Nicoise Salad. They were both great. I love broccoli, so I super multiplied the broccoli and added 4 times more than the recipe called for -- for maximum brocco-powers! The Nicoise Salad was a great salad that felt light but substantial. With savory tofu cubes that were baked and chewy, steamed green beans and potatoes, it was actually pretty filling too. My pal Sandy is gluten-free, so I busted out some nice GF crackers that I got in a recent Vegan Tuck Box subscription box. They were great!

BroccoGirl has brocco-powers! 

A special salad with quinoa, leeks, asparagus, and peas!

I love to eat veggies when they're in season, and I don't often buy veggies after they go out of season. So, asparagus is on its way out soon and I wanted to make sure I had a couple more special asparagus moments before next year. This Warm Spring Salad from the Oh She Glows website was a lovely weeknight dinner. I left out the strawberries though, because if there's one thing Mr VE&T and I agree on, it's that we don't want fruit in our salad. 

Even after bragging about buying local produce, I must admit that one of my exceptions is frozen peas. I love them so much and they are so easy. Fresh shelling peas are special, but they are also a lot of work and they aren't around for long at our local market. I guess I'm not so fancy after all! Ha ha!

Stuffed Shells with Green Goddess Puree from Vegan With a Vengeance 

on a special fishy fabric that my grandparents brought home from Ghana

Recently one of my friends borrowed a whole bunch of my favorite vegan cookbooks. She is a caterer and needed to provide vegan options for a bunch of meals. I was pretty stoked to be able to help her out! It was actually kind of neat to lend out most of my current favorite cookbooks. Believe me, I still had *plenty* of cookbooks to use. Ha ha. So, I decided to go back to some old favorites. Flipping through Vegan with a Vengeance, I saw the recipe for "Green Goddess Puree." It had been years since I'd made that recipe, and I decided to make some and use it for stuffed shells. In addition to a few pounds of green vegetables (literally), I thought the recipe needed a little spunk (aka salt) - so I added miso, nooch, salt and canned olives. Let me just say that this recipe makes a verifiable TON. Ha ha. I made two whole batches of stuffed shells, and we ate them forever, and we were happy. 

Citrus Beet Salad with Creamy Avocado Lime Dressing 

Our orange tree was busy making oranges all winter and they're mostly eaten by now, but I was happy to put the last few to use in this Citrus Beet Salad with Creamy Avocado Lime Dressing . I loved the pairing of the roasted beets with the oranges - the earthy sweet of the beets and the bright sweet of the oranges were really great together - but I thought the Avocado-Lime Dressing was a little too sweet. It had some agave nectar in it and if I make this salad again I would leave it out and let the natural sweetness of the produce shine through.

magic balls of yum

One of my besties recently had her 30th birthday and I wanted to bring something special to her bday party. She's a gluten-freebie, so I needed her super special bday treats to be gluten-free too. First I made the Yo-Los from the Oh She Glows Cookbook. Have you ever made these? They're made with fresh dates, a little bit of peanut butter, and then covered in melted chocolate. That's it! They sound so simple - but somehow it all adds up to something super super special and crazy delicious. I hoped my friend would love them, because she is a huge date fan, and of course she did!

showing up with two special bday treats! 

simple and perfect and delicious

I also made her a special birthday pie! This is the Chocolate Strawberry Pie from Vegan Diner. It has a cookie crust - and it was easy to make gluten-free by buying a package of gluten-free vegan oreo-type cookies. Then there is a layer of glorious chocolate ganache that you press the fresh strawberries into, and more ganache that you drizzle over the top. The whole thing is actually pretty easy to make, but it tastes like a million bucks! This is one of my favorite summertime recipes and I was happy to have an excuse to make it again. I was also happy to see how easily ti was made gluten free.