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....