Purty colors!

Tonight's dish was the Tangy Black Bean Salad. Talk about eating the rainbow! Check it out...

I had mine in a whole wheat wrap with some baby spinach and (probably too much) cilantro.  Next time I may go with the tortilla chips as I saw suggested at Joel's blog.

All in all, easy and not bad.

Cheers!

Stuffed Shrooms

Today's challenge was Melissa's Stuffed Mushrooms. These things were TASTY. I mean, like, so good that they may end up on the Thanksgiving menu.

First you tear the stalks off your button shrooms (mine were actually baby cremini, 'cause I'm a rebel) and throw them in a food processor with some shallots, garlic, carrots, bread, rosemary (used fresh from the garden b/c I was out of dried) and parsley (which I omitted b/c something ate all of the parsley that used to reside in the garden). Once it's all mixed up, it looks like this:

Here's all my little caps, waitin' for their stuffing.

You take all that stuffing from the food processor, and cook it up in some melted margarine for a few minutes (which smelled HEAVENLY while it cooked).

Then you stick those puppies in your preheated-to-three-fifty oven for 15 minutes.

Mmm mmm good. We ate them ALL.

Toodles!

EPIC post aka 'I did it'!

Peoples, I am BACK. Back from the grips of a head cold that sucked the ever-lovin' life outta me, I tell you. Thank gawd that's over! However, today when I finally came around to feeling well enough to catch up on my La Dolce posts, I realized that *eeeeek!* I had FOUR recipes to complete and a mere matter of hours in which to complete them. And I still needed some things from the grocery!

The thought of faking it came to mind, but dag nabbit...I have too much integrity for that! Not to mention, I don't want to cheat you dear readers out of my documented follies!

So, onward we march!

First up, I made the Soba Noodle Miso Soup. I hate to say it, but I just wasn't into how it tasted.

Could the world's saddest bok choy have been to blame?

Perhaps.

Or maybe it was the weird brand of tofu that I don't usually buy?

Could be.

Surely it couldn't be the Mellowness from the Miso Master himself?

*Shudder*

Here's what the broth looked like while it "steeped".

Here's the gomasio I used for garnish.

And here's what it looked like in the bowl before I ate it.

I have a crap-ton left over (sigh), so maybe it'll taste better later? But then I worry I'll "wreck" the miso by reheating. Oh, what to do? For now, it's sitting in a covered pot on the stovetop, until I decide it's fate.

Next up was Stephanie's Asteroids, another no-bake cookie recipe. One thing I have learned from this project is that I am apparently not a big fan of no-bake cookies.  I have also learned that I don't feel good when I eat too much sugar. :-P

Here's the oats, coconut and cinnamon all mixed up and awaiting it's peanut-buttery glue.

And here's the aforementioned glue.

It's actually pretty tasty, I think I've just seriously overdosed on sugar.

Here's what they looked like all balled up and ready for the fridge.

Next was the Cherry Cobbler. It was super easy and came out real purty.

I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but it was still bubbling from the heat from the oven when I snapped the pic.

The final frontier was the Cool Cucumber Salad with the Creamy Soygurt Dressing.

The recipe called for a "large" English cucumber. Do you think this qualifies as "large"?

Does it still qualify as English if it's not from England?

And do they have to shrink-wrap the dang things for gawd's sake? Sheesh.

I chopped it up as instructed.

Don't forget your "large tomato".

This one was actually too large. I only used about half.

After harvesting a bit of mint from the potted plant in my front yard (1 tsp), I whipped up the dressing and threw it all together.

It was....eh. Ok I guess. Maybe it will be better tomorrow after it sits in the dressing for a while. Flavor-meld and all that.

After all this work, I had to have a plate of "victory cobbler". Deeelicious.

Feeling very accomplished right now. And full.

Peace, y'all!

Cumin Spiced Rice and Espresso Cake with Chocolate Glaze

Continuing on with the La Dolce Vegan Challenge, here we have the Cumin Spiced Rice:

I mixed in a little baby spinach toward the end of the rice cooking, for added veggies and nutrition, and I topped it with the Gardein Beefless Tips.  If you've never tried them; highly recommended. Very tasty. A number of local grocery stores carry them, if you're a local reader. I get them at the Giant and/or the ShopRite on Concord Pike.

I thought the rice was tasty. I cooked it in veggie broth, I don't know if that's why.

I also baked the cake today:

Mmmm...cake. Cake is one of my sweet-tooth weaknesses. After Hubs and I had a piece for dessert, I realized I'd have to give a substantial amount of it away or else I'd end up eating it all myself. So, off three pieces went with me to my bass lesson tonight, to give away to the staff there.

This whole "blogging every day" thing is tough.  Mad props to those that do it.

Peace out, y'all.

I made the burrito pie

See? (Please ignore the less-than-artful presentation...I'm pretty effin' tired.)

The Hubs was, as I suspected he would be, a huge fan. He loves Mexican. I thought it was pretty good too. It probably would have been better when it was actually hot, but I ate it after I got home from rehearsal, and I was too tired to heat it up.

I used the Daiya pepperjack here and it worked really well. A note to local folks near Wilmo who'd like to get some - the only place I'm aware of that carries it at this time is the Newark Co-op.

'Night y'all!

More lies, more ketchup

Heyo!

I'm baaaaack!

So, although I did some cooking yesterday, apparently I was unable to manage to blog about it. That's OK...back on the horse. Or wait...that doesn't sound very vegan. Back on the bike?

Anyways...first up we have the Noodle Salad with Spicy Nut Dressing.

This dish was super easy and super tasty. Although, I did make a couple little changes; after reading Raven's post, I decided to heed the call and added more veggies. I diced up some red onion and some portobello 'shrooms and added them to the mix.

The Hubs had two helpings, so I assume that means he liked it (although perhaps it just meant he was hungry...?). I definitely dug it and am halfway tempted to go get the leftovers out of the fridge to have for breakfast right now.

After that I whipped up the Blueberry Dilip.

In my mind, I'm having a hard time determining how "Dilip" is pronounced. Is it like "Phillip"? Or is it more like "Dil-eep"? (Sounds like something on the menu at an Indian restaurant. Mmmm...Indian.)

Anyway, this was also super easy to make and a huge hit with the ol' tastebuds. I felt it was reminiscent of a blueberry cake donut. I have to admit, I was a little worried while watching it cook in the oven...so much bubbling Earth Balance! Surely it must be too much! But NO...it was superb. I omitted the ground ginger because I was out of it, but I can't say it was missed.

So there you have it. I promise one of these days I'll actually get around to using this blog for it's original intended purpose.

Cheers y'all!

OK, I lied

So, I know I promised the noodle salad post today, but it's my birthday today ( :D ) and I just don't see where I'll have time to fit it in. I know...excuses, excuses.  I'm thinking Sunday's going to be a big catch-up day for me.

Have a great Friday, all, and I'll be back by Sunday at the latest.

Cheers!