These are a few of my favorite things

Okay, actually it's just one thing, but it's really my new favorite toy. I don't know how I lived so long without one. It makes things so much easier. All those recipes that call for a blender to process dry ingredients that blenders just aren't meant to handle? Yeah, now I have something that actually works. I used to lament about how we don't all have industrial-strength blenders. Now I will stop lamenting about that, as I realize I don't need one (I did get a new blender for my birthday, too, though, as I somehow lost my old one in the move).

Fettucine with Garlic Cream Sauce

The recipe is from the Millenium cookbook. Sadly, I do not own the book, but we really liked this recipe, so I think I'll add the book to my Amazon wish list. I decided to make the recipe when I found it on guinnah's blog. We have some leftover sauce, so I think I'm going to use it tonight in place of soymilk in mashed potatoes. Mmmm garlicky mashed potatoes.

Relieved to know this internet quiz thinks I went to school for the right thing

You Should Get a JD (Juris Doctor)

You're logical, driven, and ruthless. You'd make a mighty fine lawyer.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

But ruthless? Really?

Teriyaki Tofu Stir-Fry

A simple dinner, but tasty. I recently found these Consorzio marinades at Earth Fare. They're all vegan and kosher and oh so good. You know what I love about marinating tofu? I don't have to throw out the rest of the marinade like you do when you marinated raw meat--I can still use it in the stir-fry.

Sloppy Joes and Vegan Cheesecake

TVP Sloppy Joes. I don't have a recipe because I just made it up as I went along, but they actually turned out nicely. Much better than the terrible potato recipe that I shall never attempt again.



Vegan cheesecake with strawberry topping (the topping is homemade). I got to use my new Cuisinart to make the filling. I love my new toy! It makes things so much easier. This is a dessert that I will definitely be making again--it's not cheap, though, so I can't make it too often.

Focaccia

Dinner last night was focaccia topped with caramelized onions. This was my first time making focaccia. I used my basic pizza dough recipe, http://bread.allrecipes.com/az/ValentinosPizzaCrust.asp, but let it rise longer than I normally do after I shaped it. Then I poked holes in it, poured on a bit of olive oil, basil, oregano, and thyme, and topped it with the onions. I baked it at 350 for about 20 minutes. Of course, this means it was really closer to 400 degrees. Oh how I long for a new oven.

Basque Stew

Basque Stew from Marie Oser's The Soy of Cooking. I just got this cookbook at a used bookstore recently, and this is the first recipe I've made from it. I read through the whole recipe before I started, since it was the first time I'd made it, but for some reason I didn't think to look at how much it made. After I'd cut up all the vegetables and stood there thinking, "good gosh that's a lot of vegetables," I looked. TWELVE SERVINGS! We'll be eating this for awhile. Yes, that's right, we're eating stew in the summer. The picture in the cookbook was pretty and I couldn't help myself.

Mmmmmm Cinnamon Rolls

Savory Cinnamon Rolls from the Garden of Vegan. So very gooey. I wish the roll itself was softer, but I choose to blame my oven for that one (we just discovered that it's nearly 75 degrees off!).

I'm sure it looked odd taking pictures of my cruise food

We just went on our first cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. We were pretty worried about my finding vegan food to eat, especially since the woman we were told would confirm my special diet request with us never returned our phone calls. Things worked out pretty well, though, as you can see.

Some sort of vegetable patty with tomato sauce on top....in the little pouch on top, there were lentils hiding on there. It was fun, like having a present to open for my dinner!

Stuffed Pepper

I think this was pasta with a pepper sofrito.

Kiwi and grapefruit over a raspberry sauce.

Deep-fried tofu with Chinese pea pods.

Not your typical burritos, but good none the less.


Salad with grilled vegetables. The lettuce all had to be cut up, and once when I was cutting it up, it went flying and landed beside the plate of the man seated next to me (we were doing the shared seating thing). So mortifying.


Eggplant with pistachio-mint sauce.


Champagne waterfall. We didn't actually have any of the champagne. I don't particularly like it, and we left before they finished pouring all of the champagne--it was taking quite awhile.