For dinner, I made Festive Stuffed Butternut Squash from La Dolce Vegan and served it with merciful miso gravy from the same book. I loved it! You start by roasting the squash (in half) and then scraping out the squash to make two shells to stuff. The stuffing had sauteed onions, celery, green pepper and garlic, the squash, walnuts, pecans, bread, spices, tahini, tamari and brown rice. It was awesome. I loved how the nuts added a bit of crunch to an otherwise soft stuffing.
The gravy was delicious...nice and thick, the way I like it and I smothered the squash in it. I didn't get the greatest picture of the gravy. I took pictures before heading over to my aunt's, so I couldn't get a picture of the plated meal. That's the last thing I need is my family asking why I take pictures of my food. I would definitely make this dish again, possibly for Thanksgiving...its so festive! My gramma even said it smelled good.
Everyone else ate boring turkey. I would be so frustrated...my aunt spent all day in the kitchen making the turkey, and everyone was done eating in ten minutes! I know its a tradition but c'mon! But...I wouldn't mind spending a day in the kitchen. The only thing that marred my beautiful dinner was my uncle's wife asking me if I took vitamins "because most people who don't eat meat have to take vitamins to supplement....and eat nuts for protein..." blah blah blah. The rest of my family has been around longer and are past caring, so I was kind of annoyed I had to deal with these questions again, but I just said "No, I don't need to" and left it at that. I think she got the hint, plus my uncle piped up and said I was doing fine...strength in numbers baby ;) Oh and then there was the incident where she starts talking about how her "mom" had a sheep farm and how she shipped them off to get killed, etc. Classy.
For dessert, Sinfully Vegan's Chocolate Covered Coconut Cream Eggs. Whooo these were quite a task to make. I think I ended up giving up half way through. The recipe makes so many eggs and I was so frustrated I just stopped. The chocolate that I melted was so thick and it was hard to just give the eggs a thin covering. I had chocolate all over me and never thought I'd live to see the day where I was sick of chocolate, but it came. They set really well though, and while they don't look perfect, they ended up being very delicious, frustrating as they were. My other uncle and mom even ate some and enjoyed them. This was my first time making anything like this, so I guess practice would help me improve next time. The filling was a mixture of silk tofu, Tofutti cream cheese, coconut extract, coconut and mashed potatoes! The potatoes make for a softer, creamier filling I suppose. I really like these eggs. You bite into a hard chocolate shell and the coconut filling just slides into your mouth like a dream. It was the perfect Easter treat and the good thing about them is you can only eat one or two, they're so rich. So you're waistline is safer than it would be with say, cheesecake or chocolate cake. :P Oh and they remind me of Bounty Bars, which were my favourite before going vegan.
I bought some individually wrapped Endangered Species Company Dark Chocolate Treats in the spirit of Easter. These are great little snacks and Billy liked them too, which is good because I wasn't about to buy him a milk chocolate bunny, haha.
Oh yes, for breakfast on Saturday I had a craving for pancakes, so I made the Brainless Banana Pancakes from How It All Vegan. These are so yummy! They taste like banana bread, especially when they're cold (you could eat them like that as a snack). I also prepared the blueberry maple syrup from Vive le Vegan!. Mmm mmm. I am a sucker for maple syrup, so any variation on it is okay by me. This was great syrup...and a great way to use up some frozen blueberries (or other berries for that matter) and get some fruit in you.
That's it for me, I've got to start studying for my Experimental Methods In Biology exam that's tomorrow morning. Yawn. Ooo I will be making a yellow split pea soup for lunch, stay tuned!
4 comments:
Okay, everything looks amazing! Especially those eggs. Oh man, I love coconut so much. I'd be a little wary of the mashed potatoes, though. That just seems odd.
I know..I was weirded out by the potatoes, but once everything is made, you can't taste it. My mom and uncle were shocked when I told them.
I keep scrolling down your blog entires and with each one I see I keep thinking YUM, that looks good. Typically this happens to me maybe with one entry I see on a page... not yours. Just thought I'd let you know that and now I'll keep scrolling!
Oh on the chocolates. I was making some vegan candies at Christmas. I ended up placing them on a peice of waxed paper, brushing chocolate onto them with a silicone pastry brush, letting them cool a bit, and turning and then brushing again. It seemed to work out better for me that way. Otherwise I would lose my item to be dipped in the choclate, go fishing around for it and then have quite a mess by the time I was done. Your treats look great BTW!
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