Yum Yum Fun

I decided to test out one of my new cookbooks on New Year's Day and I made a couple of dishes from Vegan Yum Yum. I made Corn Fritters as well as Candied Lime Sweet Potatoes. I also made Brussels Sprouts with Shallots and Dillweed from 1000 Vegan Recipes (although minus the dill as I didn't have any and Popeye suggested that I use some lemon pepper seasoning).

The meal was really nice. The corn fritters were a little dry (the last few I have made have been a little dry also) but the excess syrup from the sweet potatoes added moisture and flavour. Ulm (the author) suggests 2 sweet potatoes for the candied lime recipe although I only used one large-ish one (I'm not sure what size sweet potatoes are in the US, but 2 was definitely WAY too much).

My memories of brussels sprouts are as a kid, with a boiled or steamed mess of mini cabbage-like green balls on my plate, being forced to eat them, sitting at the table for hours until I had, blocking my nose with one hand while nibbling and gagging on the sprout in the other, and eating cold, disgusting mush (we weren't allowed to reheat them). Two things have ultimately come out from those bad childhood experiences:
1.  I never make my kids eat anything they don't like (although we have a 'two bites without a fight' policy. This means that they must take at least 2 decent bites of anything before they decide they actually don't like it - more often than not they actually do like it - they tend to be put off by the look of food. Having said that, my 2 fussy eaters - Baby and YM - are really no longer fussy since becoming vegan. YM was just telling me the other day that he loves anything I cook!) Opps, sorry, I digressed!
2. I have NEVER eaten brussels sprouts as an adult...

until now! They were really delicious! The best thing about becoming a vegan is all the new, exciting and wonderful food that I am eating. It's food I would never have considered as an omni. We really are lucky with the amazing food choices we have available to us, without the harm of a single animal.

Proud to be vegan

Tahn

I'm in love!

I am soo in love with my new cookbook 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson.

Here's what I have made while I have been ignoring you:

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (soo damn good!)

Moroccan-Spiced Chickpea and Sweet Potato Stew

Sunset Fruit Pudding (oh, so good! Can you tell I have a sweet tooth!!) It's raw, too - just fruit.

The salad is Roasted Cauliflower and Rice Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette. And thanks to Brisvegan's quiche post I was inspired to try Isa's Broccoli Quiche. I actually found the recipe on the PPK website. I used a basic pie crust recipe from 1000 Vegan Recipes. And DAMN it was good! Will definitely make this for the vegan xmas potluck I'm going to next Saturday (although I will splash out and purchase a pie tin - all I had was a square one). I wanted to have a test run on it first. Amazing! I also thought I would take some sushi as a starter and some sort of dessert to the pot luck. I'd better do some test runs on some desserts! Just in case....

Friday night Tweenie asked if we could watch the sunrise on Saturday morning. So we got up bright and early the next morning and walked up the road to the park. Unfortunately it was quite cloudy out on the east side of the world(and wouldn't ya know it - clear everywhere else!!). The kids still enjoyed it and it fostered some great discussions about the earth's rotation and the role of the sun. We hope to do it again on a day not so cloudy, although it did make for cool pictures.

Tahn