Agave-Glazed Carrots and Back-to-Basics Black Beans

Hello on the 3rd day of the Vegan Month of Food! Tonight I made two side dish recipes from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food by Alicia C. Simpson. 

Served with the last of my leftover rice.

The agave-glazed carrots were nice and sweet, softened but still with enough of a crunch to them. This was my first time using agave, so yay for that! (I used a bit less agave & orange juice than the recipe called for.)

Agave-Glazed Carrots (carrots, agave nectar, cinnamon, canola oil, orange juice)

The black beans were good, but I noticed in my first bite an overpowering amount of pepper. The recipe called for what I thought would be way too much pepper for my liking, but instead of trusting my instincts like I did with the carrot recipe, I followed this one's measurements exactly. Next time for the pepper, I'll just do the whole “season-to-taste” bit instead. Even so, it was still good, and I enjoyed my added white onion. My main motivation with that was “let's see if I can use some of this up,” and it worked out nicely.

Back-to-Basics Black Beans (minced garlic cloves, chopped white onion*, canola oil, canned black beans, salt, pepper, water)
*my addition

Overall, another good meal, and now I know what changes to make next time.

 
More leftovers for lunch:

Boca chik'n patty on a Schär bun (lettuce, tomato, mustard, ketchup), corn, baked beans, potato salad

Over at the blog roll, I managed to make it to the blogs beginning with “F,” so slowly but surely I'll get to them all. There's so many fun themes and I've already begun bookmarking recipes to try later.

Buttons and Leela have been good today; here they are from earlier, guarding the hallway:

Peace. :)

Garlic Green Beans, Smashed Potatoes, and Spicy Corn

Hello on the 2nd day of the Vegan Month of Food! Today's post features three simple side dishes from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food by Alicia C. Simpson. 

Leela is currently pinning me in at the computer as I type this (while I was away from the computer, she laid down against my chair, which was mostly pushed in, and I didn't have the heart to move her, so I strategically maneuvered myself into my seat but it's a tight fit). 

I started cooking dinner early because I knew I'd take longer following cookbook recipes, and Buttons followed me to the kitchen, thinking she'd be getting an early dinner. No such luck. So she hopped up onto the bench and kept me company while I cooked. 

The three recipes that I chose were all very simple (hence me choosing them), and I halved the recipes because it said they made 4 servings, but to make three different dishes at once, let's just say I'm not that great at multitasking in the kitchen and there's a reason why I usually do one-pot meals... Between all the chopping, measuring, and cooking, it ended up taking over an hour, but everything turned out well. (A more coordinated person could get this done in half an hour, lol.) 

Garlic Green Beans (white onion, olive oil, minced garlic cloves, green beans, sliced almonds, pepper, salt)

Smashed Potatoes (2 medium red potatoes, soy milk, salt, pepper)

Spicy Corn (frozen corn, diced green bell pepper, diced red onion, crushed red pepper flakes, vegetable stock)

All in all, this meal turned out great!

 
The smashed potatoes were nice and creamy, the garlic green beans were good, and the spicy corn was definitely spicy (I'm such a weakling when it comes to spice). With just the crushed red pepper flakes being so spicy, I'm worried for later in the week; I plan to make chili from this cookbook, and that recipe calls for a LOT of spices...

Oh, and for lunch today, I had more leftovers: A vegan Morningstar burger (roasted garlic and quinoa, I liked this one a bit better on the Schär bun), corn on the cob, rice, and beans. I was stuffed; this was a much bigger lunch than I normally have, but I have a lot of leftovers to get through! 

Today I went through the alphabetical blog roll and reached the blogs starting with “B,” so I still have a long way to go. But I've seen some great posts so far, and several blogs that are new to me, so my Vegan MoFo is off to a great start! 

Closing update: Buttons has joined the blogging party!

Peace. :)

Labor Day Picnic Food

Hello & happy Vegan Month of Food! The joys of Vegan MoFo are upon us once more! I've only read a few of the many posts so far, but I'm already so excited about everyone's themes! Today I have some (blurry) pictures of the picnic food from our Labor Day lunch (plus my leftovers for dinner).

Everything was delicious; my only (slight) disappointment was the hamburger buns we found (Schär). I don't know, maybe I just need to try them with different burgers? (I had the Boca vegan burger, with lettuce, tomato, mustard, & ketchup.)

Anyways, our Labor Day picnic meal included choices of vegan burgers, chick'n patties, and smart dogs; potato salad; baked beans; corn; and a rice dish (made by my mom). Snacks included pickles, potato chips, pretzels, and tortilla chips with salsa. And dessert was watermelon and strawberries (from Zach's mom) and zucchini cake (made by my mom). And Zach and our dads had lemon water ice.

We ate inside because it was way too hot and humid outside. Buttons wandered around, crying for food, overwhelmed by the abundance and clearly a bit peeved that none of it was for her. She finally settled down on a blanket my mom laid out for her on the kitchen floor.

So, yes, this is our first introduction of the day: Buttons!

 
Zach and I adopted her at the end of June. She is around 7 years old, and a real sweetie. She loves belly-rubs and is very playful; her favorite toy is a little stuffed flamingo on a string. She likes lounging around, dramatically sprawling out on her back. She enjoys snuggling and is super talkative. She's a such a sweetheart, and you'll definitely be seeing more of her this Vegan MoFo!

Our second introduction is: Leela!

 
She'd been living with us for a couple weeks, and her adoption was made official this past Wednesday. She's around 10 years old; we adopted her from The Grannie Project, the same rescue organization from which we'd adopted Mystery. Leela and Buttons are slowly getting to know one another (and Buttons is still learning to not steal Leela's food). Leela is super cuddly and usually sleeps at my side, with at least one paw always touching me. And she loves playing with her mouse toy and yarn.

And, back to the food, here's my leftovers-as-dinner:

Oh and last but not least, check out these super cute decorations my aunt gave us today:

For the rest of this week, I'll be cooking from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food by Alicia C. Simpson. Of course tonight I realized that for each meal I was planning to make, I was still missing at least one ingredient. (You see why I'm so bad at cooking from cookbooks? Hahaha.) But Zach and I ran out to the grocery store to grab the last several ingredients, so I'll be good to go tomorrow!

Peace. :)