So many colours in the Rainbow...

Anyone else a Harry Chapin fan? :)
Phew, so it's been a busy week. We've started doing some kitchen renos, but I have managed to get some cooking done.
Here's last night's dinner. (Note the cardboard box that was serving as my prep station.)

My husband made this chana masala over quinoa, and, inspired by our abundance of zucchini, I threw together a modified version of the Zucchini-Avocado Salsa from The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook. The recipe called for avocado (hence the name...) and cilantro, but I didn't have either, so I used tomatoes and parsley. It was filled with beautiful veggies, and was really lovely.
This weekend we are attending a wedding at a campground, and we will be camping overnight, so I spent a good part of today preparing for that.
This morning I made the Simple Crunchy Granola from La Dolce Vegan. I modified the recipe a little, using only 1/4 cup of maple syrup (instead of 3/4), and adding hemp seeds.
I sampled some with some soy yogurt this morning, and it was really delicious.
And to accompany it on our mini-getaway, I sliced up some grapes and strawberries, and they were just too pretty not to snap a shot.
Since it is quite probable that there will be no vegan desserts at the wedding tomorrow, I made some. Is it in bad taste to bring your own dessert to a wedding? I'm not sure. I've never met the bride or groom (my husband's cousin who has never lived close by), so I'm quite sure that they have no idea of our diet. I figure that we'll sneak back to our campsite and gorge on what I made: a veganized version of the Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes from the ReBar cookbook. Another one of the guests (another cousin-in-law, with whom we are very close) is quite nearly vegan, mainly due to her daughters' allergies. Her youngest little nursling has a few sensitivities, one of which is soy. Unwilling to give up the chocolate chips the recipe calls for (selfish me! the chocolate chips I have contain soy.), I divided the batter in half, adding chocolate chips to one half and baking that in an 8x8" pan, and adding dried cranberries and coconut to the other half and baking those in a muffin tin. They both look amazing, and to be honest, my husband and I each sampled one of the cranberry-laden cupcakes, and they were fantastic.
I didn't get a picture of the chocolate chip "squares", but I will try to get one before they are all gobbled up tomorrow. (Aside from my husband's cousin, my mother-in-law is also making the switch to veganism after being vegetarian for over 15 years! Needless to say, I'm sure that we won't return home with a full tray of sweets!)
For lunch, I made a batch of the Angelic Tofu Sandwich Filling from Becoming Vegetarian, which is tasty, but not so photo-worthy. But what is, are these completely beautiful vegetables that I chopped/ shredded to accompany the tofu in some wraps.
All lovely, organic, beets, green peppers, and carrots. Yum! We have oodles of beets coming in from our wonderful csa, and I'm just itching to use them!
And lastly, just because I'm so thrilled I can hardly stand it, here is the absolutely gorgeous new countertop that we ordered today.
Okay, so it's a little hard to see, but it is so amazing.
I'll be sure to do a post-camping post, and report on some of the store-bought goodies we are taking along.
Happy weekend, all!
xo