Thursday, February 7, 2008

A week of Vegan Family Dinners

We've had a pretty mellow week. It's still mega cold here, but we will survive (hey! hey!).
So, I have 5 new dinners to share.

First, last Wednesday, I made ED&BV's Sweet Potato-Lentil Chili, with a sprout salad and ExtraVeganZa's Red Pepper Hemp Cornbread.
The chili was *awesome*. I loved it. I'm a recent sweet potato convert, and I thought this was so good. It was a hit with everyone. The cornbread was a tad sweet for my taste, but good. I think next time I'll add less sugar, and maybe throw a minced jalapeno in. But isn't it pretty?

Thursday we had spaghetti at my dad's which was super yummy, as usual.

Friday, we had ExtraVeganZa's Root Vegetable Pot Pie.
I didn't have any rutebegas, so I threw in beets to even the score a bit. It's full of (purple) potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and the aforementioned beets. It was super comforting yummy. Perfect winter food.

Saturday my in-laws were in town, and we went to a great Vietnamese restaurant we live right around the corner from. They have a huge vegetarian menu, and we got a bunch of yummy dishes to share, like salad rolls, mango and tofu curry, and lemon tofu. Mmm.

I don't remember what we had on Sunday, but I think it was just a quick pasta.

Monday I made V'con's Pinneapple-Cashew-Quinoa Stirfry (or something to that effect...).
I knew Quinn would love this. It is full of his favorite things: cashews, quinoa, peppers, pinneapple, and peas. What's not to like. The quinoa is even cooked in pinneapple juice for extra pinneapple-y flavour. We all liked it, but I think I'd make this again just for Q.

Tuesday was my new favorite food, V'con's Chickpea Cutlets, served alongside a tomato-basil salad, and some roasted cauliflower.
Sigh. I heart those cutlets.

Last night I made V'con's Po' Boys and ED&BV's popcorn fries.
Sweet goodness, this dinner rocked my world. Okay, so it's obviously not healthy. The only veggies were the Veganaise-drenched cabbage, and a few slices of tomato. The french bread is white. Yada yada yada. Whatever. This was awesome. It made me smile with every bite. Oh yum. I want more. Yum. Oh, and although the recipe doesn't call for tomatoes, I highly recommend them. I left off the pickles, and without the tomatoes, it would've been a tad dry. Also, I left off the chipotle mayo, because chipotle, and really, all things smoky, make me want to gag a little bit. (I ran out of chili powder a few weeks ago, and accidentally bought chipotle chili powder to replace it. *shudder* So, now I have chipotle chili powder that I will never use. Sigh.)

And our lunches (no pictures), have been ExtraVeganZa's Peanut-Lime-Cilantro soup, and ED&BV's Monkey Minestrone with Polenta Croutons, which I looooved. I used Tinkyada's Sweet Dreams pasta, with all the fun shapes, and Quinn loved it. My hubby loved the croutons and said that they reminded him of chips (his favorite thing in the world).

I've done a bit of baking too, this past week. My grandpa's girlfriend (that's not as weird as it sounds) had a birthday last week, so I made her a batch of ExtraVeganZa's Lemon-Lavender-Blueberry Muffins.
I can't believe I haven't mentioned these muffins here before. They are my most favorite muffin in the whole world. Okay, that's a bit of a lie. They are tied for first with Vive's Stork Muffins. But whatever. These are lemony and lavendery and perfect and yummy.
We also made, but don't have pictures of, ED&BV's Cocoa-Banana Muffins (yum!), ExtraVeganZa's Apple-Walnut Spice Muffins (I thought these were good, but they are the first muffin ever that Q didn't like), and Hide and Seek Muffins from Pretend Soup (which we've made before.

And the only new food we've given Teague is yams.
He loved 'em. He's been cut-off from broccoli, as it made him a wee bit, ahem, gassy, and he would therefore, keep me up all night (moreso than he already does). I plan to make a bunch more food for him this weekend.

And that's all, folks.
Peace and love.
xo

11 comments:

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

No broccoli for Teague?! Poor boy! But yams are just as good, so I guess he's not so poor after all ;o).

Everything looks so delicious; I've had my eye on that cashew quinoa pineapple stir fry for a while now. And the bowls the stir fry is in are just too fun!

I've never had vegetarian Vietnamese food, but I used to love lemon chicken (*shudder*), so lemon tofu sounds really good to me.

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

my goodness you've been cooking some amazing things! i'm so going to make the chickpea cutlets, yes i am - tomorrow. and i must agree about the sweet potato-lentil chili, it did have my tastebuds singing. thanks for sharing that photo - you're little guy is so adorable!!!!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

5 new dinners = all delectable-looking. may I please come over for dinner? :0D

aww, how fun that Teague is loving so many new foods - hooray for yams!!

Monika K said...

I love hearing about little kids who like to eat things like quinoa, cashews, peas and broccoli (even with the, ahem, gas included). The Sweet Potato-Lentil Chili is on my list to try, and serving it with cornbread? Yes, please!

P.S. I love the side comments in your posts, like the comment about your grandpa's girlfriend - hilarious!

Theresa Hannah said...

I just don't get how you have time to make all this yumminess with the Teaguester and Qrad around? You are my hero. And I totally need that cutlet recipe. Cause chickpeas rock, and I need to incorporate them into my life more. Thanks for the cooking inspiration!

urban vegan said...

OMG. Teague is so adorable. And all that vegan chow is making my mouth water. I have to make Dreena's chili.

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

TEAGUE IS GORGEOUS! i gotta make that Red Pepper Hemp Cornbread!

Erika said...

Baby Teague is so adorable, with or without the flatulence :) By the way, where did you get the "Baby Facts" bib that he's wearing in a previous post? I love it!!

The Little Mama said...

Erika: the bib is made by this company: http://www.dababy.ca/.
:)

Unknown said...

Wow! Can I join Chocolate Covered Vegan and stalk your food? The young gentleman looks quite happy.

Unknown said...

Hi there, just found your blog for the first time, and you have my mouth watering already. I love that quinoa dinner you cooked up, that is one of my favorites from V-Con. And I think I'm the last person to try the chickpea cutlets... one of these days I'll cook it up. Everything looks totally delicious though!