As I probably mentioned — at least I mentioned this to all of my friends! — I recently got my very own copy of Veganomicon. This week I took full advantage of it, cooking two recipes from it.
But first, last Sunday night I made polenta and vegetables, similar to when DJ came over. This time, I used a zucchini instead of a red pepper, and I left out the balsamic vinegar. I kind of missed the vinegar; balsamic is yummy stuff. I did like the zucchini, though. Also, instead of making the polenta into cakes, I mashed it up and heated it in the microwave. That worked out pretty well. As DJ pointed out last week, one of the things you might miss in a vegan diet is creaminess, and polenta, especially cooked this way, certainly supplies that.
I was still sick when I took that, as witnessed by the fact that this picture was taken on the couch. I spent so much time on that couch! I’m feeling so much better now, though.
On Monday, my roommate Megan and I take this workout class called “killer kore,” which is occasionally quite killer. Before we left, we assembled the Kale and Potato enchiladas from Veganomicon, so that when we got back all we’d have to do was pour the enchilada sauce on them and bake.
These were seriously delicious. Rather than being ambitious and seeking out all the ingredients for the enchilada sauce, I bought two packets of Rick Bayless enchilada sauce, which was delicious. I was proud that I knew who that was because of the cookbook my dad has.
One thing we agreed on about the enchiladas is that they could have used more pumpkin seed. Next time!
I look like such a groupie, because the next thing I made was a stew from the Post-Punk Kitchen blog. I did a search in my Google Reader starred items for “kale” and the Kale, White Bean, and Quinoa stew appeared. I had some red beans leftover from the lentils I made last week, so I used those instead. The spices really make this special.
Lastly, I used the recipe from Veganomicon to make myself my very own lasagna. After an entire summer of making lasagna at least three times and not eating any, I finally got the chance. It was everything I was dreaming of and more. Instead of making it with spinach like I was supposed to, I made it with kale, because as you can tell from the fact that I put it in absolutely everything, I have lots and lots of kale. I think it would have gone better with spinach, because kale is kind of tough, even if it’s steamed and wilted. However, I have no complaints about my lasagna. I cut the recipe in 1/4 and ate half for dinner and half for lunch. Half a lasagna for lunch? Awesome.
It was as delicious as it looks!
I bought an eggplant with the original intention of putting it in the lasagna, but then I decided not to, so I had an eggplant to cook for dinner last night. I decided to put it in a really simple stir-fry with some tofu, sesame seeds, and scallions. Not very exciting, but good. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have because I was still kind of full from eating half a lasagna for lunch, haha.
If I eat it for lunch and I find it amazing, I may post the recipe next week. Speaking of next week, it’s kind of busy for me, but I think I’ll be able to make some delicious things. I’ll let you know!
All Around The Larder 