Wow!!

Tonight my husband said: "this is better than the non-vegan version"!!!


We didn't have anything extremely special tonight. I was feeling very "vegetable-y" so I simply steamed a lot of veggies and opened some canned fire roasted tomatoes in order to get my fix. In order to make it a little fancier, I added a splash of vegan hollandaise sauce from Vegan Brunch. DH actually tried it and then proclaimed it tastier than the regular stuff!! He thought the flavor was good and that it wasn't overly lemony. I liked that it had so many layers of flavor. I can't wait to make a vegan benedict!


I am in love with this cookbook. I recently made "breakfast for lunch" by packing tofu scrambles (my recipe) and pancakes (her recipe). It was a great idea! There is something about eating pancakes with maple syrup at lunch that can just turn my whole day around! With my southwestern tofu scramble I had the best guacamole ever, made by my own dear husband. I am not sure of the exact proportions because he just dumped the stuff in the bowl, but here is the basic outline.

My husband's awesome guacamole
(P.S. He's very protective of this recipe, so I can only give the roughest outline...)
*really... the best ever!

Ingredients
avocados
lime juice
garlic
onion
cumin
cayenne
salt

Method

1. Dump it all in a bowl
2. Mash with a potato masher
3. Store with the pits to prevent browning.
4. Try not to eat it all at once!

I wish it photographed well... it doesn't. I ate most of it anyway

so my husband loves me soooo much.....

that he spent four hours recreating the winning dish from Top Chef's vegan challenge with Zooey Deschanel! Admittedly he says he spent one hour searching for a cutting board (I recently re-organized) but the recipe was extremely involved to say the least. You can find it at the official Bravo TV site.


It was really excellent and he did a great job making it!! I married the best! It was super garlicky and comforting. I usually don't care for zucchini but in this, it was perfect!! Look how beautifully it came out:


Plus when he was done... the kitchen wasn't even a mess!!!


Its a shame that the winning dish had to come from the chef that complained the most about cooking for a vegan though. To balance him out check out this excellent blog entry about vegetarianism by judge Jay Oseland. I only wish Mr. Oseland had been given a chance to voice his opinions on air.

P.S. Here is the other delicious looking recipe from Chef Rick Bayless for Vegan Tamales

in food as in marriage....compromise is good!!

The other day my husband and I went shopping at a local Asian Market, Han Ah Reum. He rarely goes grocery shopping with me, but when he does it definitely alters the contents of our cart. The case in point on this last trip was a Nakiri (a Japanese Vegetable Knife). I felt we didn't need it, but my DH insisted I would love it... I compromised and wouldn't you know he was right! I love the new knife and used today's vegetable soup as an excuse to chop and chop and chop.


Eventually, my DH saw just how much fun I was having in the kitchen and came to join me in the soup-making. Before I knew it, he had the knife and was adding stuff to the soup....stuff I wouldn't have added. Stuff like the basil, oregano and marjoram. It wasn't the spices themselves that I objected to but the quantities. Nor did I object to the rice in principal, but I was thinking pasta... Since I wouldn't even have my lovely new knife if it weren't for following his earlier suggestion, I decided to try to compromise on the soup ingredients as well.



Well... Surprise Suprise this was a delicious soup!! And easy too!! In honor of our joint efforts I am naming it : Marriage Is About Compromise Soup or MIAC Soup for short. I suggest you try it at home and see if you don't love it too!!

MIAC Soup

Ingredients:
1 rib celery, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 head baby napa cabbage, finely chopped
1/2 cup green beans, chopped into small pieces
1 cup frozen green peas
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
1/2 cup minced fresh chives
1/4 cup minced fresh oregano
1/4 cup minced fresh marjoram
1/2 cup minced fresh basil
1 tofurky italian sausage, chopped into small pieces
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 cup wine (I used rice wine, white would work just as well)
4 cups hot water
2 Vegan Not Beef Bouillon cubes
red pepper flakes, to taste

1 1/2 cups cooked white rice
1 additional cup water (if necessary)
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Put everything except cooked rice and water in crock pot and cook on low 7-8 hours.
2. One hour before serving, stir in rice and additional water, if necessary. Taste and adjust seasoning.


We were able to throw this together and simply leave it, while we went to a recital for one of my husband's students and then socialized with some friends. When we returned home the soup was ready to eat. How easy is that?