Spicy Mustard Chickpeas and Cream of Vegetables Soup

First two recipes I tried from Happy Herbivore Abroad. The chickpeas
are definitely a keeper. The soup was fine but my mix ended a little
to heavy on the carrot side. Ended up swirling in a bit of balsamic
at the table and enjoyed. Served the chickpeas on a romaine salad
tossed with a bit of dressing made with mustard, hot sauce, lemon
juice, agave, and touch of broth. A successful meal made without
added oil. This new cookbook looks promising.

Quick Chili Mole and Cornbread

Pictured is our chili and cornbread set next to the photo in Happy
Herbivore Abroad. Third recipe we tried. Matt picked it the day before
from the picture. Made Berley's cornbread.
We liked this meal and expect it will become an easy pantry friendly
staple in weeknight dinner category. Lindsay Nixon appears to cook
and approach food the way I aspire to. I think we have found a new
cookbook.
Didn't have refried beans so rinsed a can of pintos and whirled in the
mini micro food processor with some cumin, enchilada sauce, garlic
powder, and onion powder. For cornbread had to use cornmeal for masa
harina so a little course.
Might be nice to add a little crunchy slaw on the side.

Sesame Tofu and Broccoli with a side of Spinach

For the tofu we tried an Orange and Sesame Tofu recipe from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan. You bake the tofu in the sauce then sprinkle on seeds and green onions when done. We were missing green onions which I think would be a nice add and we used corn starch for the thickener. The result was a nice soft tofu and enough thickened sauce to treat the broccoli as well. Next time we would go ahead and toss them together before serving. Broccoli was from Immer and is simply steamed then tossed with sesame oil, ginger, and seeds. Spinach was from Immer sans the cream. We did use some fresh ground nutmeg which was nice. Meal paired nicely with a California Chardonnay. Excited to have this tofu recipe to add to the basic tool kit. Had not had much success with this approach before but I don't think previous versions had the thickener.

Vegetable Curry

Looked at about 5 recipes online to come up with approach. We cooked together so I had to pick one to follow. Picked one from an untested source so modified the spices a bit (upped cumin and lowered turmeric) when they looked suspicious. Also for modifications based on ingredients at hand we added fresh peas, removed potato and added some red lentils in place, added canned chickpeas, used homemade broth for water and upped a bit for the lentils, and reduced coconut milk to 5 oz. Base recipe at
http://www.discoveryourselfwell.com/kale-potato-and-cauliflower-yellow-curry-0
Meal was a success but not yet stellar. Would make a version again and further tweak.

White Bean Rosemary Soup with Jumbo Croutons & Fresh Basil

Trying out the Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan cookbook by Dreena Burton. It
appears to be pretty similar to the way I approach food and cooking.
Has made for some good week night ideas (use the book for ideas on how
to fake what I have in the house into a meal). This recipe I think I
came close to following. I cooked up the dried cannellini beans that
Mark and Betty gave us for Christmas to make this soup. Should have
posted back when I made this in April because I can't remember much
now. Per the recipe 2/3 of the beans are puréed and the remaining 1/3
is whole which I think is a great idea.

Partial Try at Greatness

This is our second go at some recipes by Jason Cunningham from Great
Chefs Cook Vegan. We made a version for our anniversary but we didn't
have the fava beans. This time we skipped the peppers.

Pictured is Sunflower Seed Risotto served with Fennel, Carrots, and
Fava Beans with Carrot Purée and Fava Purée. Also made the Butternut
Squash Soup with some substitutions and served with the Granny Smith
Apple and Radish Slaw.

A good meal but way too much work. Since I walked to the market to
get the fennel and made the broth all in the same day it may have been
a bit harder than it needed to be.

Whole Lot of Spring

Herbivore Spring Salad
Fava beans
Asparagus
Mint leaves
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Whole wheat orzo

This started out as Bittman's Fava Bean and Mint Salad with Asparagus
and became a pasta salad by upping the dressing a bit and adding the
orzo based on a memory of an asparagus salad from Culinate.

At the first bite I was not sure we had a winner but after a few bites
I could not stop raving. Found the left overs 5 days later and still
great. Leaving the mint leaves whole was a hard leap for me but made
for a successful salad feel.