The main dish was a "Tofurkey" like product. Now, I've never had Tofurkey or a similar product, so I was excited to try it. I have to admit though, I cheated and just purchased a cook and serve one. I know that Tofurkey like dishes can be made by hand...but I didn't want to run the risk of blowing the main dish. I handed this over to my aunt to pop in the oven. While it looks pale and boring in the picture, it was actually pretty tasty! I'm anxious to try it again and maybe come up with a sauce or glaze to put over it, though I try not to use a lot of pre-cooked/pre-packaged foods.
As a side dish I made shredded brussels with green apple. I'm usually not a huge fan of brussels, but the apple and maple syrup blended great together and the flavor turned out really well....not too tart and not too sweet. Now I want to point out that I used REAL maple syrup. Not the junk you usually get for your pancakes. And there is definitely a difference. Unfortunately I never got around to snapping a picture of these..they didn't last very long!
Another side dish was baby carrots in dill "butter". This was a recipe I found that wasn't vegan, but it was so simple to make is vegan! Instead of melting butter of the carrots, I melted Earth Balance instead...then sprinkled it with FRESH dill! Very simple and very very yummy!
Here's my sister with the carrots...she loves anything with dill!
Another simple side dish was cous cous with currants and nuts. This is another little thing I cheated with and bought pre-packaged. Again this was something I gave my aunt to do (hey..I did everything else!!!) so I wanted to take it easy on her. This is my favorite kind of cous cous and became the favorite of my sister and aunt as well! I snapped a picture...but since I was using my phone...the pic turned out looking a little less than appetizing...just picture it in your head. Looks amazing eh?
Here's our little feast. It doesn't look like much but it was very filling!
If you follow me on twitter then you know the night before Easter I was up until about 2am baking for the next day. And this is what I made!
Lemon-Ginger Cookies. These guys didn't turn out quite like I had hoped, but they were still tasty! Definitely a recipe I will be working with to perfect. I'm a sucker for anything lemon and/or ginger!
I also made a blueberry cake. It turned out something like a shortcake with blueberries. The recipe had called for frozen blueberries, but I opted for using fresh...and it made a big difference! There were some left overs so the next morning I threw a piece in a bowl..heated it up...and poured some vanilla hemp milk over it. Good grief was that good!
I also made a dairy free yogurt dessert. It was dairy free yogurt with numerous dried fruits and fresh apples sliced into it..then topped off with sliced almonds. I kind of tossed the recipe and through it all together until it looked how I thought it should haha. It was very light and refreshing! I'd like to point out that I used all organic/vegan ingredients. For those of you who think that there is no difference with organic produce...you are completely wrong. I won't go into a huge rant on chemicals...but the taste difference alone is proof enough!
This is my sister and my aunt...they didn't know I was planning on snapping a shot...
This last picture....my nephew Cameron wanted to leave some sliced strawberries for the Easter Bunny when he stopped by. I knew I was going to be up for quite a while so I decided to send him to bed and create a little surprise for in the morning. I left this letter, put it on the counter, dragged a stool over to the counter, then took a liitle cotton ball and made it like the Easter Bunny had snagged his tail on the cupboard handle. The next morning he freaked! He wrote the date on the back and said he would "keep it forever". It's little things like that that kids keep in their memories.
I hope everyone had a great Easter! I really enjoyed creating yummy dishes and not having the thought of what animals had to go through so I could eat. Even though the Peter Cottontail left a little of that cotton tail of his behind...I like to think his tail is bushy enough that it didn't hurt him at all ;-) Till next time..be kind!
