Featured above: vegan apple pie from Whole Foods, peeps, whole strawberries, vegan brownie bites, and vanilla pizzelles (not vegan).
Happy Easter everyone! Hope you had a wonderful meal shared with friends and family today.
One question many people ask me when I tell them I am vegan is, what the hell do you eat? A lot of people couldn't imagine eating weeknight meals that don't include dairy, eggs, and meat let alone an actual holiday meal. Well friends, I'm here to show you that it CAN be done and it really isn't all that difficult or expensive. And no, you won't be eating rabbit food. I hope this post and all of my posts will show that you can take a vegan diet "out of cuckooland and bring it down to where everyone is," as Julia Child would say.
This Easter brunch I was so stuffed, you might as well have rolled me out in a wheelbarrow I was in such a food coma. (And I didn't just carbo overload, I ate real food packed with nutrients and protein.)
Brunch was by no means traditional and a bit of a smorgasbord, but delicious nonetheless. These are also simple, easy, and delicious standalone week night meal ideas you can try at home.
Appetizer:
We munched on freshly made Indian samosas that we purchased from a nearby Indian market. For those of you who have never heard of or tasted a samosa, it's a fried spiced potato-stuffed pastry. It's typically filled with potatoes, peas, and spices. (You can pick up a frozen package at Trader Joe's to sample.) We also had sliced celery sticks, carrots, and blue corn tortilla chips with Cedar's roasted red pepper hummus. I do however, prefer making hummus from scratch, where it's much cheaper and fresher than anything store bought.
Main:
We started with a homemade vegan asparagus pea soup inspired by Minimalist Kitchen's recipe. (If you haven't made it yet, go buy a bunch of asparagus and try it this week, it's that good and perfect for Spring.) The soup was topped off with homemade olive bread croutons. Side note: instead of throwing away bread, repurpose it and make croutons out of it for your soup or salad. It's super easy to make your own croutons. Just cut up the stale/dry bread into small chunks, drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake at 250F for about 25 minutes or until crispy.
We devoured Kite Hill's spinach ricotta raviolis topped with vegan pesto. These soy and dairy free raviolis with a side salad would make for an easy and cheap weeknight meal.
Finally, we tasted the rainbow with Tofurky Italian sausage sautéed with an onion, three bell peppers (red, yellow, and green) and celery. The vegetables were sautéed in Trader Joe's rosemary infused olive oil, salt, and pepper in a large frying pan for about 25 to 30 minutes. You only need to add the Italian sausage to the frying pan about 5 minutes before the vegetables are done cooking. Again, this is another easy standalone weeknight dish that would be delicious with a side salad or fresh bread.
Dessert:
We cheated a bit and bought our vegan desserts instead of baking it them at home. But sometimes you can't do it all right? Also, baking is a true art and I've yet to come close to mastering it. For now, I'll leave the delicious baked goods to the professionally trained bakers. Whole Foods pulled through and we had mouth watering apple pie, whole strawberries, and brownie bites. Oh and of course peeps, because Easter really isn't Easter without some peeps around even though I hate them as much as candy corn. Surprisingly, peeps are vegan. But it really shouldn't come as a surprise because the ingredients are just sugar and artificial flavors.
One question many people ask me when I tell them I am vegan is, what the hell do you eat? A lot of people couldn't imagine eating weeknight meals that don't include dairy, eggs, and meat let alone an actual holiday meal. Well friends, I'm here to show you that it CAN be done and it really isn't all that difficult or expensive. And no, you won't be eating rabbit food. I hope this post and all of my posts will show that you can take a vegan diet "out of cuckooland and bring it down to where everyone is," as Julia Child would say.
This Easter brunch I was so stuffed, you might as well have rolled me out in a wheelbarrow I was in such a food coma. (And I didn't just carbo overload, I ate real food packed with nutrients and protein.)
Brunch was by no means traditional and a bit of a smorgasbord, but delicious nonetheless. These are also simple, easy, and delicious standalone week night meal ideas you can try at home.
Appetizer:
We munched on freshly made Indian samosas that we purchased from a nearby Indian market. For those of you who have never heard of or tasted a samosa, it's a fried spiced potato-stuffed pastry. It's typically filled with potatoes, peas, and spices. (You can pick up a frozen package at Trader Joe's to sample.) We also had sliced celery sticks, carrots, and blue corn tortilla chips with Cedar's roasted red pepper hummus. I do however, prefer making hummus from scratch, where it's much cheaper and fresher than anything store bought.
Main:
We started with a homemade vegan asparagus pea soup inspired by Minimalist Kitchen's recipe. (If you haven't made it yet, go buy a bunch of asparagus and try it this week, it's that good and perfect for Spring.) The soup was topped off with homemade olive bread croutons. Side note: instead of throwing away bread, repurpose it and make croutons out of it for your soup or salad. It's super easy to make your own croutons. Just cut up the stale/dry bread into small chunks, drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake at 250F for about 25 minutes or until crispy.
We devoured Kite Hill's spinach ricotta raviolis topped with vegan pesto. These soy and dairy free raviolis with a side salad would make for an easy and cheap weeknight meal.
Finally, we tasted the rainbow with Tofurky Italian sausage sautéed with an onion, three bell peppers (red, yellow, and green) and celery. The vegetables were sautéed in Trader Joe's rosemary infused olive oil, salt, and pepper in a large frying pan for about 25 to 30 minutes. You only need to add the Italian sausage to the frying pan about 5 minutes before the vegetables are done cooking. Again, this is another easy standalone weeknight dish that would be delicious with a side salad or fresh bread.
Dessert:
We cheated a bit and bought our vegan desserts instead of baking it them at home. But sometimes you can't do it all right? Also, baking is a true art and I've yet to come close to mastering it. For now, I'll leave the delicious baked goods to the professionally trained bakers. Whole Foods pulled through and we had mouth watering apple pie, whole strawberries, and brownie bites. Oh and of course peeps, because Easter really isn't Easter without some peeps around even though I hate them as much as candy corn. Surprisingly, peeps are vegan. But it really shouldn't come as a surprise because the ingredients are just sugar and artificial flavors.
