Nom Night

I have officially broken in my copy of Veganomicon. It even has a small stain on it from the marinade for the Smoky Tempeh. I was so excited to use my next grill pan for the first time! I still need to work on perfecting the grill marks, but I was happy just the same. I have really started to like tempeh just recently, and this recipe was no exception. The tempeh accompanied another newbie, pineapple-cashew quinoa. After re-learning my lesson about touching hot chiles (ouch in the nose, trust me), this dish came together quite easily after some serious chopping, but it was well worth it. I think the highlight of the dish was the mint and basil, so if you make this don't skip the fresh herbs!

Even though we still have gingerbread cookies, and we're leaving town for Austin tomorrow morning (to attend a Vegan Chile Festival!), I still wanted to try a cookie recipe. Since I have been craving chocolate, I went for the chocolate-chocolate chip walnut cookies. The only thing I did differently was use chocolate hemp milk to sub for the soy milk. I think the result was an even chocolatier flavor. These were yummy right out of the oven, I actually needed a glass of water to wash them down (sometimes soy milk just won't do that for me). John even ate a whole cookie on his own (which he rarely does, he usually has a bite of mine), attesting to the true power of these cookies.

My love affair with this book has only just begun....