See? I Have Been Cooking...

Looking back on my posts from the last few weeks, there has been very little vegan noodle-made food! That comes along with being out of town and just being generally busy (like everyone else isn't and you're still cooking fabulous dishes, puts me to shame...) and not cooking anything too spectacular. But I thought some of these were definitely blog-worthy. Let's see if you agree.

Here is the spinach tarragon "quiche" from V-con. It was different from other vegan quiches that I've tried because it's not made with tofu, but navy beans and walnuts and asparagus. I subbed dill for all of the tarragon, just because I needed to use it up. We both really enjoyed this dish, plus I thought it was kind of pretty. Oh, and I was really proud that I made the crust on my own, usually I just cheat and use the frozen ones.


A side and up-close shot of a slice. I served this with a simple spinach salad topped with pine nuts and grape tomatoes (and I think avocado, but I don't see it in the pic and I've since forgotten). I think next time I would top it with some balsamic glace to finish it.

The Sunday before last, my family came over for brunch since my brother was in town for a bachelor party (impressive that he made it to our place on time!). My mom was awesome enough to make cinnamon rolls from JOVB. Yum yum yum. This is the one I saved for the next morning when I was up in Calgary.

My contribution was another V-con recipe, the blue flannel hash, fitting since my latest obsession has been with blue/purple potatoes (I have a bag in the pantry, any suggestions on what I use them for next?). And of course you can never get enough tempeh.

And finally, for dessert, the lower fat deep chocolate bundt cake from V-con. It really was some seriously deep chocolate, thanks to the coffee I'm thinking. My first bundt cake ever too. I was so glad to have a piece of this on the plane ride (and shhhh, for breakfast)


I was recently tagged by LizzyQ to tell all you readers five things about myself. So, here you go...
1. I have never owned a pet (excluding inheriting my best friend's two hamsters when she moved to Singapore). But I would like to someday if we live in a place with an actual yard. I'm thinking I'm a dog person, mainly because I'm allergic to cats.
2. I am eligible to run for president in 2016. I figured this out when I was about twelve.
3. I have never eaten a fast food hamburger. As a kid I thought they were disgusting.
4. I have been married 169 days / 4063 hours / 243803 minutes / 14628214 no 15 no 16 seconds
5. Okay, what a spinoff.... I was going to write here that this year is my ten year high school reunion and instead of going to my own, I'm gonna crash (with her permission) my friend's in Las Vegas (she's the one who went to Singapore, so they're meeting back in the US). BUT out of curiosity I google my high school, and what do you know, they are actually getting together. Now I'm wondering, should I go??

Alright, I'm supposed to tag five people but I'm sleepy, so consider yourself tagged if you are reading this!

Rolls for RenFest (and a bit of flair)

A roadtrip to the Rennaisance Festival (about 1.5 hours from downtown Houston) requires cinnamon rolls. Don't ask me why, but after seeing so many blog posts on these cinnamony-ooey-gooey treats, I have been waiting for the perfect time to make them. This is what had me up at 6am on a Saturday morning. These aren't your Pillsbury straight-out-of-a-can cinnamon rolls. These require work....

I used the recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking. On Friday night I made the dough and let it rise, smeared the filling on the rolled out dough (thanks to John for rolling), and cut up the individual rolls. Saturday morning I let them come to room temperature and finish rising. The smell the filled the house was intoxicating. I came downstairs to check the rolls about 5 minutes prior to being done.... disaster!! The cinnamon rolls completely popped open and the filling was spread out over the baking sheet in a big ole mess. Luckily John came to the rescue and said we should take them out and smoosh them into a pyrex and just ladle the filling on top. Whew! Regardless of this setback, we all enjoyed the cinnamon rolls on the long drive up to Magnolia... (next time I will just cook them in a pyrex)

The last time I was at the Rennaisance Festival I was probably in grade school. My only memories are lots of people dressed up, the hair wrap and wreath with flowers and ribbons I got, and turkey legs (just like you Diann!). Yes, this is not a vegan's paradise for food. In fact, the only thing I ate after the cinnamon roll in the car, was some cinnamon-roasted almonds. Instead of dressing up in traditional renaissance fair garb, I went armed with vegan flair. Five pieces of vegan flair (I know, it's not the minimum of 14 pieces, plus I lost one during the day)! Besides my shirt, I had a "you are not an environmentalist if you eat meat", "vegan freak", "i don't eat anything with a face", and "be kind to animals don't eat them" buttons. And by the end of the day I gained one more piece of flair, a henna tattoo of the word "vegan".

Here's some more pictures from the festival... the grounds are amazingly huge. Lots of big trees, and it was another warm November Day in southeast Texas.

Some festival fairies, an anatomically-correct man+horse (what's the word?), a Star Wars inspired Highlander, and some dancing gypsies...

And of course festival games! Jacob's Ladder, long bow, tomato toss, and knife throwing.
It was a long day, but lots of fun. I even managed to block out the presence of turkey legs, and the elephant and camel rides. It'll probably be another ten years before I go again...