Omnomnom

This seems to be becoming a food blog lately. Non foodies never fear, my relentless analysis of life in general will continue in time of this I am certain! This stuff is too good NOT to share, though.

So the next week of meals to disseminate. What did we have? I actually juggled a few things on the spur of the moment as I often do. I skipped the pasta, and instead had a salad sandwich for dinner one night when I was stuffed. I also skipped the marinated vegetable salad one night and instead made meatless burgers (for me, literally, just the salad part) because I wanted to try my new liquid smoke and I made a killer BBQ sauce with it. It was goooood on the salad and on fries. I'll be whipping that up again.

I did however, still make Gratin dauphinoise with wild mushrooms. This is basically a vegan potato bake that uses vegetable stock in place of cream and the like. It also puts some wild mushrooms through it, and it crisps up beautifully on top. Here I served it with a roasted pear, spinach and feta (optional) salad.

My favorite meal at the moment is Chilli sans Carne. It's so simple, and so tasty. I fry onion and freshly pressed garlic in some oil, add some chilli flakes and chilli powders, some chopped celery sticks, kidney beans and a tin of tomatoes and cook it down. Then a sprinkling of cheese and a dollop of sour cream and it's done. And my god it is GOOD.

I had a go at leek, potato and feta puff pastry pizzas, which surprised me. At first I thought they sounded average and uninspired in taste but I was happy to be proven wrong. These were tasty little things, would make a good lunch too in smaller quantity. Delish!

A fresh and packed vegetable and peanut salad (vegan). This was tasty and raw too, which gave it loads of crunch and vitamins and nutrients and all those other wonderful things. Plus, I got to use my mortar and pestle which is my favorite kitchen thingy. In there is garlic, ginger, chilli and freshly roasted peanuts. Added to this some tamarind paste and water and that was my salad dressing.

My salad consisted of cabbage, cucumber, bean sprouts, baby corn, beans, and basil. Crunch-o-rama!

Finally, spiced onion naan with lentil salad. I was supposed to use baby spinach for the salad, but my baby spinach had gone to god so I had to think on the fly and use good 'ol iceberg lettuce. I love iceberg so it worked for me. The salad element of this is vegan, and tasted so good I wanted to cry with my happy. For real! The naan had cheese on it, and I wasn't as taken with it. It was okay, but you know how some bread almost tastes sweet? I hate that, and this was like that. Like American bread - it freaked me out how sugary the bread I had over there was. I don't like that taste. On a pita or a naan without a sweet hint would be much nicer. The salad of weep inducing yumminess though, was amazing. Lentils, lettuce, onion that had been fried and softened in oil and mixed with curry powder, and a dressing of garlic, lemon juice, curry powder and olive oil. Taste sensation. Cheap, easy, it will be back in my mouth again.

Leaving out meals I have already posted about recently, next week the following are on the plan -

Asparagus, broccoli and cheese pasta
Italian Suppli
Mushroom and bean stroganoff
Parsley pesto pasta
Chickpea, feta and marinated vegetable salad
Smoky barbecue kebabs (vegan)
Wonton Soup (vegan)
Rogan josh (vegan)
Satay Curry (vegan)

And the last one which I am uber excited about, because to me it's like the vego version of steak and veg. It's a roasted mushroom with mustard cream sauce that I'll serve with mashed potato, and sauteed spinach, broccoli and garlic.

All of these are from Veggie Mama's blog, a new discovery that has me absolutely leaping with excitement. Given I took almost all of the above meals from her site, it's clear she's going to be my new BFF.

I am also going to try my hand at this vegan goats cheese. A bit afeared, but how good does it look! See more here too! Cheese is the most difficult thing for me about going vegan, so am so hoping it is a success!