I <3 Fall

Fall and Winter are my two preferred seasons. The leaves change color, the air gets cooler, my birthday, new school year (well I'm older now),sweatshirt and warm sweaters, scarves, winter holidays and family get-to-gethers, the possibility of snow...

And it isn't my favorite thing about the cooler weather, but it sure is a huge plus - being able to truly appreciate a bowl of hot soup. Below is a recipe from Dreena Burton's new book, Eat, Drink & Be Vegan! - Spicy Pureed Yam and Chickpea Soup. Gah, it was good. The woman had me using coriander and not complaining!
I had leftover stuffed mushroom filling, and a chunk of tofu that hadn't been cooked, so I stuffed it. I marinaded the tofu chunk in braggs, olive oil and garlic, and coated it in flour/oats/nutritional yeast/basil/thyme/sea salt and freshlong grounded pepper. It was then oven baked. The things you do with random leftovers..
A recent pizza pie - before going in the oven and after.

Homemade half whole wheat pastry/half white flour garlic and herb dough, Isa pizza sauce from VWAV, roasted garlic tofu ricotta (some from a fresh batch and some that had been frozen), maroon bell peppers, collard greens, pine nuts, crushed garlic, red pepper flakes and chopped shallots on Thomas' half. I admit, I'm going nutty and sauced my slices up with Frank's Red Hot.

Half of a roasted eggplant sandwich from Veganopolis in downtown Portland. Yes, we have a restaurant called that, yes, we are lucky! I have some complaints about em, like everywhere, but really service was fast and the food was spot-on Friday for lunch.
The above is my absolute favorite thing on the menu. This one had a TON of fresh spinach since I asked for no onions, roasted eggplant slices, roasted red pepper spread and almond feta - served on a great ciabatta roll (I think from Grand Central). I took half the sandwich home for dinner and I was a full girl.
Organic mini tortilla chips with cashew cheddar from The Real Food Daily cookbook, defrosted and smushy black beans (I'll just throw the rest in chili) and chopped jalapenos. I'm on my sorta exciting homemade cheese kick!
I honestly can't decide if I like this one or last post's Smoked Gouda better. I'm leaning towards this one, since it did become a block and also melted - at least at first. So far I'm eating it on crackers, maybe shredding or melting some more soon..



Homemade garlic & herb breadsticks - I had some pizza dough leftover from that experience. These are topped with olive oil, nutritional yeast, chopped garlic, coarse sea salt and oregano. Thomas and I were both really impressed with how good these came out. We dipped them in more sundried tomato pizza sauce.

Sometimes, meals don't go as planned..... I'm certainly guilty of screwing up meals - this was supposed to be the Black Eyed Pea and Quinoa Croquettes from VWAV, and they just weren't forming. I subbed millet for quinoa, I could blame that.... Really, even with adding breadcrumbs, it was just too moist, maybe flour would have helped. Oh well..
I topped it with shiitake mushroom gravy, and on the side are roasted potatoes, turnips and golden beets.
Special occasions = half a batch of peanut butter bombs!


And lastly, home popped popcorn with melted earth balance, nutritional yeast and sea salt. Because it rules.