Catching up...

Matt and I had a nice anniversary yesterday - thanks to everyone who wished us well. Here's a picture of the place we got married (also where we picniced yesterday - can you see Carlos hiding behind the bench?) -

We played fetch with Carlos (really) and ate yummy lunch. I have been really bad about remembering to take pictures of the foods I make lately for the blog, but we had tempeh salad sandwiches and a cold quinoa salad with cherries and spinach. It was quite delicious, and I just had leftovers for lunch again today.

For the tempeh salad, I make it somewhat based on a recipe from the Chicago Diner cookbook. I cut one pound of tempeh into 1/4" cubes, brown it in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle a little soy sauce on it and toss and cool; then mix in Veganaise (this time I used part soy yogurt to try to lighten it up a little) and whatever else you like - I added chopped celery, grated carrots, salt, pepper, Larrupin sauce (a local thing - sorry)... hmm, it seems like there was more but now I can't remember. Anyways, it's really good, especially in whole wheat pocket bread with lettuce and tomatoes.

I think I've discovered that I like quinoa better cold, like in this salad, than I like it hot. I hardly ever eat it because I just don't enjoy it much hot, but this salad was delicious, and I'm happy to find a way to fit this super-nutritious grain into my diet. You can find the recipe here, on the Vegetarian Times website - the only change I made was to omit the cucumber, simply because I forgot to buy it.

This weekend is going to be a frenzy of cooking and baking; our good friends John-Paul and Andrea are coming to visit and I have to treat them right. Maybe I'll remember to take some photos, but don't count on it.

Tonight I'm making pasta fagoile with strawberry salad and garlic bread, with the less-fat cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (I've ordered you to buy that book before; why haven't you???) for dessert.

Tomorrow for breakfast I'm going to try a new vegan french toast recipe (still searching for that perfect one...), then we're going out to dinner. Sunday morning, vegan cinnamon rolls will be enjoyed by all, with pad thai for dinner and homemade vegan peach ice cream for dessert. Whew! Matt is going to have pruney fingers from all the dish washing.