Saturday, June 2, 2007

Soup, Salad, & Bread

This 'Banana Carob Almond Coconut Loaf' from ExtraVeganZa (pg. 125) was delicious! I used equal amounts of whole wheat pasty flour and spelt flour, and the recipe is actually for muffins, but I decided to just dump the mix in a loaf pan and it baked through nicely. The recipe also calls for chopped almonds inside the batter, but I knew the girls wouldn't go for it that way, so I put sliced almonds on top, which is easy to remove. Art and I ate several slices, and this is a yummy recipe with several flavors that compliment each other perfectly.


Here is a bread bowl of 'Potato-Asparagus Soup' from Vegan with a Vengeance (p. 99) I had an abundance of potatoes and asparagus to use up, and like magic, I found this recipe. Isa admits to not spicing up this recipe much because asparagus is her favorite vegetable and she wanted its flavor to shine through. It shined a little too much for us, and we added several shakes of chili powder and sea salt, which kicked it up a notch. I'm a huge fan of this cookbook, but this recipe turned out just OK. Look at the fresh lacy dill from my herb barrel!

For Memorial Day we went to a barbecue at Fred & Wendy's house. She asked me to bring a salad, and my standby is 'Quinoa Spring Salad' from Vive le Vegan! (pg. 71) Art took this photo right before leaving, and the wind blew off, and took away the fresh cilantro garnish! I LOVE this salad, and this is a double recipe. Fred thoughtfully grilled some portobello mushrooms for us on the grill knowing we are veggie. Thanks for a fun party!



There was left-over salad from the party, so Art and I ate cups of salad the next day. Nasturtiums are growing like weeds in my herb barrel, so I dressed them up Hawaiian style!









More cups of salad! This time, I made a 'Simple Slaw' which had shredded cabbage, carrots, and green onion. It's tossed with Brianna's Real French Vinaigrette, which is a light dressing. I also added some sunflower seeds to mine after the photo - I like crunchy food!

Stay cool this summer! Looks like another hot one - we are already breaking records here in Idaho (yesterday was 20 degrees higher than the record!), and our power bill went up 20% because of the lack of moisture over the winter. Is it 2008 yet?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

hello !bonjour !

Miam ! your pictures are very nice , bonjour from France Gil

julie hasson said...

Vicki, As always, your food looks delicious!

Anonymous said...

look very good!

Amey said...

Oooh, your nasturtiums are so beautiful. I tried to grow some, but nothing seems to be happening. I always notice places around town where I can pick them for decorating cakes and such! :)

20 degrees hotter than the record is MADNESS! How hot will it be when we are there in July?? Phew! I'll have to find something very light to wear at the wedding - which is outdoors!

also, I agree with you about quinoa salad... it's the best! I've made and enjoyed that recipe many times, as well as a couple from Deborah madison's Vegetarian cooking for everyone.

laura k said...

Those nasturtiums are so gorgeous and really dress up that salad! I love that salad... I could eat it every day. Soup in a bread bowl is always good, even when the soup is just so-so!

Teresa said...

Dreena's Quinoa salad seems to me one of the best dishes to bring to parties/potlucks, especially with non-veg people. It's simply delicious and easy to make. That simple slaw looks yummy- I love the nasturtiums on top.

Oh no- know I'm gonna have to borrow extraveganza from the library just to make that loaf!

-Teresa

urban vegan said...

Those nasturtiums make the salads look like hula girls. Great stuff, as always, Vicki.

Anonymous said...

We used to have nasturtiums growning like weeds in California. I loved how hardy they were and how they faithfully came back year after year. Yours are gorgeous sitting atop the quinoa spring salad. Great idea with the slivered almonds on top of the bread. I always forget to do it but it looks so pretty.

Aurelie said...

What great pictures! We both made slaw on the exact same day, what a coincidence! And took pictures of food in cups... By the way, the bread looks yummy.

david santos said...

Thanks for you work and have a good week

Candi said...

Looks great Vicki! I mostly love the salads and the flower decorations are too cute!! Are those edible? I love how adorable they look on the salads.

Brooke said...

Awww, I love those nasturtiums! SO pretty!

Jackie said...

Great photos of great food.

Being mid winter here that asparagus and potato soup will go down very nicely. I like a strong asparagus taste so it will be light on herbs and spices :)

Dori said...

I recently made some quinoa salad - good stuff. So appealing in the cup with a flower on top. Did I read correctly that you ate grilled portobello's?