New to the blog world. I am a vegan who loves animals and food. I have 3 dogs, 3 cats, 2 ghinea pigs and 1 horse. All execpt for the horse, were rescues. So, if you are following or periodically read this blog, I may be talking about my horse, the dogs, the cats or some great food I prepared from one of the many cookbooks I own. I love to cook and I love to read, thus find both in cookbooks, websites/blogs about food and cooking, as well as magazines. If your interests are in finding a new cookbook or want a recommendation or two to try from a cookbook, this is the place. I try to go through each cookbook and sample recipes from each chapter (appetizers, side dishes, mains, casseroles, one dish, desserts, sauces, salads ect.). The only catch is some times I don’t always have exactly the ingredients they list, and have to substitute. If that is the case then I describe how I deviated from the original recipe. For example, this past weekend, I made the South Indian dishes and the stir fry noodle dish showcased on the front page of Vegetarian Times Magazine’s latest edition. They were wonderful. For the stir fry I couldn’t find just chili and garlic sauce, so I purchased a chili, garlic and pepper sauce. It tasted great and added a little heat to the dish that everyone enjoyed. For the vegetable korma, I couldn’t find curry leaves, the international store that sells them runs out the same day they have them, so I missed out again. The recipes also called for mint, that looked horrible at the grocery store. You need to know I live in the middle of nowhere and we don’t have a “Whole Foods” or “Trader Joes.” Our local food co-op is expanding into a new space and I can hardly wait. I hope their produce section will expand and accomdate a larger variety of organic produce and a better selection of vegan products. I will follow up with the recipe names and a description of each. In addition to these dishes, I made another Indian dish a chickpea curry (recipe from a wonderful Indian cook I know) and cumin rice from the fabulous Sarah Kramer and her cookbook “La Dolce Vegan! Vegan Livin’ Made Easy“.
I try to include my two teen daughters in the preparation of these dishes. Weekends, we try to spend some time together and have fun cooking. They are amazing about trying new foods and tastes. They will try anything at least once and then tell me if they liked it or “not so much Mom”. The Tall Guy (hubby) and the girls are omnivores and respect the fact that I am vegan. They eat mainly vegan for breakfast and dinner, with some minor changes when it comes to cheese. For lunch, the girls quite often have leftovers from dinner (which their friends find weird) or they have sandwiches consisting of meat and cheese or peanut butter, a yogurt and a piece of fruit. All-in-all could be a lot worse. TG likes soups for lunch or anything with salsa. He is a salsa and tortilla chip fiend. I obtained a great salsa recipe from “Everyday Dish on DVD” and TG loves it. Well, check back later and I will update the info I don’t have on hand right now.
Enjoy cooking and the food you create.
