Chickpea and Spinach Curry

I made the Vegan with a Vengeance chickpea and spinach curry (pg. 170) for dinner a little while ago and it was scrumptious. It made great leftover lunches for the week for me, too :)

For dinner, I served it with short grain brown rice cooked in vegetable stock and Bragg's, and a a side of Cascadian Farm "French-Cut Green Beans with Toasted Almonds." Apparently, the string beans are part of Cascadian Farm's "gourmet box" line. Who knew I was so fancy? They were a mistake purchase; I meant to grab two boxes of spinach, but grabbed one of these instead. I'm not a big prepackaged food person, so they'd been sitting in the freezer for a month or two, until, in a search for something green to serve on the side of this plate, I had reason to use them. I was pleasantly surprised! They look and tasted fresh, and the very light seasoning let the natural flavors of the beans and almonds really stand out.

Wow. This is a gripping entry, eh? Shall I try again?

Dinner was good. I recommend both the recipe and the beans.

That is all!

Veg*n Dinner Party, Installment One

Well, lookie here. It's a collection of lovely, veggie loving, local babes!

[Kelly, I SWEAR that this was the best photo of the group, and I totally think that you look super cute and mischievous, but if you really don't like it (aka, you have no idea) then I will take it down. ]

Specifically, that's Jessica, Mikaela (that's me), Kelly Ann, Laura, Brookie (that's my seester), and Alli. Notice the front-back positioning so that we could all squeeze onto the couch. What's that? You never heard of this alleged "front back, front back" seating? Yeah, us either. Jess made it up.

So, after much chit chat, a whole lot of, "we should"s, and a bunch of "wouldn't it be cool"s, Kelly took the initiative and scheduled the first of what will be a rotating vegetarian/vegan dinner party. Fun! :D

This is what we had:

Not pretty as pictured, I know. The photo was a bit of an afterthought I'm afraid, and does not do the yummy vegan meal any justice whatsoever. That in mind, clockwise from left is: chilled cucumber dill soup, portabello-seitan hash (from Vegetarian Times, Feb. 06, p. 61), tomato basil dip with french baguettes (leftovers from Saturday), roasted apple and rutabaga, brown rice.

So. Good.

This was a landmark event for me, personally. I do not like mushrooms. Not because of the texture or the taste. I wouldn't know, as their repulsive origin repels me from letting them pass my lips.

But you see, Kelly has this power over me. She's a new-ish (less than one year) vegetarian and brand new vegan, who never - like, NEVER used to cook. Seriously. How could I not eat her freaking awesome hash? And besides that, I was uncertain about whether I would be able to make it to the dinner (football practice blows), and as the date approached she needed to make some decisions. She's really quite a lovely gal, and had she known that I was going to be able to pull off being there (thanks to a super supportive boyfriend), I know she would not have made 'shrooms the main dish.

So, I ate them. And I liked it. With wine. A lot of wine. It's amazing what one can get through with dulled senses.

Yes, the food was to-die-for, but the company? The company rocked the shit out of that hash. Note to readers: Invite actors to house parties. Jess and Alli were freaking hilarious as always. Of course, if Brooke comes to your party, your never short on conversation, and Laura is always at the ready with an opinion - and a sweet smile :)

We had such a good time:

We're hoping that this event will be a sort-of-monthly occurrence, so stay tuned for Installment Two! :)

PS: Thank you Justin, for taking a break from healing the world to take these photos. You're a good person.