It’s unbelievable, but as of Monday, my second semester of law school is underway! I have a pretty good schedule this time around, meaning I’ll have lots of time to cook and even get to the gym.
I spent the last 2 weeks of my vacation doing a whole lot of nothing, which felt amazing, especially since I haven’t had a winter break since college. I spent a good part of the last week helping out a friend who had recently undergone surgery and cooking for that friend, who is an omnivore. It’s not my style to try to convince anyone to become vegan, and though I’m not opposed to cooking non-vegan for someone else, the fact is that I’m most comfortable with and adept at cooking vegan foods. To that end, when cooking for others, I try to make dishes that anyone can enjoy, and I think I am usually pretty successful!
Now, for some reason I only have photos of one entree. There is a picture of one of them on my friend’s camera, which I’ll try to retrieve soon, and the other got eaten before its photo op. Sowwy.
The photographed entree was Bean & Corn Tortilla Lasagna with Avocado from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan.
The whole shebang
A nice little portion (with lime, as suggested!)
I loved this recipe hot out of the oven. It makes six servings and I ate two of them right away, doused with chipotle hot sauce (because I am a spicy food fiend!). My only issue with this recipe is that it doesn’t work especially well as leftovers, which I guess I should have anticipated because of the avocado. The weird thing was that the avocado stayed green and fresh-looking but tasted funky after 1-2 days. The rest of it was still delicious so I just picked out the avocado. So if I made this one again, I’d do it for a family dinner or at some other occasion where all of it would be consumed in one sitting.
Because I am a sweets lover and because I equate desserts with comfort and love, I made sure to make lots of them during my friend’s recovery. For these, I used my beautiful brand-new copy of The Everyday Vegan by Dreena Burton!
First, Chewy Nutty Cereal Chip Squares
These are heavenly. Seriously, I kind of want to make some tonight. My only complaint about these is that they fall apart fairly easily when picked up. I might use a little extra maple syrup next time and see if that makes a difference. For this batch, I used peanut butter instead of almond because that was what I had open in my kitchen.
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
I have never been a huge fan of oatmeal raisin cookies, but these rock. Well, okay…I actually should admit that because I didn’t have any raisins, I used chopped Turkish apricots, so really they were Oatmeal Apricot cookies. But they still rocked. They were so soft and chewy and flavorful. Between me, my friend, and my friend’s roommate, they were gone in about a day and a half.
Coconut Raspberry Squares
I apologize for the less-than-stellar picture, but the lighting was terrible in my friend’s kitchen. I know they kind of look like pizza squares, but that’s not the picture’s fault; they actually really look like that. I have to be honest and say that I didn’t love these; the flavor and texture reminded me of Passover (a holiday that I loathe) because they tasted a bit like matzoh with cream cheese and jelly.
I have some more fun food to post about, so look for that in the next few days!
A.Cook in the Making 