MoFo Wednesday: Back to my Roots......

It's time for some dietary sanity.

Cheesecake??
Truffles??????

No wonder I'll never be skinny. Bah!

And so, last night, My Beloved and I returned to our roots.
No, not fish and chips and jam butties* but roots - root vegetables.

Now that the weathter's turned decidedly nippy, I am newly possessed by the need to roast things. Fortunately for all I am restricting myself to things within the Plant Kingdom...such as sweet potatoes, parsnips and carrots. Thus:




Peeled, chopped and tossed with some olive oil, salt, black pepper, rosemary and a few whole cloves of garlic, they went into the oven at around 375 for about 40 minutes and came out looking like this.



Although relegated to the status of a 'side dish', they paired really nicely with the samosa-stuffed baked potatoes (from the Vcon) and some simple couscous.



There were enough roasted roots and couscous for lunch today, which put a smile on my face and a grimace on those of my colleagues. Whole roasted garlic cloves...how to win friends and influence people....!

;)

Stay Vegan, Friends!

* Being Brits, fish and chips was a staple in our pre-vegan lives and 'jam butties' is not nearly as excitingly rude as it sounds - it simply means a jelly sandwich. So there!

West Coast Isa???

Isa - the Veganomicon/cupcake queen - is moving to Portland, Oregon.

I feel abandoned.

Why, oh why, are all these fabulous vegan types over on the West coast and I am here in Massachusetts?

Portland even has a vegan mini-mall. All vegan businesses. I was in Portland 2 years ago and had no idea it was that kind of city. I missed the boat there, I think.

Good luck in your new home, Isa - and keep up the good work!

Stay Vegan, Friends!

Across Preston in the dark, cold and rain...

I'm very excited! My Beloved and I just signed up for a vegan cooking class tomorrow night! OK, maybe I'm easily pleased, but I am **really** looking forward to it. It's at our local Whole Foods (aka 'Bread & Circus' to those of us who remember the place before the takeover...) and we'll be cooking a 3-course meal and enjoying it with wine. All for $20 a head!

Since I know everything I know from Colleen's podcasts and her wonderful Joy of Vegan Baking (as I know, I know, I've said before....) along with the rich library of other cookbooks I've compulsively purchased over the last 5 months or so, it'll be great to actually see how others do it. And hopefully pick up a few more tips.

That's one of the best parts of being vegan - there is so much to learn. Food becomes endlessly exciting and novel. Tastes are deeper and more satisfying. And the adventure of taking a hitherto unknown ingredient and incorporating it into a satisfying and cruelty-free meal....well, for a foodie, it's really fulfilling.

Issues I must raise are:

1. how to cook with diabetics in mind
2. how to cook without gluten (the mother of a friend of mine cannot eat gluten...)
3. when's the next class...so that said friend and I can go again!

In the meantime, I *must* post some pix of My Beloved's amazing Lentil and Potato Curry that we had for dinner last night. The recipe is actually in the Veganomicon, but the original calls for cauliflower which - as noted in a previous post - My Beloved won't touch with someone else's 10 ft pole. Soooooooo, we have spuds in it instead....sorry, Isa!



And a close-up:



I enjoyed the remainder for lunch today and must confess that it was just as good the second time around. Even microwaved - a technique I don't normally use as I don't like microwaves particularly. But I was at work, so what else am I going to do????

My Beloved also made a stack of poppadoms as we'd bought some hot lime pickle from our semi-local Asian store. It transported us back to the 'old country' where on a Saturday night we'd frequently go out for an Indian and a few beers.....

Sigh!

Sometimes I miss those days!

But then I remember the long walks home too - right across Preston in the dark, cold and rain....

:: shudder ::

Stay dry...and Stay Vegan, Friends! :)