Sunday, May 22, 2011

Easter 2011




It's been a long time since Easter, but since I spent so much time cooking for for this holiday I thought a belated Blog about it was better than nothing.  This year, Jared and I prepared  Almond Feta Cheese with Herbed oil, White Bean Salad, Potato and Mushroom Sauerkraut Pierogi,  and Crimson Velveteen Cupcakes.


The Feta Cheese took 3 days to make and it was time well spent.  I soaked the almonds for 12 hours before pureeing them in the food processor with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and garlic.  Once everything was nice and smooth I poured the mixture into a piece of cheese cloth and squeezed out as much liquid as I could before setting it in a strainer and placing it in the fridge. The next day I took it out, opened up the cheese cloth and baked the cheese in the oven until it was fairly firm.  Then I stuck it in the fridge over night so it would get nice and cold.  The herb oil was made by my wonderful roommate Christina,  she quickly cooked olive oil, rosemary and thyme together for a few minutes before drizzling it on top of the cheese.


My dear friend Sarah gave me the recipe for this delicious white bean salad that was full of grape tomatoes, celery, red onion, red pepper, parsley and of course white beans all tossed together in a simple red wine vinaigrette. 


The pierogi were another time consuming task, but having Jared as my sous chef made everything much quicker.  Once the fillings and dough was made, we made over 30 of these bad boys in under an hour!  The next day we fried them up with some onions and we were in pierogi heaven.


These cupcakes are now a family request.  Red velvet cake with vegan cream cheese frosting piled high topped with chopped pecans, simply delicious.


Here are Jared and I's vegan Easter plates.  We had much more than just what we brought with us.  There was also asparagus, green beans, rye bread and of course horseradish and vegan sour cream to eat with the pierogi.


In my personal opinion, vegan Easter was quite tasteful!