Vegan Family Dinner Latin Style

On Sunday night I hosted another Vegan Family Dinner.  This time the theme was anything Latin!  Somehow it ended up being all ladies this time and it was a ton of fun. I cooked 2 recipes out of Terry Hope Romero's cook book Viva Vegan!

The first recipe I made were the Potato-Chickpea Enchiladas with Green Tomatillo Sauce.  They aren't the most attractive enchiladas, but they were one of the tastiest!  Even though there were only 6 of us at the dinner, we killed and entire tray.  Good thing I made extra, because everyone got to bring home leftovers.

Leia made Carne Asada with Seitan and a super awesome salsa with roasted tomatoes and pepper.  What a wonderful idea!  We made tacos with these!  The Pinenut Creama that I made for the enchiladas went wonderfully on top of a Carne Asada taco!

 Tiffany made a Tomatillo Salsa and Black Beans.  Both were absolutely delicious!  

One of Sylvia's friends brought Bruschetta.  It was yummy. 

 I made Guacamole, cause you can't have Latin dinner without some guac! 

This is the second recipe I made out of Terry's book.  The Coconut Tres Leches Cake. It was the most time consuming cake I have ever made.  It took me all day to make it, but it was absolutely worth it!

Each time I host one of these dinners, the food gets better.  Sunday was no expection, I was once again blown away with my friends culinary skills. Thanks for a super fun night ladies! Can't wait for the next dinner, Vegan Pizza Night!

21st-Century Carob Chip Cookies

Since I am trying my hardest to be a healthy vegan I decided that I should give some of the healthier cookie recipes in this book a shot.  I made 21st-Century Carob Chip Cookies.  I was always sort of afraid of carob, it just sounds healthy.  These cookies have totally erased any fear or reservation I had about Carob.

They have carob chips, carob powder, currants, peanuts, Sucanat, whole wheat pastry flour, amongst other healthful ingredients.  Although they are definitely healthy tasting, they do the trick for a sweet treat!  They are super moist and perfectly sweet.  Carob and I are going to be good friends!

Someone paid me to bake!

Last Saturday, I made Crimson Velveteen Cupcakes with Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting for my sisters birthday.  My friends Christine and Wayne sampled them that night and contacted me this week to place an order for a half dozen.  It was super exciting and sort of scary.  I LOVE baking, but I have never had someone pay me to do it, so the pressure was on.

I was very happy with the way these turned out.  I even got them to be more red than the previous batch I made for Teresa's birthday.  I was so honored to have been asked to make Wayne's birthday cupcakes!  I hope they enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed baking them.

The Best Lentil Soup

This week was all about Lentil Soup in my house.  I made 

Lotsa Veggies Lentil Soup.

It was the BEST lentil soup I have ever eaten.  I can't get enough of it.  I made a huge pot of it and have yet to share any.  I may just have to keep all this soup for myself! 

It was filled with onion, garlic, celery, carrots, zucchini, french lentils, spinach, tomato sauce and of course broth and spices.  Not only is this soup filling and incredibly delicious, but it contains 13 g of fiber, 12 g of protein, 1.5 g of fat, 180 Calories, Vitamin A, C, Calcium and Iron all in 1 serving! 

My Sisters Birthday Celebration

Last night was my sister Teresa's birthday party.  She had a "mermaids" party.  This is just our  way of saying an appetizer party. I made Beans, Rice, and Sweet Plantain Empanadas and Crimson Velveteen Cupcakes with Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting.

The Empanadas were made with a Corn Dough and filled with Tomatoes, Onions, Garlic, Green Pepper, Cumin Oregano, Black Beans, Jasmine Rice and Roasted Plantains.  They were super delicious, but what isn't delicious that is deep fried? 

Even though they didn't turn out as red as I would've liked, the cupcakes were a HUGE hit!  Teresa was very pleased.  I hope she got to keep a few for herself!

Pan-Asian Family Dinner

Last night was Pan-Asian Vegan Family Dinner and we had a fantastic time! About 15 people showed up and there was plenty of food and wine for everyone to get nice and full.

James, Angie, and Alicia brought a Sushi Plate that had yummy veggie rolls!

Sarah made this delicious cabbage salad it had lots of fresh ginger!

Alex made this gingery noodle dish which included homemade udon noodles!  I was super impressed.

Leia and I worked together on the main, Orange Tofu and Jasmine Rice.  We fried 3 pounds of tofu and every last piece was devoured!

For dessert I made a Cambodian dessert, Num Tirk Doung (Coconut Pound Cake). 

  Since I couldn't find a vegan recipe for this I made up my own.  It turned out surprisingly well, so here is my recipe:

What You Need:

1 cup Vanilla Soy Yogurt

2 cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 cup Melted Earth Balance

1/2 cup Coconut Milk

1/4 cup Frozen Grated Coconut

1 1/2 cup Sugar

2 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Salt

What You Do:

Preheat oven at 325

Grease loaf pan and lightly dust with flour

Cream melted Earth Balance and Sugar together.

Add Yogurt and mix well.

Add Vanilla, Baking Powder, Salt and Coconut Milk and mix well.

Add Flour and Coconut and mix until smooth.

Pour batter into loaf pan.

Bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Let cool completely before removing from the pan.

Everything about last night was wonderful!  It's so nice to have such fantastic friends to share a vegan family dinner with.  My favorite part besides socializing and cooking is trying the  food that each person brings.  Thanks everyone for another fantastic and delicious family dinner!

Upside-Down Shepherd's Pie

I am still in love with my new cookbook Appetite for reduction- Isa Chandra Moskowitz.  This week I decided to try making Upside-Down Lentil Shepard's Pie.  I usually HATE shepard's pie, but since it called for lentils instead of a meat substitute I decided to give it a shot.

The french lentils were cooked with zucchini, shiitake mushrooms, onions, garlic, peas, vegetable broth and spices.  The mashed potatoes were a combination of potatoes and cauliflower with vegetable broth and a little olive oil.

This was an amazingly filling, delicious,  and healthy meal!  I ate it all week!  It was hands down the best shepard's pie recipe I have ever made or sampled.