thanksgiving

Last night I had a few friends over for a Thanksgiving meal. It was potluck and there were a couple of vegans there, so I figured I'd wait before making my ham in coca-cola recipe. Everyone brought loads of food and even more loads of wine. I'm proud to say, thanks to Ibuprofen and lots of water, I'm up early with no sign of a hangover. I don't know if I can say the same for Cornelius.

It certainly wasn't a typical Thanksgiving meal, but for me, as long as the meal employs the use of cranberries (check!), brussel sprouts (check!) and yams (check!), Thanksgiving it definitely was. Pam brought over a salad made with organic greens, sprouts, cherry tomatos and walnuts. She also brought over Amy's Goddess Dressing which was so tasty! Dan made Martha Stewart's decadent macaroni and cheese and Ryan and Kristen brought over some vegan tofu lasagne (so good!) and a vegan chocolate cake (which is from a recipe I passed onto her that is a wartime recipe sometimes referred to as "wacky cake"). Yum!

As an appetizer, I decided to make some garlicy /lemony beans. I used only 1 lemon this time and yellow beans instead of green ones, but it was a great snack before dinner. Next up, I made my most favorite soup ever from the rebar cookbook. I used all the yams required but also threw in a bit of leftover canned pumpkin since I had some in the fridge. Delicious!

african yam & peanut soup

8 C veggie stock
2 T vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced
6 T minced ginger
4 cloves garlic
1 T cumin
2 T coriander
1/2 t cayenne
1 t paprika
1 red bell pepper
4 chopped yams
1 can pineapple, with juice
3 chopped tomatoes
5 T peanut butter
1 bunch cilantro
2 limes' juice
hot sauce

1. Warm the stock
2. Sautee the onion and some salt, until translucent
3. Add garlic, ginger, and spices, and sautee until soft
4. Add red pepper, yams, and more sal until things start to stick.
5. Add enough stock to cover, boil, and simmer until the yams are soft.
6. Add the pineapple with the juice, tomatoes, PB, and the rest of the stock and simmer for 30 minutes
7. Puree until smooth.
8. Simmer for another 10 minutes
9. Add cilantro, lime juice and hot sauce to taste before serving.

Next post, I'll put up my cranberry chutney recipe and Cornelius made a chocolate chip pumpkin cake! Recipes and maybe a picture to come.

couscous & yam salad

last night i made a yam/couscous salad recipe that i found here and modified to suit my tastes. it was so awesome that i'm sharing it here. My notes are at the bottom.

2 medium-sized sweet potatos (or yams), cut into smallish chunks
2 carrots, chopped into chunks
1 green pepper, chopped into small sized pieces
1/2 of red onion, finely diced
1 cup couscous
1 lemon
olive oil
ground cumin
maple syrup
salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 450. put the sweet potatoes & carrots on a cookie sheet and smoosh them around with some oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper over top and bake until soft on the outside, crisp on the outside -- around 30 minutes or so. Meanwhile, chop the green pepper into small pieces and dice the onion finely. Prepare the couscous to the one cup of couscous according to the instructions on the pack. I used veggie broth instead of water.

When the vegetables are out of the oven, make the dressing. Squeeze lemon into a small bottle, add some olive oil, a teaspoon of cumin powder, and a bit of maple syrup and shake the mixture until well combined. The amounts in the dressing depend very much on personal taste - this is quite lemony, and you may want to increase the cumin, maple syrup and the oil. After tasting, you may want to add some salt & pepper. I did.

In a large bowl, combine the couscous, roasted veggies and green pepper. Pour the dressing, and stir in with a fork. Eat up.

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Next time I might add some raisins and walnuts into the bowl just because i like salads with raisins and nuts and I definitely think the texture and sweetness would go well with this salad. If i was feeling flush, i might also add some crumbled feta over top, but that would be just like showing off.