Spring Rolls

soak the rice wraps individually in warm water

spread on a clean towel & fill with rice noodles & whatever else you like (we did tofu, carrots, cucumber, mint & basil)

get an assembly line of friends to fill & wrap (note home made peanut sauce for dipping)

Voila--spring rolls! Dip, eat, repeat.

I've heard these called spring and summer rolls...but whatever they're called, they're easy & AMAZING! Our friends Annie & Steve showed up with many of the fixins and showed us how to do it. We got a little assembly line going, disproving the "too many cooks spoils the broth" theory and demonstrating that group cooking is lots of fun! We made 2 big batches of these babies. Not the best photos but we were too busy to be artsy.

Vegan Mac-n-Cheese

Baked version of the old favorite, using nutritional yeast, mustard, macaroni, Bragg's Amino Acids, paprika.

Baby Pies

No, not pies of babies! Just little versions of the big ol' chocolate tofu pie we always make. Aren't they just cute enough to eat?

Lentil Salad

Trying to eat a salad each day. Black beluga lentils from Trader Joe's. (They're warm.) Produce from various places. Dried wasabi peas from the Asian market. Cute tile bowls from the Pampered Chef, courtesy of Maggie.

oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

Too tired to post the recipe, but damn, they're good. Want one?

Everything in the Fridge Lentil Soup

We make this a lot. Tonight we had friends over so it tasted even better than usual. The recipe varies, according to what's laying around in the 'fridge, but the split red lentils (masoordal) and coconut milk are constants. Sometimes a sweet potato makes it in. Sometimes whole cherry tomatoes. Red lentils cook quickly and are extra-good. The trick is to "toast" the lentils in a wee bit of olive oil alone in the pan for a few minutes before adding any liquid. Then add everything and simmer away...
Squeeze lime juice on top just before serving.

2 cups of lentils
1 can of coconut milk
1 can of water
1 can of tomato paste
1 onion, chopped
1 bulb of garlic
1 carrot, chopped
a bunch of baby bok choy
1 whole green pepper, chopped
1/2 of a jalapeno
white pepper
black pepper
paprika
tumeric
nutmeg
cardamom
1 bulb of lemongrass, peeled and chopped
1 lime