Foodie Friday: I'll never have to order Thai takeout again, either.

It's Foodie Friday! Foodie Friday is my weekly feature that gives you a window into my kitchen. I love to cook, I love to eat, I love to read cookbooks, and I love to inspire people to give vegan food a chance. Thus, Foodie Friday was whipped up and baked to perfection.

I've mentioned before how much I love Robin Robertson's 1,000 Vegan Recipes cookbook. And 29 recipes into it, I still love it. It was my intention to have tried more recipes than that by now, two months after receiving it, but I've found myself making things more than once because we like them so much... (chocolate coconut brownies)...

Here's a sampling of what I made this week:

One of our dinners was Indian eggplant fritters (from 1,000 Vegan Recipes) with whole wheat naan and coconut rice. This was my first time making fritters of any kind. The frying part was dicey at first, but I got the hang of it by the second round. The recipe called for chilies, which I never use and don't keep in the house, so I just left them out. The fritters turned out nicely, albeit much blander than the recipe intended. Jason liked them, so I'll make them again, but I think next time I'll serve them with a chutney to spice the dish up a bit. The rice was rich, creamy, and probably super-fattening because it's cooked with margarine and coconut milk.

Jason didn't get home until midnight one night because he had to stand watch, so I made us a light dinner to eat late: roasted zucchini and tomatoes (from 1,000 Vegan Recipes) with quinoa.


I made maple-walnut oatmeal cookies (from 1,000 Vegan Recipes) for a change in our usually chocolate-heavy treat lineup. We both loved them and Jason didn't miss getting his chocolate fix at all.

Macaroni and cheese is a staple for us because Jason is actually five years old really likes it. The "cheese" sauce I made was based on the mornay-style cheez sauce from 1,000 Vegan Recipes, but I tweaked it to adjust the flavors more to my liking and I added ground flax seed for nutritional value. I put some sautéed Lightlife Italian Style Smart Sausages on the side to make a meal fit for a small child king.

Last week's showstopper signaled my triumph over nasty Chinese takeout. This week's showstopper freed me from another risky takeout situation: Thai! I was miraculously able to find rice noodles at the commissary, so I decided to attempt pad thai from 1,000 Vegan Recipes. This was a must-make because we both love Thai food. The only thing I'll do differently next time is make a bit more of the sauce mixture because the noodles soaked it up incredibly quickly. This was so good though, I didn't even care.

Oh, and one last thing for you sad sacks who gave up treats for Lent...

CHOCOLATE COCONUT BROWNIES À LA MODE OM NOM NOM NOM