Foodie Friday: Late-Breaking Edition (now with more cupcakes!)

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.

Jason got home Friday night, and he's been enjoying the comforts of home with gusto, including stuffing his face with delicious vegan food. Compared to last week's boat food report, what I have to offer is worth a few Michelin stars:

Last night, dinner was really pathetic. I had a slab of beef and a piece of cake. That was ALL they had. I had to buy a small bag of fritos corn chips just so I could have something with the beef. I could go for some Indian food or food from the Vietnamese restaurant. I could go for food that is properly cooked in general. Lately, the meat has been cold. Bleh. Sometimes I feel guilty complaining about the food on the ship, because the rations (MRE) that soldiers in the Army or Marines get are even worse. All in all, though, shitty food is shitty food.

I guess I'll be sending a lot of care packages when he goes back out to sea in November.

Earlier this week, before Jason was back, I was still on the deployment diet, which, as you might recall, consists mostly of one-food-group meals. I had made all of the asparagus recipes from 1,000 Vegan Recipes but one, and it was finally asparagus dijon's turn. My verdict: delicious when cut into bite-sized pieces and tossed with some sautéed Morningstar Farms Chik'n strips, but I don't recommend eating it as shown because you miss out on all of the tasty dijon mustard sauce.

Now on to the good stuff: as promised, I made Jason Mexican hot chocolate cupcakes as a homecoming surprise. Rather than topping them with vegan marshmallows like the recipe calls for, I made the chocolate ganache from 1,000 Vegan Recipes. I might never use any other kind of chocolate frosting ever again. It's so good you could skip the cupcake part and eat it with a spoon. I added a chili mango heart as a finishing touch.

They were well-received.
For a quick late-night dinner, I picked up a plain sauce and cheese take-and-bake pizza from Papa Murphy's and topped it myself.

He got the message.