I Have Redeemed Myself

Today was far superior food-wise to yesterday's "eh." I'm much better with baking than cooking and got the baking bug early in the day. I made the Pumpkin Spice Bread (p65) from the new and fabulous The Joy of Vegan Baking. I added chocolate chips and walnuts. Yum yum yum! If my coworkers are lucky, they'll get the uncut loaf on Tuesday. If not, I will be extremely full of spicy pumpkiny chocolately walnuty yumminess. This stuff is the super bomb diggity.




Needing to make a better meal than yesterday, I once again turned to the Veganomicon, hoping for better results this time. Jackpot! I tried the Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans(p137). Good gravy this was delicious. In fact, V's word was "incredible." I didn't roast the garlic because even though I like roasted garlic, the flavor is just too subtle for me, and given that the rest of the soup was on the bland/simple side, I went for straight up garlic, and loads of it. I also included more thyme, marjoram, salt, and pepper than called for--and added loads of basil and oregano, with a dash of red pepper. Great tomato soup, but the thing that made it, I'm sure, is the fact that I used canned (by Nannie) tomatoes from my dad's garden this year. It would definitely be good with regular ole canned tomatoes if you have to use them, but go with the best brand you can get, and make sure they're organic.