Vegan: Day 28

I have a confession to make...while in New York, I never ate a vegan meal!  I don't like the idea of being a guest in someone's apartment and then making it awkward for you to eat together.  I decided I would keep my Lenten resolution when by myself, but then ended up never being alone.  So, the trip was filled with sushi, shrimp curry, ice cream, bagels and cream cheese, egg dishes, buttery pastries, cream in my coffee - It was a true vacation!  


Well now it's back to real life in Worcester, and back to vegan eating.  I opened the fridge after getting home and saw a huge bag of carrots purchased awhile ago, and while occasionally being munched, were sort of sadly neglected.  I unpacked with them on the brain, and then made another batch of these muffins and decided to experiment with a soup.


I've been turning to soups regularly during this trial vegan period, although this is the first time I've posted about it.  They are the perfect food! - limitless in variety, easy to pack full of healthy ingredients, very easy to make vegan, and can be light or filling.  I didn't follow a recipe for this dish, just made it up as I went along, tasting and adding accordingly.  And I'm sort of on a kick where I try using a bunch of different spices so I can learn more about what goes well together, so you'll see that I used a lot...in this dish I tried to play off the earthiness and sweetness of carrots.  It turned out really well, so if you'd like to try it, here's what I did:


Carrot Soup


Cut up the majority of a 5lb bag of carrots into bite sized pieces and saute them in olive oil with fresh garlic and ginger, salt, pepper, dill, and thyme, stirring occasionally.  After the carrots have begun to get soft on the outside and everything starts to smell really good, add one can of coconut milk and two cans of water.  Add cinnamon, chili powder, and a bit of paprika, and cook until  the carrots are soft.  Put liquid and carrots in blender to puree, but do so in small batches or the heat of the liquid can make everything explode.  Pour the soup back into the pot and add some chopped chili pepper for spice, and freshly grated nutmeg.  Let simmer for another 5 minutes to allow all the flavors come together.


Enjoy :)

The Temporary Vegans

Today marks the start of Lent, and our household is saying goodbye to meat and dairy for 40 days!  We're actually not big meat eaters at all, but eggs, yogurt, and cheese are a huge part of our daily pleasures; giving them up will eliminate a lot of the foods we automatically turn to at meals.  It should be a cool experiment and encourage us to try recipes we might otherwise brush aside, and I will post about our exploration into the world of vegan eating throughout the process!  Day 1 is nothing too out of our usual habits - peanut butter toast and coffee at breakfast, roasted green beans and potatoes with a lemon and balsamic vinaigrette at lunch, and sweet potato and black bean tacos at dinner.  Yum.

Madison

Next quick stop on the way home was the beloved city of Madison!  I cheered as I crossed the state line, and felt nostalgic getting off the bus in the heart of the campus.  We spent the afternoon food carting, sitting by the lake, visiting the arboretum, which is such an awesome place, and then cooking dinner and watching a movie (a surprisingly good French film) at home.  The next morning we had breakfast at one of my favorite places (pictures to come), and tried out the new public bike system being implemented in Madison by riding down the lake shore path.  Ahh, I loved the 4 years I spent in Madison, and sometimes I daydream about just subletting a place to hang out there one summer.