Protein Breakfast Cookies

Shana and a group of friends have started a once-a-month brunch. When she told me about the first one, I'd already planned another morning event, meaning I didn't attend. Coming home afterward, she proudly announced that we were hosting the second month. Fast forward and we are into month three.

Here's the problem: I'm running out of brunch recipes.

Let me clarify. I'm running out of brunch recipes that travel well and will be more or less a meal for me and Shana, as no one else in this group is vegan. I've got a few more ideas in mind, but I'll take any ideas you've got!

For tomorrow's brunch, I'm bringing these high-protein breakfast cookies. These were a recipe my sister-in-law was making when she was following a paleo diet. Shana tried them and loved them, so got the recipe for me. With a minor edit they became vegan and are absolutely delicious. There was a while when I was making a double-batch on the weekend so we could both grab a couple for breakfast during week. I just might have to start doing that again...

Maggie's Rice Skillet Dinner

If you're friends with me and Shana on Facebook, you've likely seen her tag me under a recipe or share something to my wall with "veganize this?" or "make this for me?" and nothing else. As it turns out, she does that outside of social media, too. Years and years ago, Shana used to have a subscription to a magazine that no longer exists, but it often included recipes that were easy and quick to prepare and targeted at families with children. Recipes would get torn out of the magazine and excitedly waved in my line of sight. Sometimes they were made right away, but often they went into the giant stack of recipes I want to try.

When looking for a new dish to make a while ago, I stumbled upon one of those torn magazine-page recipes. It looked good, especially with the tweaks I was envisioning to make it both vegan and a one-dish dinner. With approval from Shana to try something new, the rice skillet dinner was a go and resounding success! Nothing fancy, just warm comforting goodness for when you're short on time but still want a delicious meal.

Oh, and make sure to use your largest skillet! A 12" is a necessity (or cut the recipe in half)!

Maggie's Asian Salad with Sesame Dressing

Last summer I kept looking for new ways to eat food that also involved the least amount of heating in my kitchen I could handle. For me, the obvious solution was meal-sized salads, but I had to do a bit of Shana convincing... When I got a begrudging approval for a salad as dinner, I knew it had to be a good one. Luckily, I found a winner with this salad, filled with beautiful colors, lots of texture, and Asian-inspired flavors.

The recent hot streak we experienced this summer was the perfect impetus to see if this salad was still a dinner time success. It still was! Mix and match ingredients to your own tastes, buy a pre-made salad dressing if you find one you like, or do whatever - this salad will still be delicious.

Amanda's Taco Soup

When we first moved to Richmond, we kept ending up at different grocery stores in town at the same time as another couple close to our age. In addition to them grocery shopping at the same stores and at the same time as us, we noticed that they never had meat, cheese, or eggs in their cart. At some point, we finally decided to introduce ourselves to them. In doing so, we found out that they are vegan, grew up around here, and are just plain awesome.

Since then, we've had great times with our "grocery store friends" (which is the name of our group text message). We have sporadic dinners, they come to vegan potluck, and Brent & Shana did carpentry school together.

When we eat together, we often ask Amanda to cook taco soup. It's seriously so good, on its own and with add-ins like faux cheese and avocado. I'd tried to replicate it, but mine was never as good. I finally asked for the recipe so that I can make it more often than our busy schedules align (plus, it feels rude to have her always making the four of us dinner!). With the string of cool summer weather we've been having in Indiana, this was a perfect meal for us to eat this week. It tastes like summer, doesn't heat up the kitchen (it's a crock pot recipe), and still warms your insides.

Maggie's Vegan Charoset for Passover

Happy Passover, friends! As you've read in other posts on my blog, Shana was raised Jewish and I've been slowly developing a repertoire of traditionally Jewish foods. For example, I've got two recipes for kugel (sweet and savory), challah, matzo ball soup, and a faux brisket.

Both the frisket and matzo ball soup graced our table recently when we hosted our annual Seder for Passover. I *love* Seder. It's filled with tradition, symbolism, storytelling, and singing. It brings together an amazing group of people (we always bring in at least a couple of Seder newbies). Moreover, the fundamental message that's relayed is that no one is free until all are free. I love everything about all of that.

One of the symbolic foods eaten at a Passover Seder is charoset (huh-ROE-set), a lovely mixture of apples, walnuts, and other ingredients. I think of charoset the Italian red sauce of Seders - every family has their own traditional version, which they claim as the best. I'll stake my claim on that as well, because my charoset is so good you'll want to eat it other times of the year!

Vegan Tikka Masala with Soy Curls

It's been a long time, dear readers, and I'm very sorry. In fact, this may be the longest time between posts on this blog - yikes! Life has just been busy for the two of us, which means we've been meal planning around events and/or meetings most nights. We've gotten involved with some local organizations pretty heavily, I took on a new 1/3 time role at work, last semester was rough on campus, my dad was diagnosed with and treated for cancer, and we are working to make a dream/business(?) of Shana's into a non-profit! All of this creates a hectic schedule and also means that I haven't had time to be creative.

Although I haven't been creative in the kitchen on my own, I have been tweaking and we have been eating some new foods, including this amazing vegan tikka masala sauce. I love my version of this recipe for the following reasons:
1. I can mostly throw things in the Instant Pot and end up with magic.
2. I had to purchase a new herb!
3. IT'S SO DELICIOUS!!! Seriously, it's magic.

The recipe for the sauce I've tweaked from Vegan Richa's recipe (her whole blog is SO good!), most importantly to remove the ginger since Shana is intolerant. In addition, the inclusion of soy curls makes this a hearty and satisfying main dish. While there are a number of components to make the recipe this way, I promise that your taste buds will thank you.