Today's the last day of VeganMoFo, and sadly I forgot to take pictures of dinner. It could be worse, though, as I didn't make anything new, but, rather, went with a dish I posted about previously, Root Veggie and Red Lentil Dal. This time around I made a double batch to feed six of us and served it up with some warm garlic bread. Simple and delicious, and a much needed meal after several days of eating out and gorging myself on cupcakes and booze.

I hope that this project has been as fun for you as it has been for me, and that the recipes and photos I've shared here might offer some inspiration to those who are considering moving toward a more vegetable-centered way of eating! I plan to post here more frequently, about veganism and other things, in the future, and I promise to post recipes and photos for the few things that you guys have requested, but that I neglected to make during the project (on which note, Jackie, I haven't forgotten about your chocolate chip cookies!). 

In the meantime, Happy Halloween!

For Molly's birthday, we went to Watercourse, which I posted about early this month. This time we had appetizers, entrees, and dessert there, and I have lots of photos:

Seitan buffalo wings

Vegan nachos


Blackened tofu wrap


Dona Lee wrap


Some sort of sandwich-- vegan cheesesteak, perhaps?


Chicken-fried seitan


Sweet potato crepe


Herb-encrusted seitan salad


Chocolate-raspberry cake

Red Velvet Cake

Boston creme cake

Tonight was our annual Halloween party, so instead of dinner (a quick Chipotle bowl), I'm featuring some of the tasty vegan treats we whipped up!

First up are my prides and joys, vegan cupcakes! This year I made three flavors, all from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I made Golden Vanilla, Chocolate, and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip. I also used two different icings: buttercream and chocolate-whiskey (which was just the buttercream plus a bunch of cocoa powder and around 1/4 cup of whiskey).



My other favorite dessert of the night were these chocolate graham crackeresque cookies filled with a cheesecake-like filling. Molly made these!



I also made some chocolate-covered pretzels.



Molly made these freaking adorable vegan jello shots:



Molly made this delicious punch, as well! It's old timey!



Unpictured foodstuffs we ate include vegan ranch (served with veggis and Ruffles chips), cilantro-jalapeno hummus (served with wheat thins), a Mexican layered dip and salsa (served with tortilla chips), and copious amount of candy. We also dug into the Skittles vodka I posted about before, and it was really delicious mixed into a New Amsterdam gin & tonic!

Annnnnd, in case you wanted nightmares, here's my husband toward the end of the night:

Sometimes on Thursday nights, when we’re feeling really crazy and don’t need to be able to move for the rest of the evening, we go to a local Chinese restaurant called Tsing Tao for their vegan buffet. The buffet includes a pretty diverse array of vegan dishes, including mock chicken, beef, duck, shrimp, and tofu, as well as lots of straight-up veggie-based fare. There are typically a couple of soups (including vegan egg drop), too! In honor of some friends visiting, we hit up Tsing Tao tonight. Below are photos of the damage:

Lo mein, scallion pancakes, veggie dumpling, drunken noodles, and jalapeno "chicken"

 
Sesame chicken, I think


Various veggies, fried potatoes, and mock chicken and duck


Lo mein closeup

Tonight I made red lentil dal with potatoes. The recipe for the dal is actually the yellow lentil dal from The Happy Herbivore Cookbook, which my sister gifted to me in Kindle format today! The only alteration I made was to use red lentils instead of yellow, because they're what I had on hand, and to add in four yukon potatoes and a few handfuls of spinach, since we didn't eat it over rice and so wanted a heartier soup. Awesome recipe, and an awesome cookbook!



In largely unrelated news, the ferrets discovered our carving pumpkins today. It's really rare that we're able to photograph all four of them in one night, so I wanted so share!

Cooper:


Windam:


Audrey:


Banshee:

Tonight we had leftover spaghetti bake and, of course, bread! So, nothing to see here, at least for today!
 

For Day Twenty-Four, I wanted something quick and easy, since Mondays are the days on which I don’t get home from class until after 6:00. So, I went with baked spaghetti! You can pretty much wing this one since it’s just a matter of making, then baking, spaghetti. I boiled 16 oz of spaghetti noodles until they were al dente, then layered half of them in the bottom of a lightly sprayed 9X13 glass-baking dish.  I sautéed an onion, some garlic, 4 cups of spinach, and a tube of Gimme Lean Sausage, mixed in a jar of marinara, and spread half of this mixture atop the noodles. Then came a second layer of noodles, another layer of sauce, and finally, 1 cup of panko spread over the top. I baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, and during the last 5 minutes I threw some garlic bread in the oven to warm. This is a super quick and easy meal, and a nice derivation from plain ol’ spaghetti!



I also wanted to post a picture of a recent experiment of mine, Skittles Vodka! Vegans, beware: some Skittles in the US and elsewhere still contain gelatin, so be sure to read the label before buying a bag! The two flavors are strawberry and lemon-lime. I'll let you know how they taste after I strain them!

For Day Twenty-Three of VeganMoFo, I’m featuring some desserts from recently remodeled Denver vegetarian restaurant City O’ City! We were in Denver for a convention today, so we decided to check out the revised menu for dinner after Molly’s reading. I forgot my camera, so I don’t have pictures of dinner, but between four of us we devoured the following spread: buffalo seitan wings, vegan mac and cheese, vegan poutine, udon soup (which was admittedly not very good—it tasted like it was incredibly sweet), a seitan sausage and red pepper pizza with Daiya, a BBQ tofu plate, and tofu schnitzel. I also tried a delicious cucumber-infused vodka!
 
We got our desserts (made by Watercourse Bakery, which is affiliated with City O’ City) to go, which mean I was able to photograph them once we returned home! We picked up a pint of chocolate Almond Dream ice cream to go with them. Here's what we got: peanut butter-chocolate bar, Hoho, raspberry-orange cheesecake, and a frosted sugar cookie. All vegan, all freaking incredible. 

Tonight a made my favorite thing ever: a meatball sandwich!
 
I baked some Nate’s meatless meatballs for 10 minutes then cooked them a bit longer in some Muir Glen marinara sauce, until they were nice and mushy. I spread them on a warm, crunchy Udi’s demi-baguette to make an open-faced sub. Ate them with some creamy bhabha ganoush. Pure, unadulterated perfection.