Fun With Your Food

Thank you for your bday wishes! I’ve been enjoying my visit home and I hope every one’s holidays have been as good as mine



Dessert first, as always, vegan chocolate sour cherry loaf with chunks of dark chocolate. A week or two ago I took a quick breads class and this was my favorite I instantly knew that I was making it for Thanksgiving.

Okay this is the last time (I think) I’ll post cashew cream but this really tops of the heavy thick chocolate loaf very nicely so it HAD TO be done.

Lightly curried sweet potato & tempeh filling for my sweet potato pastry puffs.

Fresh from our oven: Sweet potato & tempeh pastry puff (any ideas for names on this one? not sure I like this name.)

How fantastic is this retro serving platter I found at my grandma’s place? I wish I had a house full of random retro plates!

I swear I didn’t eat the whole sweet potato casserole…. Yet

Sweet potatoes topped with cinnamon maple syrup and pecans. I noticed some family members picking at this dish and munching the pecan topping. That’s a success in my book.

MY BIRTHDAY PRESENT. A chef’s jacket that has my name embroidered on it. Best. Present. Ever.

How was your holiday?

Teddy

This weekend was the annual vegan thanksgiving brunch at the Natural Epicurean. Now there was a LOT of food (enough for 3 posts). Once again, I will focus on my favorites, which I just realized are all the sweets. Is anyone surprised by that?? haha
ABC news stopped by this year. Cameras seemed to be going off everywhere and several people were interviewed. I haven’t found the article from ABC yet so if anyone sees it, let me know!

The menu included:
Tempeh stuffing, wild rice pilaf, millet mash and wild mushroom gravy, fresh sauteed greens, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce. Warm kukicha apple cider and organic sparkling apple cider were served as well.

Look at me all chef-like, I LOVE it. Scott and I were the “live” chefs. We sauteed fresh picked greens as people came by and offered a rich tahini lemon sauce to top them off.

Each item had a sweet potato card label holder. What a brilliant and adorable idea. I wish I could claim it was mine but I DID cut those sweet potatoes haha

Our greens with radish flowers on top.

Maple pecan sweet potato casserole was my absolute favorite dish of the meal. It’s so sweet that it’s a dessert and that’s perfectly ok with me!

2nd favorite item is the gluten free pumpkin pies. I stayed up past midnight finishing some of these 7 pies at my house the night before. I gave myself a nasty burn by accidentally hitting the hot oven. I’m quite impressed that I’ve been cooking for about 5 months now and only burned myself once. There was a lot of love and time put into them. Plus they’re topped off with cashew cream

Plated pumpkin pie

Cranberry sauce: a requirement at a thanksgiving feast.

If you’re ever in Austin around thanksgiving time come to our feast. I think I’ve provided sufficient proof that it’s well worth the cost! Plus if you want to learn how to make any of these we provide a “how-to” session before we feast.

Teddy