Caution – yumminess ahead!!

This weekend, I dedicated to cooking up some tasty vegan fare. I constantly look at recipes, and my tummy grumbles at the sight of the deliciousness. I print recipes and keep them in a pile for when I get the time to do some cooking. Well, this Saturday just passed I dedicated to Vegie Head – because her recipes not only are nutritious and healthy, she won the best vegan blog in the world!!

I had a rare quiet full Saturday, so I ambitiously set out to make 4 dishes – Ribollita, South African sweet potato, kidney bean and peanut stew, Swiss chard and potato curry, and my own pumpkin soup.

I wrote out a shopping list of the ingredients I didn’t have (although most of them I already had, as they’re everyday ingredients) and popped down the shops.

The first thing I made was my pumpkin soup. It’s been AGES since I made this, and couldn’t exactly remember the recipe. But I threw something together that tasted really good – onion, pumpkin, potato, water, stock – blend! I didn’t take a photo of this. It’s pumpkin soup.

The next thing was the curry. I had bought a large bunch of Swiss chard on my shopping trip – I had never cooked with it before so was a little unsure.

But I simply followed the recipe and it turned out brilliantly! Such a vibrant colour and the smell… to die for!! The only thing I will do differently next time is to cut the potatoes a little smaller – but they were all cooked and tasty and hmmm…

SOOOOOO good!

L-whack and I enjoyed it for dinner on Sunday evening, but I also managed to enjoy some that didn’t quite fit in the container. hehehe! On Good Friday, we’re actually having a get-together with some of L-whack’s family, and I’ve decided to make this for our contribution. It’s so simple, and so tasty that I am confident it will be a hit!

Next up was the ribollita. I LOVE vegie soup. I LOVE beans, pulses & legumes. So I knew this was going to be a winner!

Hmmmmmmmm yum!

So so so so so so good. Mine didn’t quite turn out like the pic on Vegie Head’s page, as I got distracted with getting my washing out, and the potatoes ended up disintegrating a little. But that only added to the creaminess of the soup! I was actually hanging out all day yesterday to have a bowl, and it was totally worth the wait! I’m looking forward to another bowl tonight!! And L-whack really enjoyed his bowl as well. He’s not a soup person, but really enjoyed how hearty and filling this was.

By the time I had cooked the above, it was pretty late in the afternoon. I decided that although I had all the ingredients ready for the stew, there was already A LOT of food for the week ahead so I’ll try making over the Easter weekend.

Also on the weekend agenda is baking some more hot cross buns – yay!! The other side of L-whack’s family is having a dinner (something ridiculous like 35 people will be there!) so my contribution for this will be buns! I don’t think I’ll make enough buns for everyone – there will be A LOT of food (Litha is back at Cadbury and has promised a ridiculous amount of chocolate – but I shall be controlled and enjoy only vegan options) – but I might try making them a little smaller and getting more out of the mixture. We’ll see.