MAKE THESE.  Very short post.  Absolutely delicious. Be careful because you will want to eat all of them in one sitting – they are that GOOD. I made these Black Olive Bruschetta around a month ago and I will be making them again tomorrow.  The cashew cream, olives, pine nuts, basil, parsley makes for a perfect combination.  Each bite was perfect.  Thank you Colleen.  I can see why you are promoting these fabulous little gems – they are nothing short of wonderful.  Impressive.  I also put some on top of Boston Bibb leaves for Eliot – he devoured them and wondered why I didn’t make more for him.  Oops.

Black Olive Brushetta: Color Me Vegan, Pg 195

Purple Cabbage Salad.  This was just OK too.  It made a HUGE bowlful – like 12 servings.  Again very healthy side dish or lunch.  The taste of the salad didn’t jump out at me.  Eliot ate all of it because he can’t stand food going to waste – he mixed it up with his salads during lunch at work.  For me, it’s not one of those dishes that you can eat over and over again or a large portion.  Here’s the pic:

Purple Cabbage Salad - Color Me Vegan, pg135

Shredded Brussel Sprouts with Apples and Pecans is just OK.  I doubt I will make it again.  Maybe its because I am so spoiled with this brussel sprouts recipe that I can’t adapt my palate  The healthfulness of this recipe is out of control.  It made such a large batch that my husband took the leftovers to work and ate them until they were all gone.  I’m so thankful Eliot loves leftovers.

Shredded Brussel Sprouts with Apples and Pecans - Color Me Vegan, pg118

White Bean and Artichoke Salad.  I served this to my girlfriend Eva who came over for lunch with her kids last week.  We both liked this salad and it is perfect as a light snack, lunch or side accompaniment to dinner.  Her 2 year old daughter even had a bowlful – mostly enjoying picking out and eating the white beans!  I will make this again – all of the fresh herbs, parsley, mint, basil really liven up this dish.  And soooooo healthy!

White Bean and Artichoke Salad - Color Me Vegan, pg 167

Kale Chips.  You wouldn’t ever think it but they are good.  I had my 12 year old nephew Chase over recently and we made them together.  We filled 2 baking trays up with kale goodness and when we pulled them from the oven – they lasted maybe all of 5 minutes.  Between my nephew, my brother, and my husband they disappeared instantly.  I was really impressed with Chase and how he wanted to try them.  I’ve been making these for awhile and always use the same combo as Colleen – curly kale, sea salt, olive oil,nutritional yeast and a bit of chili powder.  Sometime I use garlic salt or garlic powder.  They are delicious all of the time.  My Mom tried them awhile back and loves them too.  I have eaten them without the nutritional yeast but prefer them with it – gives it a nice light cheesy flavour.  The only thing to note about baking them is to really watch them….they go from slightly wilty to crispy in a short period of time and then from crispy to burnt in seconds.  I always look at mine at the 10 minute mark – some are done so I take them out and then watch then every minute thereafter.  Usually all done by the 13 minute mark.

Eliot loves loves loves these kale chips – hence me posting his picture.  On that day we had a couple of girls over playing with our daughters and I know see that they managed to ‘sticker’ him up with some princess stickers.  I believe that’s Princess Aurora on his shirt – he wears it proudly.

Kale Chips - Color Me Vegan, pg117

Eliot eating Kale Chips - Color Me Vegan, pg117

If this soup miraculously found its way to my stovetop every day – I would gladly eat it every single day.  I have made this Thai Coconut Soup several times since making it a couple of weeks ago.  In fact, we are having it again tonight.  I have tweaked it a bit to our preference.  I use 3 tsp green curry paste instead of red curry paste (love the heat).  I added about 1/2tsp to 1tsp more of lemon grass, ginger and lime zest.  I used mushrooms instead of tofu.  I used 1 1/2tsp agave nectar instead of sugar.  And last addition was adding a few broccolis to the soup.  Do not forget to add lime juice prior to eating/serving – really adds a freshness to this soup.  LOVE IT.

Thai Coconut Soup - Color Me Vegan, pg229

I really like this soup.  It’s not an addictive soup but a light soup with great flavour.   I was surprised how much I liked the dill – Colleen suggests a perfect amount, you can taste it but the dill taste does not overpower at all.  I added the juice of a large lemon at the end and could have used even more.  I do not like vegan sour cream so didn’t bother with it.  If I had some raw cashews I would have made some cashew cream and I think it would go well with this soup.  But here’s the biggest surprise.  By now, I obviously have a pretty good idea of what my girls (ages 4 and 5) will eat and won’t eat.  I definitely thought this was a soup for just Eliot and I.  I planned on serving the girls last night leftovers.  At around 4pm, the girls were hungry and ready for a snack.  They hadn’t eaten in a few hours and I knew they were really hungry.  The soup was done.  Not quite dinner but thought I would put out 2 bowlfuls of this spinach soup and a piece of bread and ‘butter’.  I told them it was ‘Shrek soup’ as I do with all green soup.  I didn’t utter the word spinach, basil or dill.  I’m not even sure they know what dill is.  I pretended to be busy in the kitchen as they sat down to eat.  Sage said to Jazz, “good soup eh” (yes, we are proud Canadians!) and Jazz said back to Sage, “yep – are you going to dunk your bread?”  After that conversation I whipped out my camera and took some pics – as you can see they loved the soup.  Made my day.

Sage and her spinach soup!

Spinach Soup with Basil and Dill - Girls eating it!

Sistas!!!

Jazz scooping up her last bite of Spinach Basil Dill Soup! Yum!

I purchased Colleen’s cookbook, Color Me Vegan a couple of months ago and I’m drooling over the recipes.  She offers a lot of soy free, gluten free recipes as well but all are healthy and full of nutrient dense foods.  We seem to moving away from cooking meals that consist of high carb, high glycemic, low nutrient foods so Color Me Vegan is a perfect addition to my overflowing ridiculous cookbook collection!  I’ve made several recipes already from Color Me Vegan and so far so good!

The first recipe I tried was delicious.  Simply delicious.  The Nori Wraps with Orange Cashew Cream are sensationally yummy.  Seriously.  I mean, just look at that picture – they say you eat with your eyes first and to me this looks so good, and it tastes even better.  I couldn’t help but dip mine into soy with a bit of wasabi and I did end up serving it sushi-style.  Some tips – make sure the nori wraps have some moisture, I dip my fingers into a bit of room temperature water and lightly tap the nori sheets with water, not a lot just a bit.  I found that the moisture from the mixture alone didn’t allow for the nori to soften up and the last thing you want are nori wraps that feel like you are biting through thin paper.  I also found that by dipping into a bit of tamari sauce, touch of wasabi made these ‘wraps’ perfect.   Easy easy easy to make and the orange cashew cream puts these wraps on a different level altogether.  Make them.  Tonight.

And because I cut mine sushi-style, they were more than OK to eat the next day.

Nori Wraps with Orange Cashew Cream - Color Me Vegan, pg 212

Very good recipe.  I think I love most anything with the word ‘wrap’ in it.  I did serve the Asian-inspired tofu wraps on a bed of buttery boston bib letttuce.  But both Eliot and I used made our own wraps at the dinner table.  The miso sauce on the wraps is delicious.  I could eat this often.  It reminds me just a bit of the lettuce wraps served at PF Changs.  I will make these again and again!  The sauce is made up of chili paste (critical ingredient), light brown sugar, light miso paste and sesame seeds.  Mmmmm.

Asian Inspired Lettuce Wraps - The Vegan Table, pg200

If only someone would make me this every day for lunch, I would be very happy!  Hmmm, Eliot, are you reading this?

I love braised figs.  This salad is very easy to make.  The ingredients are few, earth balance, bit of sugar, figs, balsamic vinegar, arugula, olive oil, lemon juice, s&p.  I highly recommend using a good quality balsamic vinegar.  The arugula really balances out the sweetness in this salad and the lemon juice highlights all the flavours giving it a really fresh taste.  Mmmmmm.

Braised Figs with Argula - The Vegan Table, pg38