Birthday 2010
My dad let me pick for his birthday dinner last year. I know he really likes seitan, so I chose The Vegan Ghost of Julia Child Menu from Veganomicon.
The main course was Sauteed Seitan with Mushrooms and Spinach with Herb-Scalloped Potatoes. The seitan calls for 2 cups, but I have written here that I used a whole batch, which I think must mean that I used 500g (1lb) of seitan, as that is what I consider a normal batch size. The recipe calls for 6 cups of spinach, but it cooks down a lot so you can always add more for extra green goodness. The potatoes are good too, though they never seem to brown up quite as much as I would like. There seems to be a lot of liquid in them.
The dessert was Individual Heart-Shaped Apple Galettes, which are SO CUTE! I was a bit worried that they wouldn't work out, but they were really easy and look adorable. They would be awesome for company.
This is the Bulgur, Arugula, and Cannellini Salad. I did not actually make this the same night as my Dad's birthday dinner, but it is an optional part of the menu, so I thought I'd share it here with you. I made it to take to work for lunches. It is nice, but even better topped off with some marinated mushrooms or baked tofu - yum!
Father's Day 2010
My dad also likes vegetable curries. He picked a red curry for Father's Day.
I thought I might have a go at making my own curry paste, so I did. This is the Red Curry Paste from The Asian Vegan Kitchen. It was very easy to use, and looked so fresh and spectacular compared to the stuff from the bottle.
The curry paste went into Thai Curry With Veggies from The Vegan Table. The recipe says it yields 2-4 servings, but it seemed to make HUGE servings! I did add some additional broccoli to make it a bit more green, but still! Next time I would cut down on the potatoes, three potatoes seems excessive, especially when serving with rice. I also used carrots instead of red capsicum.
Dessert was the Apple and Pear Cobbler from 1000 Vegan Recipes, served with some soy ice cream. In this recipe I did not grate the apples, I just chopped them and it worked out fine. I would have like a teeny bit more of the topping mixture to spread over it.
Birthday Cake
Not content with a birthday dinner and a Father's Day dinner, my Dad also wanted a cake! He wanted a dessert for his birthday dinner, and a cake for later.
This is the Apple Lover's Cake from 1000 Vegan Recipes. This cake never really rose, it stayed quite flat and lumpy throughout the baking process. I also found I needed to add another teaspoon of juice to the icing to make it spread enough, but be careful as it gets too runny quickly. It has apple sauce, dried apple and fresh apple in it, plus apple juice in the glaze, so it is apples all around.
Cute Kitty Photo of the Post
The handsome Possum, being adorable in the garden again. He loves lying in this garden so much, and snuggling gently up to the flowers.
(% '1000 Vegan Recipes' Blogged: 9.2%)
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