Taco salad, lasagna, yummy (hopefully) bread

I made the same taco salad for lunch today that I made a week or so ago--but this time I took a picture. And, I added fresh tomato this time because I had some available. It was so good! I know the salsa covers up most everything else in the picture, but there is taco-seasoned tofu under there as well as black beans! It was quick and simple and quite satisfying.

I had a block of tofu sitting in my fridge that needed to be eaten up soon, so I was thinking of what to do with it. I was flipping through Vegan With a Vengeance (yes, I broke down and bought it--yay!) and I saw her recipe for "Basil-Tofu Ricotta" (p. 133). I didn't have any basil on hand and was determined not to make a special trip to the store for it (I'm so bad about that!!), but I did have a bag of frozen spinach. I remembered that SusanV had a recipe for spinach-mushroom lasagna that looked very much like my favorite lasagna before I went veg*n. So I decided to give lasagna a whirl.

I took SusanV's recipe as a guideline, but I customized it to what I had on hand. I didn't use the mushrooms and I increased the amount of spinach. I played with the spices/seasonings and came out with something very much like my old lasagna recipe (except I used whole wheat noodles this time--a great choice, I must say!). I baked it according to the recipe directions. This is the meal we ended up with:



Bob and I were delighted. When I was younger, and didn't worry about fat and calories and all that good stuff, lasagna was my absolute favorite meal. It was wonderful to learn that as vegans, we can still have lasagna and love it and feel great about it! Served with a side salad, this was a most exquisite meal.

After dinner we walked to Earth Fare to pick up a few things. I love being able to walk to the grocery store, and take my own canvas bag! I guess I'm old-fashioned.

Speaking of old-fashioned, we ran out of bread so it was time to make some more. I was reading My Vegan Creations the other day and ran across a bread recipe that looked amazing, so I decided to give it a try. Since we only have one loaf pan we halved the recipe. I topped it with toasted sesame seeds and flax seeds. It's still steaming hot, so we won't get to try it until tomorrow. But I think it looks delicious. I can't wait to cut into it! I don't know if it's just super humid around here (that's probably a very valid explanation), but I had to add tons of flour to make the dough smooth enough to handle. I started with 3 cups, but the dough was sticky as putty until I had added about another cup and a half.

Just a note: I don't usually use my oven this much in the summertime. I know it's inefficient, but I've been deprived of a real kitchen for so long that I've just had to play around these past several days! I know that when school starts next week, that will keep me busy enough that I will only get to cook a real meal a couple of times a week. So I figured, enjoy it while I can.

The lentils aroused a lot of curiosity last night, but no jealousy. Oh well. We did get to talk about veganism a bit. But most importantly, we had fun just being with everyone that Bob will be working with, and diet did not have to sneak in and hinder us at all. That is very important to me. I want to be able to live with my vegan commmitment without people thinking I'm crazy. And it is really a thing that sets you apart from everyone around you, and draws attention to you. But I continue to strive and pray that Bob and I do everything and treat everyone with grace and love and humility.

I'm taking Bob's aunt a slice of my lasagna for lunch tomorrow. I hope she enjoys it!