Happy Mardi Gras! Even though we are not in New Orleans, we made some special recipes to celebrate.
First I made the Roasted Eggplant and Spinach Muffuletta from Veganomicon.
Rather than the olive salad in Isa's recipe, which I'm sure is delicious, I used this mix from Central Grocery in New Orleans to make it a little more "authentic." We got a jar for Christmas.
The result -- pretty good, but I think I used the wrong kind of bread. It started getting soggy after a few hours. Next time I will buy a sturdier loaf. Then I will be able to let it sit longer, allowing the olive flavors to seep into the bread without making it all goopy.
I also made Gumbo Z, from Vegan Soul Kitchen. With four different types of greens, how could this be anything but a winner? Delicious.
I was also going to make a king cake -- there's a great-looking recipe in Quick & Easy Vegan Celebrations -- but after Valentine's Day, I find that I am burnt out on sweets. I haven't wanted anything sugary in the past several days. Since Tony doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, I decided to skip the king cake. But let me know if you made one! I've never had one, and they look so good.
OMG yum! What perfect meals to celebrate the day! That sandwich looks amazing! While I'm not a fan of olives and would skip that part, I do love some eggplant and spinach. Sounds like a great and festive meal!
ReplyDeleteMy sister in law grew up in New Orleans so as part of their wedding favors they gave out mini king cakes. it was really cute! I've never made a vegan one though.
Haha. I'm burned out on sweets too. I've been wanting to make some mocha chip muffins for forever, but after all that V-Day chocolate, I think it's gonna be awhile!
ReplyDeleteThat Gumbo Z looks delicious! I've been wanting that cookbook for a long time. All the tasty recipes I see people making are slowly starting to convince me!
I have always wanted to make muffaletta; I bet the olive mix was great. Can't really say I'm burnt out on sweets (though I am giving added sugar up for Lent) but King Cakes never really appealed to me - they look like WAY too much sugar, but also kind of gaudy and tacky with all the colors. I guess that's the point, but I'm not really into it.
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