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.
