Potato, Bean, Chard soup and lentil pizza

Well, the dogs survived another New Years Eve. Fireworks just scare the poor kids to death. Yogi and I spent most of the evening together playing on the computers. He did his window shopping for photography items and I surfed for vegan recipes. We laughed and had a great time. It was pretty much a junk food night for Yogi, although he did have a quesadilla. Remember he is an Omni, but trying hard to eat more vegetarian. I commend you honey! I made a french bread pizza (with Follow your heart vegan cheese) and had the best chocolate bar. It was vegan from Whole Foods and it was so good. Dark Chocolate with almonds. YUMMY! Finally a few minutes before midnight we quit surfing the net and moved to TV land. After a New Years Eve smooch, a call to our kids, we went in search for Dick Clark. Of course, if he was on we missed it. Then came the popcorn and these great Vegan cookies that we buy at Whole Foods. They are not fat free or sugar free, but we love them. I really enjoy the Chocolate chip, coconut, and macadamia nut. Yogi likes the Peanut Butter ones. Next time I get them I will post the information for everyone.

My husband, Yogi (his nickname) has decided to try very hard to stick to NO MEAT MONDAYS. I am very proud of him. Cheese does not count to him so for dinner tonight he had Amy's Cheese Enchiladas. Sorry no pictures of frozen foods here. I made Spanish Potato, Chard, and Bean soup from Madhur Jaffrey's Cookbook, World Vegetarian. Yogi does not like Chard. I followed the recipe pretty much except for cutting back on the oil and using veggie broth to saute' the onions, potatoes, and chard. She also says to add a teaspoon of olive oil to each bowl when served. I also deleted that from my version. I used navy beans, Yukon Gold potatoes, and rainbow chard. The Yukon potatoes hold up so nicely in soups and stews. Hey mom, look, I am using the blue dishes you got me, how long ago? Thank you , Mom! They are really beautiful.

I also made Susan's Pioneer Corn Bread from fatfreevegan.com My sweetheart found me this iron skillet muffin pan that forms the muffins into little corn on the cobs. I put a lil scoop of Earth Balance on the plate too, so cute. You should all check Susan's site for her little cactus cornbreads. Now they are incredibly cute. Swapmeet here I come! One can always hope. http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/10/stormy-black-bean-soup.html Yogi and I loved this recipe. They come out so light and yummy. Our daughter was too full from eating leftover potatoes, veggies, and vegan gravy to eat them, but said they smelled really good.

When I made the little lentil pizza's last night I didn't take a picture, which gave me no choice, but to make them again so everyone could enjoy them as much as I did. A couple days ago I made some Lentil sloppy Joes (thanks again to Susan), well, there were leftovers. I wondered if I could change them from BBQ flavor to Italian to make pizza and I am thrilled to report that YES, YOU CAN! I picked up a wonderful French baguette at the store and it just cried out to me, "PIZZA". I sliced it in half, spread some of the leftover lentils on each side, sprinkled it with some granulated garlic, added some chopped up yellow and orange bell peppers and topped it with some Follow Your Heart Vegan Mozzarella Cheese. This stuff is great! It doesn't have the texture of regular cheese, but has a wonderful flavor and it melts. Next time I think I might add a few sprinkles basil and red pepper flakes to spice them up even more. I really enjoyed it! Lentils. are so versatile.

Happy New Year to all!