Happy New Year!

Wow, is it 2011 already? Seems like Thanksgiving was just yesterday! Well, at least that's where this blog left off, oops!

I hope everyone had a wonderful winter holiday and a fantastic start to the new year. I fell short of completing VeganMofo last year but it was fun trying. I loved reading everyone's feedback and finding new inspiration. I've also learned to appreciate all the work it takes to maintain a regular blog. Whew! How do you guys do it?!

After seeing Laloofah's comment on New Year's Eve, I decided to make her suggested dishes at last! I had a butternut squash from Thanksgiving that I hadn't used so it seemed perfect for the mac recipe. I cut it in half and baked it to make the purée the recipe called for.

Here's the Smoky-Freaky-Mac-N-Cheesy with butternut squash as the "cheese". It's a tasty alternative to the cashew and avocado based "cheese" I've made before. I served the mac with Quinoa and Red Green Lentil Cutlets. I didn't have red lentils but aside from the color difference, I think it turned out great! I tossed both the lentils and quinoa into the rice cooker to cook together and that made things easy peasy. Thanks for suggesting the recipes, Laloo!

I had lots of squash puree left so I used it up in a tator tot casserole, subbing the original cashew gravy with the squash puree instead. It made enough for me to freeze two portions for dinner for another day. Yum!

It's been quite cold here but nothing compared to the snowpocalypse the NorthEast experienced. It makes for lots more warm cuddle time with the guinea pigs!

Albert Zzzzzzz

Have you made any New Year resolutions? I shall try budget and meal planning to reduce food wastage as my first resolution. That includes eating up everything in the pantry before buying new stuff. So that's going to make for some interesting meals!

I've also not renewed any of the magazines I subscribed to last year (VegNews, Vegetarian Times, Real Simple, Whole Living). I realized I don't have the time to read them and most of the news/info/interviews they print can already be found online. Instead I love reading vegan blogs, which is more up-to-date and interactive, and there are lots more recipes to choose from. (I still haven't made a dent in the VeganMofo posts in my reader!)

Are any of you planning your spring garden already? I stumbled upon this vegan gardening website Anarchy in the Garden and look forward to perusing all the info to help with our spring garden. Let me know what you're growing!

Happy 2011!