11. No Cookies, and Two Viva Vegan Beauties

I had every intention of coming home and photographing the beautiful chocolate chip cookies I made and posting about them. But this is what I found:


a guilty-looking dog, and an empty tin.







I was not happy to say the least, but my back-up supply of Mint Oreos cut my tantrum short.



Besides, cookies are not the only delicious foods in my house. After reading the PPK thread on favorite Viva Vegan picks, I was excited to try, among many others, Quick Red Posole and Gallo Pinto.

The Quick Red Posole with Beans lives up to its name. It is in fact quick, red, and contains beans. But it's also a flavorful, red stew that was the perfect remedy when I came home from work with the beginnings of a cold. I slept for three hours, drank 40 oz. of water, had some posole, and returned to bed. The cold is gone, and I declare posole to be the medical breakthrough of our times ... or of pre-Columbian times.

And this is the first time I've used or even had hominy. So as you can imagine, it was a pretty exciting experience.

I took author Terry Hope Romero's suggestion and topped this lovely dish with cool, salad-like ingredients - lettuce, sour cream, and avocado - and blue tortilla chips.



"Gallo Pinto" means "painted rooster," but this refried beans and rice dish is 100% vegan friendly. The flavor is incredible, and the dish is immensely satisfying. It tastes like something you'd eat at a restaurant and try to pretend that you don't even know what MSG is, since something this good must be triple marinated in it.

The majority of the time spent on this dish was waiting for the beans and rice to cook, and then for the rice to cool in the refrigerator - that's what "cold cooked" means. I had no idea before this. This is an excellent quick dinner if you've already soaked your beans.

The dish comes together very quickly, and is best served in fine crockery, such as the Blues Clues bowl pictured here.



If you don't own Viva Vegan, I can't urge you to get it enough. Every single dish I've made so far has been a fantastic, make again and again, pleasure. This is a desert island cookbook for sure.