Veganomicon Mania

I hope everyone has had an enjoyable and relaxing weekend. I was definitely happy to have some good stuff going on and good food to eat after this past Thursday. When I was out for a run, just half a mile from my house, I tripped on I don't know what and fell flat on the ground. I managed to get a pretty nasty series of cuts on my knee and my hand. So needless to say, thanks to the bruising/stiffness/healing cuts, my half marathon training has been kind of disrupted. The good news is, the bulk of my training is done, and I got myself on the bike, elliptical, and treadmill this morning at the gym. I think I will be back in action early next week, and I don't think this little setback will have much negative effect on the half marathon in 2 weeks.

On to the food! Since my mom got me a copy of Veganomicon, I have been busy picking out which dishes to make first. This weekend, I made two. My parents hosted visitors from out of state yesterday, my dad's best friend from college and his wife. My mom made a chicken stew for dinner, so I brought along a dish to eat and share - BBQ Black-Eyed Pea Collard Rolls. This was a simple recipe that was easy to put together and that looked really pretty on the plate. They also tasted great! Everyone who tried them enjoyed them. I can tell I will be making the BBQ sauce recipe many times this summer, so yummy. Another great thing about this recipe is that I got to eat it twice. There were a couple rolls and a bit of sauce leftover, so I repurposed them tonight for dinner. I cooked up a serving of brown rice, and added the filling from the leftover rolls (the collard leaves had gotten a little slimy so I tossed them) to a skillet with the extra sauce. The filling was chopped collards, mushrooms, black-eyed peas, and BBQ sauce. Once heated through, I served it with the rice for a delicious meal the second time around.
I tried another recipe from the book today, the Carrot Pineapple Sunshine Muffins. I figured these would make a great snack for Mark and I to take along to work this week. The muffins are chock full of delicious ingredients - pineapple, raisins, orange zest, carrots. It smelled like a tropical paradise in my kitchen while these baked. These came out wonderfully. They are nice and moist, thanks to soy yogurt and the fruit in the recipe, and they are fluffy like a classic muffin. I can't wait to enjoy these at work this week, it will certainly be a bright spot in the day! I think I will store them in the refrigerator though, even though they are so tasty fresh. I don't want them to get soggy. Any advice on storing muffins?
Anyway, have a great week everyone! Hopefully I will have a few new recipes for you this week.