Easter Eats: Vegan Lasagna & Sugar Cookies

Hey guys!

I’m currently unwinding from a wonderful day of cooking, cleaning, gorging, mingling, and more gorging. I love holidays!

The snack/hors d’oeuvres spread:

O-em-gee! Is that See’s Candy?! Why, yes, yes it is! Did I have three pieces even though they are not vegan?! Do cows graze?!

Oh-em-gee again! Is that Godiva chocolates to the left?! Yes, yes it is! And I was able to abstain from these. But now do you see why my house is like the House of Tantalus on holidays?

The Vegan Entree of Pesto Lasagna (Recipe Linked)

Before entering the oven ^

After shot 1 ^

After shot 2 ^

A note on the lasagna: This lasagna was AMAZING to the nth degree! But it damn better be b/c I freakin’ SLAVED over it! Two challenges: 1. The whole-wheat lasagna noodles gave me trouble and 2) Some of the ingredients were things that could only be found at Whole Foods and were also a bit costly, i.e. quality soy cheese, quality whole-wheat lasagna noodles, nutritional yeast, shoyu, & tahini. The ww lasagna noodles troubled me a bit because the directions recommended I only soften them in the boiling water instead of waiting for them to cook through — this helps the noodles not fall apart when arranging. This worked; however, some parts of the noodles remained a tad firm even after cooking in the oven. That said, I wouldn’t change a thing in this recipe! I used broccoli and artichoke hearts (from can) as the veggies and did choose to top with vegan soy cheese and raw tomato slices before putting in the oven. This dish may be vegan, but it’s definitely decadent and I’m afraid to calculate the nutritionals. I guestimate one slice has over 500 calories. Worth it! Oh, and this was my FIRST TIME making lasagna ever! It was FUN!

The Vegan Dessert of Sugar Cookies (Recipe Linked)

Note on these cookies. They came out DELICIOUSLY! Everyone loved them. However, please note that if you use Ener-G egg replacer, like I did, you will need to add more Earth’s Balance to the batter. I ended up separating the dough into two, adding about 1/8 cup more butter to each half, mixing, then covering in plastic wrap and putting the fridge for 30 minutes. I had to do this because the dough was too crumbly to mold into any shape. I used a butterfly cookie cutter and lemon extract for the frosting. The sprinkles are vegan and made by a company called Lets Do Sprinkelz (linked). Here’s a picture of both the “carnival” and “confetti” sprinkles varieties:

Below, my mom and myself. Isn’t she gorgeous?!

Gosh today I felt like Lucille Ball. I mean, I generally am kinda spazzy, but today was just a new level lol. We experienced the aftershock of an earthquake centered in Baja, Mexico during Easter lunch. Everyone else sat around talking and slightly acknowledging the little waves of feeling, noting that it was one of our guest’s first earthquakes – she’s from the East Coast. I ended up jolting up and then landing in my boyfriend’s lap. What can I say — earthquakes  scare the crap out of me and I’ve lived in CA my whole life. Later, when running on the treadmill, I accidentally hit a speed that was way too fast and almost tripped off, causing my iPod to fly off the treadmill and almost across my face. I cursed loudly like a pirate. This happened twice to my boyfriend’s amusement. Later, when trying to make a cup of tea, the sink nozzle popped off mid-stream and blasted a huge stream of water all over my front. Another feat in idiocy for my boyfriend’s amusement. Ever have a day like this?!

How was your Easter?! How was your weekend?

<3,

The Cranky One

p.s. If you’re on West Coast time, you still have an hour and half to enter my FREE BOOK give-away here!