Vegan Dinner Attempt 1

alternative title: "Rome Wasn't Built In A Day, But Brussel Sprouts Sprouted Up Overnight"

Saturday night I attempted the first recipe out of my new cookbook: VeganYumYum Decadent {But Doable} Animal-Free Recipes for Entertaining & Every Day by Lauren Ulm. This is the same woman whose blog I found those adorable knitting cupcakes on...

I can't say I have been 100% vegan/vegetarian for the past 3-4 weeks...I don't think I was planning on it. However, I have only had meat 3/4 times and dairy {with Lactaid} only a handful...all times are when I have gone out to lunch/dinner with friends...that's the hardest time always for me! But I have definitely been cooking more & eating way more veggies {I have always been more of a fruit person}...& I feel more energized/healthy for sure.

So, back to my cooking adventure!

Saturday evening, Nate {over at Flacasaurus...great blog if Folk Friday doesn't occur regularly enough for you} & I tried out Lauren's Seven Spice Udon recipe {on page 214 of her cookbook}. This was simple enough - only called for 7 ingredients- but let me tell you! We went to three different grocery stores looking for the simplest items! The recipe calls for Japanese Seven Spice...but we could only find an Asian Sesame Ginger spice, which had most of the same spice in it, minus the seaweed.

Which brings me to the Brussel Sprouts....I have never ever had a Brussel Sprout, not because I'm among the vocal majority who has an intense disdain for them, just never had them....Also, they are apparently a winter veggie, so super hard to locate in mid-May. We ended up buying a bag at Trader Joe's...so now I have almost a whole bag of Brussel Sprouts & no idea how to cook them...please let me know if you have any suggestions....

Also, this recipes contains tofu...I have maybe had tofu 2 other times {that makes it twice this week!} & I'm kind of terrified of it...it has to be pretty fried for me to deal with the texture. Additionally, I have never attempted to cook it myself...Nate & I braved the slimy square mold of soy & were pleasantly please with the results.

The recipe calls for shredded carrots & Brussel Sprouts, but we also added in some mushrooms, mostly because we had a handful that were about to go bad, but also because I think mushrooms & Asian food go together really well, plus more veggies in one meal....

I also really liked the fried/soft Udon noodles...it came out so well & surprisingly felt like comfort food....salty, crunchy, hearty, delicious....

I'm not sure how Ms. Ulm would feel about posting the recipe step by step, but it wasn't difficult {think of all the new things I managed to do in just one recipe with only 7 ingredients!} & I would totally suggest checking out her blog or even purchasing the cookbook for more recipes. I plan on cooking my way through this entire book this summer...everything looks amazing, vegan & all!

I went a little overboard on photos, but I was excited to document my culinary experiment!