Part 3! blueberry velvet, minty eggplant, and VEGAN BRUNCH !

So we're finally in the present, now!  That was so weird, being back in time for so long... well, status quo and time re-adjustment has been achieved (thank you Doc!) and I'm the proud owner of not only Vegan Brunch but the Tropical Vegan Kitchen, now, too!  More on those at the end of the post, because I'm such a stickler for temporal integrity... although you'd never never never know it.  So I have to begin with rice.  Oh, but not just any rice...

It was sumptuous, luscious purple rice (yeah, I'm a fan), which I made with a big heaping spoonful of souvlaki spice blend that's been sitting on my spice rack since last summer going "oh oh, make me with tofu, you LOVE greek food, get around to it, with those Vcon lemony potatoes, yeah!"

Which of course I did not do.  

Nah, no, I made this rice instead and actually swished it around in my salad, turning it all warm and tomatoe-y and olive-y, it was really awesome.  I never (never never?) mix my plate up, or at least not that often, so bear with my enthusiasm, haha.

Enthusiasm wanes for this, though!  Too bad... it's from Vegan Fire & Spice and it was only okay... cold soba something or other.  I could have just messed up rinsing it properly, because it was mostly a case of the the noodle liquid rinsing all the nice dressing off.  And I put way too many veggie in, who needs veggies man, not me (at least not when "slurpy bowl of noodle" is the simplicity required at the moment).  Does anyone have any cold noodle tricks?  I bought a pack of soba the size of my head and I was pretty up for doing it cold, japanese-style over the rest of the summer.

Also good cold:  eggplant!  Amazing cold!  I faked up this most excellent wheat berry salad with morrocan spices, creamy eggplant, fresh mint... so good.  Especially in crisp summer lettuce wraps with black bean hummous dolloped on, which needless to say, was my consumption method of choice here.  (I'm especially enamoured of the strange little ears on the hummous blob in the picture there, too :P)

Oooh, and unfortunately there's no slice picture, but I made a red velvet cake!!  It was a bit of a talent exchange and I got a professional (shi-shi, layered and subtle!) haircut from a friend of mine who adores southern stuff.  I even put mint on it, a la Paula Deen.  Oh, and the recipe was of course from Vegan Cupcakes and OMG this frosting if you haven't made it yet MAKE IT it's all whippy like creamy and dangerously low-sweet and HIDE THE SPOONS.  O_O!

*cough*

Right.  Well.  Grounding... let's be sensible here.  There is nothing more sensible than rice salad, not one thing, nope.  (the New Zealand Rice Salad on page 70, to be really specific.  tee hee kiwis).  What else can be eaten right out of the fridge like a miniature complete meal at the end of your snacking fork?  (And that can be hard to remember to eat sometimes!)  Also, what else can incorporate fruit into dinner without seeming weird?  Well, I guess I'm going to find out what else, because the Tropical Vegan Kitchen is full of fruit, it's everywhere.  Which is why I bought it!  That and to figure out how to use up a crate of kiwis I got... I'm looking to adapt the toasted coconut mango muffin recipe in Vegan Brunch too maybe... which finally brings me to -----

Omelet!

La la la, nothing can be said about this I'm sure that hasn't been said before, it is perfect and you want to eat this and your omni uncle wants to eat this (well, maybe), and I ate it with the V.Brunch sesame scrambled tofu with greens and yams ( - tofu, + dandelion greens).  I don't know how she actually managed to do this, but not only does it actually taste like something good (as opposed to Vegan-Omelet-As-Novelty), but the structural integrity is a wonder to behold.  The thing spread perfectly, browned perfectly, held together like a champ... you can even stack them.  Now try that with an egg omelet!

(also, I offically think these taste way better than those egg things.  viva la revolution!)