Onions and Garlic

This week we had a lot of (you guessed it) onion and garlic-based meals. I made the French Onion Pie from The Vegan Table, or to be more precise, french onion pies, because it actually made two pies. The filling was a yummy combination of caramelized onions, tofu, soy milk, nutritional yeast, and spices. I bought frozen pie crusts instead of making them myself, which were not only organic, but also tasted almost-homemade! Unfortunately, I don't remember the brand name, just that I found them at Whole Foods.

Anyway, the french onion pies were a great contrast of creamy, cheezy filling and tender pie crust. I served them with the Marinated Lemon Zucchini from Vegan Italiano. I marinated the zucchini overnight in an olive oil, lemon, and spice blend, and then broiled the veggies for just a few minutes. Perfection!

I've been really into making soups lately, and had a crazy amount of garlic bulbs lying around. It was the perfect excuse for making Glorious Roasted Garlic Soup from The Garden of Vegan. I must warn you that this packs a serious garlic taste. Wow! I love roasted garlic anyway, but paired with shallots, onions, and potato, it's amazing.

The rest of the week has been rather hectic, so I've made quite a few "repeat" dishes, ones that that are both simple to prepare and super yummy. Unfortunately, that means I don't have a lot of food pictures to show off this week.

Last night J and I went to WYEP's Summer Music Festival, a great free music festival we've never been able to make it to in the past. Happily, the line-up included Sarah Harmer, whose music I love! Here's a picture of her and her band onstage. I was so happy because they performed "Basement Apartment" and "Uniform Grey," my favorite songs from her first album!

The stupid camera ran out of batteries before Nicole Atkins and the Black Sea took the stage, so no more pictures. But let me assure you, they were very, very good. I'd never heard Nicole Atkins' music before and was very impressed. J, who played guitar for years, was particularly impressed with the female guitarist (whose name I don't remember), who shredded it up. I don't know a thing about guitar playing, but even I could tell that she was good. All in all, it was a great music festival, and the perfect way to end a particularly grueling work week.

I know Saturday is typically the start of my cooking-frenzy-madness, but it started out early in the morning with a blood test (successful this time, I'm always grateful when they can actually find my tiny veins!), and by the time we got home from running various errands, I felt way too exhausted to try a new recipe. The Nabeyaki Udon from The Kind Diet  is incredibly soothing to both cook (something about adding all the brightly colored vegetables, one at a time, to simmer in a simple shiitake mushroom broth) and eat. It's also one of my new favorite comfort foods, so I made a big pot of it, and we mellowed out in front of the TV.

Tomorrow I should be back to my cooking-like-a-maniac self, so expect more pictures very soon.