Big "E" Weekend

On Friday night, I was picking Art up at the airport at midnight and knew he'd be hungry for something light when we got home. So at about 11:15, I prepared some of Dori's spring rolls (see previous link) along with the peanut dipping sauce and put them in the refrigerator to be put in the oven when we got home. Inside the rolls I put asparagus, carrots, cabbage, and broccoli all chopped up in small pieces. For the sauce, I didn't have sesame oil, so I substituted grapeseed oil and used half almond butter & half peanut butter. The picture doesn't look as good as they tasted. Thanks for the idea, Dori, it was perfect!

Saturday was the opening day for our farmers' market. I'm so happy that it's open again, as it's our favorite Saturday activity. In LA, we'd go to the Hollywood market every Sunday, and now we miss the year round fresh produce. I got this fun & unique assortment of carrots -- each having it own special taste. "Bunnies like the carrots!" is what Olivia kept saying to anyone who'd listen. Art's favorite was the small, round ones and mine was the red. At the market, my daughter and I enjoyed listening to a local artist play his digeridu (sp?).



I made the roasted root veggie dish that has become a staple in our house. I used all our farmer's market carrots, red potatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil, sea salt, hoisin sauce. This is the first time I've used hoisin sauce in this dish and I must say that it made it so much better. We just keep these in the fridge and warm them up or even eat them cold.



Art agreed to make his famous tamales this weekend, but only if I'd make baklava. What you see here is a double batch of Art's tamales, which is the only proof that I made the baklava. (No picture of my end of the bargain because it didn't turn out as pretty as last time). Art claims his tamales are easy to make, but, the rolling of them is the hardest part. He says he has lots of practice rolling things like this (from his college days ... hmmm...) and that he's a natural.

Anyway, you mix up the masa, which is corn meal, and then spread spoonfulls of the masa onto one husk, then add whatever (this time it was two cheeses and corn), roll it, and then add one or two rolls on top to help keep it secure in the cooker. After rolling them, carefully place them with air spaces into the tamale cooker. We bought our tamale cooker for $25 at Wal-Mart (uggh, but they were the only ones that had it) and it works great. Cook them on low heat for 2 hours, then let the pot cool, then cook again on low heat for another hour.
They are then ready to eat. The best sauce is a tomatillo sauce, which you make by mixing one small can of tomatillos with one large can of green enchilada sauce, and, voila, delicious tomatillo sauce to warm and spread over the tamales. Other sauces can be made from any sort of salsa or hot sauce. The tamales are, for some reason, better the next day after they have cooled in the refrigerator and they are re-warmed (nuke for 2 minutes and cuidado - es muy caliente!). You can get creative with the items to add into the tamales, including sundried tomatoes, tofu, or our favorite, "Veats" bites, cooked with teriyaki sauce.

One of Schmoo's recent lunches over at Vegan Lunchbox inspired me to make some popsicles for my popsicle-loving-girl. I mashed a banana, added 2 tablespoons orange juice, and 2 tablespoons pineapple juice, and divided it into 4 little cups. I then covered the cups with tin foil to hold the popsicle stick in place & put them in the freezer over night. Olivia was a good sport to try them out because it was cold here over the big Easter weekend. It snowed Easter morning & hailed today. We have had some wacky Springtime weather.



Tonight, Art is in the studio recording vocals for his album, which gives me time to chronicle some of our weekend here. I leave you with part of an art project the girls and I created in hopes that you had a wonderful Easter as well!