Happy Valentine's Day!

In honor of the holiday, I made some cutesie cookies yesterday:

I am taking a few to work today for the kidlets as part of our Valentine's Day celebration, (we're also having pajama day!), and the rest will go to church choir practice on Wednesday . . . it's my turn to take treats for our break. I'm thinking about throwing together a pan of brownies too, since I didn't get quite as many cookies as I think 50 or so hungry singers need. :)

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Although I didn't get quite as much cooking done this weekend as I would have liked, I did manage a couple of wonderful, veggie-full meals!

"Indonesian Sweet Potato and Cabbage Soup," from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers:

Seriously, this is one of my favorite cookbooks EVER -- the recipes are all so simple, but so dang flavorful! This is a nice change of pace from the usual bean soups, a tasty way to use up half a head of leftover cabbage, and tastes like it's simmered all day, even though it's ready in a half-hour! Mmmmmmm.

And here's a Vegetarian Taco Salad:

I'm certain that adding sour cream (well, sour "lean,") guacamole, and traditional tortilla chips to this otherwise healthy recipe destroys the nutritional profile a bit, but I don't care! This salad is SOOOOOOOOOOOO good -- truly, there's something "magic" in this recipe that just hits the spot every time. I'm so excited to have leftovers for lunch today. :) (And probably tomorrow, too!)

Hope you will have a fun and chocolate-filled Valentine's Day! Dan and I aren't doing anything today since he has band practice, but we will probably have a special dinner tomorrow night (fondue!! Woo!)

Indonesian Sweet Potato and Cabbage Soup

I made "Indonesian Sweet Potato and Cabbage Soup," from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers, for our supper tonight:

Even though I know very little about Indonesian food, (except that it is definitely fusion cooking, with all of the different ethnic groups that live there,) I took one look at this recipe and knew that I was going to have to make it pretty soon. At first glance, it looked, well, "weird." Tomatoes? Sweet Potatoes? Peanut Butter? Cabbage? That last one was the one that really got me . . . but the more I thought about it, the more it all sounded . . . really, really good. And let me tell you, it surpassed all of my expectations! This soup is rich, spicy, slightly sweet, salty, containing soft and crunchy and creamy textures, simple to prepare, and on the table in about 40 minutes. This is going on the list of "Asian staples" at our house, along with Thai coconut soup, tofu curry, rice and dal, pad Thai, pho, hot pot, and a few other items. Hm. Come to think of it, maybe I just really like Asian soups!?!? (And pad Thai.) Yum.

Off to enjoy a slice of raspberry pie for dessert! Mmmmmmmmm!