I had an ideal weekend planned, where I would wake up early Saturday morning, go to the gym, come home, do the dishes, shower and start cooking my menu for the day. I would make a hundred different things, clean out the fridge, clean my kitchen and leave it spotless before going out for date night. 

About half of that happened. Doesn't that always seem like that's the way things go? Apart from a few key things, like my kitchen looking as though Godzilla trampled through it overturning bowls of flour and chocolate instead of cars and trampling out after dipping his feet in barbecue sauce, and me completely skipping out on a days worth of exercise, I guess you could say things went swimmingly.

I had 3 bananas past their prime, which is prime time for banana bread, banana muffins, banana cupcakes, even cheesecake. I opted for the Banana chip muffins this morning, maybe because muffins are so easy, and come together with 1 bowl and 1 pan. As you may be able to discern, I am of the no-dishwasher set-up. It's almost like when I buy bananas, I look forward to 4 days later when there are a few brown ones left for me to mash up and go to town on, as if brown bananas are more exciting to me than fresh ones. I do also love me a straight up fresh banana. As you can see this study has been inconclusive.

I. love. Challah bread. Pre-vegan, I used to buy it at Panera Bread and eat the whole thing in one day because I couldn't stop ripping pieces off and shoveling them down. I once brought home a loaf and left some on the counter, and my mom came along and encountered the same problem, that is lack of self restraint in the context of eating Challah bread. I then learned to make it, and made it so much that I got tired of it (gasp) and shortly after that I became vegan and thought my Challah-eating days were over. But alas, vegan dad has saved me from such a horrible fate, that being unable to enjoy Challah bread, with his killer recipe. The dough was remarkably more sticky than most doughs I've had to knead out, but power through, just sprinkle a little flour when needed. It also makes a giant batch of dough, which was really fun to knead. I liked being able to push and pull and take up my whole side counter with a huge massive dough. It's bigger than any I've kneaded yet, and I kind of liked it. Is that weird?

And here we have exhibit B, the classic case of losing all self restraint and ripping off a huge chunk of the bread almost straight out of the oven, still piping hot, and before photography no less. Can't wait 10 measly minutes for the bread to cool before shoving it into my mouth. Good thing this recipe makes 2 loaves. There's a certain crack-status this bread holds. It's quite mysterious. The authorities are without answers.

S'mores Pie!! A variation on Vegan Pie in the Sky's Chocolate Pudding Pie, with cashew creme, graham crackers, and torched dandies marshmallows. Topped with ganache, she sure does photograph nicely. 

After forcing him to drop what he is doing and immediately come marvel at my amazing creation, Alex asks, "How are you supposed to slice that?" A fairly valid question to which I replied, "Carefully." I have yet to slice it, but when I do, I will use my utmost care and caution. Once sliced, I will become fox-like and ditch all silverware or food utensil and mow face, Fantastic Mr. Fox-style.

This was planned to be the Spicy Blue Potato and Corn salad from Appetite For Reduction but I couldn't find any blue potatoes. These little baby bliss potatoes swapped nicely, though. This is a vinaigrette-based potato salad with pinto beans, corn and chipotles. It's for a brunch tomorrow, but I obviously had to take a taste, and I'm pretty into it. I'm usually a vegenaise-mustardy-dressing fan when it comes to the potato and macaroni salad, but the vinaigrette pulls its weight and it's so much lighter. You've got to pack healthy dishes with flavor, otherwise you're never going to eat it! 

Unphotographed are a couple of pizzas, barbecued seitan, chile-cornmeal-crusted tofu burritos with broccoli cole slaw, and some seitan chicken-style nuggets. Slam dunk.  Also, a new spring flavor will go up shortly perhaps followed by 2-3 more before the seasons end. 

Happy Easter, Passover, Challah-eating Day everybody!!!