Green Pea and Lemon Risotto With Roasted Red Peppers

This was an easy and delicious meal and was a great balance of creaminess and richness with lightness and brightness from the lemon and peas.

We topped this with some Almesan, which I have to admit is a really awesome homemade version of grated "parmesan." Oh, and of course some toasted pine nuts, which in my opinion is basically a must for any risotto dish.

I'm not sure I was a huge fan of the roasted red pepper slices (and I *know* my husband wasn't... he's got issue with big chunks of a lot of different things). To me they added maybe a bit too much of a contrast to the much milder risotto. Next time I may try chopping them up to see if the flavors integrate more smoothly.

Price: $13-$14. So yeah, maybe a bit on the higher side.
Difficulty: Easy.
Modifications: Topped with Almesan and toasted pine nuts.
Cleanup: Easy.

This recipe is on page 199 of Veganomicon.

Cholent

Finally, a one-word, simply-titled dish, which was also simply delicious, simple to create and simple to clean up. See Wikipedia's cholent page for more information on this Jewish stew.

To me this dish was like a new twist on chili; it had most of the flavors of chili but with unexpected ingredients like potatoes and peas (we used them in place of lima beans, which I forgot to buy) and rice (which can be served under or over the cholent).

The end result was a thick, hearty and rich concoction that made boatloads lasting as long as the flavors were deep.

I pretty much stuck to the script on this one, but could not find the TVP chunks, so I used the TVP crumbles. I'm not even sure what TVP chunks are, but the crumbles worked just fine.

The only issue we had was that the lentils were still a bit firm, so next time around I'd probably cook them on their own first for a bit.

This was truly an easy one pot meal that would make a great weeknight dinner on any chilly night.

Cost: About $10.
Difficulty: Simple simple simple.
Modifications: Crumbled TVP instead of chunks and peas instead of lima beans.
Cleanup: Simple simple simple.

This recipe is on page 183 of Veganomicon.

Double Pea Soup With Roasted Red Peppers

This soup falls into the category of one that we liked and will probably make again but we won't get too excited about it. It is pea soup, after all. And on top of that, it's just soup, and I'm sure I've mentioned before that I'm not a soup person.

With that said, it was good enough for me to eat it as leftovers twice after the main event, which for soup, says a lot. And it was really colorful and festive, too.

The flavor was less "pea-like" than usual, which to me is a good thing. It had a nice depth of flavor and was just the right thickness. I actually cheated a bit on that front by using an immersion blender the blend up about half the soup to make it creamier.

The herbs were probably one of the best things about the soup, besides the fact that it was really healthy. Not being good at identifying flavors from herbs, I can't put my finger on which one (or ones) really stood out. Nor am I good at describing the flavors, but it was one of those spicy spice flavors (the ones I think of as fall spices, such as cinnamon and allspice). It was probably the coriander. In any case, chalk one up for the herbs.

Price-wise, this was probably in the $8-$10 range, but it was extremely plentiful, so per serving it was probably one of the cheapest dishes of the book so far. On the plus side, it was also easy to make and clean up.

This recipe is on page 141 of Veganomicon.