My First Vegan Holiday - Easter Eats

I'm not gonna lie - it took a lot of work, but I survived my first vegan holiday! I even managed to stuff myself silly - like usual.

We had a beautiful brunch at my Aunt Rosie's house and I was excited to serve up my vegan dishes next to the brown sugar bacon and eggy french toast casserole. As planned, I made a millet salad and a tofu scramble. I also made my first batch of vegan cupcakes!

I had started off really prepared, but after some procrastinating and an unexpectedly long church service I was left baking last night until 1:30 a.m. and up at 7 this morning to finish.

Luckily I had made a test version of the salad (Millet and "Blackeyes Bean" Salad with Basil and Prickly Pears) This time, I stuck closer to the Whole Foods recipe that inspired me, Tomato, Basil and Millet Salad. The only change I made was using garbanzo beans instead of black-eyed peas.

Next up were the cupcakes. I decided on cupcakes so I'd have something to distract myself from my mom's bunny cake. Plus, Kate gave me this awesome book, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  I made the carrot cake ones with the cream cheese frosting and decorated them like little bunny faces - at 1 a.m. What was I thinking?

This morning, the scramble came together pretty easily too. It's similar to the filling for my Soyrizo Breakfast Burritos, but better. Here's how I did it:

Soyrizo Tofu Scramble
1/4 cup canola oil
3 cups cubed red potatoes, stems diced, leaves rough chopped*
1 bunch rainbow chard
5 cloves garlic
1 can black beans
1 pkg extra firm tofu drained
1/2 pkg Soyrizo

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the potatoes and cook until browned and soft. Add the chard stems and cook for 3 or 4 minutes. Add the chard leaves and cook until wilted. Add the garlic and black beans and stir. Mix the tofu and Soyrizo together, add to the pan and stir everything together. Continue cooking until heated through.

I topped with sliced avocado and served with a vegan sour cream and salsa mixture.

*A note about chard: I just discovered that chard is much milder than other greens. It's not bitter at all. So, if you're wanting to add new veggies to your life - give it a try!

After all that hard work, I think everything turned out great! I got to share some of my vegan dishes with my family and I had plenty to eat! I think a few of them were a little leery of the tofu dish, but I got some pretty good feedback from a few people. I didn't see anyone (except me) go back for seconds, but, hey, baby steps right?

And it was a good thing I brought so much food because everything else was meaty and cheesy and eggy - except for the delicious fruit salad. Thanks Jess!

But, even better than the food, was the company. It's always so nice to spend quality time with family - especially in such a beautiful place! My Aunt's house is one of my favorite places. And today was especially magical with the roses in bloom.

I hope you had a wonderful Easter too!