Easter Holiday

I decided to celebrate Easter by riding my bicycle in the Everglades and making empanadas. The bike ride was at Everglades National Park on a 15 mile loop. There was a look-out tower at the 7th mile, so I got to see how incredibly flat Florida is. (Haha.) The first 7 miles were spent biking against the wind, so that was a bit tough, but the last 8 miles were much easier. I saw lots of alligators, including this one with its mouth open.





After showering, I got to work on making empanadas from Viva Vegan!. These empanadas contain grated seitan (recipe in book), diced cremini mushrooms, Kalamata olives, and raisins. Yeah, not a flavor combination I would have put together myself. However, I liked the idea of salty (the olives) and sweet (the raisins) together. The dough recipe says it should make 10 dough circles of 6" diameter. Because I thought I could use my dough press, I made 21 circles of 4". The very first circle was wasted, because the dough press let the middle sink through the center and make a hot mess. I pinched the remaining 20 closed by hand. Yesterday, I prepared the seitan and the dough circles in advance, since I knew I'd be outside in the sunshine today.









Now, for dessert, I'm enjoying some of the dark chocolate bar with mint crisps that I bought a while back at Whole Foods. Nom nom nom. Happy Easter, everyone!