slurping my dinner (and savoring dessert)

It is finally cold enough for Mister, with all his hot Greek blood, to put on a sweater.  That means it is undeniably soup weather.  Normally, when I get home from work and start preparing dinner, I let Mister help me choose from our list.  Tonight, however, I arrived home after a walk that was quite brisk in both senses of the word, and all I could envision on our table was the Tomato Chickpea Soup with Tiny Pasta and Fresh Herbs from Vegan Express.

Tell me that doesn't look hearty and heart-warming.  I was so relieved when everything came together to create a chunky, meal-like soup that I almost didn't complete dinner.  I considered it, but in the end, I did make a second attempt at making grilled cheeses with Rice Vegan and trying to force it to get gooey, while not burning the sandwich.  I only accomplished the latter, so I think that for my next trick, I'll see what Vegan Gourmet has to offer.  Essene and Whole Foods stock it in multiple flavors and it's not all that much more expensive than the Rice Vegan slices were.

One thing I'd forgotten about Nava - her other pet ingredient (the one that isn't sun-dried tomatoes) is dill.  Something I try to forget, in the hopes it will magically change one day while I'm not paying attention, is that I don't really like dill.  It smells awful and smell is a big part of taste for me.  Since part of the title includes the words "fresh herbs," I did chop up some basil and parsley, but I didn't want to buy fresh dill because I knew I didn't like it much so it would probably be a waste of money. I'm starting to wonder, though, if I might like dill more if it wasn't rotting in a plastic "jar" on my spice rack.  Maybe next time I make this soup, I'll find out.

I had just the littlest dessert, but savored every tiny bite:

A while ago, Chocolate Covered Katie did a little vegan chocolate round-up and I've been working my way through her picks.  I was thrilled with the Endangered Species chocolate Mister bought me one random Monday.  I was pretty darn satisfied by the Vivani that last took up residence in my cupboard.  I've been nibbling at the bite-sized pieces of Lake Champlain chocolate they put out for me at the register of Whole Foods, but let me tell you now - Theo is amazing and giving Endangered Species such a run for its money that I've nearly forgotten how the Vivani tastes already!

I might need to do a chocolate round-up of my own in November!  Thoughts?  Requests?  Suggestions?