My mom grew some exceptionally delicious cabbages this year. I´ve been making crunchy salads and flavorful stews with it. I love this versatile vegetable! And it´s rather affordable in stores too. Before the 19-th century in Estonia, cabbages were stored outside in a pile or between fences and then cut with an axe during the winter time. I have made quite a few tasty cabbage recipes before. You can find them HERE! And if you are into raw salads, check out this popular post HERE! These salads are just perfect to make during the fall and winter seasons! But this juicy cabbage salad is a real hit in our household, so I decided to write down the recipe.

It's a really simple soup and I already have a wonderful lentil soup recipe on this page. But this one is still special. The not to secret ingredient is cauliflower. It makes the soup wonderfully sweet. But not in a weird way. In a most delicious way! I once tried to make this soup without the cauliflower and it wasn't the same. So cauliflower it is! And what's not to love about red lentils? They cook so quick and absolutely no soaking required. I like to boil the lentils into a total mush in this recipe. This way the stock will be so creamy and filling. It's a rather hearty soup. My husband and toddler love it and ask for seconds. So I make this at least one to two times a week. I hope you will love this recipe as much as my family. Happy cooking!

Today I'm sharing something really special with you. Ever since I've been a little kid, I remember eating blood sausages for every Christmas. I really haven't seen a classical Estonian Christmas dinner without these holiday favorites. When I became vegan in 2007, I had no clue what to eat at a Christmas dinner. A little bit of quinoa salad and a smoothie bowl? Hard pass. I've always loved hearty dishes and if you have made my recipes at home, I'm sure you've noticed that. So I made lentil or nut loaves for every Christmas and they were really nice. But I still craved something more.

How have you been doing? It's basically a polar night in Estonia right now, as we get only a few hours of daylight. Some days it seems that the sun doesn't even rise anymore. But hey, at least this dark season is here. No need to wait in fear anymore. And you can make it a lot lighter by putting up holiday lights or burning candles or eating delicious homemade food. It's been such a long time since I posted a brand new vegan menu. I know many of you have benefited from my vegan menus, so it was about time for a fresh one. 

This menu consists of five weeknight dinners. All these meals are for at least four people. So if you are not in the mood to brainstorm about dinner ideas, I got you covered! If you have leftovers, keep them in the fridge and enjoy for lunch on the next day. You can definitely mix up the dinners - if you are not in the mood for soup on Wednesday, try wraps instead. At the end of the menu, you will find a grocery shopping list. Just print it our or snap a photo of it with your phone and take it to the store. Maybe you already have many of the ingredients at your pantry? I really hope this menu will make your weeknight meal planning easier and you will (re)discover some really delicious vegan dinners!