Veggin Around: Veggin Around Dinner No. 2

Thursday night I held my second Veggin Around dinner. I had several ladies over for a plant based dinner and wine to discuss a whole food, plant based diet. It is an opportunity for me to practice and experiment with new recipes, practice speaking about my food choices and catch up with friends. For this dinner, I decided not to "present", and opted for a question and answer session. The biggest question was - what do you (meaning me) really eat during the day? And, what do I do for snacks? So, I will be working on both of those for blog posts soon. Quick answer, I do quick and easy breakfast and lunches focused on nutrient dense food - fruit, oatmeal, smoothies for breakfast - lunches are big salads with leftovers in the frig, a cold potato with salsa on top of my salad, or beans. Then, I try to make a dinner with that is a little fancier - ie from a recipe. (At least 3 x a week).

The second theme that came out of the dinner is how important it was to ALL of us to not pass down bad eating habits to our girls. And, I say girls, because girls tend to have the most issues with body image and food. Most of us had experience with dieting, unhealthy eating habits and negative body imagine. We want the cycle to stop and create a new paradigm for our girls to view themselves and food. But it starts with us first. We can show our girls that we feel good about ourselves and our food choices. It is our job to educate ourselves first, and then our daughters about nutrition and healthy eating choices. If you feel confident with how you eat, your daughter will notice!

MENU:

Appetizers

I had cut up veggies, low fat tortilla chips, bean chips, and lightly steamed broccoli and cauliflower for the three dips:

For all three dips, put all ingredients in Vitamix, blend and serve.

House Dressing

From Chef AJ and the Dietician

4 TB Tahini

½ cup water

6 TB Lime or Lemon juice

4 TB stone ground or Dijon mustard

8 TB nutritional yeast

1 TB maple syrup

Cashew Cream

From Happy Happy Hippie

¾ cup raw cashews soaked 30 min

½ cup water

¼ cup nutritional yeast
1 TB Dijon Mustard
1TB Stone Ground Mustard

1 TB apple cider vinegar

1 TB lemon juice

1 tsp braggs amino acids (or GF tamari)

Creamy Red Pepper Hummus

1 can garbanzo beans

¼ cup lemon juice

1 cloves of garlic

½ cup roasted red peppers

1 tsp cumin

cilantro, salt, pepper to taste

Salad:

People have different taste, so it was a build your own salad. I started with spinach and cucumbers. And, on the side
toasted pumpkin seeds, beets, sauteed mushrooms and the dressing:

Berry Vinaigrette

Adapted From McDougall App

1 cup frozen raspberries

1 TB balsamic vinegar (I am using TJ’s white balsamic)

2 TB water

2 tsp maple syrup

Entree:

Quinoa Vegetable Paella

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/01/quinoa-vegetable-paella.html

1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cup quinoa
1/4 teaspoon saffron, crushed
2 teaspoons Spanish smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
dash cayenne
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 red or yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 14-ounce can light pinto beans, rinsed and drained
2 3/4 – 3 cups vegetable broth
2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 can artichoke hearts, rinsed and cut into quarters

Put the quinoa into a large bowl. Cover with water and stir well to wash the grain. Pour off the water and then repeat the washing process. You may also put the quinoa into a fine mesh strainer and rinse thoroughly.

Sauté onion and garlic in a deep non-stick skillet with a little water until soft. Add the quinoa and saffron and cook, stirring, for another 2 minutes. Add paprika, cumin, cayenne, tomatoes, peppers, beans, and 2 3/4 cups vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to very low, and cook covered for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, check to see if more broth is needed. If it looks dry, add the remaining vegetable broth. Place the zucchini on top of the quinoa and re-cover. Cook for about 5 more minutes, until quinoa is done. Remove the cover, stir in the peas, and cook uncovered until peas are warm and all liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Arrange the artichoke hearts on the top and serve. Add salt at the table, if necessary.

Makes about 6 servings.