Please Add Oil...

Chad and I deliberated over the menu for a dinner we were having at our house with two other couples.  Do we order food, do we grill out, or do we trust my cooking?  I decided that I wanted to cook, so Chad's one request: "please, if the recipe calls for oil, USE it."  Well, unfortunately, this was a request I could not fulfill but I did come up with a compromise.

Appetizers

• bean dip and salsa with veggies and GF/ VG chips and crackers
• Trader Joe's puff pastry margarita pizza

Dinner

• steak
• grilled portobello mushrooms and asparagus
• quinoa and corn salad
• roasted red potatoes and purple potatoes with cashew cream sauce

Dessert

• GF/ VG chocolate ganache tart from Southern Sweets 

Compromise - I had Chad friendly steak, puff pastry pizza and  we each made our own roasted potatoes.  He did one tray of red potatoes with oil and the seasoning he liked.  I had my own tray of purple potatoes, no oil and sea salt (I did use a light coat of spray oil, so they would not stick to the tray).  Result - Chad was happy, I was happy with a GF/ VG, no oil dinner AND - everyone had seconds!

Recipes

Bean Dip

• 1 can of drained black beans
• 1 can of drained pinto beans
• 3/4 of a jar of Trader Joe's Salsa Verde
• handful of chopped cilantro
• 1 roasted, seeded jalepeno pepper

Put all ingredients in Vitamix, blend and serve

Veggies
Grilled portobello mushrooms and asparagus were grilled with  GF Tamari

Quinoa and Corn Salad with Pumpkin Seeds
For this recipe, I left out the oil and garlic that it called for.  I did not serve with sliced avocado, lime or lettuce.
And, I created a new dressing, as you will see the recipe does not tell you how much lemon juice to use in the dressing. I was stumped, so I made up my own.  And, of course, omitted the oil.  My dressing was:
1 avocado
2 TB lemon juice
4 TB water
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper to taste.
The avocado was ripe enough so I was able to whisk all this together in a bowl.  I did sprinkle more chili powder, salt and pepper on the salad once it was done. 

Roasted Potatoes
Chopped up two trays of potatoes, for mine, I sprayed lightly with olive oil (very light) and sprinkled sea salt on top.  We baked these trays at 350 for about an hour.  Every 15 minutes we would check on them, stir the potatoes and rotate the pans.

Dessert - You must check out Southern Sweets - the gluten free, vegan chocolate tart was out of this world.   Although most of the dinner guest said it was too rich, I was in heaven, not having had a dessert I could eat in a long time!

Friends Over for Dinner and an Amazing Sauce

Friends came over for dinner Friday night.  They said they were up for a vegan dinner. Chad suggested I prepare something tried and true. But, if these friends were up for trying my cooking, I wanted to try something new.  It needed to be savory and satisfying, I did not want anyone to go home hungry.
On my trip to Dekalb Farmers Market I had picked up a lot of beautiful produce, peruvian purple potatoes, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, peppers, butternut squash etc.  I decided I would roast two big pans of veggies and make two sauces that I had been wanting to try.  One was a pesto sauce, the base was a white bean.  I did not like this one, so I will not bother writing the recipe.  But the other was AMAZING.  Seriously, amazing. 

Creamy Cashew Dijon Sauce

I slightly altered the recipe (thanks to my friend, Karen!)

3/4 cup raw cashews (soaked at least 30 mins)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tbs stone ground mustard
1 tbs dijon mustard
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp GF  tamari

Throw it all into your Vitamix (I know you all have made the investment by now) and blend away.  I blended my a little longer, so that it warmed the sauce.  I served brown rice, roasted veggies and two sauces for everyone to try. 

Appetizers:


Avocado Bean Dip with Veggies and Chips
1 can of drained black beans
1 avocado
1 cup of your favorite salsa
blend away in the vitamix

And,
My Mexican Pizza

My friend brought an amazing gluten free, vegan dessert: homemade chocolate / peanut butter cups.  Oh my!