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Monday, March 30, 2009

Food Swap!

About a month ago, my friend Nick suggested a Vegan Food Swap night in which a few of our culinarily-inclined friends would get together and split up dishes so we'd each have leftovers to last several days. Not really a potluck, just a food trade.

We gathered at my house on Thursday night (after American Idol, of course!) to dole out the servings. Here's the group (from left to right) — Me, Stephanie, Hart, and Nick:

I made the BBQ Tempeh Pizza that's going in my cookbook:

It was okay, but I'm going to tweak the recipe to include more barbecue sauce. And I want a thicker crust.

Hart brought what he called a Carrot Souffle:

When he first signed up to bring vegan souffle, I balked. Everybody knows you can't make a vegan souffle! But turns out, it was more of a casserole. It was sweet and carrot-y and full of goodness.

Nick brought a huge batch of his Veggie Pate:

This is filled with all kinds of nuts and mushrooms and veggies. It's perfect for sandwiches, but I've been eating it by itself, like stuffing. Yum, yum!

Stephanie (Poopie Bitch) totally outdid herself with this amazing Veggie Meatloaf:

So comforting. And I'd been craving "meat" loaf lately, so it couldn't have come at a better time. She also went beyond the call of duty and brought these cute little White Chocolate Wonderful Peanut Butter Cuppies:

And some kick-ass Whole Wheat Beer Bread:

Our first swap was a huge success. Thanks to my talented friends, I've had plenty of leftovers to get me through the weekend. And that means I haven't had to cook a thing! I'm pretty sure we'll be making this a monthly event.

30 comments:

  1. What a cool idea! If I knew any local vegans I would definitely want to do this. Your pizza looks yummy!

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  2. OMG it all looks so good. I am having a food porn melt down and can't quite form a sentence. OMG.

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  3. What fun idea! You're making me wish I had some vegan friends locally to share with ;)

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  4. That is such a kick-butt idea! I love it - and everything looks darn good, too!

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  5. That must have been an amazing night! I want vegan friends around, too! The tempeh pizza idea is brilliant.

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  6. White Chocolate PB cupcakes?!?!
    *passes out*

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  7. sounds like a lot of fun! i wish i had real life vegan friends =(

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  8. that sounds so awesome! a vegan food swap = brilliant! i especially love your pizza & steph's cuppies! mmmmmmmmm!

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  9. That veggie meatloaf SO looks like a regular meatloaf! And yes, I am also not a thin crust guy. Either regular or pan...thats the way I roll :)

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  10. That is so cool!! I need to get some of my vegan friends together and do just this! All the food looks delicious.

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  11. It was sooo fun! Your pizza was awesome (but I already told you that!). I didn't get a good picture of Hart's 'souffle', they all just came out looking like a big blob of orange, but that shit was tasty! Nic's pate is all in the freezer because I already cook every day and there's only so many leftovers I can work in. I tasted a bit before freezing it thought and it was really good! I can't wait to incorporate it into my meals.

    Also, I was cracking up all weekend thanks to your drunk texts! I still can't figure out what 'bag popsu hoono' means, though.

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  12. What a fun way to spend an evening --- with incredible vegan friends and food! The cupcakes look soooo good!

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  13. That's a great idea! I wish I had more vegan friends that live near me!

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  14. Too fun! All of that food sounds really delicious. And I'm glad to know that I'm not the only person obsessed with American Idol... LOL!

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  15. That's an awesome idea! I totally want to do that. And I want some of that pizza. Yum!

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  16. Wow, what cool friends you have! The pizza and carrot souffle look especially tempting.

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  17. What a cool group! All the food looks amazong!

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  18. man i wish i could come to the next food swap! it looks like ya'll can coooooook! i can't wait to make that pizza!

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  19. I love the idea of adding tempeh to pizza!!!
    tempeh is now one of my favorite foods in the world :)

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  20. What a GREAT idea! I just love that you guys did this...

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  21. the pizza looks uber fab.

    i wish this cookbook of yours would happen IMMEDIATELY! i am dying to make every single thing inside of it.

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  22. what a nice idea! A great way to try new dishes and trade recipes!

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  23. this is an awesome idea!
    your pizza looks quite scrumptious..as does the food that you got to much on throughout the week now! :)

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  24. That's such a great idea! The food looks great too.

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  25. what a great idea! i'll have to get one started in bloomington.

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  26. How fun! Everybody brought such AWESOME goodies!

    You're watching American Idol? I just think this is the best top 10 ever!

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  27. How fun! We've been talking about doing something similar for ages.

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