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Monday, September 21, 2009

Vegan Crunk Omni Test

A few weeks ago, my friends Shara and Jesse (both omnis) convinced me to plan and host a vegan dinner party so they could try some meatless eats. At first, I thought about making a menu from The Vegan Table. But I remembered the cardinal rule of dinner parties — never make a dish you haven't tried before. So I decided to go with what I know — my Cookin' Crunk tester recipes!

Here I am, hard at work in the kitchen:

I'm sporting my Christmas apron because my all-purpose cupcake apron was dirty. Here are my guests — Greg (the only vegetarian), Jesse, Shara, and Tyler (the omnis):

On the menu were Dijon-Pecan Seitan Medallions with Maple-Butter Glaze:

Jesse proclaimed that this tasted a lot like chicken. Score! It's always a plus when a non-vegan thinks vegan food tastes like meat.

We also had some of my Granny's Corn Casserole:

That white stuff is Tofutti cream cheese. This is one of my favorite side dishes of all time!

And we had hearty bowls of Country Potato Soup with Whole Wheat Biscuits for dippin':

And Jesse requested these Butterscotch Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream and Butterscotch Ganache for dessert:

Most of ya'll have seen these before, in my post from my best friend Sheridan's birthday in August. It's the basic Sexy Low-fat Vanilla Cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World with added butterscotch chips (which negates the low-fat part! oops!). I made the ganache the same way you'd make chocolate ganache, but with butterscotch.

Overall, I think the dinner party was a success. I doubt Shara, Jesse, or Tyler will convert to veganism any time soon, but at least I tried to lure them into our vegan cult (ahahahahaha ... that's my evil laugh).

20 comments:

  1. Hi,
    Your dinner looks great. Where did you find the vegan butterscotch chips? I've been looking everywhere for them.
    Thanks!

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  2. Everything looks fabulous! I'd sure be impressed if someone cooked that for me. You have some lucky friends.

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  3. I think I've served all of those recipes to omnivores, and everyone loved them! I used to serve your tester recipes at our Lost nights all the time, because they were always delicious. People were fighting over that corn casserole. :)

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  4. Man, those cupcakes made my mouth water...again! This dinner looks amazing! I definitely want to try those seitan medallions sometime. I'm already planning our meal for when I visit you in my mind. Haha!

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  5. The cupcakes look phenomenal but you look super cute in that apron!

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  6. Everything looks fantastic but I'd love to have a bowl of that potato soup right now!! What a great meal!

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  7. Dude, you REALLY went all out! way to go. if they didn't pledge to go vegan after that dinner party, then i don't know who will!!! I wish I was invited though..it's only like a 4 hour plane ride..

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  8. YAY! I love feeding omnis delicious vegan food, such an awesome form of activism. And WOW, you really went all out! Everything looks amazing, your flavor combinations are always so creative and delicious sounding.

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  9. The dinner looks wonderful, and I love the full-length of you, and the photo of your friends! The medallions and cupcakes look delicious. Gathering with friends, cooking for them, is one of my favorite past-times.

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  10. exactly never make something you never did before. It was good that you tried out some of your recipes rom the book for your friends and you stuck with familiar foods. Good work anyways even if they did not convert at least now they have a new respect for vegan cooking.

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  11. I wish I knew how to get the recipes that you use, your food always looks delicious.

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  12. Oh my goodness, I'm already in love with your site and featuring it on mine. I wish I could join that dinner party!

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  13. I was planning on saying something, but that cupcake pic made me forget everything else I wanted to say!

    So gorgeous!!

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  14. You are such a good friend!! Even though they may never fully change to vegetarians at least you gave them one meal that was animal friendly that they wouldn't have had otherwise!
    -A

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  15. What an awesome looking dinner... especially those medallions, they look amazing! Who wouldn't want to join our awesome cult?!

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  16. Hi all,
    I was one of the lucky dinner party guests, and I'll confirm that all of this food was DELICIOUS!!! I especially loved the seitan. I've never had it before, and it really did have a meaty texture and taste. The soup: amazing! The corn: oh my god...the BOMB. And the cupcakes, well, obviously those were indulgently delicious!

    I'm totally lucky to have such an awesome vegan chef and friend in my life. I washed dishes after, but I still owe her one for this!

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  17. hooray for omni test success, Bianca! i new it would go over super well - how could it not?!? your recipes rock socks, fo 'sho! you make the prettiest cuppies, and your post has me craving the corn casserole again! mmmmmmmmmmm! i just made some not too long ago and it didn't last but 2 days - i love it so much!

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  18. Ooh, sign me up for those medallions! Actually, I'll take everything!

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I live for your comments!! Seriously. I'm waiting right now for you to write something.