Backyard Campfire Party with Lightlife

Hey everyone! This is a sponsored post, which I don't do often. But Lightlife is an awesome vegan-friendly company, and I like showing love to vegan brands. Their catchy motto is "Meat Without the Middleman: Made directly from plants, not the animals that eat them." How great is that?!

Lightlife offered to send me some free product coupons, a gift card to buy hot dog fixins, some telescopic campfire forks, and a FIRE PIT! WHAT?! Of course I said yes to that offer! The goods arrived on my doorstep Friday evening, so I immediately started planning a backyard campfire party. I love roasting veggie dogs and vegan marshmallows, but I typically only camp at music festivals (where camp fires are generally not allowed). But who needs camping when you can have a fire in your backyard?

Lightlife sent two coupons for free products, so I used one for Jumbo Smart Dogs and the other for Organic Tempeh. I've long been a fan of Lightlife's dogs. To me, they're more like meaty dogs than other vegan brands (and don't get me wrong — I've never met a vegan dog I didn't like. But Lightlife's taste more like the real thing). Lightlife makes smaller dogs as well, and I prefer those for pigs in blankets, but the jumbo-sized ones are optimal for grilling out. I opted for the tempeh so we could also make veggie kabobs.

I used the gift card to buy buns and stuff to make potato salad (a must-have side for hot dogs) and vegan s'mores! And then Paul and I invited our friends Tyler and Donna over to "camp" with us. We started by roasting dogs over the open fire using telescopic forks. Here's an image taken before I realized what "telescopic" meant (You can actually extend the "fork" out longer so you can stand further from the fire).

We topped our blackened dogs (that's my preferred way to eat campfire-grilled dogs!) with locally made chow chow and dijon. 

Tyler and Donna are not vegans, but Donna said they've been cutting back significantly on their meat consumption. She was excited to try veggie dogs! And she loved every bite. They both did, and all plates were cleaned. 

For the kabobs, I marinated the cubed tempeh for several hours in a mix of soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, and liquid smoke. Then I staked it onto kabob sticks with yellow squash, cherry tomato, and mushrooms. I brushed the kebobs with a little olive oil and seasoned with garlic salt. And then we tossed them on the charcoal grill while we roasted the hot dogs. Tyler and Donna were also very impressed with the tempeh! Lightlife's tempeh is awesome. I like the size and thickness of the block because it's easy to cut into large cubes for kebobs.

Sadly, they had to leave just after dinner because they had to get home to their kids. But Paul and I enjoyed roasting Dandies marshmallows for s'mores after they left! I got Sprouts brand dark chocolate (my fave!) and I found these vegan, gluten-free graham crackers that turned out to be very good. It's so hard to find grahams without honey, but these were bee-free!

Maynard really wanted a s'more, but we told him dogs can't have chocolate. Sorry bub!

Thanks to Lightlife for making this party possible! And hey, if you've not had a chance to go camping this summer, take a tip from me and just "camp" in your backyard!