Sunday, December 16, 2007

Potluck!!!

Today I went to a holiday potluck...a mostly non-vegan one. So I had to bring an entree and dessert to make sure I got enough to eat. Don't you hate that about non-veg potlucks? You feel obligated to bring more than one dish because otherwise you have to watch everyone gorge themselves while you're forced to load your plate with the dish you brought. And maybe some raw veggies from the obligatory veggie tray (sans ranch dip of course). Fortunately for me, my friend Monica made vegan chili (even though she's not even vegetarian!), and someone brought rosemary olive oil bread. Between those dishes and my Spicy Peanut Pasta and Chocolate Almond Brittle, I was stuffed!



The Spicy Peanut Pasta recipe came from a seasonal cookbook called, appropriately, "Cooking By the Seasons." The dish was listed under Yule/Winter Solstice meals. It was just okay, though. I used whole wheat spiral pasta, and the sauce was a combo of peanut butter, tomato paste, veggie broth, onions, garlic, and some spices. You can't really tell what's in it by looking at the pic because I garnished heavily with green onion, flaked coconut, and chopped dry roasted peanuts.

My dessert was a hit though! It was Chocolate Almond Brittle from the new issue of VegNews. Deceptively simple and melt-in-your-mouth tasty. Just chocolate chips, soy margerine, toasted almonds, and graham cracker bits. It wasn't at all like a brittle though...more like a Crunch. I'm making more of it for Xmas gifts, but I'm re-naming it Chocolate Almond Crunch.



Yum!!!!!!!!!!!!

3 comments:

Rachel said...

Your food looks so amazing! I'm in Batesville for a few weeks, and the only food store is Wal-Mart. :( But I'm enjoying reading your blogs, and I'm really impressed by your cooking!

Dianna Dalton said...

That's the way my potluck at work was. I was assigned salad, but there was no way I was going to eat nothing but salad while my coworkers ate away, thinking, "Oh, poor vegan, all she can eat is salad." So in addition to the huge earthy salad, I made a vegan quiche (my two French coworkers brought regular quiches), scalloped potatoes, and apple crisp. And neglected to tell anyone it was all vegan, as I was the only vegetarian/etc there.

I had some of the chocolate almond crunch you made for Hart. It was different in form, but still movie-watching-snacky good!

Happy Older Hippie Woman! said...

I do the same for potlucks - bring a main, maybe 2 mains, a dessert, and something good to drink - a great way to insure fun all around!