Time For Friends

The scene is set for a night of great food and fabulous friends. Preparing for this event I realised how much I had missed having friends around for dinner as one of my greatest pleasures in life is the feeding of others.
My creative juices were flowing as the thousands of possibilities for a menu begin to swirl around my head, not to mention the laying the table and lighting the candles, it is not just about the food you know!
Our non-vegan/vegetarian friends are always excited to come to our house for dinner as they are continually intrigued as to what I will cook for them, like many other carnivores they are a little pushed when the prospect of cooking a meat-free meal presents itself, therefore coming to our house is viewed at first as a novelty then they actually looked forward to being invited as they know that apart from a great evening they will learn something new about vegetables. As I pottered about my kitchen I felt myself returning to my inner world of bliss, music played in the background and I softly sang along as I chopped away creating with awareness and love a meal that I knew would tantalise their tastes buds.

So what did I create?

(Before I go any further I must apologise for the blurring food photo's, new camera so still getting use to it, and everyone was waiting for me to take the food photo's so that they could eat!)

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato soup, served with Sourdough Rolls with Basil and tomato Butter (vegan of course) which if I do say so myself was DIVINE! The roasting of the tomatoes and red peppers prior to adding to the soup gave this soup a rich flavour.
For the main course which was far more colourful than this photo actually indicates was Root Vegetable Crumble, Stuffed Chillies and Stir Fried Vegetables. The reaction to the vegetable crumble was quite amusing, everyone was only use to having a crumble as a desert, there they stood the four of them thinking this is messing with our brains, this should taste like apples! The chillies were stuffed with quinoa, fenugreek, chopped garlic, tomatoes and soy sauce and oven baked, yummy does not come close to describing their taste. And the vegetable stir fry was a mixture of cauliflower, garlic shoots, red cabbage, olives, red pepper and coriander. The garlic shoots give a vibrant splash of green as well as a tangy spicy taste, delicious!
And desert, for some the 'highlight' of the evenings culinary delights was Chocolate Hazelnut Raspberry Cake served with Coconut and Lime Sorbet....................... followed with green tea for most and slippery elm tea for me. All in all a great night of conversation and laughter, not to mention marvellous food, okay I will mention it!!