Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Celebrate!

As I mentioned, Sunday marked my two year Blogiversary and was also an early Labor Day celebration. I made lots of yummy food, attempting to make up for last week’s family dinner flop. I didn’t get real fancy, but I made sure it was a great meal. I did the traditional end of summer grilling party with Susan V’s Barbecue Ribz and all the sides.

The ribz were something Chase had been wanting, and I made them extra special with his favorite homemade barbecue sauce. Since these are pure gluten I didn’t eat any, but I know most of you have made these and love them. Having never bought, eaten, or even seen vegan ribz before, I didn’t really know what I was supposed to be making. I don’t think I did them quite right, but since there were NO leftovers, I guess I got lucky and got it right.



For our sides I made:

Broccoli and Potato Salad. It was super duper and if you would like my recipe, it is posted here.

Wasabi Coleslaw, a recipe adapted from Anna at cookiemadness.net. Great flavor in a crispy and refreshing salad. I’ve posted my recipe here.


Fresh Fruit Salad, put together from what I had on hand, which was mango, kiwi, strawberries, a pear, and a nectarine.


Homemade Pintos. These were my protein and the leftovers will go on my lunch salads I take to work.


Cornbread, the Damn Tasty! recipe, with green onions and red jalapenos added in.



A baked Mexican style dip, a test recipe from the Happy Herbivore. I topped it with fresh chopped tomatoes, green onions, and cilantro. This is FANtastic! Some corn tortilla chips dunked into this dip is heavenly. As a topping over our pintos and cornbread - awesome.


By the way, Lindsay, the Happy Herbivore, has put together a little e-cookbook which includes this recipe. Please visit her site to get your copy!

It occurred to me that for someone who usually provides a *table shot* of my dinners, I really don’t set a very pretty table. I guess I’m too casual for that. I hope you don’t mind.


My plate – salad, salad, salad, beans, bread - perfect for me.


Banana pudding and/or peach cobbler are the traditional post-barbecue desserts. Well, peach season is over and all my bananas are frozen, so I came up with a trio of desserts that resided happily on a plate in perfect harmony. I made ED&BV’s Cashew Banana Ice Cream, Rice Krispy Peanutty Wafers, and Celine’s Brownie Cupcakes. I wish I had gotten a better plating and photo because it was top notch.



The Brownie Cupcakes are excellent, moist and chocolaty, but not densely fudgy. I had some really nice black cherry preserves in my version and they imparted a nice deep flavor. And I substituted in gluten free flour with no problem. Of course the Banana Ice Cream is always fabulous.

And the Wafers – you gotta try these! It’s so easy. Just mix together one cup rice krispies, ½ cup chopped peanuts, and 3 T. corn syrup, then add a pinch of salt. Spread onto a lightly greased baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove to a cold baking sheet while still warm. When completely cool, break into large pieces. It’s almost like peanut brittle without all the sticky sugar.

So… redemption for Sunday dinner!

22 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Such a delicious, gorgeous dinner!! A perfect Sunday dinner, if you ask me! :0)

Meg Wolff said...

Everything looks delicious.

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Not a pretty table?! You don't give yourself enough credit. With the delicious-looking food and the colorful placemats, the table looks first-rate to me!

Amy said...

So muchy yummy looking food! And I think your table shots are very pretty. I never set out our table, I serve up at the kitchen bench and everyone just sits down with their plate!

I'm definitely coming over for some of that dessert though ;)

Anonymous said...

I'd pay to eat all this, it's restaurant-worthy. seriously.

Anonymous said...

What a gorgeous feast! And your ribz look so great with the grill marks on them!

Anonymous said...

What a gorgeous meal! The table sure looks appealing to me. And I"m so happy I got Lindsay's ezine so I can reproduce that dip!

Anonymous said...

What a gorgeous meal! The table sure looks appealing to me. And I"m so happy I got Lindsay's ezine so I can reproduce that dip!

Penny said...

I love Austin and I love vegan bbq. Nice!

Catherine Weber said...

HOLY. COW! What an amazing looking delicious spread! I the broccoli potato salad sounds amazing, the cornbread looks wonderful, the fruit, the desserts!!!! YUM!!!

Usha said...

What a feast ! Everything looks fantastic..Congratulations on reaching this 2year milestone...you must be very excited !

Unknown said...

Wasabi Coleslaw sounds GOOD!

Vegan_Noodle said...

Wow, now that is quite the celebration dinner! And believe me your table looks much nicer than mine.. lately my laptop has been living on the table along with various baking pans and buckets of fondant....

Oh and now I really want a brownie cupcake!

urban vegan said...

I just love those ribs...they're briliant. We make them a lot.

Anonymous said...

I still haven't made those ribz...but I am very tempted, now!

I really need to figure out a way to be at your house for Sunday dinners! YUM!

Lindsay (Happy Herbivore) said...

THANK YOU for the shout out - you're so kind.

Your dip came out beautiful -- and as always everytyhing else looks so fresh and savory. I really wish I lived near you so I could crash your food parties :)

Jackie said...

Thanks for the great salad recipe links, always looking for mayonnaise-free potato and coleslaw ones. Love the wafer recipe as well as even I will be able to bake them.

The ribz look good and Chase must have loved them, hence no leftovers.

I think the dinner spread looks great with all your interesting dishes on it.

Monika K said...

Some people ask how it's possible to live and eat well as a vegan. I can always refer them to your blog for fabulous and healthy looking meals - you're so impressive, Diann! I hope you keep it up for at least another 2 years!

Meghan said...

oooh, i love all the fresh ingredients you use!
its sad that peach season is over, isn't it?
i was planning on going out to marble falls area to pick some, but it never happened.
i guess there is always next year!

Sheree' said...

Happy anniversary! I am finally back among friends. Your spread looks wonderful. I have to try that coleslaw! Did you use the soy yogurt in yours? Also, how did you make your pinto beans. I have a huge craving for them after looking at your picture. Mouth watering!

Liz Ranger (Bubble Tea for Dinner) said...

happy 2 year anniversary! I don't think you ever need to worry about anything you ever put on a table, though. it's always amazing!

and those krispie wafers sound like reason enough for me to pick up a box of cereal, actually. so yummy sounding!

Anonymous said...

you always have such great pictures...I can almost taste them!