Food on the Table

I’ve been doing lots of fun foodie things lately, but what I’m most excited about and will post tonight is that I finally got to have my son and his girlfriend over for Sunday dinner last night! These few pictures may not be beautiful to you, but it’s been a long time since I set out food on the dinner table and I was happy to be able to take them. (I don’t mean to say that I don’t sit at my table to eat by myself. I always eat at my table, but I only take my plate of food.)

I only had two hours to scour the pantry and fridge to come up with a dinner. I always have bags of salad greens and fresh broccoli on hand, so the side dishes were taken care of. The broccoli was steamed and dressed with balsamic vinegar and minced garlic. I don’t remember what I mixed up for salad dressing. But I got to set it out on the table and it felt great!



The quickest thing I could think of to make for a main dish was pasta. At first I could only find 3 partially used bags of different kinds of pasta, but then I finally found a full bag of spaghettini. A tomato sauce wouldn’t really have time to develop good flavor, so I decided on a cream sauce. I used Yellow Rose Recipes alfredo sauce recipe. I made it with coconut milk, and for my herbs used fresh parsley, dill, and oregano and it was super delicious. This is the only shot I got before the ravenous diners dug in.

I just happened to bake something that morning, so we had dessert too! This was an experiment done in one hour. It was meant to be a dozen drop style breakfast cookies. I was running short of time, so I decided to make bar cookies. But the loaf pan I put the batter in was too small, so I ended up with cake. Chase went absolutely nuts over this, especially after I told him it was full of beans! I asked him to please leave me one piece to photograph and taste test.

It is sooooo yummy! I need to bake my Beans for Breakfast Cake again and get the recipe sorted out before I can post it for you. It is gluten free, low sugar, low fat, and the best part about it is that it’s not gooey like the blondies and brownies recipes that abound now. It really is cake you can pick up with your hands and eat! If you want to experiment with baking with beans, remember that pureed beans can replace nearly all the fat in a recipe and it will still turn out beautifully.

Now I have to go find out what happened to my copy of Vegan Brunch that the post office says it delivered but I don’t have – grrrrrrrrr! I will be by to visit you all soon!