Vegan Valentine's Day Dinner at Infusion Tea

 

I've been asking my husband to take me to the Very Vegan Valentine's Day Dinner at Infusion Tea ever since they started offering it.  He has had an excuse every year, including the popular "I only like YOUR vegan food" excuse.  Well, last week while he was in San Diego I finally decided to just go.  I took my mom and my younger daughter as my "dates" and we enjoyed a 5 course dinner with a room full of couples.  Kind of awkward, but whatever!  I think we had more fun :-)

The lights were dimmed and the added touch of a soloist singing soft romantic songs was really nice. It was enough that we could still have a conversation without being overpowered by singing or the music.

Wine or tea was offered as soon as we sat down.  Of course, I must have wine on Valentine's Day so I opted for the Pinot Grigio.  My daughter had a red herbal tea!

First course was a sort of Borscht soup with the name "Apricot, Beet and Cumin Soup" and was very flavorful with a nice texture.  I could have had two bowls of it, I enjoyed it that much.  The bread served with it didn't really compliment it that well. I think a small side salad with citrus would have paired better.
 

The second course was a "Cedar Roasted Carrot Salad with Tofu and Carrot Pesto" and it was so nicely presented I dove in and started eating without thinking about taking a photo until my plate was almost empty...sorry, it really was that good!

So here we have the third course, a "Vegetable Wellington with Compari Tomato Coulis".  The vegetables were well seasoned but the pastry itself tasted a bit dry.   Maybe a "Vegetable Galette" would have kept a moist pastry crust...just a thought.


The final course was a "Cocoa Rose Mini Cake".  This paired well with a Merlot wine, but the cake was more like a chocolate rose infused cupcake with too much frosting.  I liked better the mini chocolate and berries served along side it as a garnish...I could have eaten two or three of those :-)

All in all, I think the Very Vegan Valentine's Dinner is a great place to take a Valentine's date, whether they are vegan or not.  The atmosphere is casual yet elegant, and the service is excellent.  A big thanks to the owners Brad and Christina for fitting us in at the 7pm seating with only 8 hours notice.  I know how hard it is to work a kitchen when you have a restaurant full of people being seated all at the same time and I felt that the owner, the wait staff and chef handled this beautifully.  I look forward to Infusion Tea's next 5 course dinner, the Vegan Fall Harvest Dinner...with my husband or not!

Raw Food Swap!

A friend of mine started a "Raw Food Swap" last summer and we've been swapping on and off...well mostly off.  When life gets hectic, this is the first thing everybody drops!  So, we swap when we can and we are always glad that we did even though it can be stressful to try to prepare everything in time on a busy weekday.  We put everything in these mason jars and bring them in a cooler to a local health food store for the swap.  One of the friends has a truck, so we usually meet at the back of her truck!

The food gets prepared the day of the swap, or at least I prepare it the day of the swap...maybe others do the day before if they are using a dehydrator.  It's so super fresh and everything looks so vibrant and delicious that it all gets eaten when I bring it home.  Not by me, but by my KIDS and my HUBBY!  Yeah, I have to pry it out of their hands.  This is a good thing.  I'm not complaining, but I am sort of because I'd actually like to have more than a taste of each jar I receive!   Especially on the desserts :-)

Garden Goodness: The 2013 Garden has started!

The 2013 Goel Garden is looking good this month.  So far we are harvesting lots of turnips, sweet potaotes, kolrabi, and lettuce.  We also have some english peas, snap peas and grape tomatoes.  This year I want to help Vineet more with improving the soil quality.  He likes to take shortcuts, like using Miracle-Gro fertilizers which basically deplete the nutrients from the soil, even though the nitrogen helps the plants to grow bigger faster.   

 

 

So this month he laid down Black Cow Manure and our garden compost and I plan to do a PH test on the soil to see what's happening in some of the beds that are not producing much.

 

This year the kids will also have their own separate garden where they can choose what they want to grow. 

 

Here are some photos of what's growing...

 

 

Cauliflower! 

 Turnips!

 

 

 Kolrabi!

 

 

 Baby Romaine!

Asian Squash "Tori"

Pumpkin Hummus

We have a few cans of pumpkin left over from the holidays and since I'm always looking for ways to change up the flavor of hummus I thought I'd give the pumpkin try. 

It's so tasty and a super easy way to increase the nutrition in your hummus.  It really doesn't taste very pumpkiny, it has a wonderfully mellow taste.   I modified the recipe from Dreena Burton's Plant Powered Kitchen, but I think I will make it with the white beans next time.  It was a little on the lumpy side, though it could be because the blade on my food processor is getting dull.

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup Organic pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix!)
1/8 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 medium-large clove garlic (adjust to taste, use smaller clove for kid-friendly)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 – 2 tbsp tahini (to taste)
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp (rounded) ground allspice
1/4 tsp maple syrup
1/ cup toasted pumpkin seeds (see note for toasting; reserve about 2-3 tbsp for garnish)

In a food processor add all ingredients except pumpkin seeds (and starting with 1 tbsp tahini). Puree until very smooth. Taste, and if you’d like to add addditional garlic or spices, add a little (and if you’d like a richer tahini flavor, add the other tablespoon of Tahini). Then, add most of the pumpkin seeds (reserving a couple of tbsps), and pulse through. Transfer mixture to a serving dish, and top with remaining pumpkin seeds. Serve with whole-grain pita breads, tortilla chips, warm whole-grain bread, etc.