Greetings! :)
Back to the 7 course vegan feast last night…
This is what really good food does to people… ;)

Attendees:
- Lindsey and her husband, Ross
- Ryan and her boyfriend, Evan
- Caitlin and her husband, Kristien
- Me and Eric
- Megan and her friend, Mark
- Meghann
- Ashley and her boyfriend, David
- Katy W. and her husband, Lucas
- Katy H. and her husband, Adam
- Evan’s brother’s fiancee, Dana
- Kelly and her boyfriend, Anthony
Yes, we were excited. Even the non-vegans were super impressed!
Ryan and Lindsey hosted a 24, 24, 24 event with Foodbuzz last night and invited about 20 of us over for this amazing vegan feast. Wait til you see this…
Course 1:
An Italian appetizer of Tomato Basil Bread Crostini with a Bruschetta consisting of tomato, basil, lemon, extra virgin olive oil, cannellini beans and a sweet balsamic reduction.


This was incredible! I loved the touch of drizzling the vinegar over top. It made the dish.
Each course was introduced by Ryan or Lindsey and it was so professional! They did an amazing job.
Course 2:
An African Sweet Potato and Peanut Soup

Soup was amazing! I could easily have had another big bowl but I was pacing myself as I still had 4 courses to go.
We were so impressed!!
Course 3:
A French vegan version of a Nicoise Salad.

My plate:
I feel so normal around other bloggers! We crowded the table to take pictures. :mrgreen:
Course 4:
A simple palate cleanser of a Moroccan Mint Sorbet with coconut water, coconut milk, lime and fresh mint.

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
All the men were saying I LOVE VEGAN FOOD! lol. Eric gobbled up everything in sight!
Course 5:
Mexican Vegan Tamales with Masa and a Black Bean, Salsa Verde, Corn and Green Chiles Filling.

Have you ever seen food wrapped in a corn husk??? I have not. So cool. And no, you don’t eat the husk! ;)

Course 6:
Jamaican Jerk Seitan with raw Plaintain Chips.

Both dishes were firsts for me!
I enjoyed the dehydrated plantain. The Seitan was interesting- it had a texture just like meat. Seitan is gluten protein and I’m told you can make it by soaking a loaf of French bread and massaging it until the starch wears away and just the gluten remains. I probably wouldn’t make it or buy it myself, but it was fun to try.

My plate plus more chips as we chatted.
No one could believe that I had never tried plantain before!
Course 7:
An All American, Vegan and Raw classic dessert of S’mores (Pure2Raw twins recipe!).

I had a square and then I handed out a box of Adore Glo Bars before we left.
An additional Birthday Dessert for Katy of a Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake:

Needless to say, we were all pleasantly stuffed!!!! I stuck to the safe side with alcohol yet again and just had 1 beer as we had another early morning wake up call! Getting up early to travel with a hangover is not fun.
This morning we left for St Pete’s to meet up with family! We met at Denny’s for breakfast. I checked out the menu last night and found some oatmeal and fresh fruit, so I knew I would arrive with a PLAN! :) When I got there they were very reluctant to make the oatmeal without milk, but finally they said they could. I had fresh fruit and dumped it over top.

The fruit was pretty good, but I won’t lie the oats were AWFUL! lol. It tasted like cold grits or something. My stomach was a bit queasy. At least I had something though. I knew I had lots of food waiting for me in the car so I wasn’t too worried.
Me with my Uncle Jeff and my Grammie (my dad’s mom). I had not seen my Uncle Jeff in almost 12 years!!!!

Then we were Sarasota bound!

The only problem was the weather…

Stay tuned to find out what we did. :)
PS- For those of you asking about where I got the purple dress and teal dress, they are both from Urban Outfitters. :)
What a cliff hanger!!! Haha…looks like you’re having a great trip! ;)
That meal looks absolutely amazing! I may have to borrow a few of those ideas for upcoming dinner parties!
OMG it all looks so delish, all these pics are making me so hungry!
What a fun 24,24,24 ~ I LOVE It! They did such a great job ~ all the food looks like it belongs in Ubunti ~ The Vegan Place near my work in Napa, Ca….YUM!!!
P.S. I LOVE that you are STILL on vacation since the last time I posted – fun :D
That all looks amazing, and is inspiring to people like me who can’t think of a vegan recipe to save their life. I’ll definitely have to try some of those!
How weird that they didn’t want to make your oatmeal without milk – it should be easier to make it with just water instead!
I’ve been reading all of the recaps and the dinner sounds FABULOUS!!
Sorry the weather was crappy today- It’s gonna be in the 80’s this week though! You look beautiful in all the pictures and I’m glad ya had a good time!
All of that food looks amazing. What a fun meet up! :) Cant wait to hear about the rest of your vacation. Enjoy! I need to make that food in the corn husks, great idea.
Ahh, that meal looks absolutely amazing!!
Lol ‘•Ryan and my(?) boyfriend, Evan’
your skin always glows more than everyone else (in the world), what’s your secret? ;D
Yum! Just wanted to make sure (forgive me if this sounds dumb!) that you know you can make seitan very easily using vital wheat gluten… The massaging flour way is super old school, but the vital wheat gluten way is actually really easy. Just checkin, did not mean to insult your intelligence or anything!
What an amazing dinner!!! Glad to see some bloggers are out there giving veganism/meat free meals a good name :-)
I can’t believe you’ve never had tamales– they’re SOOOOO good, right?!?
Oh my gosh that was one VEGAN FEAST!!! You took some fabulous photos of the night. SO cute. Perfect timing that you were in town :)
Why wouldn’t you eat seitan–just not a fan or there are sources of protein that you prefer?
That looks like SUCH an incredible dinner! How fun!
Looks like the 7 course meal was a success. The dessert looked like the best part.
Oh my gosh, that all looks AMAZING! I have never had as much fun with my food as when I made the transition to vegetarianism (and now tiptoeing into vegan-ness). It’s so great!
This really makes me wish I could go to a blogger meetup.
It also makes me wish I had a decent camera…
Oooo Urban Outfitters is awesome!!
Very cool that you happened to be in town for that amazing Vegan feast! So jealous!
That looks so fun :) I’m really sad I wasn’t down in Florida for your visit!!! Boooooooooo. Someday we will meet :)
Also, I have to say I loved your dresses in the previous posts :)
All I can say is WOW to that vegan feast. Looks amazing!
And might I add, well done at Denny’s! I tell people I can almost always find something vegan to eat, no matter where I am – but Denny’s would certainly be a tough challenge. Nice work! *applause!*
Does Eric know about your boyfriend, Evan…. ;)
lol
xoxo
Hee, Kris, I was wondering the same thing. :D