December potluck

For our December potluck we served so many delicious dishes. I can't believe this is the third Christmas we have celebrated together.

We had a Mexican Quinoa Salad. The recipe is

1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained

2 cups vegetable broth

2 - 3 cups fresh or frozen corn

1 red pepper, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

Garlic, if desired

1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

cherry/grape tomatoes split.

2 TBLS chopped cilantro

Mexican Dressing

½ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp paprika

1 tsp chili powder (to taste)

Juice of 3 limes

8 TBLS extra virgin olive oil

Ground black pepper

Salt to taste

Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, and add the drained quinoa. Cook, stirring, for about 1 minutes, letting the water evaporate. Stir in 2 cups vegetable broth. Bring to a rolling boil.

Lower heat, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and remove the pot from the burner. Let stand for 5 minutes, covered. After 5 minutes, remove the lid and fluff the quinoa gently with a fork.

Dry-toast the corn in a non-stick frying pan until it turns golden. If using frozen corn, defrost and dry completely on paper towels. Remove from heat and cool.

Place the quinoa, corn, red pepper, onions, beans and cilantro in a bowl and mix well.

Whisk all the dressing ingredients together and pour over the salad. Toss well and serve.

One dish was a mock tabouli  salad  made from cauliflower, marinated mushrooms, dill, carrots, vinaigrette (lemon, cumin, curry, olive oil, white balsamic vinegar), tomatoes, cilantro, cucumbers, scallions, and red pepper. So delicious!!! There are several recipes on the internet for this, find one with the ingredients you like similar to this http://tastykitchen.com/blog/2013/01/raw-cauliflower-couscous/  (google raw cauliflower salad)

One was a spicy squash and yam pasta dish from http://www.rawguru.com/raw-food-recipes/raw-spicy-squash-and-yam-pasta.html.html . Chives were used instead of scallions because they were available.

There was a buttersquash salad. Raisins were added so it would be more like a carrot and raisin salad. The link is http://www.food.com/recipe/butternut-salad-116800

We had raw Nutnog, using 3/4 cup of hazelnuts, 3 cups of water. 1 cup of pitted dates, 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp of nutmeg, and 1 cup of canned coconut milk. Use a high speed blender until smooth. No alcohol was added to this batch. If one is wanting to add rum, add a shot, blend and repeat until it is the desired alcohol content.







Our surprise dessert was peanut butter chocolate cheezecake. Believe it or not, this tasted better than it looks and it is BEAUTIFUL!!!
The crust contained dates, dried cranberries, chocolate, and almonds.
The banana layer was bananas, cashew, vanilla, 1/4 cup coconut oil, and cinnamon It was divided and half of it had cocoa powder added to it for the chocolate layer.

The topping was chocolate almonds with a touch of maple syrup ground.
The peanut butter drizzle was natural peanut butter, dates, cinnamon, soaked cashew, 1 TBS maple syrup, and coconut oil. The recipe is similar to this http://www.thisrawsomeveganlife.com/2012/07/chocolate-peanut-butter-cream-pie.html#.UufMNBAo7IU