Today was our first Plant-Based Potluck! I made

• Lentil loaf
• Mashed cauliflower/millet (stand-in for mashed potatoes!)
• Creamy golden gravy
• Kale with walnut sauce
• Green goddess dressing
• Raw chocolate walnut brownies

Others brought:

• Fruit trays
• Salad
• Fresh local lima beans and corn
• Salad
• Moroccan chickpea and artichoke soup
• Brown rice snaps (oil-free crackers that are the only ready-made snack I’ll buy)
• Watermelon

We debuted our lending library, and everyone checked out a book, allowing me to use my library kit complete with rubber date stamp!

Couple of recipes from the potluck:

Raw Brownies

• • 2 cups walnuts
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 2 cups pitted dates
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract

In a food processor, process nuts to a powder. Add cocoa powder and process some more. Add dates a few at a time until the mixture starts clumping. Add vanilla extract and process a little more.

Press into an 8 x 8 pan and freeze.

Golden Gravy

adapted from a recipe in Forks Over Knives companion cookbook

• • 2 cups vegetable broth (I use 2 cups water plus 1 cube of Rapunzel vegan bouillon)
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 Tbsp tahini
  • 1/8 cup brown rice flour

Combine all ingredients in a small pot and mix well. Heat, stirring, until thickened. The brown rice flour is an ideal gravy thickener: no lumps.

So the potluck was a success, and we’re planning on having the next one August 15th!

On a side note, we discovered we had an uninvited guest at our party when Derek reached into our pantry (that opens down into the basement) for the bag of dog food and instead almost grabbed the POSSUM that was sitting on top of it. He was able to coax it down into the basement with a push broom…