As a birthday gift for my sweet friend, Kathianne, over at Nourish.Create.Bloom, I promised to make her a special dinner. Today was that day. As we discussed her gift, she let me know that her husband was vegan. Totally vegan. Hmmm…this seemed like a delightful way to discover a new way of cooking. I was thrilled to do the research and even more thrilled to try something new.

I didn’t know much about this way of life until I did some googling. No dairy – no any type of animal by products. Putting on my creative thinking cap, this is the menu I devised:

Appetizer – Endive stuffed with tabouli
Side Dish – Grilled beets and asparagus with lemon olive oil
Entree – Polenta cakes topped with a mushroom ragu
Dessert – Fresh strawberries macerated in balsamic vinegar and topped with ground pepper

And then I did what any cook would do – I called Miss Devore over to taste test it with Eric and I last night.

I have to say…it was devoured in no time and loved by all of us. The only recommendation was to fill the endive with much more tabouli. Which I did today.

Many thanks to Kathianne and Brian for teaching me something new and delicious. Eric and I both agreed that we should definitely incorporate more meals like this one into our home.

xoxo, Patti