The Dinner Party!

So I hosted a dinner party with my favorites from the cleanse. I'm gonna walk you through how I pulled off a dinner party with 2 mains, apps, 2 desserts and tons of sides single handed.

The prep work goes like this:

At the start of the cleanse I fermented cabbage for sauerkraut, and pickled raw beets, 4 days ago I made the fermented tomato sauce so it would be ready for the party.

Sat night I soaked my beans for the burgers and hummus (8hr soak).

Sunday I woke up and put the nuts, seeds and quinoa to soak. Then I took my skateboard down and skated for cicLAvia, they close down miles of road in LA and open it to bikes, skates, runners what ever, a movable party! It's good for the soul and the skin to go outside and skate in the sun with a bunch of other people down the middle of the street!

I stopped at my car, drove to the store, came home and put the beans on to cook. I cleaned the house and arranged the flowers. -side note, had my bike not been stolen I woulda just biked to the store, but that's how the cookie crumbles, it's hard to skate board far with a full back pack and bags. Most all the veggies came from the farmers market or my CSA box. So it wasn't a ton I needed but there were some things like more almonds, fresh sprouts and my special bread.

I diced the onions and garlic for everything, this gets the enzymes going and since the longer it sits before cooking the more active enzyme release. I figured if there was to much I'd toss it into the fridge for later use. I'm clearly not the measure it out kinda cook.

I started the marinara for the stuffed peppers (recipe tomorrow), and while that simmered I made the hummus.

After I plated the hummus I let the quinoa cook for the stuffed peppers while I made the black bean burgers recipe this time I didn't use eggs, I used flax seed. Remember 1tbs flax meal + 3 tbs water = 1 egg soak 5 mins before using. I added a bunch of fresh parsley and basil as well.

I was done with those guys at around the same time the quinoa was done, so I made the stuffing for the peppers, and then stuffed them! The sauce was ready and I assembled the peppers in the Pyrex with the sauce.

Everything was in the fridge Sunday night! I ran the dishwasher and cleaned the kitchen. I'm a clean as I go cooker since I don't have an assistant I know I need to be efficient and this didn't really take long. I sat down and the stuffing and sauce that didn't fit in the peppers for dinner and for dessert had a cup of licorice tea.

Monday I taught in the morning, came home took a nap, then made desserts! I was ready to go when the party started :)










This was some of the soaking I did for the dinner Monday night. Black Beans, Quinoa, Almonds, Pepitas, Walnuts. The chick peas are in a giant bowl on the table, and I also soaked Medjool Dates but that was only for 10 minutes on Monday before I made desserts.


APPS:

Meyer Lemon Hummus
Garlic Hummus
Carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, heirloom tomatoes and toast (the bread I can eat) for dipping

Soaked almonds and pepitas

                                                                                 

I don't really have a hummus recipe, I just make a bunch of chickpeas and go from there. These worked out to be about 

3-4cups of chickpeas after they were cooked 

4 tbs fresh tahini 

2 tbs EVOO

I keep a cup of warm water on the side an add it as I go until it's the consistency I like.

For the lemon I used the juice of one whole Meyer lemon and for the garlic I added 4 big fresh garlic cloves. 

It all goes into the processor, I used to use my blender before, it can be done!

It goes into the bowls with a healthy dose of EVOO on both and some decor so you know which is which.

Here is the appetizers spread:

And here's the ambiance! I think flowers are an amazing thing and should always be around, plants and color and smiles are good for the soul on a daily basis. I have the luxury of living by the flower market in LA. I may not have a patch of soil to grow my own in but I have the next closest thing. So here were the pretty flowers.

I bought a few different groups of flowers, it's much cheaper to buy single type of flower bouquets and then spread them all over the table and arranged them. Some of it had to do simply with the idea that only so much will fit in a vase! But it was great walking into the party with these pretty bouquets around and when the food started coming they got moved to the counter tops effectively making a surrounding garden in bloom. I may live in a loft in downtown LA but I'm gonna have some natural beauty surrounding me damn it!

Ok that's it for today, the set up and apps. Tomorrow I'll get pics up from the main courses! Yep, more than one!