This past Saturday night was one of those mellow, hang out with good friends and cook dinner at home with the kids nights. That mix included one vegan (me), one vegetarian, and 3 carnivores. Guess which part of the dinner I took care of?
First I got to work on the salad. I saw some gorgeous kale and a container of radish & clover sprouts at Whole Foods, so I decided to toss together 1/2 cup of the sprouts, 3 cups of chopped kale, 3/4 cup of cannelini beans and 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts. I dressed them in a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil and 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar (but adjust to your taste!)
Once that was done I moved on to my next dish - inspired by a different aisle at Whole Foods. I had come across organic lentils and green peas and got creative. I chopped half of a yellow onion and tossed it into a large saute pan with extra virgin olive oil and some kosher salt. When that started to turn golden brown, I added 1 cup of cherry tomatoes I had quartered and cooked them until they were nicely wilted. 
Into that mixture I added half a can of seasoned organic brown rice & green lentils, half a can of green peas, and half a can of brown lentils. Simmer that until warmed all the way through and it is ready to serve. It was so hearty, so simple and so delicious ~ even some of those meat-eaters liked it!My last dish was my new go-to cauliflower dish. I make it weekly now and could eat it even more often!
It's so easy - chop 2 heads of cauliflower into large bite sized pieces, discarding the bulky part of the stem. Put all of that into a gallon ziploc bag and add 1.5 TBSP sugar, 1 TBSP onion powder, 2 tsp kosher salt, 1 TBSP paprika, 2 tsp garlic powder, and enough extra virgin olive oil to help well-coat the cauliflower. This time I also added 2 TBSP of fresh, roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley. Once well combined, place the vegetables in a pyrex baking dish and roast at 450 degrees. Stir every 5 minutes but let the cauliflower cook until browning and tender. It's addicting...I'm telling you! Enjoy! By the way...they make great leftovers...
