Living Harmlessly

This was the closest image I could get. I couldn’t take any pictures last night. I had this great vegan BBQ last night and I’m gonna go to a relative’s house and do the whole thing all over with different food, so I figures you guys might want in on it…

Last night I had:

Vegi-Kabobs (well they where suppose to be, but I forgot the kabobs *cough*cough*)
Roasted Ginger Carrots
Corn on the cob
Lentils
Roasted Pineapple

The main part was the kabobs, which consisted of squash, zucchini, potatoes, miny mushrooms and I threw in a little asparagus since I couldn’t cook them the normal way (I was going to add tofu, but I figured that was enough) … wrapped in tinfoil and cooked in cooking spray (which you have to be careful with if you’re vegan, because they aren’t all vegan – another alternative is vegetable oil and pre-melted margarine if you want to grill veggies the same way I did)  garlic salt and rosemary (I was a bit short handed on spices, you can add whatever you want). The next part wasn’t even on the grill. I pre-soaked the lentils for an hour or two (very important if you have dried beans) in twice the amount of water as beans. When they where done soaking I rinsed them and strained the water they had been sitting in (according to a vegan podcast I listen to , also very important) and cooked them in water with a little vegetable oil. At the end (according to the same  podcast you aren’t supposed to add salt or other things like citrus juice … etc till the end) I added garlic salt (you can add whatever you want … I was just experimenting). The corn was the freezer kind and my meat eating hosts cooked that in some boiling water (minus butter thankfully), so saved me the trouble. The carrots where wrapped in tinfoil and cooked in cooking spray and ginger and came out soft and not overly sweet, just how I like ‘em. An other way to cook them (which I think I’ll try today) is with cumin in olive oil to make more of a spicy carrot. It doesn’t come out super spicy and they are still soft. The recipe is actually from Rome!
The pineapple turned out kind of lame, but, after trying the uncooked pineapple, is just because we got a bad pineapple. Some pieces turned out great, while others didn’t taste right. On a whole, the concept is sound. I cooked them in entirely their own juices, I just wrapped them in tinfoil.
My meat eating hosts (I feel the need to make  the distinction since I am speaking of eating there) had steak(dead cow as I’d rather refer to it), potatoes and corn and some had a little of my carrots and pineapple. Over all, I like my BBQ better.

Later today I will be doing a repeatperformance with slightly different food, so keep a lookout for Vegan BBQ Part 2. What I’m thinking of trying are Original Vegan Boca Burgers on my accidentall vegan sour dough bread with the traditional lettuce, tomato (minus the cheese) and some avocado (perhaps more). Then some of those Roman style carrots, maybe some more roasted veggies and whatever other “side-dishes” (*cough**cough*) the meat eaters are cooking. I’m not totally sure yet. I think they are having hot dogs (mystery meat sticks) and beef-burgers though I’m not sure. There might be fries … just because it isn’t ALL I eat doesn’t mean I can’t like fries … hmmm … I think I might try that caramelized banana I saw on TV … a little random I know, but while we’ve got a fire going …