Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Accidentally Vegan

Now before you go all crazy, I'm not going vegan.  I'm not going to lie though, I would say 50% of what I eat is Vegan, but not on purpose.  I just don't eat tons of meat, I do however consume my fair share of eggs and milk products.  You won't see me wearing an "I'm Vegan" shirt anytime soon.  I wanted to share with you tonight's dinner, an accidentally vegan dinner that was attempt to include the vegetables from our CSA before they could go bad.

I give you:
Sweet Potato, Spinach, and Arugula Salad with Craisons, Quinoa and Homemade Grape Juice Dressing
&
Grilled Eggplant Marinated in Garlic, Soy Sauce, Olive Oil, and Chopped Mint

I chopped the eggplant this morning (4 small ones) into 1/4 inch pieces.  I marinated those with a few tablespoons of soy sauce and olive oil and threw in some chopped mint and minced garlic.  I let it sit all day in the fridge, then grilled them for 10 minutes.

The salad is Arugula and Spinach with Quinoa and Craisons mixed in.  I made a dressing from olive oil, a reduction of grape juice, hot sauce, mustard and salt.  I combined all of the above and then laid what are basically baked sweet potato fries (baked in the oven with olive oil, salt and paper @425 for 25 minutes) on top of the salad and served it.  The warm of the sweet potato with the chilled salad went really well, as did the spicy arugula with the sweet craisons.  

The eggplant was a little strong for me, but my husband had thirds, so it must have been good!  Next time I'll use balsamic vinegar instead of soy sauce and not let it marinate as long.

So as far as I can tell no meat products were used in this dish.  Whoops, another accidentally vegan dinner.....

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