My friend Sophia came over for a dinner party and a belated-birthday fun, since she'd been out of town on my actual birthday. We decided on a super summery meal - grilled veggies, grilled tofu sandwiches, and cake! We always have fun together, but it was extra fun preparing all the food together and grilling and cooking together. It's so fun to have a buddy in the kitchen, isn't it?
Our sandwiches were based on the delicious Grilled Herb Tofu Sandwiches with Sundried Tomato Pesto from The Real Food Daily Cookbook. Here's a big plate of our grilled tofu in the evening light. I love this tofu recipe so much.
We made a bunch of grilled veggies too - zucchini and asparagus. We put the zukes on the sandwiches and just nommed on the asparagus separately.
I love Grilled Asparagus so much!
Sophia is a bread wizard (but I swear, that's not the only reason I like her!) - and she brought homemade ciabatta rolls for our sandwiches! Amazing! In the end our sandwiches had the tofus, zukes, caramelized onions, sundried tomato pesto, and then some lettuce that we added after the panino press action. They were so delicious!
...and then there was cake! It was so cute - Sophia and Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats serenaded me with "Happy Birthday" and Sophia busted out this beautiful cake that she had made for me! Vegans Of The World, you know how special it is when someone else makes you a cake!
Sophia even asked ahead of time what flavors I was in the mood for and I said "Lemon and Raspberry!" When I was a little girl, lemon cake was always my favorite, and I was in the mood! Sophia's lemon cake was light and lemony and delicious - and filled with a whole layer of super-intense raspberry magic. It was so delicious. Thanks again, Sophia!
oh my gosh those grilled veggies and tofu look so delicious! i love grilling! and that cake! my oh my!
ReplyDeleteOh my! Everything look so delicious. I want a Sophia for my birthday so she can bring me homemade bread and lemon cake!
ReplyDeleteWow, it all looks incredible. What a gorgeous cake! I like when birthdays get stretched out a little like that. All the more fun!
ReplyDeleteThe food looks so tempting it's increasing my desire to get a grill. What kind of grill? do you use charcoal or gas? Big grill or small one? Any recommendations?
ReplyDeleteHi Andrea!
DeleteWe have a gas grill, and I really love it. I had never had a gas grill before I moved in with my boyfriend, but now I am a total convert. It's so quick and easy, so grilling is not a huge production. You can just turn it on, moderate the heat intensity, and grill up your goodies. It totally makes grilling easy and something you can do on weeknights or whatever. Ours is pretty big, which i like because I can fill it up with loads of veggies. Smaller ones might be okay if you were just doing a couple of steaks (not vegan!), but I can easily fill the whole thing with all my veggies. Also, I really like that ours has two "shelves" or work surfaces, on each side of the grill. It's great for putting down my grill tools, and a plate for the veggies, and such. As for brands, I don't really know- look around online for who's making good grills these days! I love having a grill so much!
kitchen buddies!!! woohoo!
ReplyDeletealso, "serenade," ha ha. that's generous :-)
What a wonderful friend to make you such a beautiful cake! Lucky girl! Happy belated birthday!
ReplyDeleteThose veggies look amazing! I love grilled asparagus as well and always forget to grill up other veggies. Grilled red onions are a great addition to a veggie grill spread as well. It's always so fun to have a buddy to cook with. Now I want to go make bread those sandwiches look great.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday beautiful Amey!!!
ReplyDeleteHappy belated birthday! Your cake looks delicious and I could totally eat one of those sandwiches right now.
ReplyDeleteWow...that is a great dinner party. The food looks fabulous!!!!..OH...Happy Belated Birthday.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice meal! Happy Birthday! :)
ReplyDeletethat tofu looks so pretty! i love all things sammiches and cake, so this would have been a perfect party for me :)
ReplyDeleteGas grills are marvelous tools, if you ask me. They made grilling very accessible to people, who are living in highly urbanized areas or don’t have a lot of space to work with. And because they are easier and safer to use, you actually have more room to create recipes and have more fun with grilling. By the way, that grilled tofu sandwich looks heavenly!
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