Courtyard Dinner Party - Welcome, Summer!

When classes have ended, my friends and I have returned to San Diego for the summer, and temperatures begin to rise, the only thing on my mind has been taking advantage of the sunshine (except for that darn San Diegan 'May Gray') and being able to cook in my own kitchen -- dorm life in San Francisco doesn't typically allow for sunny weather or culinary experimenting. Which is why I thought an outdoors dinner party would be the perfect way to ring in the summertime, and also to introduce my friends to the world of vegan cooking. With a table full of skeptical omnivores (and a vegetarian), my job was clear -- to spread vegan principles with an awesome, cruelty-free meal and good times. Plus, cooking for everyone was just plain fun!

First up -- the menu.

The meal was basically an ode to one of my favorite vegan recipe blogs, The Lunchbox Bunch -- I can't get enough! The main dish was one of the many recipes I've been wanting to try forever, Spicy Lasagna Verde with pesto, Follow Your Heart's vegan mozzarella, and braised tofu. Thanks to the apparent pine nut shortage (they're crazy expensive if you can find them at all), I replaced the pine nuts in the pesto with walnuts. And it turned out great! I even prefer it to the original, since walnuts have a stronger flavor and you can taste the nuts in the pesto even more. 

Layer number two -- pesto-y goodness, the best part!

I braised the tofu in a marinade of lemon juice, agave nectar, and olive oil before layering it. Along with some zucchini, mozzarella, and MORE PESTO!

Straight outta the oven.

Nothing says summer like potato salad, and this dill potato salad made with Vegenaise and dijon went great with the lasagna. I actually made it the day before and let it chill overnight so the sauce had a chance to flavor the potatoes -- super easy. 

Creamy dill potato salad.

Sticking with the green color scheme, this spinach and asparagus salad was pretty simple and had a light, tangy lemon and paprika dressing. I grilled the asparagus in lemon and garlic and added some arugula to the spinach and some walnuts for crunch!

Spinach and asparagus salad and a French baguette.

No dinner party is complete without a glass of wine or four -- we started with a Merlot with the baguette and spinach salad.

Cheers to summer! And vegan food!

Kelsey brought over some really delicious quinoa with sweet potato and paprika, vegan tzatziki, and Mediterranean wheat flatbread, thanks Kelsey!

Ready to eat! From the top clockwise -- vegan tzatziki, dill potato salad, flatbread, pesto lasagna, and sweet potato quinoa.

Being vegan, desserts have totally become my weakness, and my omnivorous friends usually enjoy vegan baked goods as well. So I tried something new that looked delicious and perfect for a spring/summer evening, a pear upside-down cake with a secret ingredient in the batter -- butternut squash! I chilled the cake overnight so it was perfectly dense and moist because of the marinated pears on top.

Pear upside-down cake.

Kelsey also brought a great apple and cranberry bread -- this thing had the most perfect texture. It was light and fluffy which is so hard to achieve with vegan baked goods. I must know her secret!

Apple cranberry spice bread.

Such a great night -- and the best part was that my friends really enjoyed all of the food. They said they wouldn't have even known it was vegan -- see, cooking delicious vegan food ain't so hard! One friend even said that she'd go vegan if all vegan food was this tasty, which it totally can be. Converting omnivores, one dinner party at a time...

Most photos by Tyler and Rieko, the photographers of the evening.