A FRESH START

To kick off the new year we served a vegan meal and invited a special guest who spoke to us about "sowing" meaningful things in our lives.
A perfect message for a fresh start, and how sweet of her to aptly bring us some seed packets  for a vegetable garden.

We also took time to look back at all the blessings and answered prayers of 2013. Viewing life through a grateful heart - is there a better way to start the new year?

Now onto that vegan meal.  First we opened with Grapefruit Basil Martini.

For our Soba Noodle Salad, I had each person choose to bring one of the following ingredients:  one package of cooked organic soba noodles, cooked and shelled edamame, carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, cilantro and toasted sesame seeds. 

We tossed these ingredients together in a large bowl with home-made Sesame Soy Vinaigrette Dressing. The result was a beautiful, fresh looking salad that's a dinner in itself.

For dessert, a lovely and healthy Dark Chocolate Avocado Pudding topped with orange zest.

Here's hoping that we make "sowing" good things in our lives and into our bodies a healthy habit.

Recipes

Grapefruit Basil Martini

Soba Noodle Salad - serves 8

1 pkg organic soba noodles, cooked per direction

1 pkg frozen cooked and shelled edamame, thawed

1 large red bell peppers, thinly sliced

1 large yellow bell peppers, thinly sliced

2 cucumbesr, julienned

2 carrots, julienned

bunch of cilantro

1 small jar of sesame seeds, toasted.

Tossed all ingredients in a large bowl along with Sesame Soy Vinaigrette Dressing.

Dressing

Whisk together the following ingredients:

1/4 cup canola oil

2 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce

2 tbsp mustard

1 tbsp sesame oil

salt and pepper to taste

Dark Chocolate Avocado Pudding - serves 6

4 ripe avocados, pitted and peeled

2 ripe bananas, peeled

Juice & zest of 2 oranges

1/4 cup pure dark chocolate cocoa powder (I use Droste from Holland)

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Mix all ingredients except for orange zest in a blender on high speed until smooth.

Spoon into individual serving dish and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Topped with orange zest before serving.