it still makes me cringe

How do you respond to someone who works in food service when their opinion is that, "People over the age of 21 are adults and should be able to manage their allergies."

Re: serving peanuts and tree nuts in open bowls at a bar.

Eggplant Dip (or spread, take #2)

I think this is now officially a dip and not a spread.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 large eggplant or one small
• 1/4 sauteed onion
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp lime juice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• pepper (black and red)
  
• 2 Tbsp chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut eggplant in half and place on greased cookie sheet, cut side down. Bake 40 minutes until soft and skin has started to wrinkle. Remove from oven, and let cool. Sautee onions and garlic with "one shake" of red pepper, transfer to blender or food processor, blend. Scoop out cooked eggplant, add to blender and puree. Mix in lime juice, salt, and pepper and transfer to a bowl. Stir in parsley.


We really like the flavor of the lime juice over the lemon, and leaving out the olive oil makes this almost fat free. This batch was much tastier.

Blueberry rolls

These came out heavenly :)

The dough and baking instructions are the same as for the Vegan Cinnamon Rolls. For the filling, I thawed 3 cups of frozen blueberries (drain well!) and smashed them up with a nice coat of honey.

DRAIN WELL

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls, Attempt #1

I'm REALLY happy with how the dough turned out for these. They were just not as cinnamon-y as I was hoping. I think using less applesauce in the filling, and putting down some loose cinnamon and sugar first would help a lot. I also think fresh fruit with a few drizzles of honey would make an amazing filling.

Ingredients:
Dough-

• 1 c rice milk
• 1/2 c applesauce
• 3 1/4 c flour
• 1 1/2 tsp yeast
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt

Filling (this was way too much and way too goopy)-

• 1 c brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 c apple sauce

Dough-
Stir together milk and apple sauce, and microwave 1 minute. In a large bowl, combine 2 1/4 c flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and mix well. Add the warm milk/applesauce mixture and beat together. Add remaining flour in small portions. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and applesauce.

Roll dough out into a 12x9 rectangle. Spread filling over dough (you can also add other filling options such as raisins here if you like). Roll up the rectangle to give a 12 inch roll, and slice into 12 1-inch pieces.(The rolling did not work out so well here. The paper towels were my attempt at containing the cinnamon and sugar disaster.)

Place the individual rolls into a greased muffin tin and let rise for 30 minutes.



Heat oven to 375 degrees and bake for 20 minutes.

The rolls pictured have also been dipped in a glaze made by dissolving 1 1/3 c powdered sugar in 1 c warm rice milk.

Eggplant Spread

This is a recipe adapted from The Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook by Cybele Pascal. I left out a lot of the olive oil and the pomegranate seeds, but used more garlic and a little more onion.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 large eggplant or one small
• 1/4 sauteed onion
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• pepper
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut eggplant in half and place on greased cookie sheet, cut side down. Bake 45 minutes until soft and skin has started to wrinkle. Remove from oven, and let cool. In blender or food processor, combine minced garlic and onion and blend. Scoop out cooked eggplant, add to blender and puree. Mix in lemon juice, salt, and pepper and transfer to a bowl. Stir in olive oil and parsley.

Can be served with chips, crackers or on a sandwich. I'm thinking about making some flat bread to go with this, and about using cilantro instead of parsley.