Wednesday, February 16, 2011

V-day dinner and a homemade donut coconut dessert

Good day to you!  It's raining again which is lovely.  For a while there we were experiencing Spring like conditions which was wonderful for working outside.  Now it's back to being inside for a while.

For our Valentine's dinner I let my son choose the dinner  menu. 
served on mashed potatoes.

This may look fancy and taste it as well but it's so easy and quick to  make.
Mine actually looks more colorful than Emeril's but it's because I used a whole carrot intead of half of one.  For the mushroom mixture I used shitake and cremini.   This also tastes wonderful using seitan, which is what I used the first time I made this meal. I'd also like to mention that not all tofu is created equal, my favorite is  Nasoya Organic Extra Firm Tofu which has a wonderful texture and taste.

Beckmen Grenache


Dave brought home a bottle of Beckmen Grenache, that I  had mentioned in a previous post, to enjoy with dinner. Beckman rose and red wines are vegan even though it doesn't say it on the bottle.  They also use biodynamic farming practices.
I was trying to come up with something different for our Valentine's dessert and donuts came to mind.   I remember using the donut recipe from Vegan Yum Yum years ago and how much Keaton and I loved them.  How the wonderful memories came back when they were baking in the oven.  The smell was incredible!
You must make these!  These are light and not too sweet.  These are even better than the ones you would buy at a donut shop.  I don't have a donut pan so I used a cupcake pan and then stuck some decorating tips in the middle to give them the hole in the middle.  Once cooled I poured melted chocolate on them then put in the refrigerator to harden.  This is also very quick to make.  To finish off the dessert...

I used a scoop of coconut bliss on top of the donut.  This is my favorite coconut frozen dessert because it's so creamy, light and slightly sweet.  As you can tell I don't like things that are too sugary sweet. 

The donut and Coconut Bliss was then drizzled with homemade chocolate and caramel sauce.
This was another way that I served up this dessert.  This looks really rich and sweet but it's acutally not.
As a Valentine for Keaton I got him 2 bars of Newman's Own Organic Chocolate.  The one bar that is open is a Dark Chocolate Orange flavor.  He loves them and me too!hee hee.

Have a wonderful day!

10 comments:

  1. Wow, that dessert looks insanely decadent! I've been afraid to try Coconut Dream in fear that I'll get hooked.
    I've been to Beckman and had their wines before. So nice! Have you been to the winery? It's a nice hang...
    Thx for stopping by - nice to be back at it :)

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  2. I'm drooling! And we had broccolini on V day too! :)

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  3. Emeril's tofu looks incredible! That's such gorgeous plating on the dessert.

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  4. The Rockin' Vegan- Coconut Bliss is so freakin' good with just a bit of sweetness. It's totally like coconut cream.
    Beckman winery is like 5min. from my house.

    Lauren-broccolini rocks!

    Tami- this is an incredible meal.

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  5. Really nice meal! Your donut and coconut bliss look sumptuous...the chocolate sauce is even forming its own little heart in the first pic.

    Thanks for the link to the tofu and mush ragu...I'll be trying it soon.

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  6. Oooohhh! Just drooled on the spacebar. It all looks delish :)

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  7. you totally had me at the donuts 'n ice cream, JoLynn - and oooh, yum on emerils tofu with mushies ragu. totally going to have to make that, fo 'sho! i love how you improvised for the donuts, my friend - and so awesome of Keaton to share his delicious chocolate with you! gotta love that! looks like you all had one crazy delicious valentine's day. yay!

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  8. Oh my, donut cupcakes! It looks so good! I like how it's not too sweet, sounds perfect! :-)

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  9. Woah, donut sundae... You just blew my mind. I think I need to go lie down before I raid the kitchen for something sweet now.

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