Foodie feast for two

It's fun to read everyone's commentary on the Nutrition and Obesity epidemic post. There are so many facets to the problem and ways to go about making change and clearly this community is passionate about healthy living.

Last night Michelle and I got together for a little foodie feast. It was the best kind. Delicious recipes from fellow bloggers, good wine and great company. I have to hand it to Michelle for suggesting the healthy recipes so I could bring up the rear with a little butter and sugar.

The clues of something good happening: lots of dishes being washed.

Appetizers

Mama Pea's Smoky Chipotle Zucchini Hummus to which beans were added because dang those chipotle chiles were HOT! The manfriend would have died trying the first version prior to the bean addition.

Main Course

Oh She Glows Vegan Walnut Lentil Loaf that you need to try. I have no close ups for you because a) Angela's are better and b) it's not a photogenic food.

And of course a classy dinner spread because who doesn't want to eat their masterpiece by tacky glue, a neglected smoke alarm and old Christmas cards?

Proof that we eat dinner more often in front of the television than we should.

Now forget everything I said about the obesity rates and sugar intake in our country and just walk with me for a minute down a coconut vanilla-infused path. Because it's quite delicious. And buttery. And who says you don't deserve a cupcake or two after you complete your recommended daily physical activity?

Dessert

Now that we've got that covered, pop over to Transplanted Baker's site where you'll find the most delicious coconut vanilla cupcakes you've ever tasted.




When you make these, we have two suggestions for you. 1) Use real vanilla bean for the frosting. The little black specks are not only adorable, but mighty tasty. 2) Add a little zest of a lemon to the frosting. It's the perfect zing to balance out the sweet!

Foodie confession: This was the first time I'd ever used actual vanilla bean. I know why. When the checker rang up my two tiny vanilla beans it cost me $1.47! These things are something like $75 per pound. Can you believe it? What's your foodie confession?

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I've yet to come up with a system here on blogger that works for me to respond to comments the way I'd like. Someday, I'll move from blogger and self host, but that requires some web design and planning. And someday, I"ll have comments to which I can just click the "reply" button to a specific comment. But for now, I'm trying to comment after most people have said something or respond via email.

Do you ever go back to a post where you asked a question or made a strong statement to see if someone replied to you? I will occasionally return to a blogger's post if there was a specific answer I was looking for.