06 June 2006

Roasted Red Pepper Bean Dip + Pasta Salad + Maple Butter Cream Extravaganza

What an eclectic dinner it was tonight. I made whole wheat linguine noodles, cooled 'em off and tossed in broccoli-slaw (broccoli, carrots and cabbage) and some other spices and herbs. No pasta salad is complete to me without vinegar, so I added tamari, olive oil, white vinegar and red wine vinegar. This is where something went wrong. It is still a mystery and I am letting the leftovers chill in the fridge overnight and see if anything better comes of it. There are a few possibilities of what went wrong, for example, I think the garlic was going bad. Another could have been a vinegar overload, but it wasn't really tasting like that. I even added a bit of agave nectar to try to chill it out. I also over-stirred it by a million times. Nothing really worked, but it was edible and between ok and good.
But what we have below here is a different story. Of course, since I followed a recipe it came out fantastic (and yes people... I measured... with real measuring spoons and cups). I made "Roasted Red Pepper and Bean Dip" from Vegetarian Times November/December 2005 issue page 32. I followed the recipe exactly (gasp!) except I subbed dried cilantro since I didn't have fresh and I only had a lemon, no lime for juice. The ingredients are as follows: roasted red bell peppers (jar), firm silken tofu, cilantro, lime, olive oil, salt, cumin, garlic, cannellini beans.

Verdict: Ray said this was amazing and gave it a 10 (which he usually rates everything to a 9, since "nothing's perfect") and while that's true, I've had better dips, but yes, this one is up there. Ray was even eating it before it was on the table and finished off the whole serving at the table. Since I used a can of cannellini beans, a jar of roasted red bells and 1/2 a square of tofu, threw it all in the blender (which is something I am a pro at), and whizzed away, this awesome dip was made in less than 5 minutes, no cooking, no prep-work, and hardly any clean-up. I am glad I have a new dip, especially since most of my dips are really hummus. I can deem this one a true dip. We dipped organic carrots and organic blue corn tortilla chips into it.
And now... may I present to you all something wonderful. This goodness I am speaking of is Dreena's "Maple Butter Cream" aka "Celestial Cream" and it is showcased on the top right of the mini-dish. I cannot give away details of this recipe, since I am just testing out for her upcoming 3rd cookbook, but I will say this: Maple Butter Cream is a light, yet rich blend of maple syrup and only a few other simple - yet delicious ingredients that all blend together in a matter of minutes. I had some at room temperature right away and it was heavenly right off the spoon! I put it in the fridge for a few hours and ate it with the following all organic items: Nature's Path Kid's Animal Crackers, some crappy cookies that are only good dunked into the buttercream for a few minutes, Soy Delicious scoop of Mint awesomeness (going to make me huge) ice cream! This was a wonderful dessert and I'm glad I didn't eat too much of the borderline-crappy-pasta salad because saving room for this eclectic dessert was the best idea yet. I plan on having more Maple Butter Cream with fruit, as my favorite (surprisingly) out of all of this was the kiwi to eat with it.
Whew. And well worth it.

14 comments:

Carrie™ said...

Don't you hate it when you come up with a great food idea, make it and it's sub-par. Bummer. It looks incredibly tasty.
Maple anything sounds good to me. I saw the celestial cream on Dreena's blog on her crepes and thought, what a great name...just makes me want to eat it. Since you've now given it a thumbs up, I really can't wait to try it.
Dip looks amazing too. Such a pretty colour.

kaivegan said...

Beautiful post. I'll be back to comment later.

I just want to let you know that my blog got hijacked yesterday. (So upsetting... didn't even know that could happen!) Please delete that from your list or you could change it to

http://kaivegan.com

Thanks, Leslie!

MeloMeals said...

I had a mishap in the kitchen last night having to do with broccoli sprouts.. I feel for ya. I actually ended up throwing out the rest of the stir-fry I made.

Your pasta salad looks good though.. it probably was the garlic, when it's funky it can ruin everthing. I made a huge batch of salsa (for gifts no less) and didn't realize that some of my garlic wasn't the best. I had to throw away 2 gallons of it and there was no way to make it better.

The Maple Cream looks wonderful as does the red pepper dip. I remember reading that recipe thinking I should try it sometime.

funwithyourfood said...

maple cream looks great. I haven't had time fore dinner yet and you're making my tummy rummble.

Ek I just can't look anymore

Teddy

ps
My first EVER MwM is up!

Catherine Weber said...

That's quite the dessert! Wowwy.

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

good lookin' food here, leslie! lucky girl to test drive dreena's maple butter cream ~ i could have used some of that tonight. are those your new plates from kansas?

Brooke said...

Oooh, kiwi and maple creamy stuff! Yum!

I just got the shivers from thinking about bad garlic. Ewww.

-Brooke

Freedom said...

Oh yum. I absolutely adore dip and frequently eat it as a whole meal. Since I have both a jar of roasted red peppers (first time purchase) and some silken tofu I need to use up, I think I will definately have a go at replicating this recipe. Yum yum yum!

Crystal said...

Too bad about the pasta salad, but at least you could still eat it! The red pepper dip looks fab - I'll have to try that sometime. Also - yum on the maple dip - I'm sure it's great with fruit and crackers. Cute presentation as well :)

-Crystal

Eat Peace Please said...

Hi everyone. What's been up with Blogger? I couldn't comment on people's sites nor get to my own hub of information. Sorry for the delay on comment returning...

Carrie, the maple butter cream was awesome. I am already imagining eating it again! And yes, I hate when I spend so much time in the kitchen and it comes out crappy.

Kai, I changed your link right away. I am sorry this happened to you but I like your fresh start.

Melody, thanks for your comments. I do have some broccoli slaw left and I was thinking about a stir fry. I'll see how it goes though.

Teddy, welcome to Midweek Munchies. As you'll see, I usually combine 2 weeks and do it bimonthly. I like it better that way. See you next week with mine (and I tend to do weekend munchies a lot, I'm even bad with e-schedules!)

Catherine, yeah. It was quite a dessert.

Vicki, nope, those are dollar store plates, I'll post the plates from Kansas some other time, they're a bit fancy and I'm a bit clumsy. I'll show you soon.

Brooke, the maple butter cream was awesome and so fast and easy to make. Thanks for visiting!

Freedom, don't forget beans with the peppers and tofu! It was my first bean slash tofu dip, but it was good. Usually I just pick one or the other.

Crystal, thanks for your comments as always!

Dr. Melissa West said...

Great ideas for summer cooking. Too bad the salad didn't work out! I love the ideas of dips with a salad to round it out to make a great meal in the summer. I get to test the maple dip (and crepes) for Dreena too! I can't wait now, looks like the dip will have multiple functions!

kaivegan said...

What, you followed a recipe? lol

I don't think I still have that issue of Vege Times. Could you share the dip recipe?

I agree with Melody on the garlic. Usually, they smell kinda funky too when they're bad.

Anonymous said...

I am glad that two out of three of your dishes turned out great. We can't all make perfection all of the time. The dessert looks divine. I'll be looking forward to Dreena's cookbook.

Eat Peace Please said...

Dragonslayer, I'm going to post the recipe if you want to try this dip, it's good.

Kai, I'll post the recipe with my next post, plust that will entice me to post something I've made...

Cindy, I can't wait for Dreena's cookbook as well.

Vegegriff, wow, you looked through the whole blog?!? Thanks! And I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for the comment and come back soon.