Busy Brunch

Yesterday we had our friends Ricky and Katherine (and their boys) over for brunch. We always have such a good time chatting with them that brunch turns into mid-afternoon lunch as well. I wasn't sure how we were going to get food on the table since the house was a disaster and we stayed at a birthday party from around 2pm until about 9:30pm Saturday night. It ended up being fine and we had Tofu Florentine (from Veganonicon with chard instead of spinach this time served over whole wheat English muffins), grits, tempeh (boiled for 20 minutes then marinated in Bragg's Amino Acids, minced garlic, liquid smoke, and maple syrup then cooked in a cast iron skillet until hot), Breakfast Casserole (basically mashed potatoes, tofu, onions, and spices from Cooking with PETA), hummus with kalamata olives, rosemary olive bread, fresh fruit, and peach smoothie (fresh chard, fresh peaches, frozen mangoes, light coconut milk, vanilla soy yogurt). Next time I would put the tempeh in the casserole (in the picture the tempeh is on top of the grits) because the casserole is a little bland, but filling. We put hot sauce or ketchup on the casserole and it was fine, it would just be better with tempeh. Commercial break:
I'll interrupt this post for a product review. I usually buy unsweetened ketchup which everyone in the family likes, but I saw a new product before we went to the beach and decided to check it out. The product is Organicville Ketchup sweetened with agave nectar. We've used agave nectar for over a decade, but it is interesting to see it become so mainstream now. I guess the low glycemic index and more and more people avoiding high fructose corn syrup has made agave popular. Personally, I think the ketchup is a little too sweet, but I think it would be a wonderful alternative for people who are used to sweet ketchup. The kids don't seem to mind the new ketchup, but they were happy with the unsweetened ketchup so I think we'll go back to our normal ketchup. I just wish our usual ketchup was organic. Next year, I hope to grow enough tomatoes to just make our own ketchup.

Back to brunch, as we were chatting on the porch enjoying the beautiful weather and the kids played at the park, more friends stopped by (two children and an adult). Later on after everyone else had left, another friend stopped by, then my dad, and yet another friend brought over their son for us to watch for the evening. It was busy, but just the way I like my summer days to be....lot of friends stopping in, good food, and lovely weather.