Vegan Potluck - Secret Ingredient? Cauliflower!

We have several family friends that are vegan, and I myself have dabbled, giving up animal products for Lent. I even went on a raw food diet with some coworkers for two weeks, but it was winter, and shocker, eating raw fruits and veg didn't turn out so well... I agree with our friends reasons (animal and environmental) for being vegan, and was an on-and-off vegetarian as a kid, because I wanted to be a veterinarian. Then again in college because I was studying religion and was really into ahimsa. Why do I continue to go back to dairy and meat? Well, I like trying things, and I have a fear of missing out. That's a thing right? FOMO. I've seen it on the internet.

For the past two years or more, our friends have gathered when able and had a vegan potluck. We've had various themes: Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Thai, etc., but we started running out of cuisines to pick from. So, this time we picked an ingredient. Cauliflower!

Our indoor thermostat read 84 degrees this evening. I made the obvious choice of using the oven...I chose Jamie Oliver's Whole Roasted Cauliflower recipe, because I'm daft.

While the cauliflower baked, and we tried not to, our friends arrived. First was Jamie, not to be confused with Oliver. She made a delicious Mac and Cheez with a cauliflower sauce (I confess, I did smother it with Sriracha). I did not get the recipe. I apologize. However, if enough people comment that they would like the recipe, I'm sure I can pry it out of her. Then came Michelle, who did not bring anything, but that's because she worked today, and has a 5-month-old. I had her covered with dessert, which you'll see later.

Next came Sarah and Makoto and their two kids. They were smart and didn't use any heating elements for their dish. They stopped at the wonderful Clay Pit found at the Mill Creek Town Center, and brought back Gobi Manchurian. Which I had surprising never had, given my love of Indian cuisine. It was awesome!

After dinner we had to have dessert. Jamie has made some amazing desserts before with a coconut whipped cream. I cannot get enough of it. So, I bought some berries, and looked up a recipe for the delicious concoction. It's simple, you use coconut cream and powdered sugar. However, the recipe I had said I could substitute full fat coconut milk. I figured if I whipped it enough it would work. It did not. Sarah and Jamie later informed me that if I had skimmed off the fat from the top of the can, that would have worked, excepted my can of milk didn't have a fatty cream top. My solution? Into the freezer! We had berries and coconut ice cream.

You too can make Easy Coconut Ice Cream

What you'll need:
Large Mixing Bowl
Electric Mixer
Plastic-Wrap
Freezer

Ingredients:
1 Can of Coconut Milk
3/4 Cup Powdered Sugar

1. Put ingredients in bowl

2. Mix together with eletrcic mixer on highest setting for 1 minute, or until evenly mixed

3. Cover bowl, and freeze until set