Dishing Up Some Feels {Paying it Forward for #FFF}

Happy Friday my foodie friends! You know what that means: time for some @foodfightfriday action. I've been absent from the community kitchen for a few weeks, but I know the gang always has a seat at the table for me. That is one of the biggest strengths I have seen on my time on here--people are always willing to pull out a chair and serve up some of the good stuff for those in need.

I am an Acts of Service kind of gal for you 5 Love Languages peeps. That means I show my love and affection for folks by doing things. One of my favorite ways to do that is to cook up some good food. Now some people like to bake goodies or treat people to an indulgent meal, but being the crunchy health nut that I am I tend to prefer to make meals that keep those I love feeling their best for many years to come. Though as you well know, my healthy meals are never anything but lip-smackingly delicious. 😉

While I always joke with my Steem peeps that I wish I could share some of my dishes in person, I figure I can still share the fruits of my labor in a different way. There are some pretty darn amazing people on here doing awesome things for the world, so I'm splitting the rewards from this post between two very worthy accounts as my tiny way of putting some good vibes back out from my end of things. My @steemitbloggers pal @papilloncharity is always doing some truly worthwhile work in the world, though doesn't always receive high rewards to help contribute to the continued value the charity gives back to the local community. In our same community, @quillfire is eloquently putting out a call to assist another member just fight to survive in the chaos in Venezuela right now. So I am also setting the other half of the payout to @hlezama. I don't always make a lot on my posts, but I'm hoping all the good karma I've amassed through my years on here will make this one a hit to benefit these two great Steemians!

Of course I'll serve up some tasty meals to try to lure you in for the big votes! Though I was without my phone for my meal prepping this week, I think I've got some tasty morsels that I saved up from the past few weeks to share. I haven't really been writing down my recipes like l was for a while. However, I always try to get at least some worthy shots to share for your weekly vegan inspiration.

Starting with my cover photo at the top of this post, I actually found this recipe on Pinterest to use up some of my farmers market goodies like these lovely little graffiti eggplant. It was really easy to put together and quite a satisfying meal! My regular pals might recall this is the first year I finally jumped on the okra bandwagon. It is not a vegetable I grew up eating, but after over 25 years of living in Georgia I figured it was time to see what the fuss was about. I started with a fantastic recipe for crispy breaded okra from my pal @lenasveganliving, which opened the doors for a few different ways of making it. The fresh-picked beauties grown locally really are worthy of a second chance. I found I also really love it grilled and roasted, but the recipe above was a nice light curry that I served with roasted organic potatoes. Have I told you lately how absolutely fantastic my farmers are? 😜

Next up is a slow cooker meal I'm kicking myself for not recording as I put it together! Squash, tomatoes, red quinoa, black beans, shishito peppers, spices, lime and a generous portion of perfectly ripe avocado to top it off. (You can give your avocado to @puravidaville, @dandays) This one was lick-the-bowl-clean good. Right up @dksart's alley, so I know I'll make it again and actually write up a recipe next time.

If the previous two aren't your speed, I've also got a helping of patty pan squash with fresh butter beans cooked in my strawberry BBQ sauce over top of mashed sweet potatoes. Why the heck don't I mash sweet potatoes more often?? They are delicious that way! I do love my traditional mash, but I'm an equal opportunity spud lover. I did the same BBQ sauce with jackfruit this past weekend at the lake and won over some omnivores with my plant-based flavors. I really dig the patty pan squash, so I was really happy to see one of my farmers had a late season harvest. They were great simply sliced and roasted with a bit of seasoning.

Since it's Friday, I'm going to sweeten the deal with a decadent whole food treat to finish of my roundup. I never quite got to my mega-date purchase update, so this bowl is a taste of one of my favorite things I made with the Barhi dates. That particular variety of dates tastes so much like caramel that I couldn't help but make a caramel sauce with them! Drizzled over a bowl of simple nice cream I was literally in dessert heaven! Even better, no guilt over this totally plant-based treat.

This was just 1.5 cups of pitted Barhi dates blended up with a cup of water and a pinch of cinnamon. DONE. I might have enjoyed this by the spoonful for the few days it lasted in the refrigerator after our nice cream. The nice cream itself was just frozen bananas blended up with a bit of cashew milk in the same blender I made the caramel. You know, to soak up every last bit of that date goodness! You could easily use Medjool dates to make this, but the Barhi were worth the purchase for a subtle change of flavor.

I think that puts me up to date on some of the latest bowls of goodness I've whipped up in my humble kitchen. Hopefully they're tasty enough to get some good rewards to send along to both @papilloncharity and @hlezama! Of course thanks to the @steempeak team for having the beneficiaries option on their front end to make it even easier to pay it forward. 💚

A happy and healthy weekend to you all!

Banners by @zord189, @woman-onthe-wing, @dksart and @bearone for @steemusa