OK, it’s not the moment you’ve all been waiting for…but I figured that with everyone’s attention on the upcoming Veg Fest, it was either have an eye-catching title or be completely ignored.

And some people actually have been waiting for this – I’m finally posting the recipes from the food demo I did at the Go Green Expo last month.

First a little recap of the experience. As per usual, I volunteered Neil to help me. Also as usual, he did so cheerfully, even though the process involved transporting 50 pounds of equipment and food – including two unsealed pots full of hot soup –five kilometres by bike.

Yes, by bike people. We are that hardcore.

I decided to do a three course meal of all original recipes: Spicy Peanut Soup, Gnocchi with Pesto and Rich and Pretty Sauce, and _________ ________ ________ cake with _________ ________.

Sorry guys – I had to edit out the dessert as it’s the basis for my entry in the VegFest cupcake contest and we’re supposed to keep our recipes secret.

Now some of you may be wondering how in the hell I managed to cook all that within my half-hour segment. The answer is, I precooked the soup and the sauce and took an hour instead. The Go Green Expo people eventually chased me off.

The themes of my demo were “hooray for the immersion blender,” “to hell with measuring,” and “orange.” I explained how people who use regular blenders instead of immersion blenders are crazy and should not be trusted, and that so are recipes that contain both baking soda and baking powder.

All turned out pretty well. I got sort of scared when I offered samples and people rushed the stage thrusting bamboo sampling skewers. On the other hand, they got scared when I admonished them for not making sure to scoop up a bit of tomato AND pesto sauce on their gnocchi because that’s how my recipe is supposed to work and they’d better not bugger it up.

So I guess I’d better get to the recipes…Well, in truth, like Kansas, they were there all along. They’re posted on Vegweb. Click on the recipe names above to find them. Well, the pesto and the cake aren’t there, but the latter is top secret and the former hardly needs a recipe…basil + pine nuts + olive oil + salt + lemon juice + hand blender = pesto.

Actually the gnocchi isn’t there either. Ok, to make gnocchi use equal parts mashed potato and all purpose flour and knead on floured surface for a minute. Then roll dough into logs, cut into bite-sized pieces, cook in boiling water for 3 minutes, drain, mix with sauce, and serve.

I’ll post the cake recipe after I win the cupcake contest 😉