PPK: The Texas Gathering

That's right, a room full of vegans with lots of homemade vegan food, two adorable chihuahuas named Charlie and Betsy, the game Apples to Apples, and all in Texas! This past weekend I made the drive up to Austin to attend a ppk potluck, done up Texas style. I made cupcake toppers especially for the event (oh, and cupcakes too... lemon macadamia with lemon buttercream and chocolate with peanut butter filling and chocolate ganash), because every Texas event has to include our lone-star studded flag (and here is a fun factoid for yall, we are the only state allowed to fly the Texas flag at the same height as the US flag because we entered the nation by a treaty rather than annexation).

Look at all the food!! For more food porn, visit here.

Here is my plate, I think I sampled pretty much every dish that was there. Let's see if I can remember them all (from the top moving clockwise): lasagna, macaroni salad, tempeh salad (which I also made), fruit, pasta salad with tofu, enchiladas, and in the center some carrots with ranch dip. I ate my dessert plate so fast I didn't take a picture, but I had a toffee bar, a chocolate chip cookie, and a cupcake.
And since someone asked for the recipe on the ppk boards, I figured I would list it here too. All ingredient amounts are approximate since I usually just toss them in and taste test until it's right. There were a few tempeh virgins at the potluck, and I didn't hear any complaints!
Southern Tempeh Salad
Ingredients:
1 8 oz. package of tempeh
1/2 cup vegan mayo
1 T vegan sour cream (optional)
2 T chopped fresh dill
1 T fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup red graped, halved
1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

1. Cut the tempeh into cubes and steam for approximately 10 to 12 minutes. Place tempeh in a bowl. Mash the tempeh with a fork so that no whole cubes remain.
2. Once the tempeh has cooled a bit, add mayo, sour cream , dill and lemon juice. Adjust amounts as necessary.
3. Add chopped celery, grapes, and walnuts and combine. Season with salt and pepper. 4. Chill and serve.

Here's the Texas Gathering crew! I had fun getting to know other ppkers/Texas vegans. Of course, we all kept forgetting everyone's actual names and called them instead by the ppk name. I almost made cupcake toppers with everyone's avatar... next time I guess. Hopefully at our next gathering, I won't be the only Houstonian!

And a trip to Austin in the spring wouldn't be complete without gratuitous bluebonnet pictures. I thought about posing one of my little cuppies with them (as pretty much every parent does with their child), but was afraid the sun might melt the buttercream. Can you spot the ladybug that instead posed for me in the picture?

A special thanks to the ppkers who organized and hosted this monumental event!