The After (cleanse) Party

Carrot Dogs and Other Grilled Veggies

The day after our cleanse (last Friday) we had a BBQ over at Kendra's house. Since I am still trying to avoid meat and dairy, I decided to bring some carrot dogs (as I mentioned in my last post).

I called my mom before I started making them in order to glean any last minute advice. She informed me that the only part I need to be careful about was the parboiling. She told me about a time where she'd overcooked the carrots and they ended up mushy after grilling them. I became so paranoid about overcooking the carrots that I hovered over the boiling water for 12 minutes, until I couldn't take it anymore, stabbed them with a fork and thought they were done. Turns out they could have used more time. The carrots were a bit crunchy after grilling.

The flavor was actually very good. Andrew had one and said that he liked it. Kara (Kendra's sister-in-law) said that she might be able to get her kids to eat them... don't know if a carrot dog would fool children, you can still tell that it's a carrot. On Sunday Nelsie (friend of the family and sister to Kendra's brother-in-law's niece's husband - whew, gets confusing with a large family!) asked me to tell her how I made the carrot dogs because she really liked how they tasted. She said that she was skeptical at first, you know, being a carrot on a bun and all.

As a side note, the carrot dogs are good on a bun with the usual hot dog fixings, but gross eaten alone. Don't put one on your plate and start eating it with a fork and knife, trust me (too much smokey-vinegary flavor).

Here is how they are made (with pictures):

Cut tops off carrots and peel them

Try to peel into a uniform hot dog shape

Boil or steam carrots until they are easily pierced with a fork
Do not cook completely, they should be a bit al dente
Rinse carrots and put in ice bath to stop cooking

Marinate the  carrots from 3 to 24 hours (I did mine for 5)

Marinade - 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup
water, 2 Tbsp sesame oil, 4 Tbsp Tamari, 1/2 tsp
garlic powder, a few dashes of liquid smoke

We also had delicious grilled portobello mushrooms
marinated in tamari and oil, grilled pineapple,
grilled beets, and a macaroni vegetable salad

Kendra grilled some corn, cut it off the cob, and made a
great corn avocado and tomato salad

There was grilled zucchini and chicken 

Also shrimp marinated in sweet chili paste and lime juice
In the back of the photo you can see the mango that
was cut up and grilled on a foil sheet

 Awesome raw dessert made by Kara
Delicious pressed nut crust, peanut butter and chocolate layers
Hard to believe that this was all raw and only sweetened by agave