01.11.2025 Vegan Indoor Picnic memories

Thank you very much for joining this event:)

Yesterday, we got together for a cozy indoor picnic!

Each of us brought just two vegan ingredients to create something special together.This wasn’t a potluck — it was an improv-style cooking event!

We prepared and shared flavorful cinnamon tea, roasted chestnuts, Turkish-style quinoa, adorable mini eggplants, sweet dessert pumpkin and savory cream-filled pumpkins, pasta with soy schnitzel, gorgeous black bean tempeh and romanesco, broccoli aglio e olio, and delicate topinambur dishes. 🍂🌰

Thank you so much to everyone who joined our indoor picnic-style vegan cooking event! What a gorgeous selection of ingredients.

We filled the table (and our hearts) with Turkish flavors and autumn-inspired vegan foods✨

Since this was an improvisational cooking session, the recipe might not be exactly the same — but here’s what I remember!

Pumpkin, poked with a fork and sprinkled with a little salt.The filling is mainly coconut yogurt (150g)blended with 1 tbsp of roasted pine nuts, 1 tbsp of fried onion,10g of oil, half a clove of garlic, and a sprinkle of thyme and black pepper.Topped with chimichurri (see below) and rosemary baked in the oven for about 35 minutes at 190℃

Chimichurri (it is a herb-based sauce that originated in Argentina and Uruguay)

Ingredients (for a 100 ml jar)

• 20 ml extra virgin olive oil

• 20 ml lemon-flavored rapeseed oil

• 20 ml lemon-flavored vinegar

• 30 g finely chopped parsley leaves

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced

• 2 tsp chili flakes

• 1–2 bay leaves

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp oregano

• Black pepper to taste

Topinambur Salad .Rinse and drain 1 cup of shredded topinambur.Toss it with 1 tablespoon of chimichurri +10 g of lemon-flavored vinegar, and 5 g of dark soy sauce. Refreshing, zesty, and full of crunch!

A twist on my usual farinata — with ½ cup of chopped red bell pepper and ½ cup of chopped broccoli mixed in. Check out my basic farinata recipe for the base!

Quinoa base.Cook 1 cup of rinsed quinoa with 1¼ cups of water and ½ tsp of salt for 15 minutes.

Nurcan shared her Turkish way of making a quinoa dish using this base — thank you so much! The cooked quinoa (about 1 cup) is sautéed in a frying pan with roughly 1 cup of caramelized onion(with olive oil) , 1 tbsp of Öncü mild red pepper paste, ½ cup of chopped red bell pepper, green onions, and pepper to taste.

Blackberry Crumble Sauce: Cook frozen blackberries(300g) with 2 tbsp water, 2 tbsp sugar, and 2 tbsp cornstarch on the stovetop.Crumble: Mix 200 g vegan streusel cake mix, 100 g mashed banana, 20 g lemon-flavored rapeseed oil, and 1 tbsp almond flour. Top with 1 tsp sugar and bake at 175°C (350°F) for 25 minutes. based on my previous recipe

Apple cinnamon tea brewed with good cinnamon — so flavorful and mind-blowing!

So that was yesterday’s event! I hope that fun cooking experiences like this help spark more interest in plant-based foods.

We made plenty more, but I’ll stop here for now :)

Have a lovely Sunday!