In a recent short heat wave we had, we were invited to a good friend’s house for an amazing vegan dinner. Even though the temperature was hot, the meal was a cool, refreshing respite from the heat.

We started off the night with a delicious and tangy homemade lemonade.

We then had kalamata olive crostini made by my friend Anastasia St. John. You can find her recipe for this amazing appetizer in the new companion book to Forks Over Knives, which just made the New York Times Best seller list for July 31, 2011 (today!).

Our next course was a fresh fruit and cashew cream parfait. Fancy!

The fun continued with our third course, a yummy gazpacho soup.

I got new inspiration from our fourth course to start incorporating more lentils into my own summer recipes. This was an amazing lentil and kale salad accompanied by quinoa (a complete protein, I might add). Mouth-watering!

I was so full by the end, that I could only eat half of the dessert presented. We had brownies from Greenstar Oasis and vegan ice cream. So rich!

Overall, it was a fantastic meal with wonderful friends. Who could ask for anything more?