Going out and doing things on the weekend is a rare occurrence for me, now that I’m consumed with grad school life. However, last weekend, I made sure to make time to attend another event hosted by my dear friends, The Harvest Hands, in collaboration with Living Life Fresh and Compassionate Collective Co. It was such a delight to spend the evening with some of my favorite people, and I met some new people too, including Madeline Alcott (Petit Vour)!

My friend Veronica Rouly (Cherries Roses Chains) and I went together as galentines! Veronica is a passionate YouTuber and fellow vegan foodie. So as you can imagine,  we had a great time obsessing over all the food and discussing future plans for online content collaboration!

The evening started out with mingling over raw appetizers: creamy nut-based cheese and herb seed crackers.

After chatting over appetizers, we all split up into two workshops–whiskey tasting and a natural make up workshop with Factory Glam. Veronica and I went to the makeup workshop and learned about Factory Glam’s dedication to cruelty-free beauty. I loved the details on the wall and ceiling of room we got to use!

The menu was AMAZING. We started with a gorgeous appetizer plate:

wedge salad on a stick
eggplant bacon + romaine + grape salad + grape tomato + blue cheese dressing

stuffed mini potatoes

caprese salad skewers with balsamic vinegar drizzle

My favorite was either the mini potatoes or the adorable caprese salad. It was my first time having a vegan caprese salad, and I loved it! We also had different infused water flavors to choose from–I enjoyed some refreshing pear and mint water.

The second course was a creamy New England mushroom clam chowder that Veronica and I could not get enough of. This was followed by a Tour Norman to cleanse our palates–a vibrant blood orange sorbet, made with pure fruit (no added sugar).

Our entree was a savory delight–a flaky mushroom wellington served with mashed potatoes and multi-colored heirloom carrots (glazed with figs and sesame oil). It was such an elegant take on some comfort food favorites!

After all that savory goodness, I forgot that we still had dessert on the menu! We each got a beautiful plate of sweet treats, including: white chocolate cheesecake, a raw cherry walnut brownie (the cherries were a juicy surprise–LOVE!), vanilla bean ice cream, and an orange bread pudding.

Needless to say, by the end of the night, we were beyond stuffed. Yet, somehow, Veronica and I managed to find it within ourselves to get vegan pink coconut donuts from Glazed after dinner. Because it was within walking distance, and because we are ADULTS.

We were sent home with some goodie bags curated by Compassionate Collective Co.–a new vegan start up run by two of my favorite vegan ladies, Katie Remis (V Apparel) and Christina Bluford (Kind Gourmet)!  Check out the goodies below:

It was the perfect Valentine’s Day weekend (I spent most of the weekend with my #1 bae–food). I’m so thankful to The Harvest Hands for putting on such a fun and compassionate event for the Dallas community. In the words of my friend Zak, love doesn’t have to stop at our plates. The compassionate lifestyle is on the rise!

For those of you in North Texas, I hope you get a chance to go to a Harvest Hands event. Their next event is in March–a benefit brunch for The Humane League. Hope to see you there!