I had recently bought some yummy fresh dates.  To avoid eating the whole delicious box myself at one sitting (!), I used some to make some healthy, homemade granola bars.  But I also was planning a dinner party with a vegetarian main course since one of the guests is a vegetarian.  So I found this delectable recipe on a food blog titled, The First Mess (which has beautiful photographs of food), for vegan moroccan stew.  It has the added benefit of smelling divine as you make it.  I substituted EVOO for coconut oil (since I usually don’t keep coconut oil stocked in my pantry…in fact, I’ve never tried using it), and I probably used a little bit of extra EVOO along the way.  I also used rainbow chard for the suggested greens.  I also used baby carrots to avoid extra chopping, and I just used a can of chickpeas without cooking them first.  I opted for the parsley instead of the cilantro for a topping.  I also found that I had to let the stew simmer for quite a bit longer so that sweet potatoes became sufficiently tender.  By accident, I made the stew in a braising pan instead of a soup pot, so perhaps that affected the timing, but it certainly didn’t affect the taste!  The meal was well-received.  I served the stew with short-grain brown rice, and some sourdough bread for dipping.  My guests enjoyed the pea hummus crostinis (see recipe under appetizers), followed by molten chocolate cakes for dessert (see recipe under desserts).   Everyone went home with pleased taste buds!  Enjoy!