Sunday, February 21, 2010

A good night

My 25th birthday party was last night. Yes, I threw a party for myself :P But really, I do it for an excuse to go all out and cook up a storm for my friends and family! Here we go...

Spinach Dip from 125 Best Vegan Recipes
I make this dip whenever I'm hosting an event, it is a crowd pleaser and never lasts long. As a life long spinach dip lover, you can't even tell it's vegan! Served in a pumpernickel bowl along with sourdough.


Citrus glitters and Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles from VCIYCJ
The citrus glitters are delicious...I used lemon, lime and orange zest. I decided to try the mexican snickerdoodles, since the blogging community seems to really like them. They are spicy! There's a 1/2 tsp of cayenne in the batter. It's an acquired taste. I didn't mind them, but some people didn't like the spice. These would also be good without the pepper. It's weird because they're still really sweet, then you taste the spice, and suddenly you want another bite!



Guacamole from Vegan Brunch


Very nice. Served simply with salsa and tortillas. I left out the raw red onion and cilantro, not a fan.

Ranch Dip with chips-internet recipe

A simple mayo/sour cream dip with garlic powder, onion powder, parsley and pepper. Also a crowd pleaser...no leftovers today :(
Gingerbread cupcakes with lemon buttercream from VCTOTW

I also made the basic chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream, which were a hit. As an aside, for our wedding this summer, we opted to serve cupcakes instead of sheetcake. I made all the cupcakes and used VCTOTW's chocolate recipe. People were fighting for seconds!
Billy requested the gingerbread cupcakes. The cupcake itself is not very sweet but the icing makes up for that. They're good but not my favourite flavour.
The rest is in this picture of the food table...


I put numbers on top of the items but it's hard to see:

1- a 6 layer nacho dip from Vegan Comfort Foods: refried beans, sour cream mixed with taco seasoning, guacamole, salsa, lettuce and green onions. This was a favourite too, it did not last long!

2- veggie platter with a vegan store bought white bean dip with grilled red peppers. It was ok, not everyone's favourite so I was quick to point out I didn't make it haha. Also, there were mini pitas served with it.
3- spinach dip, as above, in pumpernickel with bread served on the side

4- fruit platter with chocolate pudding dip

5- at the bottom, tsatziki sauce, made by a friend, apparently from V'con. Very good with pitas and pretzels!
6- guacamole served with salsa and tortilla chips
7- on the cupcake tower, chocolate cupcakes with buttercream. It's a mini cupcake tower so I couldn't load it up, and had to put the cupcakes out in batches
8- gingerbread cupcakes with lemon buttercream and crystallized ginger
9- citrus glitter cookies

NOT PICTURED- mexican chocolate snickerdoodles, the camera cut them off (top tier)
No emphasis was placed on this being good vegan food....it's just good food!!!
And my drink of choice last night, from Vegan Brunch...

Pink grapefruit mimosas
Yum! Grapefruit juice, pink champagne, and agave.


Tonight's dinner is a store bought flatbread with storebough bruschetta, so I will not be cooking today :P
IS ANYONE ELSE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH UPLOADING PHOTOS? They all come in at the top and it takes forever to arrange them :(

5 comments:

Claudia said...

Wow, all that food looks so great!!! And happy birthday to you!

Do you have pics from your wedding food? I really like the idea of having cupcakes instead of a cake. And you made them all by yourself? Whoa, that sounds like a lot of baking!

Thanks for your comment on my blog, btw. I should really consider making it in German and English... :-)

Laura said...

Happy belated birthday! I also love that psinach dip from 125 Best Vegan Recipes! My omni family loves it during the holidays.

Melissa said...

C, I don't have pictures of all the food at the wedding, but I'll see if I can dig up a cupcake picture!

Unknown said...

Wow!!! Reading this blog is making me hungry! That is so funny I put on my own 30th birthday party for myself this year! I did a Raw 30th health day:} I made all sorts of great raw food. My cousin made an amazing vegan artichoke dip! You food looks so delicious!
Thank you for sharing:}
Margaret
www.organizehappy.com

Ping Tree said...

The spinach dip is killer! I will not let the day pass without trying one.