The spread- vegan summer buffet style |
Flowers from my Mom :) |
The Menu - Vegan Dinner Party, Summer Buffet Style
Appetizers:
- Fresh Olive Bread, from our local Farmer's Market
- Cucumber slices with hummus and fresh dill - a quick easy app that's a little more special than crackers & hummus
- Dill pickels
- Pretzels
- Coconut cinnamon sugar popcorn (Inspired by this HHL post, this popcorn was a total hit. Everyone was asking how it was so good, so see the end of this post for my recipe!)
Round 1 |
Mains:
- Black bean sliders with mango guacamole
- Roasted beet and fig salad
- Vegan caprese salad
- Pineapple quinoa (inspired by this post)
Round 2 |
Desserts:
- White chocolate truffles (from SMBP, my second time making these, and it was definitely easier this time around! These truffles are decadent, delicious show stoppers).
- Pineapple mini cupcakes, half of them with a rum pudding filling
SMBP's tuffles, made the night before |
Round 3: A sweet spread |
A little more on the menu...
I was pretty psyched to get Chloe's Kitchen in the mail this week, and knew I wanted to make her black bean sliders. Originally, I was going to make the mango puree and guacamole she posted on her blog, but given my time constraints, I whipped up a quick mango guacamole instead, and topped the burgers with a slice of mango. FYI, the mango I had was an XXL mango, and I kid you not, it was nearly the size of my head. And frickin' delicious.
Black bean sliders with mango guac |
Servin' up yumminess |
Finally, for the desserts, I used Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World's pineapple right side up cupcakes, with a vanilla buttercream frosting (I halved their buttercream recipe, which was just the right amount for mini cupcakes). I also made half of them boozy - for these ones, I added some shredded coconut to the cake batter, and made a tropical rum pudding to fill in the center by blending some banana, pineapple, vegan vanilla yogurt, and tapicoa flour to thicken it a bit. Oh, right, and a bunch of rum ;-) I added about a 1/4-1/2 tsp of this pudding to the centers after scooping out an equal amount of the cupcake after baking. Originally, for the frosting, I was going to make some of it coconut and some of it rum, and add some toasted coconut flakes to the top- but, well, I ran out of time and chose drinks with friends over secluding myself in the kitchen ;-) Next time, though...
Tropical "take me away" cupcakes with rum pudding filling |
And one friend even brought a vegan carrot cake. I am always so thankful when non-vegans go out of their way to think about what I can eat. This girl has a young baby, and I just thought how amazingly sweet and thoughtful of her to take the time to find and make a vegan recipe. And carrot cake, at that- my FAVORITE.
This cake rocked. I will update the post with a recipe link when I get it from her. It was soft, perfectly spiced and sweet, and the top of the cake reminded me a little of my mother's pumpkin bread-a deliciously moist thin layer of almost-gooey-top-of-cake goodness. Plus, I thought she was really smart - rather than a heavy, thick frosting, she topped it with a light sugar drizzle icing instead. Perfect complement.
And look how cute these are! LOVE:
A few of the cute gifts we got |
Check back soon for recipes for the pineapple quinoa, black bean burgers, and more! Til then, here's some popcorn to tide you over:
Sweet tropical popcorn
- 1 bag natural, no butter popcorn
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon sugar
- 1.5 tsp coconut oil, melted
- A few shakes of sea salt
You went all out once again! I love the look of the pineapple rice, I've always wanted to try that! And I love the toppings you used for your veggie burgers - I would definitely be a happy guest at one of your parties! Congrats on the new place :)
ReplyDeletethanks!!
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