Party!
Last night was the joint birthday party of Dad and I. Really, it was more of an excuse to throw a party so we could invite our friends over on a night when everyone happened to be available and willing to come. Dad insisted that we had to do something casual and easy, so that led him to think we should grill kabobs. That was OK with me, but after thinking about it for a few days, I suggested we could do homemade pizzas instead. This idea immediately became popular, and that led us to last night when we pulled it off. We had lots of food, but I only have pictures of some of it. First I'll start with the appetizers...no pictures at all, but we had a vegetable platter with carrots, celery, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and blanched asparagus and broccoli. It was a good variety and very healthy looking, that was served with two dips. We had mixed nuts. Then we had a special salsa that I don't have the recipe for and a Baked Artichoke Dip that I made for the first time. It was very popular, everyone commented on how good it was, kids and adults both liked it. We served the salsa and artichoke dip with homemade pita chips that we crisped up in the oven with olive oil and salt.
For the main course we had pizzas, as I said earlier. We had tons of different topping options...lots of vegetables, meat, cheese, typical pizza things, unconventional toppings, there was something for everyone. I have no idea what any of the pizza combinations were, so you will just have to imagine that there were a bunch of different pizzas with a variety of different toppings, and they were all pretty and quite good. We got the dough from the Publix bakery and then just rolled it out when we were ready and cooked it up with the toppings. I thought it was really good. We had some leftover ingredients, so I made a pizza for lunch today. Here it is:
After massive amounts of pizza there was still dessert! I didn't want to make a cake or anything because then I would feel obligated to eat the whole thing and that would be bad. So, I made cupcakes instead, and when one is making cupcakes it's so hard to just pick one kind and be done with it, so naturally I had to make three types. I started with coconut snowballs which was a recipe I got from the AJC. I made that one because I had been wanting a coconut cake for whatever reason, but once again didn't want to be stuck with a whole one. It just seems easier to eat cupcakes because they are in the small, one-serving portion, and they disappear quickly. Here is a coconut cupcake picture:
After that I wanted something unusual, and I found that the other day when I was reading one of my normal food-blog reads. It was a recipe for Ginger Cupcakes with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting. I love candied ginger, so this seemed like an obvious choice. I was happy with the results. The ginger pieces ended up in the bottom of the cupcake, but it was surprising biting into it and having them there, I thought it was good. Also it's semi-healthy since ginger helps with digestion and all. I chose to display the finished product in a new Le Creuset pan that Mom and Emily got me for my birthday, aren't they pretty?
The final cupcake variety I decided on was slightly more traditional. I made Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Frosting. The chocolate cupcake recipe was what inspired me to go with that variety. It sounded so good that I was convinced I should do it. This recipe had no butter or eggs and it had vinegar in it. It resulted in a very moist cupcake that I was surprised by. Since I did a mocha frosting I didn't do the whole recipe that I linked to because I just made the cupcakes themselves and not the topping, but I liked the way they turned out, and although I didn't think the texture and whatnot of the coffee frosting was as successful as some others, I did like the coffee with the chocolate cupcake, it was a good combination. Here is a picture of that:
That concludes our "Erin is going to be 21 shortly" feast. I thought it was a fun party. Good food and good company are essential ingredients for that.
For the main course we had pizzas, as I said earlier. We had tons of different topping options...lots of vegetables, meat, cheese, typical pizza things, unconventional toppings, there was something for everyone. I have no idea what any of the pizza combinations were, so you will just have to imagine that there were a bunch of different pizzas with a variety of different toppings, and they were all pretty and quite good. We got the dough from the Publix bakery and then just rolled it out when we were ready and cooked it up with the toppings. I thought it was really good. We had some leftover ingredients, so I made a pizza for lunch today. Here it is:
After massive amounts of pizza there was still dessert! I didn't want to make a cake or anything because then I would feel obligated to eat the whole thing and that would be bad. So, I made cupcakes instead, and when one is making cupcakes it's so hard to just pick one kind and be done with it, so naturally I had to make three types. I started with coconut snowballs which was a recipe I got from the AJC. I made that one because I had been wanting a coconut cake for whatever reason, but once again didn't want to be stuck with a whole one. It just seems easier to eat cupcakes because they are in the small, one-serving portion, and they disappear quickly. Here is a coconut cupcake picture:
After that I wanted something unusual, and I found that the other day when I was reading one of my normal food-blog reads. It was a recipe for Ginger Cupcakes with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting. I love candied ginger, so this seemed like an obvious choice. I was happy with the results. The ginger pieces ended up in the bottom of the cupcake, but it was surprising biting into it and having them there, I thought it was good. Also it's semi-healthy since ginger helps with digestion and all. I chose to display the finished product in a new Le Creuset pan that Mom and Emily got me for my birthday, aren't they pretty?
The final cupcake variety I decided on was slightly more traditional. I made Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Frosting. The chocolate cupcake recipe was what inspired me to go with that variety. It sounded so good that I was convinced I should do it. This recipe had no butter or eggs and it had vinegar in it. It resulted in a very moist cupcake that I was surprised by. Since I did a mocha frosting I didn't do the whole recipe that I linked to because I just made the cupcakes themselves and not the topping, but I liked the way they turned out, and although I didn't think the texture and whatnot of the coffee frosting was as successful as some others, I did like the coffee with the chocolate cupcake, it was a good combination. Here is a picture of that:
That concludes our "Erin is going to be 21 shortly" feast. I thought it was a fun party. Good food and good company are essential ingredients for that.
posted by Erin at 7:02 PM
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