The Food:
Mini pita breads, with store-bought avjar (eggplant and red pepper spread), homemade chipotle-pumpkin hummus (chickpeas, canned pumpkin, tahini, lime juice, salt, powdered chipotle, paprika, fresh parsley), baby carrots, broccoli and red pepper strips.
Guacamole (avocados, lime juice, cilantro, onions, salt), chips, some chili-lime cashews from Trader Joe's. I make awesome guacamole. It disappears like whoa.
Coconut lime cupcakes (recipe in vctotw) with pomegranate frosting (eb, spectrum shortening, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, coconut extract, and the secret ingredient is pomegranate molasses, my new favorite thing) topped with coconut shreds and pomegranate seeds were a giant hit, and some yummy pistachio-rosewater cookies from veganomicon that my oven burned most of (TWICE!)
"Chicken" tikka masala skewers were some very fun party food (who doesn't like food on a stick?). The "chicken" is TSP (texturized soy protein) chunks rehydrated in veggie stock, tomato paste and liquid smoke, then squeezed out and marinated in plain soy yogurt with a packet of tikka masala flavorings, plus extra garlic, turmeric, paprika, cumin, lemon juice and liquid smoke. The chunks sat in the yogurt mix for a few hours and then we skewered them with pieces of white onion and green bell peppers and roasted them in the oven for a few minutes. Guests said this was very meat like. I also ate some of the unskewered leftover chunks and veggie pieces stir fried over coconut-almond brown basmati and it made an awesome morning-after-the-party brunch with tea, consumed while watching lots of DVD's.
