Monday, April 25, 2011

Dinner Party Wars

Hiya!!

So it’s been FOREVER since we did “dinner party wars” with our friends, but I figured it was fun and I should post about it!!

The deal was 3 couples, each hosting a dinner party.  Points were set for theme, atmosphere (music, decorations) the food, and the hosting abilities!!  It was SO fun!

The other 2 parties were a Mediterranean Crawl and Mardi Gras!   I will blog about the Med Crawl, but the night of Mardi Gras, I wasn’t feeling well and forgot my camera (but it was AMAZING)

We were up first and we had a Mexican Fiesta!!

We set the menu…

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Mexican Fiesta

Drinks Selection

Jamaica Juice ~ hibiscus flowers steeped with a twist of lime

Juicy Blended Strawberry Margaritas (tequila and triple sec per request)

Paloma ~ Sparkling Grapefruit juice with lime, salt and tequila OLE!

Mexian Beer ~ Sol or Pacifico with a twist of lime

Appetizers

Cooked Shrimp Ceviche with Mango served with Fiesta Corn Chips

Molletts ~ toasts adorned with re-fried beans, cheese and topped off with crispy bacon

Dinner

Fresh Homemade Corn Tortillas

Chicken with a Warm Tomato Sauce

Risotto Style Mexican Rice

Slowly Simmered Refried Beans

Coriander Spiced Cabbage, Pico de Gallo, Red Salsa, Green Salsa and Guacamole

Dessert

Cinnamon and Sugar Banana’s Flambéed with Rum served over coconut ice cream

Spiced Mexican Coffee

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We set the scene…

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We bought the "table cloths” and turtles in Mexico when we were there for our wedding!

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And I made the centre pieces!  I wish I could find the link to the “how to” on these, it was SO easy and they are so pretty!

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I didn’t get to snap too many photos of the food as we were SO busy getting it all together.

But these are what I got!

Coriander Spiced Cabbage – which was basically sliced green cabbage, grapeseed oil, ground coriander, lime juice and salt and pepper.  Massage it all together and let it sit.

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Fresh tomato salsa.  It tasted much better than it looked!

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Two more salsas!!  We got the recipes from our Salsa and Salsa tour we did in Mexico (which I still need to do a post about!!)   You can go here for the recipes!

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Ok… you try to make refried beans look good!! Winking smile 

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Guacamole – simple – avocados, lime, cilantro, salt and pepper.

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Palomas!!!  If you have never tried these, you must.  2.5 cups sparkling grapefruit juice, 1 shot lime juice, 1 shot tequila and a pinch of salt!  SO good!

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Strawberry Margaritas!

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Hot husband…  oops not on the menu! Winking smile 

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You can see the plates ready for the ceviche and then the mollets.

Of course there was more food, but I was too busy cooking and socializing to snap photos!

 

But then there was dessert,  I almost set our house on fire, but it was SO worth it!

 

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Cinnamon and Sugar Banana’s Flambéed with Rum served over coconut ice cream

1/2 banana per person sliced length wise.

1 tbsp butter (I used earth balance)

1 tbsp brown sugar

sprinkle of cinnamon

1 shot glass rum Winking smile and a match.

Melt butter in a heat proof pan (only melt butter in a space the size of your bananas – does that make sense?!) ha

Add in brown sugar and cinnamon – cook until it begins to bubble.

Add bananas into the sauce and let cook for about 50 seconds per side.

Once bananas are flipped – get the rum and match ready.

(I take NO responsibility for burned anything)

Pour the rum in the pan, light the match and toss her in (and duck)

Let the alcohol burn off

Transfer 1/2 banana onto each plate with some coconut ice cream and drizzle with the rum/butter sauce!

AMAZING!

Just for the record, I used Purely Decedent Vanilla Bean Coconut Milk Ice Cream

(wow that’s a mouthful, but a tasty mouthful!!)

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The good people at Turtle Mountain sent me coupons for their tasty treats and this has been one of my favorite things I’ve tried!

I highly recommend it for all your Dairy Free Folks out there!!

Hope you enjoyed!!

Jessica signature

14 comments:

  1. SO MUCH FUN! What a great idea for a party. I love dinner parties, and turning it into a fun competition would be the greatest. Have you seen a show (it's a British show) called Come Dine with Me? It's basically a dinner party competition, and I am hooked.

    I think your menu looks and sounds fantastic. Especially those appetizers!

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  2. Your dinner party food looks amazing!! I am going to make those palomas! :)

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  3. Yumm!!! You even used my favorite ice cream :)

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  4. looks like a fun party and a GREAT menu!! a group of friends used to do Iron Potluck once a month, choosing a different ingredient and we all made something... it was such fun, and Jason and I were just talking about starting it up again (some friends moved away, it kinda fizzled out)

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  5. What an awesome idea :)

    The food looks amazing!

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  6. What a fun menu! My neighbor and I are hosting a Cinco de Mayo party-- I just may have to add palomas to the list! xxoo

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  7. Ohhhh...not good to look at your website when I just started a cleanse. Now I'll be thinking about bananas over ice cream all day!

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  8. Wow, you put all that together! You are amazing!

    All of the food looks so yummy and your decorations are so pretty!

    Yum, yum, yum!

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  9. So fun! What amazing food! And I love your cernterpieces :)

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  10. Gorgeous table setting!!

    You throw a pretty sweet dinner party girl!

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  11. Yummy party food! Looks like a great party spread!

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  12. The table settings are amazing... I especially love the turtles!!! :)

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  13. This post looks oh so yummy!

    And further to you comment on my blog about the dairy free cucumber dill dip... I hate it when that happens! Happened to me with chapmans orange sherbert. I assumed I couldn't eat it because the PC sorbet's have dairy... didn't eat it for 4 years until we were reunited :P

    www.alifewithouticecream.com

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  14. Hi Jessica,

    I followed you over from a comment you left on my blog about making these! (I'm in the process of re-doing the photos to make them bigger and prettier) Yours flowers came out really beautiful! If it's ok with you I'll pin you to my Readers Get Crafty board!

    The awesome part of finding you is that our family is now dairy free, so I can't wait to check out some of your recipes too!

    ❤ Melissa

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Thank you so much for your support! I love comments!

Another option is to leave a comment here! http://www.facebook.com/dairy.free.betty

Have a great day!

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