Hippie Luxe: Eats - The Spa Party Blog

6.18.2009

Hippie Luxe: Eats

Menu

Double Ginger Granola by Burp! Where Food Happens
Sweet Fruit Salsa w. Cinnamon Chips by Our Best Bites


Open Faced Veggie Sliders by The Cooking Photographer
Tofu Croquettes by Tongue Ticklers
Vegan Stuffed Mushrooms by The Hippie Gourmet
Baked Sweet Potato Fries by Our Best Bites

Peace Cake - mold by
or
Colorburst Cupcakes by Our Best Bites

Peace Punch from Cookie Magazine


Note: Menu links are not permalinks to the specific recipe, rather general links to the food blog from which the recipe originated. Permalinks to each recipe are provided below.


Starters:














This Double Ginger Granola with Cranberries and Cocoa Nibs is not your average granola. The addition of crystallized ginger provides a punch of flavor perfect for the party atmosphere. If plain dried cranberries are too tart for your taste try substituting Ocean Spray's Craisins (TM).

Not in the mood to make your own granola, try offering guests Bear Naked brands Mango Agave Almond or Fruit & Nut Blend.

Recipe

Double Ginger Granola with Cranberries & Cocoa Nibs

4 1/2 cups thick rolled oats
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp powdered vanilla (we order ours from the Spice House)
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup oil (we don't mind the flavor of olive oil here, but you might like a more neutral oil like canola)
1 T freshly grated ginger
3/4 cup crystallized ginger, chopped finely
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup cocoa nibs

Preheat oven to 325ºF.

Place oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, honey, oil, and grated ginger in a bowl and combine well. Pour onto a greased 12x17 inch baking pan, and place in the oven.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, then remove pan, stir granola, and return to the oven for another 20-25 minutes. Bake the granola just until toasted and ingredients seem mostly dry. Watch the granola closely toward the end so that it does not burn.

Allow granola to cool, then mix with crystallized ginger, cranberries, and cocoa nibs.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month. Store in the freezer for up to 6 months.













This beautiful sweet fruit salsa from Our Best Bites can be made according to your preference. The blog post features quite a few options to allow you to craft your own perfect salsa.


Grazing:

There really is no "meal" at this party. Instead this second set of foods are savory morsels to be passed or set up for grazing.

A mandolin would surely come in handy when attempting to serve these veggie sliders to a crowd. To make life easier and more flavorful cut your zucchini rounds the night before and marinate them in a mixture of olive oil, garlic powder and dried herbs of your choosing (i.e. thyme, oregano, rosemary) or in a store bought Italian dressing like Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar.

The recipe also calls for hummus, if your not making your hummus from scratch I'd recommend Tribe's 40 Spices Hummus. You can also pile on some roasted red peppers or serve them on the side. If you aren't going totally vegan with the party piling some cheddar or pepper jack cheese may also be a tasty addition either on the side or piled onto the slider.

Sunshinemom from Tounge Ticklers served these cute tofu croquettes on toothpicks and a homemade hummus. To see more photos of the beautiful presentation visit her blog. I generally use recipes as a guideline, and tweak as I see fit, looking at this one I'd probably add a bit of curry powder, though I'm sure they are delish as is. Curry powder already contains tumeric so the pinch required by the recipe could be eliminated if you use curry.

Tofu croquettes:
Adapted from "The Tofu Cookbook" by Becky Johnson
Ingredients:
Oil (I used carotino) - 1 tsp. + 1tsp.
2 large onions - finely chopped
2 garlic cloves - grated
15og firm tofu - drained well and ground into a paste
3 cups whole wheat bread ground into crumbs
2tbsps. coriander (cilantro) - finely chopped
2tbsp. soy sauce (I use low sodium)
Sesame seeds toasted - enough to coat - about 2 tbsp.
1/2tsp. ground cumin powder
3 tbsp. tahini (I toasted and ground sesame seeds with everything but ginger)
A pinch of turmeric powder
Red chili flakes to taste
Salt to taste

Method:
Heat 1tsp. oil and saute onions and garlic till transluscent.

Mix the other ingredients and form a uniform mixture after mixing in the onion garlic mixture.

Oil your palms with the rest of the oil and form balls of desired size. Mine were about an inch in diameter. Bake, grill or broil till crusty on the outside. It will remain soft within.

Mine were taking long, so after 10minutes in the oven at the highest temperature, I removed them. Heated a tsp. of oil in the pan and sauteed till the spheres became crisp. Takes not more than 5 minutes this way.


Check out PBS' The Hippie Gourmet on YouTube making his Vegan Stuffed Mushrooms.





I'd serve these crispy baked sweet potato fries in a Belgian style paper cone like those available from Frite Shop.





Drink:

Peace Punch Serves 13

  • 6 cups lemonade
  • 1 cup cherry juice
  • 1 cup raspberry juice
  • 2 cups pear juice

  1. Start with the lemonade as a base and add the cherry, raspberry, and pear juices, or any other fruit juices of your choice.
  2. Garnish the bowl with flowers and berries threaded on a wax string.
Dessert:

This silicone cake mold by FRED, includes a recipe for tie dye cake on the back of the box. Better yet, the manufacturer is contributing a portion of the proceeds from this product to
organizations dedicated to peaceful resolution of conflict, justice
for all, and respect for human rights. If the plain white frosting isn't hip enough for you try dripping food coloring on top and swirling with a spatula for a marbled tie dye effect. Get it at Perpetual Kid.




One more trip to Our Best Bites' blog (which I just happened to stumble upon today), for their wonderfully colorful Colorburst Cupcakes which you can serve instead of or in addition to the peace cake.




And there you have it a hippie party finger food menu full of color, flavor and free of meat.

2 comments:

Sara @ Our Best Bites June 18, 2009 at 3:05 PM  

What a fun idea! I'm glad you liked our recipes. Thanks for some other good ones too.

WAQAR UNIQUE BOUTIQUE June 21, 2009 at 12:20 AM  

I'M SO LOVING THIS BLOG...WHAT BETTER WAY TO SPICE UP YOUR SPA PARTY BUT WITH COOL TASTY TREATS...THESE RECIPES ARE QUICK AND EASY AS WELL...I DO BELIEVE MOST PARTY HOST JUST DONT PUT ENOUGH PLANNING INTO THEIR PARTY MENUS...THESE IDEAS ARE SURE TO BREATHE LIFE YESTERDAY'S PARTY PLANNING ROUTINE....

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