Party Food

This afternoon I hosted a Silpada jewelry party. I'm not quite sure how it happened. I haven't had a party in years, and I don't really know anyone in our new town except my yoga students. The Silpada rep's boys come to my kids yoga class sometimes, and one day "I think I'd like to have one of those parties" came out of my mouth. Next thing I knew it was on the calendar.

I ended up with my relatives and lots of my mom's friends on my guest list, but I came up with a decent amount of people. Once I put the list together, the rep did all the inviting and calling and whatnot. All I had to do was straighten up my house and make some party food.

I suppose I could have put out chips and cheese and crackers, but that goes totally against the nutritional changes I am trying to make. Yes, the ladies would have happily eaten chips while they sipped wine, but then it wouldn't be my party, would it? I decided to be true to myself and make food that I could eat and enjoy without feeling guilty.

It was just appetizers, so I figured I could take a chance and try some new things. If something came out awful, then I just wouldn't serve it. To meet all of our dietary restrictions, I've been cooking mostly vegan meals and one of my favorite sources for recipes is The Post Punk Kitchen.
There were some good appetizer recipes. I tried Hummus Amungus, Lentil Walnut Dip and Somewhere in Thyme Stuffed Mushrooms. The hummus was a bit too runny (I don't have a food processor and needed to add extra liquid to the blender to get it smooth) but tasted good. The Lentil Walnut Dip was too bland, probably because I forgot to put salt in it!

The mushrooms, however, were awesome. I used brown rice bread instead of the rye bread, but otherwise followed the recipe. There was one left after the party and my daughter ate it before I got to it. She's fast!

Nobody complained that there was no cheese and crackers, maybe because they were too busy looking at the gorgeous jewelry. (Except my mother, who came early to help me set up and actually offered to go get some cheese. Sigh.)

My friend Anne brought some fabulous bars made with chocolate chips, coconut and candied ginger, along with some other stuff. I've eaten five or six of them already. We decided they were healthy, so I am staying guilt-free.

If you'd like to check out the Silpada jewelry, here's the link. The party is still open if you see something you like.