Party Food

Going to a family member's 21st birthday tonight, and flipping through my pinterest boards, Taste Buds  and Sweets for inspiration.  About a dozen things look interesting to me, corn bread stuffed jalapenos, whole baked cauliflower, mushrooms in garlic wine sauce, tiny hand pies...Don't have a lot of time as I have some work appointments today, and I'll need to make time to go to the grocery store too!

I decided on Red Wine and Garlic Mushrooms, Whole Roasted Cauliflower, Cornbread Jalapeno Poppers, and Margarita Cupcakes.

Roasted Jalapeños

Cupcake Batter Craziness!

Baking Cupcakes

I started by roasting the jalapenos in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350' and soaking 11/2 cups of raw cashews in water.  I removed the peppers from the oven and after cooling a bit I put them in a plastic bag to sweat for awhile.  Meanwhile I mixed up the cake batter and popped the cupcakes in the oven for 16 minutes, letting them cool on a rack when done.  While the cupcakes were baking I mixed up the spice marinade for the cauliflower, 2 ounces of coconut yogurt, an ounce of olive oil, and some spices I through together without measuring, maybe 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder, turmeric, salt, and pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon of cumin seeds, coriander powder and cardamom powder and one garlic clove crushed.  I whisked this together and then brushed it all over a head of cauliflower with the stem cored out.  Next i took the peppers and sliced thrm in half and removed all the seeds. Then my husband came home and I left everything to go surfing in the rain!

After a fun but chilly surf session, I found myself back in the kitchen, mixing up the frosting for the cupcakes.  I followed the cupcake recipe exactly, but the frosting recipe I used 1/2 cup of butter, 2 1/2 cups of powdered and shifted sugar, 1 tablespoon on lime juice and 3 tablespoons of hibiscus infused tequila.  When nice a creamy, put the frosting in a frosting bag and put that in the fridge to stiffen up a bit as the tequila makes the frosting a bit runny and prone to separate.  With that finished I put the cauliflower in the oven to bake at 350'.  With the unexpected surf adventure, I've decided to skip the mushrooms for today, maybe make them tomorrow.  I baked the cauliflower about an hour and 15 minutes.  While it was cooking I made the cornbread and spooned it into the jalapeños.  I used this recipe for Cornbread.  I baked them at 350' for about 20 minutes.  I had enough corn batter for about 5 muffins and baked these up to, something for breakfast. Whew...almost done!  Now into my mini food processor the soaked cashews, 2 tabelspoons of oily tahini, 3 tabelspoons nutritional yeast, 1 tablespoon olive oil, teaspoon salt and as I blended it I slowly added about 1/2 cup water for a soupy consistency.

I served the cauliflower with a sharp knife and a small dipping bowl of cashew cream. I surrounded the cauliflower with jalapeño corn bread. I frosted the cupcakes at the party....my food was easily surpassed by the music and the gentry, it was a blessing to be invited.

This band had a bag playing percussionist, a fiddle,  accordion and guitar!