Sunday, April 6, 2008

cheer party - mini foods

miniature food spread

i hosted the annual cheer party yesterday. the theme (because i'm into that) was mini foods! it was so fun and i think everyone liked it. the thing about miniature food is that you have to make so much more of it that normal sized stuff...and it takes a long time! cutting mini slices of things and assembling 40 or 50 of something for a group of 14 was pretty time consuming! it's a good thing i had husband on hand - he was a life saver. he cooked all of the mini hamburgers and managed the kitchen while i mingled.

2008 cheer party menu
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mini vegan grilled cheese
mini mac 'n cheese cups (even some vegan!)
mini taco salads
mini hamburgers
baby carrots and dip
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minty sweet tea
citrus punch
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mini cupcaked
iced cheer cookies

this post is about the food, but i'll post about the desserts later.


tiny little grilled cheese cooking on the panini press (with flat plates)

for the mini grilled cheese, which were the vegan alternative to the hamburgers, i used mozz and cheddar flavored soy "cheese" and little jewish rye breads. i coated the outside with margarine and garlic salt and stuck a basil leaf between the cheese layers.

all toasted up

these were adorable - here's a size reference.


mini mac 'n cheese cups

i used a recipe from food and wine for these mini macs. the key was to leave them in the muffin tins until they were completely cooled otherwise my tops separated from the bottoms. super delish and i even made a vegan version with soy milk, margaine, panko and soy "cheese" to replace ALL of the dairy. i didn't try them and i doubt they were all that tasty...but i doubt that soy cheese product is really all that great in the first place.

close up of baked cheesy goodness.


mini taco salads

these were tsquares idea. scoops tortilla chips, shredded lettuce, black beans, salsa and a slice of avocado. this one might have been the hardest because they take a bit to assemble. we made then about 1.5 hours before the party and by the half way point of the festivities, most of the chip bottoms were a little soggy. i know husband was careful not to add much juice with the salsa, but i think using pico de gallo might help - less liquid = crispy chip.


with their avocado

mini hamburgers!

the mini hamburgers started this whole theme. they are so popular and i wanted to serve them with other comfort food staples (which i'd say the above foods were). i was most nervous about the buns but totally lucked out and found bags of mini potato buns right at the grocery store. small pieces of lettuce, vine on grape tomatoes, shallots and small dill pickles made up the fixings and we had bowls of ketchup and mustard to spoon on. like i said, husband cooked these to perfection and everyone love them.


the cuteness.

citrus punch with star fruit

the citrus punch was good and had no gelatin (not vegan friendly), which apparently is the norm for fruity punches. 2 cups each pineapple and orange juice, 3 cups cranberry juice and half bottle of ginger ale. i froze some of the liquid in my bundt pan with starfruit and orange slices to keep the punch cold for a few hours.

stay tuned for the dessert post!

2 comments:

Thomas said...

Wonderful! Thanks for the mad props, yo. I hope they were tasty, even if sog-city. And I hope that Jenn enjoyed the vegan delights you took all that time to make!

Anonymous said...

Tasty-looking foods. I'm always a sucker for your mini burgers, Alauna.