Holiday Party Food Madness

I have this problem where I usually make waaaaay too much food whenever I have people over. I had the urge to add one more thing and stopped myself. I think that's the key. Make a list of what I want to make and remove one thing from that list. Every single thing was gone at the end of the night except for a 1 cookies and cream cupcake that I had stashed for myself and a couple of margarita cupcakes.

Party food from my tacky holiday decoration party last weekend. There's margarita cupcakes (from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World), Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (from Katie's zine, Don't Eat off the Sidewalk) with baby carrots and sesame rice crackers for dipping, Candy Cane Joe-Joes, Candy Cane Cookies and Cream Cupcakes (from VCTOTW and made with Candy Cane Joe-Joes). The quiches (from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen were still in the oven at this point, so they get their own picture.

The quiches were the first to go. And let me be clear on this - my party was full of nothing but omnis. Yeah... I decided to just not mention that the quiche was vegan. Yes, everyone knows that I am, but for some reason they forget that my food will be. I know - I don't get it either. One guy did ask me if these were made with tofu cement. That was kind of amusing. The best was when one girl put one in her mouth and her eyes got all big promptly before exclaiming "Oh my god, these are amazing". Heh. Right on, little quiches of vegan goodness!

I had never made vegan quiche before this. I was a little nervous to be trying something out for the first time at a party, but to hell with it, I really wanted to make these. The best thing about them is they're crustless, so they're not only super easy, but super fast. I made them in my mini muffin pan so they'd be bite-sized. The recipe is Susan V's from her blog Fat Free Vegan. The original recipe uses green bell peppers and mushrooms for the filling, but I used spinach and red peppers.

I want to note that this is the third time I've made these Margarita Cupcakes. They're amazing and one of my favorites from VCTOTW. But - the recipe always makes a pan and a half of cupcakes. Remember that if you make them. I always forget and then I'm surprised when I still have batter left after filling the first pan.

Hummus rules. We all know this. I didn't really understand just how much roasted red pepper hummus ruled. Somehow I'd gone through life never tasting it until now. I got the recipe for this one from Katie's zine, Don't Eat off the Sidewalk. Thanks to my trusty immersion blender, this was fast, easy and made almost no mess. I didn't chop anything, I just dumped it all into a bowl and blended it.

Last, but certainly not least, my friend Scott wanted me to take a picture of him eating a cupcake and put it on my blog. So there you go, Scott. Everyone can now see you getting ready to put the smack down on a candy cane cookies and cream cupcake.