Dessert First

We held our yearly school fundraiser a couple of weeks ago.  Les and I, with two other couples, offered spots to our cocktail party during the school’s silent auction.  The first two years we had a tiki party at our house, and for the last two years, we had “A Fistful of Cocktails” at Sandy and Brian’s place.  David and Paula bowed out this year, since it was just too much with David’s travel schedule.  We suckered talked Kevin and Suzanne into joining us this year.

The theme for our party this year was Atomic 60s!  What is Atomic 60s?  We defined Atomic 60s as the early 60s before the hippy movement started.  Think Mad Men.  We had a great time planning this party.  We kept to traditional cocktails like Screwdrivers and Cuba Libres, but it wouldn’t be an Atomic 60s party without Martinis! We served gin and vodka martinis (We also served flavored martinis. Flavored martinis weren’t period, but we were trying to make our modern guests happy.)
We researched party food appetizers from the 60s, and to shake the party up a bit, we set chairs and coffee tables up living room style (we even dragged an old sofa out to the pool deck).  Some of the seating areas had fire pits instead of coffee tables.  The evening got a bit cool, so the fire pits were very popular.  Les also pulled out our teardrop trailer and pink flamingos for fun props.

The guys wore short-sleeved white dress shirts and skinny ties on party night.  Sandy, Suzanne and I all dressed up in little black dresses, and we tried to do our hair and make-up in an early 60s style.  I cheated a little by having my make-up done at Beauty 360, and the girl doing my make-up did a great job.  I looked a little like Shirley McClain!  I was most impressed by the guests who came dressed up in a 60s style. Having them participate made everything more fun!

 

We served some fun appetizers and I will share the recipes later.  When it came to dessert, we decided to make Bundt and pineapple upside-down cakes and a Jell-O mold.  I was trying to decide what type of Bundt cake to make, when inspiration hit, and I remembered my mom serving grasshopper pie at some of her parties.   I also remember I wasn’t allowed to have a piece of her pie since it had alcohol in it.   I did some research on traditional grasshopper pies, and I tried three different recipes using three different techniques. My family was happy to taste test grasshopper pie recipes for me (I obviously am not as squeamish as my mom)!   I settled on a recipe using marshmallows to stabilize the filling.  I liked the taste and texture of the marshmallow mixture the best.  The filling was fluffy and taste was crisp with mint.  And, if you can believe it, I found my mom’s recipe after I had done all the testing.  Which one did she use?  The marshmallow pie of course!  Here is my mom’s recipe for Grasshopper Pie.

Grasshopper Pie

Printable Recipe 

20 Chocolate sandwich cookies

3 Tablespoons butter, melted

½ cup milk

3 cups miniature marshmallows

¼ cup crème de menthe

¼ cup clear crème de cacao

1 ½ cups whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 350°F

Place cookies in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the cookies are ground to a fine crumb.  Pour in the melted butter and pulse until combined.  Press the cookie mixture into a 9-inch pie plate.  Bake the crust for 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven and cool completely.

Heat the milk and the marshmallows in a small saucepan until the marshmallows are melted.  Pour into a large bowl and cool completely.  Once the mixture is cool, add the crème de menthe and crème de cacao.

In a medium bowl, beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form.  Fold the whipped cream into the marshmallow mixture and pour onto the cooled cookie crust.  Freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight.  Remove from freezer 10 minutes prior to serving. 

White Bean and Fennel Crostini

I had some girl friends over for a jewelry party on Friday night.  Jewelry has now joined the likes of Tupperware, Pampered Chef and a host of other products offered as a in-home sales product.  A friend of mine is stylist for one of these jewelry companies, and I promised her I would host a party.  You know me; I’m always up for hosting a party, and helping Joanne was a great excuse for a party!

I had to make this party easy on myself since I chose to have the party on what seemed to be the busiest week I’ve had since before summer ended.  I served some easy pre-made appetizers, but I knew I needed to add at least one homemade appetizer. 

I had made this White Bean and Fennel Crostini a couple of weeks ago as a test for my family.  Everyone liked the appetizer, but my son loved it.  He kept coming back for more saying, “This bread stuff is really good!”  High praise!  The white bean spread tastes a little like aioli without the extra fat, so it fits right into our new way of eating, and I knew my girl friends would appreciate a healthy option.

White Bean and Fennel Crostini

Adapted from Fresh & Fast Vegetarian by Marie Simmons

Printable Recipe

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon fennel seed

kosher salt

1 15 ounce can cannellini beans

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

¼ cup minced red onion

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Freshly ground black pepper

1 baguette, sliced and toasted

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, snipped

Combine garlic, fennel seed with ½ teaspoon salt in a mortar and crush into a paste with the pestle.  If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you can finely chop the garlic and the fennel and combine with the salt and crush with the back of your knife to create a paste.

Combine the garlic mixture, white beans and olive oil into the bowl of a food processor and blend into a course puree.  Add the red onion, vinegar and ¼ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.  Add more salt if needed.

Spread each toast piece with the white bean mixture and top with rosemary and a drizzling of olive oil. Serve. 

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Black Bean Chili

I can’t believe summer is almost over.  We’ve had a fun and busy summer with not one but two great vacations.  We took a two-week trip through Oregon and Washington in June, and we took a trip to Disneyland the first week of August. (I know we are spoiled). 

My daughter starts her senior year in high school this week, and I’ve been living my life in denial (both that summer is over and that I’m old enough to have a senior in high school), but reality came crashing back at 2 am last Sunday morning when I remembered I still needed to order my daughter’s school books and tackle my 6^th grade son’s forever-long school supplies list.  I got back to sleep by telling myself that nothing could be accomplished at 2am.  I woke feeling sad, but I had to face the fact summer was almost over, so Sunday morning I ordered my daughters books and Les and I took our son to buy his school supplies.

Sunday afternoon I was in need of something to take my mind off my end-of-summer blues, so I headed into the kitchen to try a new recipe.

Since last October, I have been slowly been overhauling my family’s diet to a more Mediterranean diet (less refined grains and sugar and more whole grains and beans).  We have been doing well with it, even on vacation in the Northwest and Disneyland (my chocolate covered frozen bananas, ice cream and caramel apples not withstanding).  I bought Fast & Fresh Vegetarian by Marie Simmons right before we left for Disneyland, and I was itching to try some of the recipes. 

Les and my daughter enjoyed Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Black Bean Chili, although the chili was a little too spicy for my daughter.  My son even liked the spicy chili, but he wouldn't touch the sweet potato.  I liked the combination.  The chili was spicy, but I thought the spiciness went well with the sweet potato and the cool yogurt and avocado.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Black Bean Chili

Adapted from Fast & Fresh Vegetarian by Marie Simmons

Printable Recipe

4 small sweet potatoes or yams, scrubbed and cut in half lengthwise

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, separated

½ small onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 15 oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained

1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes

1 chipotle chili in adobo, chopped (more or less to taste)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Plain Greek yogurt

Juice from one lime

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 avocado, sliced

Heat a large baking sheet by placing it in the oven and preheating the oven to 450°F for 10 minutes.  Brush cut sides of sweet potatoes with one tablespoon of the olive oil.  Remove the hot pan from the oven, and place the sweet potatoes cut side down on the baking sheet. Roast for 15 minutes.  Turn the potatoes with a spatula and continue to bake for another 10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife. 

While the potatoes are roasting, heat the remaining tablespoon of olive and the onion in a large Dutch oven or skillet.  Cook the onion on medium-low heat until tender and golden, about 8 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for one minute, and add the chili powder and cumin to bloom for about 20 seconds.

Add the black beans, tomatoes, ½ cup water, chipotle chili and salt and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.

Mix yogurt, lime juice and cilantro in a small bowl.

Assemble the potatoes by scraping the flesh of the potato with a fork and topping the potato with the chili and the yogurt mixture.  Add the sliced avocado and serve.