Mediterranean Shower

I threw my first baby shower this past Saturday. My younger sister Bex is having her second girl in August; so my sister S and I planned a Noah's Ark themed baby shower with Mediterranean food. So, yes I will have more recipes.

What I learned is that while price comparing at different stores is great on a small scale, when it comes to parties with more than three foodstuffs, keep it to 2 stores or you end up wasting more time than not. The DAY OF we realized I forgot several key items for punches, cupcakes, and dips due to a) doing everything the DAY BEFORE and b) losing track of what I bought where.

We got some great ideas from Shower In a Box for games and food, although we ended up only doing one game. No matter, the guests had fun and the food-which we have leftovers of in abundance-was raved about.

(On a side note, I lost my banana pudding recipe the other day, thought, "I'll just look it up on my blog," and realized that I had only typed 'Follow the directions on the box' or something similar. Lesson learned)

What I learned was themed parties and events are best done if you work on the different parts in the WEEKS leading up to said party, not DAYS. What I probably would have done if I could time travel back is
1)The minute we have the theme, use that week to plan out all foods, games, decoration, etc
2)Get crafts, plates, party favors, prizes and games the same time I got invitations, and work on those in the time leading up to the event
3) The week before, get all frozen items, baked goods, condiments and spices
4) Buy fresh items two days before
5) Through all this, keep everything in one spot, check off what you need, and do a double sweep the day before to ensure all is ready so you can bake and decorate.
6) Plan beforehand how things will run

What I did right:
1) Ask my sister to help. S is not only an incredible baker, she is great with themes, ideas and just creative and generous. I probably would have ended up with PB&J sandwiches and Oreos if I hadn't had her to keep it going
2) Kept a binder. I think my mom gave us an extra one. This is essential, as it held our recipes, guest lists/addresses, grocery lists, spreadsheets, and games.
3) Not sweat a schedule. So, okay we ended up doing only one game. And yes, a couple of people didn't show, so we ended up with a week worth of extra hummus, baba ghanoush, vegan cupcakes, and watermelon, but like I said, Bex was happy, guests were happy, and there were no family fallouts. That's worth skipping the Bingo game.

Okay, on to recipes (I'll add pics later; can't at this computer):

Rainbow Fruit Plate: I got this from the Shower in a Box site, and it was just so much fun to make, as well as gorgeous to look at. On a large circular platter, arrange the following in an arc pattern: Watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, kiwi, blueberries, purple grapes. The blueberries and grapes you can just put in kind of a half circle. Finish with large marshmallows on the bottom for clouds. You can also do strawberries, oranges, bananas, green grapes for the ROY G parts of the rainbow. So effortlessly lovely.

Baba Ghanoush: I got this off of allrecipes.com
and tripled it. There is actually not a lot left of this dish, one of the most popular.
1 eggplant
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup tahini
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet (I just used Baker's Joy)
Stab hole in eggplant with fork. Place on baking sheet. Roast for 30-40 minutes (for three eggplants of medium size, I did 55-60 minutes), turning occasionally, or until soft. Remove from oven and place in a large bowl of cold water (or a sink). Remove from water, and peel skin off
Place eggplant, lemon juice, tahini, sesame seeds, and garlic in an electric blender, and puree. You can season with salt and pepper to taste at this point; I didn't. Transfer eggplant mixture to a mixing bowl, and slowly mix in olive oil. Refrigerate for at least three hours before serving.

Now, my dad made the Tahini, which roughly goes like this:

Lightly toast ~1/3 cup of sesame seeds in a small pan for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. You cannot leave the seeds because if they over toast, you'll have a bitter taste to your tahini. Mix in food processor starting with 1/2 tsp of virgin or extra virgin olive oil, adding more as needed. Boom! You have tahini

Mock Chicken Salad(I increased this recipe by 5, which was unnecessary, and have made most of the leftovers into hummus, which I'll post afterward). From vegweb.com via Animalia International:
1 small can of chickpeas
1 green pepper or celery, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise or ranch dressing
salt and pepper to taste

Pour the chickpeas in a medium bowl, and mash with a potato masher until chunky
Toss in rest of ingredients and stir.

What I modified: Okay, I had like 5 can of chickpeas, I am not standing around with a potato masher. I threw the chickpeas by handfuls into our tiny food processor to do a rough mash, then finished up with the potato masher. I added garlic, curry powder, cumin and oregano to taste.

And Hummus: Easy to modify; add garlic, olive oil, tahini if you have any left over, and puree, puree, puree. Top with chopped roasted red peppers and sesame seeds, roasted garlic, or pine nuts. I brought this to Al's aunts house Sunday with some FlatOut! Honey Wheat Wraps and it was hugely enjoyed.

I got this recipe for Lemon Soy Aioli (or vegan mayo) from myrecipes.com:

2 cups water
2 peeled garlic cloves (or, if you're me, 5)
8 oz of tofu, drained (I had 14 oz)
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 12 tbsp olive oil
3/4 tsp sea salt

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add garlic and cook 10 minutes.

As garlic is boiling, layer tofu between several layers of paper towels. Let sit 10 minutes.

Drain garlic. Chop tofu into chunks

Mix all ingredients in blender or food processor until smooth.

What I did: Well, we were running out of lemons, and hadn't bought lemon juice yet (hahaha! See what I mean about shopping at too many places in too short a time?) so I added a tiny bit of orange juice. That's about it here

We did purchase Sabra Classic Hummus as our one headache free side. For the dips and Mock Chicken Salad we put Stacy's Multigrain Pita Chips, rolled FlatOut! Honey Wheat wraps cut in half, and sliced cucumbers and squash

The rainbow Fruit trays were placed at either end of the table with toothpicks for germ free grabbing.

We also had:

"Greek" Salad: Greek is in quotations due to me not using pepperoncinis, or kalamata olives, and there was probably something else I forgot. This was just romaine lettuce, sliced red onion, and sliced black olives. I placed feta cheese on the side (we had a vegan guest) and also a Dressing of 1/3 cup white vinegar, 2/3 cup olive oil, 1 tsp oregano, and 1/2 tsp black pepper. We also had backups of ranch and balsamic vinagrette.

Drinks! These we actually got from Bex, and I don't know where she got those. These were delicious, and FYI, are great as bases for Sangria, or mixed with your choice of clear liquor if you are so inclined. We kept 'em family friendly for this event.

Rosy Lemonade Punch:
2 packages frozen mixed berries
2 12 oz cans frozen lemonade concentrate
2 2 liter bottles ginger ale
2 2 liter bottles club soda
orange and banana slices

What we did: Well, we had this HUGE watermelon purchase just for this and the fruit tray. We cut the watermelon a little higher than halfway, and left a "handle." After scooping out watermelon and seeds, we mixed half the ingredients so it wouldn't overflow, then kept the extra soda bottles nearby to add as the level lowered. This was VERY refreshing and light, and there was none left over.

Delicious Strawberry Punch:
2 cans frozen strawberry daiquiri mix
2 bottles Sprite or Lemon Lime soda
1 carton lime sherbet
Fresh, sliced strawberries as garnish

Mix soda and daquiri mix. Add sherbet last, and garnish with strawberries.

S also made Tabbouleh, carrot cake cupcakes, and vanilla vegan cupcakes, but I have to ask her permission to print those recipes. Believe me though, there was NO Tabbouleh left, and the vegan cupcakes are incredibly good, with the top taking on a sugar cookie texture.

All in all, despite the work and chaos, it was nice to cook a new type of food, and I'm happy to add new items to my recipe book.