Tuesday, January 8, 2008

New Year

Well, we had a New Year's Eve party again this year. Here are some photos of the food.

I made some great vegan corn dog nuggets (basic recipe for vegan corn dogs can be found here). I actually made them the day before because they make the house smell like a restaurant. Then I just popped them in the oven for a half hour or so on New Year's Eve.


I also made some barbecued seitan. Just pull apart a bunch of seitan, throw it in a crock pot with barbecue sauce and a few hours later you have the best damn sloppy joes you'll ever eat. These were a hit with the meat eaters.


And of course we had the requisite salsa and guac.


I also went out and bought a bunch of vegan queso from the Triple Rock in Minneapolis. This stuff is to die for. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good photo of it. Anyway, it was good.

Some friends brought fruit. By far the healthiest thing at the party.


Oooh, and there were these vegan rum-balls that a friend's non-vegan mom made. The rum wasn't cooked, so they were very strong and not for the kids. Mmmm, alcoholic dessert.


And we made some chocolate covered ritz peanut butter sandwiches. I can't believe we've never made these before. They were really easy and tasted soooo good. Put some peanut butter between two ritz crackers (I used the 365 brand from Whole Foods, but Ritz crackers are vegan, too) and then cover that in melted dark chocolate. If you're using natural peanut butter (and you should be) then I suggest adding some powdered sugar to it to stiffen it up a bit. Oh, and I think chunky peanut butter would work just as good, if not better. Might have to try that next time.

I added sprinkles to one just so see how it would taste and to add a bit of color. It didn't taste great, but looked pretty.


We had some chocolate left over so we covered some freeze-dried strawberries in it. Yum.

The next day was a short one for me. I got up around noon and took a nap at about 1:30 after eating a few saltines and having a few sips of Sprite. While I was dreaming my hangover away my wonderful wife made beer bread with some of the way-too-much beer we had (and still have) left over. Here's Anna stirring the batter and making an odd face, somewhere between pride and effort, I think.



All in all it was a great couple days. The New Year's party was kid friendly until the kids went to sleep or left. Then it turned into an all-out orgy of board games and drinking too much. And by orgy, I mean low key night. And by drinking too much I refer mostly to myself. But by board games I mean board games.

15 comments:

Britta said...

Mmmm all looks quite tasty. I'm curious about the Vegan Corn-dog nuggets!

Al said...

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the corn dogs were a hit with the omnivores as well. I'll maybe make them next time you guys are in town.

Peace, Love and Veganism said...

Love your 'sweets' in the past two posts - easy and awesome looking! PB and chocolate have no other comparison. I've bookmarked your blog, after only this one visit! :) Adorable baby!

Al said...

Thanks, PL&V!

Yeah, peanut butter and chocolate are amazing. My wife is obsessed with the combo and I've gladly hopped on the PB&C train.

Oh, and right back at ya with the bookmark thing.

Al said...

Oh, and I forgot to mention that some friends also brought some homemade vegan cheesecake and vegan sugar cookies and vegan cupcakes. I didn't get photos of any of those. There was just too much food for my half-drunken self to handle (despite what the photos look like, I did actually take them before I was fully drunk).

Anonymous said...

I wish we could hang out with you guys on New Year's Eve like the old days.

Al, do you happen to have a photo blog? I'm always eager to see more of your photos of Anna.

Al said...

Len: This is the closest thing to a photo blog as I get. The next big post will probably be a bunch of Anna photos, since I have two months worth that I haven't put on here.

mouse said...

good morning al!

the food looked like it probably tasted - WONDERFUL!!

i just tried those ritz cracker & pb goodness a couple of weeks ago. the ones i had were covered in almond bark though. now that, was fabulous. a good change from chocolate. and it went so well with the sweet pb and the salty ritz...mmm.....maybe i'll have to make a batch this weekend. :)

oh, and post some more pictures of your cute daughter, will ya? i'm going thru withdrawls here. and updates! what is she doing now? any new foods? words? actions? inquiring minds want to know. :)

peace out my brother. ;)

Anonymous said...

I want to hear more about these rum balls!! - Lani

m said...

Ok, all I brought was a bottle of wine, but I can vouch for the food - it was awesome! Thanks for throwing a get-together and feeding me!

Anonymous said...

Tasty looking stuff. What beer pairings did you favor for the evening?

Neta said...

Mmmmmm... Everything looks great!

Cakespy said...

The chocolates look beautiful either way you cut it. I love veggie corn dogs (the real things gross me out, even though I do eat some meat).

Anonymous said...

Any chance we could get the recipe for the vegan rum-balls?

Al said...

Hmm, let me check. I'll get back to you.