Halloween Party & Harvest Quinoa

So, this past weekend I threw a little Halloween party for some friends! It turned out really nice and we all had SO much fun!

party peopleee

It was a cute, festive little gathering. I had it at my house and entertained Dan, Casey & her boyfriend, George and a few girl friends. My parents hung out with us for the night too, which was fun! I made an assortment of Halloween themed foods and drinks and my friend Gianna brought cupcake flavored vodka (yes, CUPCAKE). The vodka was delicious, however, my body is so not used to the combination of sugar+alcohol overload so by the end of the night I was suffering from a pretty bad tummy ache :( which continued into the next morning. So, Saturday night was the my first and last experience with cake vodka. Thanks, but no thanks.

well, it seemed like a good idea!

Aside from that, I had SO much fun preparing, cooking, decorating and entertaining! I LOVE throwing parties and get togethers. The prep work started the night before; I made my "Harvest Quinoa", edamame hummus and pumpkin spice cookies. The next day I chopped a ton of veggies and made/prepared the rest of the appetizers and entrees. With the hummus I served seaweed snacks, veggies and sweet potato bakes (thin slices of sweet potato seasoned and baked). I also used dark pumperknickel bread and a cookie cutter to make "black cat" grilled cheeses. Dinner was pumpkin quinoa, turkey sliders and flank steak covered in cherry tomatos, avocados and sauteed onions. For dessert I made a brown rice crispy treat cake in the shape of a big pumpkin (no butter, just marshmallow and extra dark chocolate chips were melted to create the Jack-O-Lantern face), caramel apples, white chocolate "ghost" pears and candy corn, of course. Casey made some Oreo cake balls and I also served some of Dan's mom's phenomenal pumpkin bread. Jackie & Gianna completely hoarded the pumpkin bread for the night, but trust me, I had more than my fair share during the day...picking while cooking ;)

my fruit & casey's ballss

my other helper ;)

crudites & black cat grilled cheeses

preppingg

The Harvest Quinoa was a nice lil side and would probably be a nice addition to Thanksgiving dinner as well! Plus, it's crazy easy to make:

Harvest Quinoa - Serves 12
Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa
• 4 cups water
• 1 cup pureed pumpkin
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 dried cherries (no sugar added)
• 1 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp salt

Cook quinoa and water on high until water comes to a rapid boil. Cover, reduce heat to simmer and cook until water absorbs. Remove from heat, stir in pumpkin until thoroughly mixed. Next, add in maple syrup, salt and dried fruit. Stir in nuts right before serving (so they stay crunchy).

This recipe makes SO MUCH!!!!!! Another reason why I think it would be perfect for Thanksgiving :)


All in all, it was a fun lil get together with some of the best company, good food & maybe too many drinks! All I know is as usual, Gianna and I totally went to town on the desserts........see all that candy corn? Gone. And I wonder why my stomach was hurting!