Say Yes to the Dress Party

On Friday evening, my daughter and I invited over several of our friends and had a marathon viewing of  "Say Yes to the Dress" along with an episode of "Four Weddings".   Daughter and I have been watching this show  on Friday evenings for quite a few months.  We felt it would be a lot more fun to have a few of our friends join with us.  We weren't mistaken.

Of course, we had to eat as well.  We wanted a simple menu that didn't require tricky oven timing or any such fussiness.

Pineapple Salsa

Mostly fresh pineapple with  a bit of chopped red onion, jalapeno pepper diced fine, red pepper, cilantro.  Adjust the amounts of each to suit your tastes.

 Guacamole

Mash up a bunch of ripe avocados.  Remove the seeds of one tomato and dice finely.  Add a diced jalapeno, a bit of diced onion (I used Vidalia's) and a good squeeze of fresh lime juice. 

You can wing it with both these recipes, or use the ones from 300 Best Taco Recipes by Kelley Cleary Coffeen. 

Wanting to do the best for my guests, I needed to have a dessert that was gluten and dairy free.  Could I find a recipe for Key Lime Pie that would still taste good.  Well, my Fairy Godmother must have been looking over my shoulder when I did that search.  GF-Zing has a tasty one.   I didn't use the suggested pastry recipe.  I used a bunch of Mesa Sunrise flakes, crumbled them and added four tablespoons of gluten and dairy free margarine.  I should have then put it in the oven, but instead I put it in the fridge.  The crust turned out a bit soft.

The filling is wonderful.
My mom gave me this cool whisk thing.  It is really funny looking, but it was a breeze at stirring.  I believe she bought it at Ikea.

Doesn't this look good already.  I bought a bag of Key Limes and squeezed about 8 of them for the 1/4 cup of juice needed.

Add the meringue and perfection.  Yes, I made two tiny pies as well.  Each is individual serving size.

 Final dessert is a Red Velvet Cake.  For details about this cake, read my December 2010 post about when I made this cake for my niece for her birthday.

Don't you just love the tiaras and shiny bead necklaces.  We are definitely planning to host another party like this.  We would like to make a bridal cake for that one with elevated tiers and all that fussiness.  One thing I can assure you is that we will not be hosting a Toddler and Tiara party.  That one is just nasty and abusive in our opinions.

For more foodie fun, be sure to visit Beth Fish Reads for Weekend Cooking.

Earlier today I posted my September 11 Memorial quilt photos.