Girls Night In Party

Girls night in party? Well…there isn’t much that I love more, than to party plan. I love decorating the table and cooking the food! Not only do I want everything to be pretty, but I want it to taste delicious too. This gives me so much joy to entertain and make people feel welcome in my home.

Most of this decor can be found at Target! It does not take spending a ton of money to decorate and set a table. I love mixing and matching salad plates for an eclectic look. Add a printed napkin and some fresh herbs to the top for color and smell. You can get festive and add small pumpkins to each setting or tiny bottle brush Christmas trees! There is nothing more beautiful to me than fresh flowers. Pop in to Traders Joes and pick up some fresh flowers and make a centerpiece for the table. If that sounds like to much…snip the bud on each stem and place in a votive floating in water! My point is that it can be as easy or elaborate as you make it.

These vases could not be any easier. Just a single stem in each vase! It adds so much color and it looks like you are a master florist!! LOL

What’s For Dinner?

As many of you know, I really try to stay on a plant based diet. It has improved my health dramatically! So, I am always trying to take my favorite recipes and change them plant based. Here is a take on the typical chicken enchiladas. This is what I did:

I substituted chicken with black beans, corn, onions, bell peppers and whatever else you want to dice up in your fridge. I sautéed all of this in a tiny amount of olive oil. Let them cook down and become soft. As this is cooking, I heat up corn tortillas in the microwave so that they become pliable to roll up the ingredients. Once your veggies have cooked, I place a spoon full in each tortilla and roll them up. I use Oh She Glows enchilada sauce recipe here . In love with this sauce and I didn’t have to change anything about it! I added vegan violife shredded mozzarella cheese to the top and placed it all in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

To top it all off, I added diced cilantro, avocado crema and chopped jalapeños. So delicious and so easy to make. Your friends and family will not miss the meat!

Soup Instead Of Salad

As fall and winter approach, my favorite substitute for a salad is a hot bowl of soup! I swear I could eat soup everyday! I had a friend share with me her recipe from Emeril Lagasse. It’s his Jalapeno Butternut Squash Soup. Well….you and I both know that there is going to be all sorts of treats in there I don’t eat! 😉 . So, I decided to recreate this recipe plant based. Here is how I changed it up.

It was actually quite easy…in lieu of the chicken broth I used vegetable broth. In lieu of the heavy cream I added Oat milk. You could always add coconut cream as well. This would be super delicious, but I didn’t want any sweetness to mine, so I added oat milk. It calls for 2 jalapeños but I only added one and left the seeds in. This was crazy hot but I loved it. So, you decide how hot you like it and take the seeds out if necessary. Once I blended up the ingredients, I felt it to be a little thick. I just added more broth to mine. I think it’s personal preference. I added cilantro and toasted pumpkin seeds to each bowl to serve.

Now For Dessert

I have made these Jillian Harris’s Pumpkin cheesecakes before, and they are sooo darn yummy! Not to mention easy. The recipe didn’t call for a gluten free crust, but I changed that right up and it turned out perfect! Everyone in my house fought over these!

I love to top food off during the holidays with anything red! It turns anything festive and makes for such a beautiful presentation.

You can see that it doesn’t have to be elaborate… just welcoming. Don’t get overwhelmed planning the menu and just think about how fun it will be once everyone is there seated around your table. Plan a few days before to see what can be made ahead of time. Sometime I have everything chopped or prepped to cook one to two days before I start cooking. You can always set the table and decor days before as well. If you give your self time, you won’t feel stressed out.

Happy party planning and cooking!

Thanks for reading along with me everything I find fabulous,
xoxo
Angela

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