Winter Girls Party!

It's December and finally starting to get a little chilly here in Los Angeles.  What better excuse do I need to throw a little holiday girls brunch!  I called up some friends and my friend Ivonne brought over some of her beautiful jewelry to sell as holiday gifts.  I cooked up a storm and we had a great time!  Here are some pictures of the food and decor!
I had to throw in a picture of the tree!!  I looooove getting a Christmas tree!
For the food, I really wanted to do lots of sweet and savory foods.  As usual, I made everything bite size and foods to eat with your fingers.  I do this for two reasons.  One is to reduce the amount of waste we use (no need to throw away all those plastic utensils!).  And the other is that I hate when you can't have your food and your drink at the same time.  I hate parties when you have to sit down to use a fork and knife to eat your food.  I save that for dinner parties!

Here was the menu:

Pumpkin dip (so cute served in a hollowed out acorn squash!) (The best thing to do with leftover pumpkin pie mix!  I used 2 boxes of cream cheese and whipped it together with half a large can of pumpkin pie mix.  I added a little extra cinnamon and nutmeg for a little more kick!)  Thanks Aunt Patty
 

 Ratatouille in a puff pastry
Baked brie (cause I had leftover puff pastry from the above dish) 

Vegetarian Ceviche

 Scones

 Cucumber dill sandwiches
 

Tomato salad (I just tossed some beautiful heirloom tomatoes in some white wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh dill and basil and topped it with some shredded mozzarella.  So easy!)
 

Fruit on a stick (how fun are these!?  I needed a great take on a fruit salad and I love the way these little sticks came out!  I used toothpicks and skewered a raspberry, mint leaf, pineapple and strawberry.  So easy!)
Chocolate, carmel, salty cupcakes (see below blog for pictures and recipes)
 

Chocolate chip cookies (I used my regular chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I added cinnamon and nutmeg to make it yummier for the holiday!)

Chocolate "chips" and cannoli cream "dip" (love playing on chips and dips with this!  I got the "chips" at trader joes and I made my cannoli cream as the dip!  Soo good!!)
I made a lot of variety, but I couldn't stop, what can I say?  I'm a cook-a-holic!

Here are some of the girls that made it to the party!  So pretty!
Such a fun party!!  I can't wait till spring for the next one!

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