Party Food Part 1: Two kinds of popcorn

The Story:

So once again I’m behind in my MoFo posting, but I had a really fun, awesome weekend!  Let me explain….(I know…excuses, excuses, excuses).  Several weeks back a friend of mine, knowing how much I love to cook, asked me to do finger foods and cake for her son’s 1^st birthday party (25 person guest list).  She said she would buy all the food and help with the prep. 

Oh, and everyone at the party (except the hubby and me) were not vegans (such a trusting friend, huh?).  So of course I said yes!  An opportunity to make a ton of snackies with someone else footing the grocery bill?  And a chance to show a bunch of omni’s that vegan food doesn’t taste like cardboard?  And that, yes, we do eat cake too?  Sign me up!  Granted it was a lot of work, but we had oh so much fun! 

Party-goers digging in

The food received a ton of compliments.  And, go figure, the cake seemed to be the hands-down favorite.  I also had the opportunity to answer a bunch of questions regarding vegan food and philosophy.  Did I mention so so much fun?!  As if it couldn’t get any better, my friend sent me home with arm loads of veggies and fruit as a thank you.  So, here’s a list of everything I made and the cookbooks/recipes I used.  Please enjoy.  Oh, and I don’t have any more ginormous projects like this in the near future so I promise to be a MoFo blogging fiend the rest of the month.  Promise. 

Two Kinds of Popcorn:

What better snacky finger food than popcorn?  I’ve wanted an air-popper for a long time.  I don’t do microwave popcorn so every time a popcorn craving hits me, I’m often discouraged at the prospect of standing in front of the stove for 20 minutes and jostling a pan non-stop.  Plus, I’m trying to cut oil out of my diet where I can.  Since I needed to pop about 30 cups of popcorn for the party, it was a perfect excuse to bite the bullet and buy and air popper.  Okay, so I found one on sale for only $19.99, but still.  I try to avoid buying additional kitchen stuff as much as possible, especially new.  It was so worth it.  It pops a huge bowl of popcorn oil-free and in about 3 minutes.  So exciting!

Chocolate Caramel Corn With Peanuts and Sea Salt

I made the caramel corn recipe from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s The Joy of Vegan Baking, then added chocolate and sea salt.  It turned out so delicious, I will definitely make this again.  I think it would be great in cute little bags as a Christmas gift.  Unfortunately by the time I got to this recipe, it was so late the night before I could barely see straight.  And I forgot the baking soda.  Bummer.  Luckily the hubby was nice enough to run out in the middle of the night and pick up extra ingredients so I could try again.

The second time was a success!  I added in the optional peanuts per the recipe, and used about a cup of extra popcorn since I knew I’d also be covering it in chocolate so I didn’t mind if every piece wasn’t completely coated.  As soon as the caramel corn had cooled, I melted half a bag of chocolate chips in the microwave using this method:  microwave for 30 seconds, stir well, repeat.  It’s done when you pull it out of the microwave and there are still some unmelted chips that melt in when you stir.  You want to take care not to over heat as the chocolate can burn really easily. 

Then I added about 1/2 a tablespoon Earth Balance non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening for added pourability.  I dumped 1/3 of the cooled caramel corn in a large bowl then poured in 1/3 of the melted chocolate/shortening mixture and stirred gently to combine.  Then repeated with the second, then last portion. 

To finish it off I spread the chocolate-coated caramel corn into a thin layer on wax paper.  I sprinkled with sea salt and let cool (to expedite things I put on cookie sheets, then into the refrigerator).  Break apart any large chunks before transferring to an air-tight container for storage.

Savory Pizza-Seasoned Popcorn   

I love experimenting with various seasonings on popcorn and thought this one turned out pretty well.  The seasoning doesn’t taste like pizza itself, but does have yummy herby notes from the pizza seasoning.  The nutritional yeast adds a bit of cheezey flavor and the lemon juice brightens it all up.  

I ground pizza seasoning (oregano, basil, onion flakes, garlic powder, thyme, fennel, paprika, fresh ground black pepper, dried lemon peel) in a coffee grinder with nutritional yeast and a little additional garlic powder.  I also melted some Earth Balance margarine with a little squeeze of fresh lemon juice (repeat, a LITTLE squeeze) and proceeded to dress the popcorn with a sprinkle of the seasoning and a drizzle of the lemony margarine.