Happy New Year!

shane and I invited some friends over for a New Year's Day brunch, and while I completely underestimated the amount of work it would take, it was totally worth it! Unfortunately, with so many things going on, I completely forgot to get any pictures of the food. (Sorry, Suzy!) Melisser of The Urban Housewife managed to get one of her plate:



I spent most of Monday baking and prepping, and Tuesday morning running around cooking, cleaning, and making last minute grocery runs. I was worried there wouldn't be enough food, but I think it ended up being the perfect amount. While incredibly delicious, our get-togethers tend to be very decadent, sugar-coated, and frosting-filled (ex. the 50 latkes and cookies I ate at Sunday's White Elephant), and I wanted to create a meal that would be satisfying and not leave us feeling ridiculously stuffed in the end.

The Menu:
- Cherry coconut mini-muffins (based off the raspberry coconuts)
- Peanut butter coffee cake with chocolate chips
- Fruit salad made with 7 varieties of apples and pears, and dressed with lemon zest/juice, agave, fresh sage, pomegranate seeds, candied pecans, and a dash of nutmeg
- Lettuce Wraps made with tofu, eggplant, shiitake, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, green beans, and corn
- Roasted new potatoes
- Roasted portobellos, brussel sprouts, and figs, with a fig-balsamic glaze
- shane's chocolate seitan (recipe coming soon!)
- Hot apple cider and cranberry-lime-mint juice

I also had a whole sheet of roasted Italian red onions, asparagus, zucchini, and carrots in the oven that didn't get finished in time and seemed like too much food, so I've been eating a pasta primavera concoction all week.

Somehow we managed to squeeze 25ish people into our apartment.




It was so great to see everyone and just eat and hang out. Thank you to everyone who came!