Tarts, Shrimp and Dirty Bananas
Hey guys! HAPPY FRIDAY! What are you up to this weekend?? I’m looking forward to getting some work done and hanging out with my pilot love 🙂
Last night’s girls night was a blasty:
Riesling for the chef 😉
I had a small glass while I set the appetizers out and started cooking- I fiercely believe that the food comes out better when I sip a little vino as I cook 😉
Appetizers:
Plates and napkins bearing the philosophy of life:
Cheese and olives:
Raw calamari, inspired by a recipe in Living Raw Food
(I sliced up button mushrooms, then dunked them in water and a flaxseed/herb “breadcrumb” mixture and then dehydrated, served with marinara)
Hummus + pita
Veggggg
Vegan artichoke dip (from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan)
For our meal, we had roasted garlic and lemon asparagus
And brown rice penne pasta, with shrimp and an Italian cream sauce (that I Gina-fied using goat gouda, almond milk and spices)
Pasta is a tricky dish to make for company, because if it comes out wrong, there’s not an easy way to fix it. I’m stoked to say that it was kind of ridiculous- so creamy, shrimpy and flavorful 😉
+ bread and Garlic Gold olive oil for drizzling
My plate:
(+ a little more pasta)
with salad and homemade balsamic that Jeni brought, and the cocktails she made for us (Dirty Bananas– she used almond milk for mine)
Ahhhhmazin’.
The best part?
Raw strawberry tart from Everyday Raw 😀
I drizzled some strawberry-agave sauce on each plate (strawberries, agave and vanilla) and topped with crumbled macaroon and a slice of tart.
Face ——> Rocked. 😀
There were 6 of us girls, and we chilled, feasted and chatted until early this morning 😉 It was a lovely night.
I’m off to make some bfast and head to the office (aka Bizzle) to get some computer work done before I go train clients.
Have a great day and I’ll see you this afternoon! <3
xoxo,
G$
Today’s tip: When throwing a dinner party, make or prep anything you can in advance. All of the appetizers and dessert were done before people came over, and I had the asparagus in the fridge (in the pan, ready to be baked) and the tomatoes chopped, goat gouda grated and garlic peeled for the pasta. It took me a while to learn how to make things in advance, but the worst feeling is having people over watching you prep and peel everything. This way, you can enjoy the party a little more 🙂
Upcoming:
– Summer Shape Up Week 3 workout will be UP on Monday!
– Blogiversary giveaway
89 Comments
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Sounds like a great night – the raw strawberry tart looks amazing! Yum. 🙂
Hi Gina! I’ve been reading your blog for a month or so now but I mostly lurk and don’t comment but today I had to. That pasta looks amazing! Pasta + shrimp + white sauce = my weakness. Can you post your recipe? If you already have it on the blog somewhere just point me to it!
Thanks!
Jocelyn in the STL
hey jocelyn,
i can’t post the recipe (i’m saving that one…) but if you want to make it, send me an email and i’ll email it to you 🙂
Are you kidding me?! This looks like a properly catered party. I mean every single dish looks perfectly yummy. Great sampling of a variety of good foods.
Cute napkins and nice outfit:) I love the cutesy saying napkins.
Your tip is so true about doing things in advance. For showers my gals and I would all go to Costco and see what we could make early, like pasta salads or fruit bowls.
Another tip, never go thirsty:)
thank you!
and amen 🙂 hahah
Sounds amazing!! whenever you want me to come over for dinner, just let me know 😉
That pasta looks heavenly. Question: Whenever I cook for guests, I worry that they won’t want/like the healthier foods that I tend to eat, so I always fall back to some not-so-healthy options. I know that my taste buds are slightly “conditioned” to different tastes because it’s what I’m used to eating. What are your thoughts on that? Because I would love for my family and friends to see that “healthy” doesn’t equal “gross” food. =)
i know what you mean.
i say make it healthy, but make it delicious and don’t tell anyone it’s healthy. like last night, no one knew i used goat gouda or almond milk, but i don’t think it would matter anyway because it tasted SO good 🙂 they thought the brown rice pasta was white pasta and jeni asked which kind i used, they were all surprised that it was so healthy. i think as long as it tastes amazing, it doesn’t matter 🙂
WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE NAPKINS. I NEED THEM. NOW.
(Yes, that was worth all caps)
Everything looks absolutely fabulous! I might have to try to replicate the “calamari”!!
pier 1 🙂
I am planning a girls night now JUST so I can use those napkins.
OMG your strawberry torte looks amazing!!! Totally drooling!!
YUM YUM YUM!!!!!!
Yumm – that shrimp pasta sounds tasty! I love the raw ‘calamari’ idea.
Everything looks… so…. amazing……………… want to eat all of it now!! 😀
Have a great Friday!
-Alison
is jeni by any chance originally from maryland?? dirty bananas are my FAVE at a bar in ocean city, md called seacrets. IN OTHER NEWS, i need your entire dinner. the pasta looks amazing and im starving, so im literally drooling at my desk. arghhhhh!!! sounds like such a fun night!
no, she’s from south carolina 🙂
Strawberry tarts must be IN because I just posted about one on my blog too! Mine isn’t raw, but it sure is tasty! I’m pretty new to your blog, but I’ve tried the breakfast cookie before. I’ll definitely be coming back for more now.
If anyone is interested, my strawberry tart is at my very new blog, http://ateenagegourmet.wordpress.com. Thank you!
Seriously, I need to have you cater a party. Period.
i would love to! i just need to make it out to your neck of the woods 🙂
The tart looks absolutely perfect. I want a slice, please!
The strawberry tart looks absolutely decadent! Everything looks delicous and I love those napkins, so cute!
I want to come to your next dinner party!
Can I come over for one of these nights?! Haha, your dinner looks absolutely fantastic. You are just such a great hostess 🙂
of course!
Everything looks so good! The tart looks perfect and now I’m craving asparagus!
WOW that looks like a wonderful girls’ night!!
xo
K
Everything looks so tasty! You’re a great hostess.
Ok, there are numerous things that I absolutely LOVE from this post:
-Those NAPKINS…perfectly said 😉
-Your outfit…love that you get dressed up for Girls Night! My girls and I usually go low key, but it’s so fun to be fancy.
-The raw calamari…makes me want to try mushrooms again!
-That pasta dish…looks flippin’ phenomenal!
-You drink Riesling…I LOVE Riesling!
-The strawberry tart…nothin’ better than summertime strawberries!
-The Dirty Bananas drink recipe came from Sandals resort, which I just went to on my honeymoon!
Your post totally made me smile, thanks! 🙂
yes! that was jeni’s drink of choice in the bahamas -we were there a few weeks ago 🙂
You’re making me hungry! What a fun party. 😀
Everything looks fantastic. I SO want to make that tart!!! I think I would devour the entire thing!
I love not telling people its healthy untill after they eat! Especially desserts!
The dirty banana sounds kinda awesome!
Jeez, that all looks so delicious! Quite the little hostess with the mostest!
Yes…I’ve learned my lesson in the past….doing things in advance is KEY!!! Great looking spread Gina!
Oh so many healthy options! Most girls nights I’ve been to are lots of chips and sweets!
I LOVE YOUR HUMMUS AND PITA SERVING TRAY!
thank you! jeni got that for me as a birthday gift 🙂
YUM!! I need to throw a girls night just so I can eat all that great food!! lol the tart turned out awesome – if it tasted anything near as good as it looked, you’ve got a winner
Wow Gina. Everything looks amazing – especially the strawberry tart and raw calamari! I seriously want to come to one of your parties sometime. 😉
xoxo. Have a great weekend.
seriously, if you ever come to vtown, i will throw a party 🙂
Your girls night feasts seriously amaze me. It looks like that food took an entire WEEK to prepare!
Everything looks amazing and delicious. I need to learn to prep before a dinner party because half the time, my guests are lucky that I’ve had a chance to shower before the come over.
I just sent that Dirty Banana link to my fiance. He has a secret love affair with “Girly drinks”
Everything looks amazing! Great job! 🙂
Those napkins are so cute! I miss girl’s nights from undergrad. In graduate school it’s just too busy to make time for things like that. 🙁
Your tart looks amazing! I’m sure your guests were wow’d! I was reading back to when you went to 105 degrees — did you make crazy good stuff like this before, or is that where you learned?
thank you!
i’ve always loved hosting parties but 105 definitely taught me a lot of awesome tricks 🙂
I’ve always wondered how to make a healified pasta cream sauce. Yours sounds great! 🙂
You know how to throw a party! Everything looks amazing, especially the raw calamari and the tart. Yum!
It all looks so good, Gina! I have that book and I now sense a strawberry tart in my not so distant future 😉
Best hostess ever!!!
Seriously, you rock, Gina. Those appetizers – especially the “calamari” look amazing.
LOOOOOVE that napkin (or “lurve” it)
The spread looks amaze! Domestic Diva! You are inspiring me to do a fun food and wine girls night soon!
You’re an awesome hostess! 🙂
I love your blog! 🙂
Your girls night sounds (and looks!) wonderful. Love those napkins! I also like the ones that say “Life is short, eat dessert first.” So true!
Looks like a great party. I want to try that calamari!
Why do you always make the weird pout face?! You’re so much prettier when you smile!!
hahah because i’m goofy
Raw calamari–I have seen that in the book but have never made b/c I think the longer dehydrating time scared me off. Just b/c i am impatient LOL
Have also seen the Raw Tart in Everyday Raw but same issue, never made it.
ED & BV artichoke dip. Still need to get on that one.
Clearly you USE your cookbooks, I just read mine but don’t make anything..haha!
Oh this: “but the worst feeling is having people over watching you prep and peel everything.”
Oh girl for my yoga 500 hours, my teacher wanted me to do a little healthy raw vegan foods presentation. Well, I had prepared 80% of the way, but even the 20% I was still preparing and having 20 people watch me spiralize zucchini’s, well yeah, it sucks!
Thanks for the well-wishes for my show and you know I will be having lots of pics taken 🙂
Have a great weekend! And yes, cooking with a vino makes the food turn out better for sure 🙂
xoxo
Like everyone else, I think all of your dishes look SO GOOD!! Especially the tart! And Reisling is my wine of choice, so thumbs up all around. 🙂
That raw calamari looks awesome! Do you own a dehydrator? Or did you use some other method..? I’m looking into getting a dehydrator…if you have one, what kind do you have?
this is the one i own and i LOVE it: http://fitnessista.theopenskyproject.com/chef-rubber-dehydrator-9-tray.html
Have you seen “PARMA” yet? I just bought it today at WF. It is vegan Parmesan cheese that you sprinkle on top of stuff. I just had it sprinkled over roasted asparagus. AMAZING. It is in the pasta aisle.
Your dinner is beautiful!
Lisa
I am so stinking jealous of your girls night.