Twinnies PAR-TAY: Perfect Party Appetizers

The birthday twins plus some other Davidson soccer girls - all reunite to celebrate!

So we had a little party last weekend for my two favorite twinnies, Miss A and Miss L!  It being their 24th birthday, we decided to go all out!  We had every type of liquor needed for any drink we could possibly want (including Woo Woos... which were A-Mazing!), plenty of cheese and appetizers to entertain our 25 guests!

We got three cheeses for a cheese plate, including our favorite English cheese, Sturminster, which is cheddar-like with chive in it---delicious!!  We also got a yummy aged blue cheese from Wisconsin and a goat cheese that we dressed-up with a little cranberry and pomegranate chutney (by Stonewall Kitchen). Everything was wonderful!  We had Carr's cracked black pepper crackers and some whole grain crackers too (I like the Carr's better).  

The best thing we did for this party was make little tiny signs on toothpicks so our guests could know what cheese their trying--plus it was an adorable personal touch!

In addition to our cheese plate, Miss L herself made a baked brie amazingness--and it's just about the easiest thing to make!  It's a wedge of brie cheese, a jar of tomatillo sauce and paprika on top (we did it in a seasonal mitten shape)!  It's simple and somehow irresistible!  One of our friends practically ate the whole thing himself it was so delicious!

To balance out our cheese feast, we made a crudité (which is simply a french appetizer of raw vegetables with a vinaigrette or other dressing to dip into).  We simply got a Hidden Valley Ranch powder mix (in the salad dressing aisle) that's especially for mixing with sour cream for veggie dip.  The veggies are also great with a Greek tzatziki dip (we had both options).  Crudités are also great because they can bring some much needed color to an otherwise bland appetizer display.

And our final appetizer offered for finger food is one of my absolute favorite recipes that I learned while catering with Missy Fink, Inc. throughout high school and into early college.  Missy is just about the coolest boss and friend I could ever have and she's a darn good cook too!  I asked for her famous shrimp and cilantro recipes and recreated it to the best of my ability.  It wasn't as perfect as it would have been if Missy had made it, but they were all eaten by the end of the party! 

Shrimp can be understandably daunting, but this recipe is really easy (notice a theme for our appetizer selections?).  I bought 2 bags of frozen shrimp, but I chose the pre-cooked, tail-off, and de-veined kind to simplify the process even more.  These puppies were simply skewered with short wooden skewers and placed on a baking sheet lined with tinfoil.  Drizzle them (fairly generously) with a good olive oil, and add freshly ground salt and pepper.  Put them in the oven (pre-heated to 350 degrees) for 6 minutes (or until pink) and voile!  Done and done!  There's a great cilantro salad dressing dip you can get at Trader Joe's that I simply spruced up with some extra sour cream (on Missy's recommendation of course) and a simple, yet ready-to-impress appetizer was ready!

Our final display was festive with a Christmas tree on the table and Christmas lights wrapped around the base of it.  Nearly all of the food was eaten (thankfully), so I guess we did something right!

Parties are my favorite excuse to find new recipes and foods to share with friends and this party was no different.  Don't get overwhelmed with thinking anything impressive will be hard to prepare -- I did all of this (with a little help from my girls) in just over 1 hour!

Happy Sunday!  I'm flying to NYC for work on Tuesday, so I have a feeling my week's schedule is going to be quite disrupted.  I do get to see my mom on her birthday though (yay), so no matter how much I'm slacking with posts, I'll still be a happy camper this week!

Excited for Mac Monday tomorrow...