Emma’s second birthday party was this past Saturday. To celebrate, we had a very tasty vegan feast of Spinach, Walnut and White Bean Phyllo Bites adapted from ED&BV, my corn and black bean salsa, a tray of watermelon and honeydew, and a veggie platter with hummus and pita.

I used the filling recipe from ED&BV for the phyllo bites. The only change is that I made small phyllo cups to put the filling in as opposed to making rolls. To make your own phyllo cups, you can read this previous post to learn how. These are really, really tasty, but started to get a little dried out towards the end of the party.

I pretty much followed my recipe for the corn and black bean salsa exactly, but I added red peppers for something a little different. This turned out a little more beany than usual, but I think I liked it better that way. Here is the recipe that I followed exactly and it made a huge batch. You will probably want to scale it back a bit. Aside from the cake, it was the biggest food hit at the party:

Corn and Black Bean Salsa

6 cups frozen corn kernals

3 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

2 green bell peppers, diced

2 red bell peppers, diced

3 jalapeño peppers, minced

2 medium red onions, diced

3 tomatoes, lightly seeded and diced

juice of about 7 limes

1/2 cup jarred salsa

1 cup chopped cilantro

S&P to taste

Put all of the veggies (except the tomatoes) on a tray, drizzle with a little bit of olive oil and stick under the broiler until they start to char. You may have to do this in a couple of batches depending on how much you are making and the size of your tray. In a large bowl, put the beans, tomatoes and broiled veggies and stir to combine. Add the lime juice, S&P, salsa and cilantro. Give it a taste and adjust the seasoning, if needed. Don’t be afraid of the jalapeño peppers– the salsa turned out extremely mild and I think I will add more next time for a little kick.

The veggie platter was super simple. I took some baby carrots, sliced cucumber, and celery and served that with some pita and 3 kinds of hummus (store bought). The hummus went quickly and I wish I would have bought at least 3 tubs of each kind.

Sadly, watermelon season hasn’t hit yet. I won’t tell you how much the watermelon cost, but I will warn you all to save your money until it warms up a bit more. Our watermelon was a little disappointing– good, but not as sweet as the ones you can find in the middle of summer. The honeydew, on the other hand, was outta sight! I should have bought 2 honeydew instead of the watermelon.  Oh well!

And lastly, a vegan chocolate birthday cake. I’d love to take credit for this, but I ended up ordering it from Whole Foods. I don’t particularly care for Whole Foods, but I didn’t know where else to go for a vegan cake that would be big enough to serve 30 people. Aside from my wedding cake, this was the most expensive cake I have ever bought in my life. Next year, I think we’ll just have vegan cupcakes now that I have Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (thanks, Amy! I can’t wait to try out some recipes). The birthday cake was very good and everyone enjoyed it, but I don’t know that I would ever spend that kind of money again. Since I was making all the rest of the food, there was no way that I could have made a cake too.  And I definitely couldn’t have made one that gorgeous!

Emma had the best time with her friends at her party. Thank you so much to everyone who came and for all of the fun gifts!