Ah! There’s nothing like basking in the glow of a successful evening. It really is one of the most pleasant feelings for me.
One of my guests follows a dairy and gluten free diet, which makes it a real challenge for me whenever she comes around. And I mean challenge in the good sense – I always try to come up with something different for each visit, and try to make everything for her from scratch, rather than buying Gluten Free/Dairy Free (GFDF) ready made foods. Of course, this always takes planning and a trip to the shops to buy ingredients I wouldn’t normally have in the cupboard, like dairy free butter and milk or gluten free flour or soy sauce.
Below is the the menu I made for tonight.
I use recipes most of the time, but I tend to use them as a guide, or a suggestion, rather than step by step. Which is why my cakes never work! You can click on the name to see the recipe. Where I made changes, I’ve added the changes below too.
Here’s tonight’s menu:
Beverages
*Â Gluhwein (Mulled Wine) – Alcoholic
* Russian Tea – Non Alcoholic
Appetizers
*Â Â Bacon and Mushroom Bites
*Â Â Vietnamese-Style Fresh Spring Rolls With Salmon – GFDF
*Â Â Pinwheels stuffed with Prosciutto, Feta and Basil
*Â Â La Boqueria Smoked Salmon Rice Cakes – GFDF
*Â Â Fried Chorizo With Garlic
*Â Â Sugar & Spice Brie
Desserts
* Â Â Â Snowballs- GFDF
*Â Â Â Â Snowman Cups
*Â Â Â Snowman chocolate mouse – GFDF
*Â Â Â Mom’s Traditional Italian Cookies
* Â Â Snowball Cake
Mulled wine – I’ve had this recipe for over ten years. It’s really spicy, and the addition of brandy adds a really delicious kick.
I adore this Russian Tea. I have no idea why it’s called that, as I’d have thought being called Russian Tea meant it had Vodka in, but it doesn’t. I use Rooibos / Redbush Tea. It’s really great, hot or cold.
Vietnamese – Style Fresh Spring Rolls with Salmo
n – the first time I’ve made these, and they were great. I was so unsure about salmon with mint, but it was fantastic, and although time consuming, really very easy.
La Boqueria Smoked Salmon Rice Cakes – Well, I used Rice Cakes instead of bread, and for the GFDF used 
butter instead of cream cheese.
Fried Chorizo with Garlic – yum yum yum. In incredibly delicious shared platter dish.
Snowballs – They call it Rafaelo. They’re very sugary balls. Lovely. To make them 
GFDF I added additional icing sugar and froze them, taking them out about 20 mins before they were to be eaten. They last a while, but they do eventually melt, so eat them while they’re cold.
Mom’s Traditional Italian Cookies – These are so versatile, and never flop. They’re great.
Snowball Cake – a simply fantastic cheat cake. I didn’t even have to weigh and measure! But I’ll have to take a picture of what’s left of the inside of the cake. It’s scrumptious!
Now to sleep. I’ll wash the dishes tomorrow.
Cool. Thanks for this!
A nice recpe idea you have here. I am always looking for more ideas to keep the kids entertained with and this one might just do the trick so thank you for sharing it.