I was so excited when Food Buzz chose me to be part of their 24, 24, 24 this month! So for my meal, I decided to make a 12 course vegetarian meal inspired by the 12 Days of Christmas! I invited a bunch of friends over and as soon as I got back to Los Angeles on Thursday I started preparing.
Keeping in line with my December Recipe Challenge, this meal was entirely vegetarian and tried to include any many vegetables as possible, while still tasting delicious! I tried out new recipes and made up a few of my own!
Here’s how the evening went:
Thanks to the help of my wonderful sister, I set up the table to reflect the holiday spirit! Complete with decorative menus!
Then after the guests arrived, the first two courses were standing appetizers wine we all mingled.
12 Drummers Drumming: Vegetarian Drumsticks
Talia obviously is one of those 12 drummers!
11 Pipers Piping: Cheesy Puff Pipes
Tim knows how to work that pipe!
Then we were ready to sit down to dinner…
10 Lords A-leaping: Leaping Lentil Salad
I wore many hats… cook, waitress, eater…
9 Ladies Dancing: Flamenco Favas
8 Maids A-Milking: Creamy Artichoke Soup
7 Swans A-Swimming: Spaghetti Swimming in a Special Sauce
6 Geese A-Laying: Quiche
5 Golden Rings: Pineapple Ring Salad
4 Calling Birds: Cauliflower Gratin
3 French Hens: Savory Crepe
2 Turtle Doves: Turtle Clusters
Of course no meal is without at least one mishap! My caramel turned out a little bit too hard…
We all had a good laugh 🙂 Still tasted good and if you broke a tooth, you were in a house full of dentists!
A Partridge in a Pear Tree: Pears in Red Wine
A 12 course meal for 12 people made entirely by me! I can’t believe I pulled that off! That was definitely the ultimate recipe challenge!
It was a ton of work but totally worth it! Thanks Food Buzz for this great opportunity!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Foodologie 
Everything looks great! I wish I could have been there!
Aw this looks so fun! You are such a good little chef!
Clever idea. I particularly liked the artichoke soup in what looks like a ciabatta roll. Looks like everyone enjoyed themselves.
I can’t believe that you prepared this all by yourself! Everything looks so amazing!
The menu cards look fantastic as well! Oh I so wish I could have been one of the guests 🙂
Wow. that’s quite the feat!! Well done, everything looks sooo fantastic!!
Congrats on the foodbuzz kudos too!!! 🙂
Dude, congrats on FoodBuzz!!! That is amazing! The meals look amazing, the menu cards are so cute, and you look so stylish! Congrats on your accomplishment 🙂
What a creative idea!!
~new to your blog and loving it! 😉
Oh my goodness! You prepared such a beautiful meal!! Everything looks pretty and festive- your guests must have been in food heaven.
Great job!
WOW!!! This looks so awesome! So glad you got picked for it!
You are really showing off your talent here!! Great work! 🙂
Awesome idea! The food looks delicious, especially the flamenco fava beans. Yum! Congrats on getting chosen as a participant. 🙂
Wow this is SO creative! I love this idea and am so impressed with your cooking a 12 course meal! Have you heard of night of the 7 fishes? Sounds right up your alley.
My friend was telling me that her family does the night of 7 fishes every year! And the next day they make seafood stew with any leftovers! It does sound right up my alley!
I’m so sad I missed this. These past few days, I’ve been barely surviving on egg-nog and Morningstar chicken patties.
What a great event! It looks like it was such fun.
You did an awesome job! This is very impressive. Very curious about those favas…
Your pictures really tell the story of what fun this was…what a great idea for 24,24,24 and you did a great job with the post!
That is so awesome!
Great job – I love the idea!
That soup looks soooooo yummy too
Just one question: Where did you find all the dishes?!?
I came up with ideas for the dishes based on the 12 days of Christmas then found a lot of the recipes that would fit the bill on Food Network. I also made up a few of my own like the Cheese Pipes, the quiche, the pineapple salad (with my knock off moosewood dressing), the lentil salad and the crepe filling and sauce.
This is the artichoke soup recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/creamy-artichoke-soup-recipe/index.html
The Favas: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/fava-bean-salad-with-lemon-vinaigrette-and-shaved-manchego-cheese-recipe/index.html (I served this on bread instead of as a salad)
Turtles: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/chocolate-covered-turtles-recipe/index.html
Cauliflower Gratin: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cauliflower-gratin-recipe/index.html
Crepe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/40-a-day/savory-crepes-recipe/index.html
Drumsticks (goat cheese herb gougeres): http://eggsonsunday.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/goat-cheese-herb-gougeres/
The artichoke soup was my favorite but I have a mild obsession with artichokes 🙂