We had a Victor's feast before going to see the Catching Fire Premier. It was fun to eat delicious food and visit with friends. For our feast we had soup in breadbowls, bacon green bean bundles, some amazing brie, a puff pastry apple caramel pie, firey cupcakes, Nightlock berry fruit salad, a veggie rosette pie, and various other delights.
The bacon wrapped green bean bundles are from our best bites. They were easy and a really good veggie side-dish.
The Veggie tart is from a
European magazine I found online, pg 67. I just used a premade pie crust instead. Used a peeler to peel the veggies and for a 9 inch pie it took 4 medium zucchini and I believe around 8 carrots. We peeled all of the veggies first. then we made the rosettes and swirled them around. We decided to make some small rosettes too and I liked the effect a lot. After the veggies are done, I drizzled with Olive Oil, and sprinkled with thyme, pepper, and salt. Baked at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.
The puff pastry apple caramel pie came about by accident. I was attempting to make apple rosettes from a recipe in the
same magazine pg 65 as the veggie tart and it suddenly went a bit Sweeny Todd in the kitchen as I almost chopped off a nail. So I scrapped that idea and made my own. I thawed a box of puff pastry according to box instructions. I made caramel in a can, using the boiling method by Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk. Basically you boil a whole unopened can of sweetened condensed milk for 2-3 hours. Every 30 minutes I would check it and pour about 2 cups more water in the pan, as the can needs to remain completely covered during the boiling process. Allow can to cool and then open. Inside is sticky-sweet caramel. I spread the caramel over one rolled out layer of puff pastry (about 2/3 of the can) and then sliced 3 apples and laid out sliced apples over the caramel. I sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, topped with other puff pastry and sealed the edges, pressing with a fork. I egg wash brushed the top (beat one egg with some water and brush over top) I cut some slits in the top crust and then sprinkled with some sugar-in-the-raw I had on hand. I baked it for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Sliced when cooled a bit with a pizza cutter.
For the fiery cupcakes I simply bought premade red-velvet cupcakes and used Wilton's frosting spray colors in yellow and orange to make the frosting look like fire. To make the mockingjay picks I used my stamp from my last party and just punched them out and taped them to toothpicks.
The brie is a top secret recipe by my friend Toni, if I get it I will post it! :) And as for the berry salad I just made a traditional cottage cheese fruit jello salad (1 large container cottage cheese, 1 large container coolwhip, 1 box raspberry jello, mixed frozen blueberries and raspberries all mixed together when thawed).
We also enjoyed some photo-booth fun. For the banners I used my Silhouette to cut the title "75th Hunger Games" using the Hunger Games font. I made the various banners using district logos and pictures I found through tumblr and pinterest. Props included Katniss' bow and arrows, and various colorful Capitol accessories (the skeleton and turkey hat were pure irony).
For take home goodies I made chocolate peanut-butter and white chocolate peppermint mockingjays. I found the mold online on ecreater, but it is also carried at various baking shops. I bought tiny boxes of matches and just printed little labels that say, "Every Revolution Begins With A Spark." I found these silly bright mustache magnets at target.
