My Birthday Events & Menu

It was my 40th birthday on 11 February and to celebrate I decided to hold a family friendly picnic in the park during the day and a single girls dinner party at night.  Unfortunately, because my planning abilities are somewhat impaired at the moment, I accidentally booked both functions on the same day!  Luckily, the picnic is from 10-2 and the dinner doesn't start until 5.30pm.  This is really going to test my organisational skills.

The menu for the dinner party is going to consist of:

Individual beef wellingtons

Because I get heart burn from onions I exclude it from my version.

One of my friends is a vegetarian so hers will have to exclude the meat.  This is the vegetarian version:

Vegetables Wellington

• 1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 lb. asparagus, cut into 1 ½-inch pieces
• 2 medium red bell peppers, cut into thin strips
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced (1 ½ cups)
• 1 5-oz. pkg. baby spinach leaves
• 1 10-oz. log goat cheese
• 1 4-oz. jar prepared pesto sauce
• 1 large egg
• 1 17.3-oz. pkg. frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 1 16-oz. jar prepared tomato sauce

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Heat 1 Tbs. oil over medium-high heat. Add asparagus, bell peppers, and onion, and sauté 5 to 10 minutes, or until vegetables begin to soften. Add spinach, remove from heat, and stir until spinach wilts. Cool.
2. Combine goat cheese and pesto in bowl. Beat egg with 2 tsp. water in separate bowl.
3. Lay 1 sheet puff pastry on well-floured work surface. Cut into 8 rectangles. Brush edges of rectangles with egg. Scoop 2 Tbs. sautéed vegetables into center of each rectangle, keeping edges clear. Top with pesto-cheese mixture. Cut remaining puff pastry sheet into 8 rectangles, and place on top of vegetables and cheese, stretching dough gently by hand to cover entire surface. Press edges firmly with fingers or fork to seal tightly. Place on prepared baking sheet, and brush tops with egg. Chill 10 minutes.
4. Bake 25 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown. Meanwhile, heat tomato sauce in saucepan until warm.
5. To serve: Spoon 1/4 cup tomato sauce onto plate and top with Wellington.

Side dishes will include possibly baby broccolini or asparagus - depending on what's in season.  Microwaved baby potatoes & bakes sweet pumpkin.

The dessert is going to be courtesy from my other friend and it's going to be a Freddo Ice-cream cake - yum!  Delicious!

As an appetiser I will make bruschetta with fresh tomato, pesto, avocado, red onions and balsamic vinegar dressing.  It's delicious served on lightly toasted bruschetta bread.  

I'll post pictures to show how my creations turned out!

The picnic menu will include a variety of finger foods including sandwiches, baguettes with a variety of fillings and some sausages for barbecuing.  The sweets will include some biscuits (store bought) and if I have time a cake!  I'll post pictures.

Now I just hope it doesn't rain!

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