Pumpkin-Not Pumpkin Flavoured New Years

I've been wanting to do a pumpkin theme since Halloween, and finally got the chance to experiment for New Year's. For the theme I included other food as well, in case the pumpkin snacks did not turn out too well. What was interesting is that most dished did not even taste like pumpkin - a clever idea to get pumpkin into the fussy eaters! 

To start off the New Year's party, I made pumpkin jelly shots, with vanilla vodka, topped off with cream and cinnamon. When making the jelly shots, I was scared that it won't have enough kick, so my hand was a bit heavy - turns out, too heavy. It was extremely strong in the end. But irrespective, what an interesting shooter to start the party of with.

My plan for the evening was to have snacks all evening round, to at least get through to the count down. The snacks were a combination of pumpkin and non-pumpkin treats. 

The non-pumpkin snacks comprised potato chips, vegetable spring rolls with a sweet and sour dipping sauce, a salt cracker platter with cheese and cold meat, including fresh grapes and cherry tomatoes, biltong and cheese sticks, a meat and haloumi platter with different types cocktail sausages, beef and chicken meatballs, jalapeño poppers and chicken strips, with a choice of chutney, sweet chili or tomato dipping sauce. I also used store bought pastry cups (I just couldn't get the time to make my own) and filled with mango and passionfruit cream cheese filling (left over from Christmas), caramel treat with cream and a pumpkin pie mixture - my least favourite of the three cups to be honest. 

For the other pumpkin based snack I made my own pumpkin bread sticks with mixed seeds and tasted like mini bread rolls. This was really delicious and I'll add this to future menus. It is a bit time consuming though, making the dough, letting it rest and baking, but in the end it was worth it. And a plus - the kids loved it! Future lunch box ideas here we come!

For mains my husband and I tried to stay as casual and simple as possible - I even served the food in hamburger boxes! My husband wanted to braai short rib, in his special sauce and made vegetable kebabs to braai. We also served garlic bread, oepsies and chicken sosaties. For sides I served creamy coleslaw, potato tots with a tomato sauce and delicious pumpkin fritters with a caramel sauce.

For dessert I made the long awaiting pumpkin ice cream, served on top of pumpkin cake and decorated with a pecan nut. I was so excited to make this ice cream, and it was really nice and something different. I'm not a big fan of cinnamon, so next time I'll keep the spices to a minimum.

This pumpkin menu was really interesting and fun to play around with, however I think I've had enough pumpkin (and cinnamon) dishes for a while and don't think I'll attempt a full pumpkin evening soon.