A Flashback for Fruits & Veggies Monday! Celebration Edition ;)

Happy Monday!  My dear @lenasveganliving shared a lovely cake for her #fruitsandveggiesmonday contest post this week.  Little did she know, it's not only a special 30th week of the competition (bravo!!), but also a special day for me personally.  I celebrate 36 years of life today!  Thank you Lena for such a lovely birthday cake. ;)

I am not one for over the top celebrations, but last year I decided to mark the halfway point of my favorite decade of life so far with a party at our home.  Usually when @dksart and I host anything, we keep it simple and do pot-luck.  However, for my party instead of having everyone bring something to me, I wanted to share the beautiful food I love with all of the people I care about most in life.  If you really love your friends and family, don't you want to give them food that will keep them around for as long as possible?

I didn't take a lot of photos, but I tried to make a full spread with something that everyone would like.  Of course you can never go wrong with a big bowl of beautiful fruit.  In a pinch those mixed packages you can get in the produce department aren't terrible, but I like fresh cut so much better.  It tastes much richer and it is easier to get organic.  Garnished with a little fresh mint from the garden and a drizzle of fruity white balsamic--doesn't get much better!

I also sliced up fresh veggies to dip in homemade hummus.  The other bowls included a chickpea and roasted red bell pepper salad, sorghum salad with garden herb pesto and shallots, shredded raw broccoli and Brussels sprouts salad, and a black bean and mango salsa/salad.  Veggies galore!  I think the only thing I didn't make fresh was some organic blue corn tortilla chips and some olives.  My dear friend made me a beautiful vegan peanut butter chocolate cheesecake, but I totally forgot to take any pictures of it!!

This year we did host family yesterday, so I made a few yummy contributions to the meal.  Nothing quite as elaborate as the year before.  To be fair, I was exhausted after all of that preparation, but it was absolutely worth it to see all of my loved ones enjoying so many dishes loaded with the power of fruits and veggies.

I love my spuds, so I popped some simple sweet potato and russet potato fries into the oven.

I also made some chickpea and sweet potato veggie patties from the latest Vegan Richa cookbook (my January review of it here).  They were really simple compared to some of the veggie burgers I have made, which is always nice.  The flavor was a bit different, as well, with a little rice wine vinegar and ginger as some of the main components.  Overall quite a delicious contribution to the meal.  I'm happy to have some leftovers for lunch today. :)

I did get some of my usual meal prep in yesterday, but I wanted to share with you my version of the perfect party spread.  Though I still love food, celebrations are more about spending time with people I care about than overindulging in things that just don't make me feel good.  I still indulge from time to time--I had a decadently delicious piece of chocolate cake from my favorite vegan restaurant on Saturday--but I'm happy that with age has come the wisdom to celebrate my body and health instead of detracting from it.

I hope you all have a fantastically healthy start to the week!