Summer Solstice {Litha} Fantasy Feast It’s here!! Nearly in the final hour!! Have been wicked busy b

Summer Solstice {Litha} Fantasy Feast It’s here!! Nearly in the final hour!! Have been wicked busy but still dedicated to fulfilling my self imposed duty this year to upgrade all of my 2016 fantasy feasts. It brings me joy each year seeing people reblog my old feasts especially as those posts did help me to visualize and manifest incredible magical celebrations with friends. However as time goes on my standards unfortunately get higher and my tastes more elaborate so I felt it was time to redo my Summer Solstice vision. I hope this post with included recipes below get you in a hot summery mood! Here are the previous feasts this year: Winter Crossquarter, Spring Equinox, Spring Crossquarter (And here was Litha 2016) In the read more there are the recipe links and additional explanations on personal symbolism and of course the image credits! I also always plan my feasts to be vegan inclusive for those with dietary restrictions but also aim for all the food to be somewhat local which matters in these seasonal feasts since it’s celebrating local nature. Anyway there is something for everyone here.1: StartersThe ideal Summer Solstice feast to me is a mad fiery pagan bonfire bbq. If we are talking about a celebration honoring the fiery sun, summertime and food, my mind goes to a grill. However most BBQs can end up getting heavy quickly. Therefore the starters are a bit light. There will be charred vegetable skewers, steamed seafood, shrimp cocktail and jalapeno poppers. Honorable mention would be blistered padron peppers. Garlic Herb roasted Shrimp with homemade Cocktail sauce recipeBalsamic Grilled Veggie Skewers RecipeSeafood image Source (I would ideally want to serve just steamed seafood. The image is from a Paella recipe which is very summery but Paella is definitely a main dish and not a starter). Jalapeno Poppers RecipeBlistered Padron Peppers Recipe 2: SidesThe bread choice for this feast will be focaccia with sundried tomatoes and garden herbs. Other dishes will be charred bell peppers, and a refreshing cucumber tomato salad. Chili herb tomato focaccia bread recipe (vegan with olives image source)Homemade Roasted Bell Peppers RecipeCucumber Tomato Salad Recipe3: MainsThe grill would provide a selection of food, but the main feature would be marinated barbeque ribs. The plant based option would be stuffed grilled bell peppers with smoked paprika. Stuffed Bell Peppers image source (there’s no vegan recipes online that I find satisfying so I would prepare this with sautéed pinto beans with red onions in tomato sauce, smoked paprika, coriander and topped with a dash of chili flakes and oat crème fraiche).Marinated Ribs Source (Beer-b-q ribs recipe)4: DessertsSummer is the fruity season!! We start to see more fruits in season towards the Summer crossquarter harvest, yet Summer Solstice sees strawberries and in some regions melons start to ripen. Other fruits I associate with this sabbat are light citrus flavors from Lemon, Grapefruit and Lime. Also since I was raised in NJ a regional summery treat we have are orange creamsicles. It’s a dreamy creamy citrus delight and has a special place in my heart so I feel like since it evokes summer so well for me it deserves a spot here. For each sabbat dessert I have a tart of choice, a cake of choice and a special dish. The tart for Summer Solstice is torn between a fresh strawberry tart and a lemon meringue, but I would ultimately choose  a lemon meringue tart with flamed mallow topping. The cake would be strawberry shortcake, and the special dessert would be an icecream cake (could change flavors per year but would mostly be orange creamsicle). Alternatives provided would be ice cream cookies as they are easy to make with vegan options/dietary restrictions and in different variety of flavors to suit peoples pallets. Also if you are in a region where it’s available, definitely a watermelon fruit salad. Watermelon was such a big part of summer in NJ but in England its like out of region so it’s mostly strawberries over here. Curly Dock and Strawberry Balsamic Tart Wondersmith recipeSimple Strawberry Shortcake RecipeLemon Meringue TartIcecream Sandwiches source (simple ice cream sandwich recipe)Icecream Sandwich Bars veganOrange Creamsicle Icecream Cake RecipeStrawberry Shortcake Icecream Cake (I was obsessed with these icecream bars as a kid)5: DrinksFruits really make their way into everything during summertime and the drink selection would reflect this. Only thing not pictured here would be an elderflower fresh mint iced tea which will be cooling and refreshing to counter act all the hot and spicy foods. Other than that of course the main non-alcoholic drink will be lemonade! For the alcoholic selection I would love Strawberry wine, boozy melon bowls and grapefruit shandies (shoffenhofer tastes like summer on tap it will change your life). The spirit of choice will be tequila. Something about tequila is so fiery, summery and solar. I would make spicy mezcal sunset margaritas and flamed tequila shots. Dragon Lemonade HolderStrawberry Wine RecipeGrapefruit Shandy Recipe (Shoffenhofer)Boozy melon Bowl (the Recipe is for Subak Hwachae which is a Korean boozy bowl with Soju) Spicy Sunset Margarita Recipe6: TreatsFinal part!! You can tell I am a very sensory person and one thing that made celebrations and holidays memorable as a kid were always the treats you walked away with. The little candies, snacks and tokens. If I were to have a celebration with a whole community including kids I would include some of these. Summery sweets for me were salt water taffy, fruity gummies (especially shark gummies), sticky sun drops on paper and fruity candies with melon, strawberry and citrus flavors. For savory options I would love spicy and smoky treats from fiery chili chips to smoked paprika crisps. Salt Water Taffy (Recipe)Shark Sour GummiesFruit Candy SelectionFlaming Hot Party Mix________________________________If you made it this far thank you so much for reading it all!! Hope I put you on a visual sensory experience for the summer. I would love to hear what dishes and foods you associate with the summer solstice or summer time in general. You can check my litha tag for more ideas or my correspondence list for why I associate certain things with this time of year.________________________________Image Credits:Litha Art by Julia NikitinaBonfire PartyLemon Beeswax CandlesSummer tablescapeBonfire gifGrill Gold and Red tentFlamesFire DancersFire Breather Gif - From me actually! It was my first summer solstice party and there were fire breathers. I took this video. Bilbo Baggins Birthday (Lets be real, the ultimate summer solstice party would be that shire party)Fruit BowlsFireflies gifFlaming ShotsGrapefruit CocktailBeach Sunset -- source link

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