Katie's Wedding Shower

Last weekend Stephanie and I threw a bridal shower for our sister-in-law Katie. More pictures will come when I get them from Steph! Here are the few pics Andy took before he left the house. I made my first banner and I loved it! I have seen so many on the blogs I read and always thought they were cute. I will definitely make these again for future parties. It wasn't hard and it was a really cute decoration for very little cost. We bought the scrapbook paper at Hobby*Lobby. I used the letter punch at school on the paper for the hearts and letters. Then I had an oval cutter for scrapbooking at home. The gifts went on the table at the shower.

Fruit kebabs! Meghan and Lily (my nieces) worked hard to put the fruit on our little bamboo sticks. They did a fabulous job!

The last picture for now- our cupcakes! Stephanie made the cupcake stand. One of my favorite blogs, Annie's Eats has a tutorial on how to make your own cupcake stand. We bought the stuff at Hobby*Lobby and she put it together easily! We bought the cake circles, scrapbook paper (to cover the cans and box at the bottom), and the ribbon. Then Steph used a hot glue gun and there you have it!

The adorable cupcakes were made by our friend, Heather. I found a picture on the internet of some cupcakes I liked and showed it to Heather. She then created these adorable cupcakes. Katie's colors are teal and yellow. These are topped in fondant and then she made little flowers for each one. They tasted great and were adorable on the cupcake stand!

We also had chicken salad in mini phyllo cups. They were cute! I used purple grapes instead of green and did not use the radish garnish.

Katie's maid of honor, Shana brought a veggie tray, and we had salmon mousse that I piped on crackers. Mine did not look like this- I just realized I was trying to pipe it wrong! I did a swirl in the center of each cracker. This was an incredibly easy recipe- with a food processor. I've realized I'm not a big salmon fan. But I heard a lot of great feedback. I'd make them again- they were a nice addition to the food spread and something different and kind of "fancy"! I love the chive garnish on Annie's but the chives at my grocery were half brown so we skipped that step!

One of my favorite things of the shower was the mock champagne punch. It tasted great and we bought plastic flutes at the party store. We garnished each glass with a strawberry on the rim. I so wish I had a picture of the 20 flutes filled and garnished! They looked so cute on the table! Everyone enjoyed the fancy glasses.

I didn't get a picture of any of this - :( - maybe Steph did. But if you click the link on the mock champagne punch and the chicken salad you'll see what they looked like!

Thanksgiving #2

On Thursday Andy and I hosted the Mc. family Thanksgiving at our house. I spent all day Wednesday cleaning and that evening I prepped my food. Andy cleaned the bathroom, mopped, and worked hard on our downstairs bathroom. Thursday morning I finished cleaning and decorated the table with some fall decorations I borrowed from Cara. The boys had made a sign for the front door, place cards for the kids table, and handprint turkeys to hang in the dining room. They were so excited to have everyone over to our house! My parents showed up for dinner and I was so glad for them to come.

Everyone came over around 2ish. We had some appetizers since no one ate lunch. I made Jalapeno Popper dip and served it with toasted bread. Erin brought fresh fruit and spinach dip. Everything was yummy! I also made Pomegranate Punch which Wilson thought was lemonade and poured half of the juice mixture down the drain... :(

We had dinner around 5ish. I made sweet potato casserole, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. (Next time for the cranberry sauce I would reduce the pomegranate juice to 1 cup and the sugar to 1/2 cup.) I enjoyed trying new recipes for the holiday. With both thanksgiving celebrations combined I tried 5 new recipes!

The food was delicious. We also had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, corn pudding, green bean casserole, and broccoli casserole. Everyone had a great time hanging out. The kids put on their own Thanksgiving Day parade in our basement which was adorable. It was too hot for a fire but overall it was a wonderful day of hanging out, food, and fun! With 9 cousins we have started putting all of their names in a hat. Each cousin pulls out 1 name and that is who they buy a christmas gift for. So the kids all traded gifts since we don't all see each other at Christmas. They were excited to get to open a present!

Latest Kitchen Escapades

Over the last few weeks I've tried a few new recipes. I've tried to plan some easier dinners to make life a bit easier. It's helped, but cooking and trying new recipes is something I really enjoy so I have to squeeze a few in somehow. Andy would totally go for a summer camp menu (Monday night is spaghetti, Tuesday is tacos, etc etc) week after week. But I couldn't do that. I need variety!

The first one I tried was Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies. They were good - definitely chewy and the honey flavor shines through. Not your typical pb cookie which are generally crunchy. I prefer chewy cookies so I thought these were good. And not overwhelmingly peanut buttery. I don't mind a subtle peanut butter flavor in desserts but don't care for a strong pb flavor.

This week we had Crash hot potatoes, with marinated pork tenderloin, green beans and rolls. I really liked them. Basically you boil new potatoes. Then put them on a cookie sheet and mash them slightly so they are flat. Then you brush olive oil on them and add salt and pepper and bake them. They get a little crunchy. I liked the crunchiness, that's what made them good! Andy didn't care for the crunchy so much but ate them.

This morning I tried Dulche de Leche coffee from PW's website. I just made enough for me. Andy didn't want any. It was good. I didn't take the time to do the chocolate on top or anything.

For Andy's Valentine dessert he chose a Maple-Butter Blondie. It's supposed to be like the dessert from Apple*bee's. He's eaten that before and really liked it. I get the Food Network Magazine and they always have a "Copy That!" recipe from a restaurant (auntie ann's soft pretzels, panera's broccoli-cheese soup, etc). So I'm making these blondies right now. Hopefully they'll be tasty!

Recipies from Annie's Eats, Pioneer Woman Cooks, Food Network Magazine

Pomegranate Punch

Pomegranate-Champagne Punch

1 1/2 cups pomegranate juice
1 cup pear nectar
1/4 cup orange liqueur
1 bottle (750ml) champagne (I used Cook's since it was going in a punch)

Mix first 3 ingredients. Slowly add champagne. Serve over ice.

Click title for picture. Yum!!