Special Cake for a Special Girl

Tonight we had a family birthday party for my little C.  I wanted something girly, feminine and simple.  I made mini tulle pom poms and made a garland for the big cake, decorated in white frosting.  I then made a pattern of pink pearl balls on the sides of the cake.

C's personal cake was decorated with white frosting as well, with pink balls along the top and bottom edges.

Sometimes even the most simple decoration can make a big, and pretty statement!

Tea for 2 - the Details

Today was C's 2nd birthday party.  The 'Tea for 2' theme was too much fun!  I had so many more ideas, but knew they'd be lost on our little guests.

The Details.....

Each guest took home a little box of animal crackers that were by our front door.

I filled pink, purple and white Glassybabys with roses and baby's breath and placed them throughout the party areas. I also filled a few of my grandma's (C's namesake) with roses as well.

For food I borrowed a few fun ideas from other toddler parties I found on the internet.  Paper cups filled with individual servings of strawberry yogurt:

Tea sandwiches made of cream cheese and jam, soynut butter and jam, soynut butter and banana, all cut in to small triangles or heart shapes (I used a heart cookie cutter).  We also had some mini blueberry muffins, and pinwheel sandwiches for the adults.

And for a buffet tablecloth, I spread a few yards of inexpensive pink fabric across my kitchen counter.

My favorite idea! Fruit salad served in ice cream cones.  Brilliant!  The kids seemed to enjoy biting the fruit off of the cone and then eating the cone too! This also helped avoid the mess of fruit rolling all over each person's plate. I plan to do this for an adult party soon...maybe our summer pool party?

Dessert was vanilla cupcakes with pink vanilla buttercream frosting, topped with shiny sprinkles.

Great Grandma C's teacup and saucer filled with roses.

A banner for some added decoration.

As well as pink balloons and poms that I made out of varying shades of pink tulle.

Another fun food idea for toddlers... a cereal bar!  I found these great containers for only $4 at Ikea and used a scoop for serving the cereal on to plates.

Each guest received a teacup and saucer and a personalized spoon.

The food spread.  Drinks for the kids was milk (you could do a pitcher of pink milk for older kids and decorate rims of glasses with pink sugar).  Drinks for adults was pink champagne!

We put a big sheet of butcher paper on our table so the kids could color or create fun tiaras with stickers.

The birthday girl wearing her crown and blowing out the candles.

What a great day and a fun event.  Now its time to sit back and relax, and start thinking about B's 5th birthday party in a few months!

Fall Reception

Tonight we attended a wedding reception for a family friend.  Just because the party was in late November didn't mean the decor needed to scream fall.  The colors were mostly white and black with a gorgeous pop of green.  Orchids, crystals, and an open bar with incredible food.  My kind of night! 

Iron trees throughout the room held candles, crystals and balls of flowers in this hip urban spot in South Lake Union.  Ironically these were the same trees I originally wanted at my wedding.  I loved the decor at this party! 

Honeycrisp Apple Sangria

Making honeycrisp sangria was a risk.  Frankly, I don't like red wine based sangria (the only kind I've tried), but because I love honeycrisp apples and chardonnay, I thought this would be a fun try.  And if it was good I'd make a larger batch for Thanksgiving dinner.

The biggest challenge was finding 'unoaked' chardonnay.  Not every bottle makes it clear if the wine is unoaked so with the help of my local market's wine steward, I found a nice and inexpensive bottle to experiment with ($12.99). 

My test batch was just half a recipe.  I feared I would ruin an entire bottle of wine if I didn't like this drink.  I combined the wine, fruit, schnapps and spices in a tight sealing tupperware and placed in the fridge overnight. (I did not use pisco as called for in the recipe)

Today I anxiously awaited the sangria taste test.  I garnished the wine glasses with sugar and cinnamon. Such a beautiful color and great addition to a autumn decorated dinner table.

The finished product?  A crisp, refreshing and perfectly fall flavored cocktail.   It was so good my husband was asking for more and I knew this would be a great drink to start off our Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's.  Now back to the store for more unoaked chardonnay!



Honeycrisp Sangria, adapted from Adam Seger & Food and Wine Magazine

2 Honeycrisp apples
One 750-milliliter bottle unoaked Chardonnay
1/3c peach Schnapps
1/4c pisco (I excluded)
1/4c honey
2 oranges- 1 quartered
1 lemon – quartered
1 lime – quartered
2 cinnamon sticks
2 quarter-size slices of fresh ginger
3 whole cloves
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Ice
Club soda

Peel, core and chop one of the apples. In a bowl, combine the Chardonnay, Schnapps, pisco and honey. Add the quartered orange, the lemon, lime, cinnamon sticks, the chopped apple, ginger and cloves and refrigerate at least 4 hours. (I let mine sit overnight)

Strain the sangria into a pitcher. Peel, core and finely chop the remaining apple. Peel, section and chop the remaining orange. Mix the apple and orange in a bowl.

On a small plate, blend the sugar and cinnamon. Moisten the rims of wine glasses and dip in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Fill the glasses with ice. Pour in the sangria until three-quarters full. Top with a splash of club soda. Garnish with a spoonful of the chopped apple and orange.

Sweet Potato Souffle

My must for Thanksgiving dinner, aside from turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy?  Sweet potato souffle!  It is creamy, sweet, with nice body and topped with roasted marshmallows.

I found this sweet potato recipe years ago, and every time I make it, we all go back for second or third helpings.  If you enjoy sweet potatoes, and also love marshmallows, you need to try this!

The finished product... Served alongside a mini Thanksgiving meal I made tonight.  Roast chicken, stuffing, salad and my beloved sweet potato dish.  I did learn to not put the marshmallows so close to the edge of the dish.  They melted over the side! 

Sweet Potato Souffle

3 large sweet potatoes cooked and whipped

1 c. sugar – try less sugar and brown
2 eggs beaten
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter
1/2 c. evaporated milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 bag marshmallows

Peel and cook potatoes until tender. Drain potatoes and whip. Add sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk and vanilla. Mix well and put in a greased 1 1/2 quart casserole. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 25 minutes. Place marshmallows on top and return to oven for about 5 minutes or until brown on top.

Broccoli Cheese Pinwheels

One of my sorority sisters is a member of the Make Ahead Mommas.  This is small group of moms that get together and come up with great meal ideas that can be prepared in advance and frozen for future use.  AND, make meals that kids love to eat.

The "mommas" are gaining popularity and have been featured on local television shows.  This week they were on TV and had some fun kid-friendly recipes!  One was Broccoli Cheese Pinwheels and I knew this would be a hit with my kids.

We rolled out the pastry dough on to wax paper and B spread some olive oil mixed with chopped garlic.

 

Then we sprinkled some fresh broccoli that I had chopped in to small pieces.  Then we topped with about 1/3 to 1/2 cup each of mozzarella and parmesan  cheeses.

With the help of the wax paper, I rolled up the pinwheel and helped seal the long edge with a little water.  We then placed the log in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Slice the log in to 1 1/2" rounds and place on a cookie sheet and bake!

I served these yummy pinwheels alongside bbq'd salmon.  Everyone had at least one pinwheel... or two.

And in the November/Thanksgiving spirit, here is 'Tom the Turkey' that we had to disguise for B's school project.  Tom is now a football player!

Broccoli Pinwheels, courtesy of Make Ahead Mommas
1 package of puff pastry
½ cup thawed frozen broccoli, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
olive oil
mozzarella cheese, grated
parmesan cheese, grated

Thaw frozen puff pastry dough for 10 mins before using. Unwrap and delicately unfold. With a rolling pin and a little flour flatten dough.

Sprinkle with olive oil, minced garlic, broccoli, and cheeses. Gently roll up and place in freezer for 5-10 mins.

When ready to bake and serve, heat oven to 375 degrees. Cut in to 1 ½” disks and place on a cookie sheet, and place in oven for 15 mins or until nicely browned.

(If making for future use - cut in 1½" disks and place on a cookie sheet to freeze. Once frozen, store in ziploc bags.)

Chocolate Cake with Rich Chocolate Frosting

For my family's get together today I made a cake that starts with a box of Devil's food cake mix.  The frosting took a little more effort, with almost 15 minutes of letting it mix in my stand mixer on medium speed.  That was a long time to wait and unfortunately, I wasn't a huge fan of the frosting result.  If you do want the recipe, please email me.  Otherwise I'd rather save recipe space for items I'd make again.

Always a bummer to not be blown away by a chocolate dessert.  Granted, the cake was perfect flavor and texture, and so rich I could only eat half a slice!  It was the frosting that sank this cake's chance.

Crayon Wall Art

Today is my birthday, so as a gift to myself I planned a fun art project to do with the kids.  I purchased a 12x16 art canvas and two boxes of crayons.

We laid the crayons down in our preferred order and then made sure we had enough to cover the length of the canvas.

I then glue gunned the crayons on to the canvas.  Blake handed me each crayon as I secured them. Team  work!

We then headed upstairs to our white, tiled bathroom and plugged the hairdryer in and turned it on hot and full power.

It took a few minutes to find the best method to melt the crayons.  I discovered that keeping the dryer on the hottest setting with the lowest blowing setting worked best.  We did splatter some crayon on to the floor, but to clean up I just aimed the hairdryer on the spots to heat them up and wiped with a kleenex.

Pretty cool artwork that will brighten up any room!

Meyer Limoncello and Lemon Curd

What do you get when you combine 18 meyer lemons worth of peel and a bottle of vodka?  Hopefully a very nice limoncello liquor in about 60-80 days!  I saw an article about limoncello and have always wanted to make some.  Due to the lengthy process, I had to make it today in hopes that it may potentially be ready in time for our Christmas Eve party. I seem to be good at finding 'must do now' projects.

I thought peeling the lemons would be a cinch.  Turns out you 'can't' have any white pith on the skin - just pure yellow.  This is a bit more work being so careful!

By the end of all these lemons I got pretty good at peeling in one continuous strip.

I divided my one 750ml bottle of vodka between 3 jars, then divided the peels evenly between jars.

Turns out I was able to fit all the peels and vodka in to two jars... So much for me dividing the lemon peels in to three pretty, little piles and weighing them (yes, I weighed them)...  The color of the peel in the jar is so vibrant, this picture doesn't do it justice.

I then placed the two jars in a dark and cool place and will check on them in 30 days! At that time, I'll add a sugar mix and another 750ml bottle of vodka and let it sit for another few weeks before giving it a try! Stay tuned and stay patient since this will be a long time in the making!

When I was done making liquor I realized I had 18 lemons remaining.  What to do, what to do!  And I was in the mood to make something with immediate return, instead of the 2-3 month torture of the vodka lemon mix.

I searched the internet for meyer lemon recipes and the one that kept coming up was meyer lemon curd.  The curd is imilar to a pudding and is spread on scones, pancakes, muffins, or used in tart-like desserts.

Eggs whisked in bowl.

Lemon juice heating up on stove.

Whisking sugar in to the eggs.

The eggs and lemon mixture on the stove.

Adding cream, vanilla and salt after mixture has been removed from stove.

Pressing the mixture through a strainer directly in to a jar.

The finished product is a gorgeous lemon yellow (no pun intended).  It's flavor is similar to a semi tart lemon pudding and is amazing on toast, pancakes, and scones.  You must give it a try - especially if you make a batch of limoncello!

Lemon Curd, courtesy of Cooks Illustrated
1/3c. lemon juice, from 2 lemons

2 large eggs
1 egg yolk
1/2 c. sugar
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and chilled
1 Tbsp heavy cream
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch table salt

Heat lemon juice in small nonreactive saucepan over medium heat until hot but not boiling. Whisk eggs and yolk in medium nonreactive bowl; gradually whisk in sugar. Whisking constantly, slowly pour hot lemon juice into eggs, then return mixture to saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon, until mixture registers 170 degrees on instant-read thermometer and is thick enough to cling to spoon, about 3 minutes (see photos, below).


Immediately remove pan from heat and stir in cold butter until incorporated; stir in cream, vanilla, and salt, then pour curd through fine-mesh strainer into small nonreactive bowl. Cover surface of curd directly with plastic wrap; refrigerate until needed.