Annual Girls Party

This morning I hosted my annual girls only gift exchange party.  Each year promises fantastic food (each guest brings a favorite item) and great gift exchange items. Of course there are no photos from the actual party or all the amazing food that we consumed, but I did take a photo of the little party gift I gave each gal as well as the table early today.

"A little something for your Mistle-Toes"

Under the Sea Birthday Party!

Today is the big day of my daughter's 3rd birthday party!  I have had so much fun planning this party and getting C's feedback on decorations and food.  Though I will say that getting back from a week's vacation, then right in to Thanksgiving, and then right in to a birthday party all in one week is not my ideal situation!

The attendees made 'jellyfish' with paper bowls and lots of different colored streamers and ribbons.  They also made 'headbands' using foam stickers in under the sea themed shapes.

Here are some of the fun details from the party...

"Big Kid Mermaid Juice" and "Little Mermaid Juice"

Sweet tooth fish (my kids and I love to talk about our 'sweet tooth' issues!):

"Octo-hummus" dip and veggies.  Gotta love an octopus created out of a bell pepper and some strips of bell pepper for legs.  The eyes on the octopus are hard sugar 'eyes' that you can buy at baking or craft stores (typically for cookie decorating).

PB & Jellyfish Seastar sandwiches.  These were so cute and so fast to make.  Nothing makes a kid like a sandwich more than fun shapes!

Lagoon Jello... this was probably the biggest hit of the party!  Who knew blue jello would be so interesting to kids!?

My personal favorite were the 'oyster' cookies.  I searched high and low for cookies that had a 'shell' appearance.  Finally I found some lemon Pepperidge Farm cookies!  I dyed some store bought frosting to a light shade of pink and added a yogurt covered raisin for a 'pearl'.

A mermaid photo opportunity!  I took a big piece of folding cardboard meant for presentations and painted an underwater theme.  Here is my boy mer-man testing it out!

Each attendee received a homemade barrette made with real shells.

As well as a goodie bag filled with an under the sea pearl bracelet, gummy fish and bubbles.

Seashell Pasta Salad.  

The food display:

And the birthday girl, not so sure about the sparkler candle!

Happy birthday to the sweetest little mermaid I know!

Baking a Ombre Cake

Tomorrow is my daughter's 'under the sea' 3rd birthday party.  I wanted the cake to be shades of blue to go with the decor and chose to make four layers, each with a different shade.  Light purple, light blue, mint green and white.

The baked cake color results...

For the frosting, I made a basic buttercream and dyed it to match the cake layers, and also had a bowl of white frosting.

I put on a thin base layer of frosting to the bottom and top layers, and then froze the cakes for a bit before adding the final coats of frosting.

The end result was a multi-colored cake.  Not sure if I loved the frosting colors or my new cake decorating turntable the most.  Why didn't I buy one of those sooner!?

The finished product with a seastar, three light blue candles and a sparkler '3' candle.

The inside of the cake...

Mini Pumpkin Pies

Tonight I hosted a Stella & Dot jewelry party at the house.  I decided to create a festive fall menu of heavy appetizers for the guests and my favorite item were the mini pumpkin pies! 

The mini pies can be as easy or difficult as you choose... store bought pie dough vs homemade.  Canned pumpkin pie filling or roast pumpkins and mix your own filling in your kitchen.

You'll need:
- Mini muffin tins

- Unbaked pie dough, enough for a two crust pie.
- Pumpkin pie filling, enough for two pies.
- A circle cookie cutter or even use a glass or small bowl as a cutter.  You may need to play around with the sizing depending on your muffin tin size.  You want cut dough to stick up a bit out of the tins, like below.

Cut as many circles as you can from the dough.  You should get anywhere between 22-30 discs of dough. Place dough inside ungreased muffin tins and prick bottom of each mini pie shell with a fork one time.  Bake the empty shells for about 5 minutes in a 400 degree oven.  They may puff up a bit so use your fingers or some foil to press the shells back down a bit.

Pour the prepared pumpkin mix in to the semi baked shells.  I fill mine just below the edge of the crust.  Bake anywhere from 10-20 minutes depending on tin size.  You'll know the pies are done when they puff up a bit, may have a crack on the surface, and the filling isn't jiggly and is firm to the touch.  Let them cool in the pans for 15 minutes and carefully remove.

Pretty little pies!

And why not get festive with your bottles of wine?  I used a shipping label and printed "Witches Brew" on them with a skull graphic. 

Just a fraction of the beautiful jewelry that was on display tonight!

Mexican Fiesta!

Tonight I'm having some girlfriends over for a mexican fiesta!  Our group used to get together almost once a month, but once kids arrived it made our gatherings hard to coordinate.  So tonight will be a fun night of laughs and catching up.

The menu:Pink Cadillac Margaritas and Iced Mango Sweet Tea

Chili Lime Mixed Nuts

Three Sisters Salad

Spanish Rice

Chicken Enchiladas

and Sopapilla Cheesecake with Dark Chocolate and Coconut Ice Creams

I like putting menus in frames - it makes the event seem more formal and is a fun touch. 

Each place setting had a dark chocolate bar with the name of each guest.

And where there is mexican food, there is tequila!

The enchiladas can be made in advance and refrigerated. I made mine yesterday - just take them out of the fridge for a bit before putting in oven.  

Three Sisters Salad - perfect dish for a dinner of sorority sisters!  Corn, butternut squash and beans make up the sisters.  I snuck a taste and it is delicious!

And to give the party another fun touch... premixed margs in mason jars and labeled with guest names.  Just add some ice and shake!

I have to thank Southern Comfort magazine (August 2012 issue) for this great menu.  And also want to thank Trader Joe's for their amazing (and super spicy) chile lime mixed nuts.  Addicting.

Click on the image below to enlarge the recipes.

Hurricane!

Today our beloved Dawgs played LSU in Louisiana.  To say this was a painful game to watch is an understatement.  At least both teams colors are purple and gold so no matter what happened there was a lot of school spirit!

In honor of Louisiana I made a huge batch of Hurricane cocktails.  I have had a hurricane or two in New Orleans and they are super tasty, super fruity and super strong.  I mean, super strong.  Nothing like almost two full bottles of rum mixed in with grenadine to get a hurricane swirl'n!

Thanks to Emeril Lagasse, the king of southern cuisine, I had a mega batch of hurricanes to bring to our friend's Dawg watching party!  Warning, many of the guys thought the drink was a tad sweet, nothing a splash of club soda couldn't resolve.  But the rest of us loved it.  So much that it was almost gone!

Mix the batch in advance in a large pitcher and place in fridge to get very cold.  Serve over ice and with a wedge of orange.  This is a great party recipe because it makes a lot of drinks at once.

Click here for Emeril's recipe. 

Grilled Watermelon Appetizer

I'm still trying to eat through our 18lb watermelon.  After hauling it to our cabin I was set on using it up... Nothing says summer like eating huge slices of watermelon and spitting the seed over the deck to the bushes below.  And nothing says summer like BBQ.  So why not BBQ some watermelon!?

I cut some watermelon in to one or two bite triangle shapes and put on a hot grill for a few minutes per side.

I topped each grilled watermelon slice with pancetta and a sprinkling of crumbled blue cheese.  I added a dash of fresh cracked black pepper and a touch of salt.  This created a heavenly summer appetizer.  Plus, it doesn't get much easier than this!  Smokey, juicy watermelon topped with salty and creamy goodness.  I will definitely make this appetizer again.

Watermelon and Goat Cheese Appetizer

Ever been asked to provide an appetizer for a summer party and can't think of anything?  Well, anything besides chips and salsa?  I was reading a magazine that gave a few watermelon based appetizers... with a whopping 18lb watermelon sitting in my fridge this was the answer! 

My husband is hosting a pool party for a bunch of his fraternity brothers tonight.  Smoked ribs, beer, baked beans and tempuratures in the upper 90's.  I figured adding a watermelon appetizer to his spread wouldn't hurt.

I cut a portion of my monster sized watermelon in to about 24 small cubes, about 1 1/2"*.  Then I used a melon baller and took out just a tiny scoop on the 'top' of the watermelon cubes.  I then set these aside with a paper towel on top (to soak up excessive watermelon juice).

Next, I grabbed a small package of plain goat cheese, about 5oz and mixed in a few tablespoons of finely chopped fresh basil.  Using a small spoon I put little scoops of the goat cheese mix on to the top of each watermelon cube.  I garnished with the tiny leaves from the tip of the basil plants in my yard.  This appetizer can be made a few hours in advance, just make sure to store in the fridge!   

*Side note... I prefer these to be a one or maybe two bite appetizer.  Cut a sample watermelon cube and pop it in your mouth.  If its too big, cut a smaller size and test it.  Darn, you have to eat fresh summer watermelon while making this?  Things could be worse.

Patriotic Pool Party

Today we're hosting a patriotic/Olympic pool party for 40 adults and kids.  We were excited to get in the red, white and blue spirit and a little nervous about how many people will actually fit in to our pool at one time!

To make party prep a little easier, I purchased yummy mini cupcakes and then rolled in red, white and blue sprinkles and topped a few with mini flags.

And each little party guest gets a goodie bag of golden sweets to take home.

"Thank you for playing today! All little athletes get a bag of gold medal goodies!"

Gold Medal Goodies:

We have a few Olympic 'games' to play.... hula hoop (how long can you go?), a balance beam made of 2x4s, water balloon toss, and balloon ping pong.  I saw this ping pong idea on pinterest (of course) and it is brilliant!  Tape a tongue depressor (or something flat to act as a handle) on to the back of a paper plate.  Now you have your 'paddle'.  Add some balloons and kids can bounce the balloons back and forth or see how long they can bounce their balloon without it hitting the ground.

And what party is complete without jello shots?  Okay, these contained no liquor due to almost more kids than adults in attendance. What they lacked in alcohol was made up for with patriotism! 

Now it is time to party!