Party time!

On the 5th of July, B and I hosted a party at my mom and Ralph's new house for our Bay View friends. It was 90 degrees and their air conditioning had broke that week (uggggg), so it was a scorcher of a party, but we had fun anyway. We made all the food and drinks the evening of the 3rd and the morning of the 4th.  I took some pictures, but I'll give you a full run down of the menu below.

Saw this idea on pinterest and just had to do it.  So cute!  We had a few left at the end of the night and they were the perfect clean up snack. You really could use any cookie cutter to make the shapes on the skewers for any theme. I would have to recommend making the slices as thin as possible so that the cookie cutter goes all the way through. My slices were a little thick, so I often had to trace the cookie cutter with the knife in order to get all the way through to the other side.

Close up of the watermelon stars.

Chicken skewers with peanut sauce.  The skewers had poultry seasoning, soy and terriyaki sauce, and garlic on them prior to being grilled.  B found a peanut sauce recipe online that include peanut butter, sugar, water, soy sauce, and garlic. I don't like peanut sauce, but everyone else raved about this.  It was really easy to make too!

Veggie tray with hummus and pesto cream cheese dip.

This is one of my very favorite summer recipes.  It's fruit salsa with homemade cinnamon chips. If you are ever going to a party and need to bring something, this is always my first recommendation.  Everyone loves it! It's also really good left over the next morning over pancakes or the next evening over ice cream :)

Annie's cherry and goat cheese bruschetta is definitely worth trying.  It's delish and unexpected! This picture is terrible, sorry!

We also had grilled pork tenderloin sliders with a homemade peach compote, lemon curd with berries, brownies, and regular tomato bruschetta for the food table. We served beer, wine, skippers (ie: skip and go nakeds- limeade, clear rum, and beer), and Pimm's cup at the bar.

A picture of all the girls later in the evening once the sun had gone down. I look HORRID here (note to self: don't let people pull you to the center of the picture and stand face forward when EVERYONE else is on an angle- not a good look!), but I'm glad I have the memory!!

We were really excited to celebrate a great week with our friends and enjoyed having a chance to catch up sans kiddos!!

New recipes

(picture from framedcooks.com)

I made this recipe that I found on Pinterest tonight for dinner.  With the incredible heat we've had this summer, it was so nice to eat something so cool and refreshing.  I thought the addition of a can of white beans would really help this salad to have more substance, and I'm so glad I added it.  It was incredible and so healthy! B stated that this one is "a keeper"! It's got fabulous color, too, and looks great in a white shallow bowl. We served it with grilled multigrain bread which was a perfect addition to the meal.

(picture from bakersbanter.com)

I also made this Double chocolate zucchini bread from King Arthur Flour tonight as I was craving chocolate and can't eat much of it right now (dairy free again!!!).  I've never made zucchini bread before, but King Arthur's recipes are usually great, so I thought I'd give it a try.  Ghiradelli's semi-sweet chocolate chips don't contain dairy, so I can use those for baking.  The bread is a quick bread, so it's super easy and it just came out of the oven a few minutes ago. The top was a touch dry (possible that I overcooked it a few minutes too long), but the rest is delicious! I would highly recommend trying this- just bake it a little less than the recipe calls for. B liked it too- he was definitely thrilled with our entire meal tonight!

Anything you've made recently that has knocked your socks off? I'd love to know!!

Weekend in the kitchen

B and I spent all weekend in the kitchen making amazing food, and I seriously didn't take one photo.  What was I thinking???  I wish I had some for you, but instead, I'm just going to have to write about it all instead.

Saturday our goals were to bake most of the day, pick up one Christmas gift for our niece, and watch the MSU/Wisconsin game.  We definitely accomplished all those things (don't you just LOVE a productive day?).  We made peppermint bark brownies, eggnog poundcake, buckeye bark, and soft ginger cookies with lemon glaze.  We also threw together "nuts and bolts" (our family's version of chex mix) and made apple compote.  We really wanted to have Christmas tins put together for all of our dinner guests, and we wanted a variety of things to put inside.  Between B and I, we were able to sample all of the above, and, I hope our guests will agree, it all tasted delicious!!

Today after church, we started on the meal for our Christmas dinner party (we hosted 3 other couples whom we just adore).  We served the baked brie with apple compote (from Annie's Eats), Smitten Kitchen's short ribs with swiss chard and pearl onions (I cannot rave about these enough.  They're time consuming but worth every single bite!!), mashed potates, and eggnog trifle.  Everyone seemed to leave the table full and happy. 

The best part?  Hanging out with delightful people that we just don't see enough of!!!  It was so, so, so nice.  Spencer was a little shy at the beginning but then loved showing off the "balls" (aka ornaments) to all our guests and climbing the stairs to turn the dining room light off and on.  It was a wonderful evening!!!  Another great part? We have a few cookies, brownies, and pieces of eggnog pound cake left, but most of it went out the door.  Enough for a few bites over the week but definitely not enough to gorge ourselves on.  Unfortunately, we didn't give away enough nuts and bolts, and this lady has been craving nothing but salt lately!! 

Did any of you make anything exciting in the kitchen this weekend?  Any fantastic Christmas cookies I should make next weekend? 

Quick weeknight fall dinner

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and decided to try it for dinner this week as the picture couldn't be more delicious looking.  I think B would agree, it was awesome!!  For a quick and easy weeknight dinner, it really can't be beat.  We made cheddar biscuits to go with it, though it would be equally good with a great storebought or homemade focacia bread. 

I did tweak the recipe a bit.  I added another can of tomatoes, another can of white beans, a little extra crushed red pepper, and 16 oz of frozen tortellini rather than the dried (it's just what we already had at home).  I wanted it to be a little heartier (8oz of chicken broth is a LOT!).  I also had a ton of spinach on hand so used that as my leafy green. 

Definitely put this on your weeknight rotation.  You'll love it!!!! 

(We're trying another Pinterest recipe tomorrow night- Tiki Masala.  If it's good, I'll let you know!)