Gio's First Birthday- Halloween and Pumpkins!

Last week we celebrated my little pumpkin's first birthday!  It was a sweet day celebrating my baby love.  We went with a Halloween theme (poor kid will have to deal with that one most likely forever) with a focus on pumpkins.  Essentially, we decorated the house with our usual Halloween decorations, and bought a small patches worth of pumpkins and partially themed the food.  It was fun!  Here are pictures of the details!

The top of his cake from Della Fattoria

The food table- before the food was out.

My mom's awesome goodwill find!

My awesome dollar tree find!

The food table with appetizers

I was super proud of that pumpkin cheese ball. Recipe here.

A pinterest find- carve bread into the shape of a coffin for your spinach dip!
I used black icing for the lettering.

The dessert table, cake from Della Fattoria was chocolate with salted caramel buttercream... Yummy!

My sister made this amazing snake sandwich. There were several variations included but the basic premise is meat and cheese baked into bread dough and then shaped and painted like a snake. Amazing.

Gio's pumpkin shaped smash cake by me!

Yummy!  Trader Joes Vanilla Cake mix with cream cheese frosting.

Purple Princess Party!

Last week my big girl turned three!!!  For the actual day she requested a trip to the oyster farm and sushi for dinner.  (I know... really!)  Love this girl!

Then over the weekend we had a huge Purple Princess Party!  I went a little crazy all things considered, but I realized that these events are my creative outlet.  I love the little details and pulling a theme together throughout the party.  The theme was a mix of all things Disney Princess, along with the color purple.  So very many things to do with this.  Here is what we ended up with!

The front of the house was made into an amazing castle by my mom with help from my sisters. 

So cool.

We even had a fire breathing dragon!

The entrance to our purple castle!

 

The front door- a Rapunzel braid (made by me out of three shades of yellow yarn) and a plastic purple table cloth (from the dollar store) made a decorative bunting!

We made four pendant banners using colored construction paper, gift-wrapping ribbon and pictures printed from the computer.  We had done a photo shoot of Bella playing dress up in all her various princess dresses and used many of those along with pictures of her with the "real" princesses from our trip to Disneyland earlier this year. They turned out so cute!

A window decoration looks like a castle door with drawbridge to the pool (and you should always have crepe paper!).

 

My sister found this frog at a consignment shop and couldn't resist!  She made the "kiss me" sign to go along with him.

 

 

A roll of plastic tablecloth was used to create the purple bunting around the pool.  Easy to hang, inexpensive and makes such a huge impact!

 

 

 The drink table.  I made purple princess punch (1 part grape juice, 1 part pineapple juice, 2 parts sparkling water) and had sparkling waters and flat waters.  No sense in going crazy for a "kid" party.  We did have beer and wine for the grown ups too.  I also wrapped each of these bottles with colored duct tape (purple, silver and gold) and added princess stickers to each one.  Failed to get a picture of those though!

 

 

The food table! I used all purple (tablecloth, silverware, napkins) created simple food placards using Disney images found online, and the magiclip princess dolls for decoration.

 

Pocahontas Bountiful Earth Platter (aka crudités)

Snow White's (Everything but the Poison Apple) Fruit Skewers

Jasmine's Hummus and Magic Carpets (aka pita chips)

Cinderella's Cheese Platter (for Jaq and Gus-Gus)

Belle's French Baguettes

Ariel's Seaweed Snacks

Merida's Beast Skewers (chicken and beef)-

these hadn't been cooked yet so no picture of the actual food! =)

Tiana's Frog and Crown Sandwiches (PB&J cut out with cookie cutters)

 

Aurora's Spinning Wheel Pasta Salad

(again the food wasn't out yet for lunch but I used the wheel shaped pasta and followed my usual recipe)

 

The cake was created by Della Fattoria in Petaluma, chocolate with salted caramel buttercream filling and vanilla buttercream frosting.  Delicious and beautiful! I added the tiara on top (I think I found it at Target- cheap!).

This is a close up of one of the food placards, since this was Bella's very own cake and not related to a Disney princess, I thought she should get her princess picture on it too!

 

Rapunzel's Tower of Treats! Cookies made by my very talented sister Sarah. Notice that it was served in a frying pan!

 

The complete menu was printed for everyone to see in one place. Mulan's Gyoza, Ariel's Seaweed Snacks, Belle's French Baguettes, Cinderella's Cheese Platter (for Jaq & Gus-Gus), Snow White's (Everything but the Poison Apple) Fruit Skewers, Pocahontas' Bountiful Earth Platter (crudités), Jasmine's Hummus and magic carpets (pita chips), Merida's Beast Skewers (chicken & beef), Aurora's Spinning Wheel Pasta Salad, Tiana's Frog and Crown Sandwiches (PB&J), Rapunzel's Tower of Treats, and Bella's Purple Princess Cake. Delicious!

 

My sweet girl and I after she made her birthday wish.  I think mine came true- we all had a fabulous day!



Pasta salad

We have officially entered early BBQ season around here. Although the
nights are cold still and breezes can quickly make you run for your
sweater, the sunshine is warm and very present. This past weekend we
enjoyed two BBQs with friends. I was asked to bring one of my favorite
go to BBQ foods to one of them. I had forgotten how much I really love
my pasta salad and it is SO EASY! So I thought I would share!

This is one of those recipes that you can easily add or delete nearly
any item to satisfy your own particular tastes. The quantities are
also very (very) rough.

1 lb fusili (rotini or spiral) noodles, cooked
1 bottle Newmans own family style Italian dressing
1-2 cups raw or par cooked broccoli bite sized
1 small jar marinated artichoke hearts (I like to cut them into bite
sized pieces too)
1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes
1 can black olives, sliced
1 cup cheese, cubed (I prefer Colby jack or cheddar for color)
1 cup salami, cubed or matchsticks

Cook your noodles, drain and mix with 1/2 the bottle of dressing.
Cool. Add the rest of the ingredients including the remaining
dressing. Mix well and serve!

Delicious!

Chicken "Florentine" with chard

Well hello again! I think I am finally coming out of kid insanity
again. I'm cooking again and even finding some creativity. I'm pretty
sure I have some back logged posts to write for you but I thought I'd
run with inspiration tonight and post our delicious dinner.

We didn't feel like cooking and I've had two recipes I've been putting
off. But there was plenty of food in the house that needed to be
eaten, namely some fresh chard from the farmers market. We had chicken
breasts and spinach ravioli which inspired my "Chicken Florentine".

Now I have no idea what chicken florentine is actually supposed to be.
All I know is it involves chicken, spinach and cream sauce. Here's
what I did...

Three chicken breasts sliced into cutlet sized pieces. Breaded (flour,
egg, breadcrumbs) and pan fried for color.

Place in baking dish, cover with mozzarella and place in the oven to
melt the cheese and finish cooking the chicken (as needed).

Meanwhile our chard was being sautéed on the stovetop. Chopped into
small pieces, with olive oil, garlic and lemon juice. Forgive me for
lack of details, my mom cooked the chard.

Place cooked chard on top of chicken and add a little more cheese. Put
in the oven to melt.

Also meanwhile, I made some Alfredo sauce. Heavy cream, butter,
Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, flour and chicken broth. I would
change how I made it a little so I won't detail the process for you. A
basic Alfredo is easy to do and there are tons of acceptable recipes
online.

Once you are ready to serve, smother the chicken and chard with the
Alfredo sauce. Delicious! The brightness of the chard really held up
to the sauce and it doesn't get as mushy as spinach.

I loved it! And served it with some spinach ravioli with the Alfredo.
Mmm delish!

Bacon Candy

Oh my goodness.  We had a new hit this year at Thanksgiving.  I posted a link to this recipe the other day thinking I might make it.  Well it was just easy enough and I figured it wouldn't make a ton so it wouldn't add too much to the day of gluttony.

Well... I should have made more.  I have a few adjustments to make for perfection but it was seriously delicious all the same.

Bacon Candy

Contributed byBronson Van Wyck

 

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons chile powder

20 slices of thick-cut bacon (1 1/2 pounds)

 

Preheat the oven to 400°. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with foil. In a small bowl, whisk the brown sugar with the chile powder. Arrange the bacon strips on the foil and coat the tops with the chile sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until caramelized and almost crisp. Transfer the bacon to a rack set over a sheet of foil to cool completely; serve.

 

Make Ahead  The bacon candy can be made earlier in the day; store at room temperature.

 

 

My notes- For some reason my bacon did not crisp up the way I expected (or that they showed in the picture associated with this recipe).  I did not use foil however, just put the bacon straight on the cookie sheet so perhaps that was the problem?  I ended up kicking on the broiler and flipping my bacon for a minute to the other side to crisp it up.  I still wasn't happy with the texture.  Solutions?  I'm thinking I could prep the bacon while the pan preheats in the oven.  Then placing the bacon on the hot cookie sheet, it would theoretically cook on both sides simultaneously.  Flipping the bacon over also didn't seem to be a problem as far as the sugar sticking, so that could work too.  I also believe that allowing the suggested (or more) time for cooling on the racks would make a difference.  When I try this recipe again, I'll update this with what works.

 

Here are the final two pieces I managed to capture on camera before it was demolished by our family at Thanksgiving!

 

 

Haven't Given Up

Just wanted to say I haven't given up on this blog.  I've simply been busy with our new baby and adjusting to life with two kids!  It is busy!!!  Barely time to check a computer, let alone cook new and different meals!  Here are two things I am hoping to try soon though. 

Bacon Candy (yes, you read that correctly!)

Cream of Broccoli Soup- one of our indulgent favorites

Anything interesting on your food horizon? As the holidays begin, surely you have some fun food or crafts you're planning on!

Homemade Applesauce!

I am a little bit of a canning convert, discovering the joys of having quality food on my shelves all winter with local, trusted, and delicious sources!  The primary push was last summer for tomatoes.  There are not many items in my house that are typically purchased canned.  Living in California we are afforded fresh, and often local, produce pretty much year round, of an outstanding quality.  I never realized how truly blessed we were until I lived in Boston for a year and was flabbergasted at how horrible even the supermarkets offerings were (and this was before my interest and belief in local sourcing).  Anyhow, canned tomatoes are a regular part of my winter repertoire since we love a good italian meal- anything from roasts to bolognese to soups to a simple pasta pomodoro.  As many of you know, canned tomatoes as they sit in grocery stores are simply not ideal.  The actual metal cans react with the acid of the tomatoes, leaching yuckiness into our food.  Very technical description I know. =)

Anyhow I had determined last summer that I wanted to buy the fresh local amazing tomatoes we are advantaged to have at our local farmers markets, and can them for myself for the winter.  Benefits?  Aside from the tomatoes being local (yay!) and delicious (double yay!) "canning" at home uses glass jars, not metal (minus the lid which is coated anyhow), and so eliminates the whole metal leaching issue.  I got together with my mother in law, her mom and her sister and together we canned something like 240 pounds of tomatoes between us (I forget exactly what the final poundage was).  This was my first foray into canning.  The results were fantastic and despite having 16 quart jars, I ran out before the year was over!

This year we decided to can some more tomatoes.  We did that a couple of weeks ago, though may catch the tail end of our tomato season if we can to grab a few more jars.  I can't wait to indulge in the many recipes I get to enjoy with them.  But I also decided that I wanted to can some other things this year.

Last week I took my daughter and mom out to a local apple farm to pick our own apples.  It was a lovely day and we had quite a bounty to bring home.  I knew we wouldn't eat all the apples, and had the brilliant idea to can my own applesauce with these delicious, local apples.

I followed the instructions found here.  Mostly.  I didn't add anything to the sauce at all since I personally like my applesauce plain and sugar free.  Plus, you can always add spices like cinnamon later, but you can't take it out!  The result was delicious!  I meant to take pictures along the way (whole apples, chunks, sauce, and cans) but as usual I forgot until a little farther along...  So here's the sauce in the pot:

And here's the fruit of our labor!  (ha ha ha)

I did primarily half pint jars for a couple of reasons.  The first is simply because I had them.  The second is because I don't know about you, but when I buy the good applesauce at the store, I find that the sauce goes bad long before I can eat it all because the jars are simply too big for my family.  So I love the idea of having petite servings that will be just enough for a few servings as a side, or along with some delicious meal.   Mmm I can't wait until I'm no longer pregnant and can enjoy this delicious sauce!  (Double bonus?  When this baby is old enough, I can give him this applesauce knowing exactly where the apples came from, and that there is NOTHING else in it!)