Autumn Harvest Party

How lucky am I to have a hubby with such photography talent?

Last week I left you with the teaser, tonight I am fulfilling my promise!

It started with this invite:

The Decor: I showed up early to my sister-in-law's lovely farm to help her get the place spruced up a bit. I had made the banner the day before to hang on the porch. We gussied up the front door and porch (a perfect farm porch by the way!) and got the dining room all ready for dinner after a visit to the pumpkin patch:

Favors and Goodies: The day before I made mini pumpkin bread loaves (courtesy of Martha Stewart "Baking Handbook" cookbook) for everyone to take home as a favor, and some "goodie bags" for the kids. The goodie bags had some pumpkin candies, pumpkin patch Pop Rocks, Halloween Fruit Snacks and an Orange "Izze" soda, all tied up with a Pumpkin Patch Ribbon.  I also created some awards to present to each child to go along with their goodie bags. Awards like : Biggest Pumpkin, Quickest Pumpkin Picker, Littlest Pumpkin, Most Perfectly Round Pumpkin, etc

The Food: After all the fun at the pumpkin patch, and running around the corn maze, we had homemade applesauce doughnuts and hot mulled apple cider! Yum! I found the recipe on the "Farm Chicks" blog, and they turned out great! We packed it all up in a perfectly autumnal picnic basket belonging to my sister in law. Dinner was just as delish... I created a potato soup from a hodgepodge of recipes and everyone topped the soup off with bacon bits, cheese and chives. To go with the Soup was a sausage and cheese biscuit recipe that was such a hit that I must share it with you! See recipe below. Salad was an easy mix of greens, dried cranberries, candied pecans and pear with a poppy-seed dressing.

 

I couldn't resist this "Pumpkins in the Field" recipe when I saw it. It was too perfect to pass up considering the occasion. Another recipe I will share. And to make it even better? These adorable polka-dot cupcake liners from "Confectionery House" (fear not... I ordered them in every color)!

Recipes to share:

Pumpkins in the field (from "Ghoulish Goodies" by Sharon Bowers)

1 cup butterscotch morsels  

2 cups chow mien noodles

1 cup dry-roasted, salted peanuts

24 candy pumpkins (I used Brach's Mellow-creme Pumpkins)

- Line baking sheets with wax paper (or drop them into cupcake liners like I did)

- Put butterscotch morsels in a bowl, and melt them in microwave: Heat on high for 60 seconds, then stir well. Microwave and stir in 10 second bursts until just melted through.... don't overheat!

- Stir in the chow mien noodles and peanuts and drop mixture by heaping tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets.  While the haystacks are still warm, place a pumpkin on the top. Refrigerate to cool and harden. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Simple Sausage Ring (from Taste of Home)

1 lb pork sausage (I used Jimmy Dean's Sage variety)

2 tubs (12 oz each) refrigerated biscuits

2 cups shredded cheese (Mine was a cheddar and jack cheese mix)

- In a large skillet, cook sausage until no longer pink; drain and set aside

- Flatten each biscuit to a 3-in diameter. Press half of the biscuits onto the bottom and 2 inches up the sides of a greased 10 inch fluted tube pan. Spoon sausage over the dough; sprinkle with cheese. Top with remaining biscuits.

- Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate and slicing.

Sunflower Soiree

Mother Nature has graced us with a few very nice, warm late summer days. I decided to take advantage of these last warm days before fall officially debuts and host a small, impromptu dinner party. I had previously been inspired by the Sunflower Soiree featured on "The Party Dress", and threw together my own version. I did it in one day, mostly with items I already had around. If I had spent more time planning in advance, I could have done more, but it still turned out pretty cute.

I confess, I made the invitation after the party. My friends are content with verbal/email invitations, but had I sent invitations this is what they would have looked like...

Outside: simple and elegant, folded and tied with a pretty ribbon

Inside: I sewed a button on a paper flower from my local scrapbooking store to create a sunflower. Black and white gingham paper shows once the flaps of the invitation open. Cute and easy!

A party is not a party if there are not fabulous favors to take home. That's my theory. Many years ago... when I turned 18 years old, and had a love of sunflowers, my creative aunt made a super cute sunflower cookie. Her's was as big as a plate and I remember loving it. So, what's a girl to do when throwing a sunflower themed party? Well call her dear auntie at 10pm asking if she remembers how she made it! Thanks for your help Aunt Rolayne!

So here is what we could remember, and how I attempted to re-create that beloved sunflower cookie (some trial and error involved, for sure).

• I used a heart cookie cutter to cut out the "petals" and a wide glass to cut out large circles. I cooked them separately (learned that after baking them together first, didn't work)
• Yellow icing and sanding sugar on the petals first ...allow it to set and dry well
• Chocolate icing on the circle centers
• Gently lay the heart "petals" around the chocolate circles, the icing acting as a "glue"
• Scatter mini Chocolate Chips over the chocolate icing while still wet

I realized that my versions were too big for the cellophane bags I had, so in this case, good ol' saran wrap had to do. Placed all the cookies in a pretty basket for my guests.

Before the rain and chill arrives, I wanted one last evening on my lovely back deck, and it was an especially nice and warm evening. We turned on the globe lights (courtesy of Target, and oh the lighting they create is P.E.R.F.E.C.T) and had all the food on a table with a huge bouquet of sunflowers. I picked up a dozen at my local farmers market for $9. They were huge, and I had enough for two very large bouquets.

The dinner? It disappeared before it could be photographed, but I will try to describe it in juicy detail. We had cheese and crackers and olives as an appetizer, tri-tip roast, baked potatoes with all the fixin's. I picked up some amazing heirloom tomatoes at the same farmers market I purchased the sunflowers at. I found a recipe for homemade blue cheese dressing to drizzle over the tomatoes with some fresh basil. For dessert, a berry cobbler and ice cream. Yummy.

Now sharing the tasty blue cheese dressing recipe. Because, I am not a huge fan of blue cheese dressing normally... but this one changed my mind.

• 4oz Roquefort, or another good crumbly blue cheese
• 1 cup good mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 tsp tarragon wine vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

Mix in a food processor until combined but still chunky. Easy? Yes! Delicious? Yes!

Party-rific!

I have parties on the brain! Since throwing a babyshower for my friend last month, I am starting to think that party planning may be a fun thing to do much, much more often. Who knows, perhaps someday there will be somebody who wants to pay me to do it? Keep checking in for future parties...

In the meantime, I went to my most favorite place, the Library, to find some free inspiration. Here is what I left with (You can see a few pages of all of these at Amazon as well!):

1. Essentially Lilly, A Guide to Colorful Holidays by Lilly Pulitzer and Jay Mulvaney:
By designer Lilly Pulitzer, this book was mostly personal accounts a various holidays and celebrations in Lilly's life. While the bright colors and illustrations were fun, for the most part I will take away a couple new recipes.

2. Nell Hill's Entertaining in Style by Mary Carol Garrity:
This book was not nearly as food focused (and let's face it, I have a million cookbooks...so more recipes are not what I need!). This book included much more about the decor of the table and home for various themed (and seasonal) parties.

3. The Part Planner by David Tutera:
I think this book balanced the aspects of party throwing quite well, David included fun recipes to suit the party theme, as well as examples of fun party decor and for each party he also includes a list of tips to use. My favorite part of this book however, is seeing a cheesy photo of himself on every other page.
4. Shabby Chic: Sumptuous Settings & Other Lovely Things by Rachel Ashwell:

How I adore all things Rachel Ashwell...always have. This book provides some very budget friendly ideas for not just party decor, but home decor as well. I have a new appreciation for plain old "Nit" dye's because of this book.

5. Styling for Entertaining by Susie Coelho:
The main focus of this book is upon re-configuring your existing homes decor to create a more party-like atmosphere. I really like seeing the before and after photos. The only downfall is... my home is not nearly as "plain" as the before photos, so I don't know how well the ideas would work for me. There are some nice recipes in this book as well. Like David, Susie also enjoys super cheesy pictures of herself scattered throughout her book.

All in all, some pretty good books... especially for free! Thank you King County Library System. I think I will see what I can get on an inter-library loan, not just those found at my own local library.

Now, I need to stop reading about parties... and start planning some!

Sugar and Spice! A Babyshower

Sorry for my summer hiatus! I was so excited to be the hostess to my friend's recent baby shower and had to share! I had been seeing some lovely ideas for a "Sugar and Spice" theme on both Kara's Party Ideas as well as Kara's inspiration "ModernEve"... and used the ideas to create my own. I fashioned the invitations from scrapbook paper I found, and went with a bright pink and tangerine color combination. The invitations turned out adorable!


Decor: I had a lot of fun creating this "Sugar and Spice" banner that displayed over the buffet. Also displayed on the buffet is the afternoon's "menu", something I have noticed done by catering company's. Of course, mine was completely in theme! I used Photoshop and"Shabby Princess" papers from the "Blossom" Collection. Everything was perfectly coordinated (I couldn't allow anything less!) I found lots of cute fuchsia and orange ribbons (I am a ribbon junkie!) and of course, fresh flowers abound. I also had an assortment of Izze's Sparkling Juices... in coordinating shades of orange, pink and deep red!

Food and Favors: I was originally going to use shakers full of cinnamon sugar as the invitations for the shower... but that later transformed into party favors. I ordered them about 1 1/2 weeks in advance from fooddirect.com.... and I received an email the day before the Saturday shower, Friday, that they would arrive on Monday. Nice. I had to scramble... quickly finding some itty bitty personal sized shakers at a kitchen store nearby my house. Not quite what I had in mind, but it worked.

Games: We had a lot of fun with the games. Along with the invitation I also included a little insert on the same scrapbook paper announcing the mother-to-be's registry information as well as "Pampers for Prizes". For every pack of diapers brought, they were entered in a raffle for a gift certificate. She ended up with enough diapers to last her months! We also played this Baby Shower guessing game that I saw here. We had B-Barrettes/Bows, A-Applesauce, B-Bib, Y-Yellow Rubber Duck, S-Socks, H-Hat, O-Onesie, W-Washcloth, E-Electric Outlet Plugs, R-Rattle. Some of them were really stumped! I was afraid it would be too easy, however we did end up with two winners...we had to ask the secret tie-breaking question, "How many times did mommy-to-be have to get up last night for a bathroom visit?"



I loved the little trivia idea that "Modern Eve" did at her Sugar and Spice Party, so I made one of my own. It was pretty funny and I tried to make some of the answers a little bit silly for fun.

At my best friend's baby shower years ago I made up a madlib, this time I found one pre-made here. It ended up pretty darned funny, and I made sure to print it on pretty paper for the baby-book.

All in all, I think it was a success! My dear hubby helped me so much! Our entire SUV was filled to the brim with items I had to transport. I can't wait until the next excuse for a party!

PIE!

Over the last couple weeks I have been on a bit of a pie kick. The first pie I made was for our annual get away with friends, "Nate Fest". I was slow to choose a meal to make for the gang, and everyone volunteered before me. I decided to bring beverages and desserts, which is honestly the two things I love most in this world!

I found this delicious and easy recipe on the blog Huckleberry Prairie. It is a blueberry cherry pie... and one pie was NOT enough for our large queue. Note to self....make twice as much as next year!

Blueberry Cherry Pie
Crust ingredients needed:
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
2/3 cup vegetable oil
Mix together until ball of dough forms. Pat out into pan. Make additional crust for pie top.

I cheated and used ready-made pie crust! Shhhhh.....

Pie Filling:
1/2 cup sugar2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 can (21 oz) cherry pie filling
1 1/2 cup frozen blueberries

Mix sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon.Add cherry pie filling and blueberries. Mix.Pour into prepared crust.Roll out second crust on floured wax paper.Cut out star shapes with small star cookie cutter.

Egg white mixture:
1 egg white
1 tsp of water
2 tsp sugar
Mix egg white and water. Brush on stars and sprinkle with sugar.

Cover pie crust edges with foil and bake in preheated oven at 425 degrees for 35 minutes WITHOUT star crust top.

After 35 minutes, remove foil edges and add stars in any pattern you desire.

Bake for an additional 15 minutes or until stars and crust are golden brown.

The next Pie was made for a very pregnant co-worker who craves banana flavored foods... not bananas! For this reason, I had to make some slight modifications to the recipe. Link to the original recipe listed below. This time I wised up and made TWO! It received rave reviews, several declaring it the best banana cream pie they have every had. It came to me courtesy of Country Living Magazine (May 2009 issue).


Banana Pudding Pie

The original recipe can be found here.

Here were my modifications:

Crust:
2 c Vanilla wafers, crushed
2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
5 Tbsp butter, melted
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and press mixture into a 9-inch pie plate. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Filling:
1 Large box Instant Banana Pudding, prepared according to box directions
1 cup fresh whipped cream
5 Tbsp of Caramel Sauce/ice cream topping, plus extra for garnish
2-3 Bananas, sliced

Gently fold whip cream into prepared and cooled banana pudding, set aside. Layer sliced bananas over cooled crust. Drizzle the caramel over the bananas and top with pudding mixture. Chill for 2 hours, or overnight. Decorate with remaining banana slices and caramel (and maybe some chopped pecans!).

The 4th of July

Happy Fourth of July! We have had a great one so far! We have the rare treat of high temperatures and clear skies for this glorious 3 day weekend. I am trying to relax and enjoy as much of it as I can. We had friends over last night, and excuse to make some onion straws to top burgers...they have been demanded for all future gatherings to follow! I found some perfectly red, white and blue ribbons for some roses in my little antique milk jars. I wanted to mix some little flags in with the roses, but ran out of time to hunt some down! Next year, maybe.



I also was able to finally use my newly hung homemade chalkboard! It is looking a little bare on our kitchen wall, but no fear... I have some ideas for friends to keep him company. Just a matter of time...



I had seen similar chalkboards in boutiques for $200+ dollars (it is a large one!) and decided to just make one myself. It has been a slow project, but with hubby's help we finally got it done! We picked out a frame (16x24) and a piece of sheet metal from the hardware store. I primed it, and painted it with chalkboard paint... we plugged it into the frame, and backed it with some foamcore board to keep it steady. Then viola! I love it. It makes me happy! I will be sure to take pics once the wall is more "done".

Independence Day Party

I have been aching to make this mouthwatering Strawberry Coconut Cake I saw on the Daisy Cottage blog. I tried to convince hubby we should have a birthday party, just so I could make it... but he wasn't interested! So... we had an impomptu "3rd of July" BBQ with a few friends who were quite happy to help me enjoy it!

Look at those babies! Freshly picked and washed... almost worth crying tears of joy over.

This is what happiness is... for me at least. Let it also be known, this three layer cake was so tall, I wasn't able to put the lid of my cake stand on!

Oh divinity.