Felicity's Rustic Pumpkin Birthday

As always, I have these great plans for parties and eventually have to scale back because they get expensive really fast. And now with Pinterest and Etsy, my expectations of a good party are way to high. I mean, it's a one year old's party for goodness sake.

So the theme I decided on was a Rustic Pumpkin Party for our little pumpkin. I got the idea from the Hostess with the Mostess Blog. I obviously didn't have the resources to do the same kind of party they did, so I changed it up a bit.

 The great thing about this theme was that it was very easy to find supplies. My brilliant plan was to wait until after Halloween so get pumpkin supplies because I figured they would be on sale, and they were. It's just that, things became really hard to find the closer I got to her birthday. So it kind of worked but I think that next time, I will get a few things earlier. Another good thing was that I was hosting it in my home, so I could decorate a little at a time. I made some burlap banners that were up pretty much the two weeks before the party and a good month afterward.

For the food, I decided on a fall themed menu. I didn't want to go too crazy with the whole "pumpkin" theme with the food, so I chose fall inspired dishes. I probably should have scaled back the food a bit, but the Puerto Rican side of me didn't want to chance people going hungry. There were lots of leftovers and we were happy to give them away. For the cake, I went with pumpkin spice with cream cheese icing. Everything was delicious.

 It was a great party, with good friends and family, celebrating our little princess. I went into a coma afterwards, but it was a great party.

My husband just whipped this up

Burlap Banner with lace and pumpkin appliques

We put roses around the house to add a girlie touch

The pumpkins were actually cupcake toppers that I glued to lace

The table spread

Pumpkin Rice Krispie Treats

Mini Apple Pies

Autumn Trail Mix

Rose Smash Cake

Pumpkin Cupcakes

The Birthday Girl

She's passionate about cake

Happy Birthday Princess!

Food:
Smash Cake and Cupcakes - Princess Pea Cupcakery
Fall Fruit Salad
Mini Apple Pies
Pumpkin Rice Krispies
Fall Trail Mix
Pumpkin Hummus and Veggies
Roasted Vegetable Fall Pizza
Earth's Best Organic Pouches (Pumpkin/Cranberry/Apple & Butternut Squash/Pear)
Frozen mini corn dogs and pigs in a blanket

Drinks:
Apple Juice
Hot Apple Cider with Mulling Spices
Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat Beer

Nut-Free Fall Trail Mix

There are a lot of different trail mix recipes out there. For my daughter's birthday I tried to find one that was more allergy friendly since we have some friends with allergies. After much searching, I couldn't find one that I loved so instead I came up with my own. It isn't completely allergy free, but I think if you avoid eating certain elements, it could work. I tried to avoid nuts and gluten mostly. You can always adapt it to fit your own likings.

Nut-Free Trail Mix
4 Cups Chocolate Chex Mix
4 Cups Kettle Corn
4 Cups Tiny twist Pretzels (omit for wheat allergy)
1 bag of Autumn Mix honey candy
2 cups Fall M&Ms or Reeses Pieces (omit for milk, or substitute with dairy free chocolate chips)

*optional (if you have to omit lots of things):
2 cups miniature marshmallows, or two bags of Dandies Marshmallow
2 cups of Bugles or another gluten free snack

Summer Ribbon Salad

On a lighter note...

I love summertime produce. Everything is so refreshing, delicious, and cheap. When you buy these things out of season it can get really expensive, but now is the time to buy zucchini, mango, avocado, and corn. I remember in the fall I went to buy corn on the cob and it was like $4 for 4 cobs. This week, I got 10 corn cobs for $3. So I stocked up. And most places you can get 10 mango or avocado for $10.

After reading a few recipes, I was inspired to make something light and yummy. This is pretty much a mashup of my favorite ones, so here goes my best attempt at creating a recipe out of something I did on a whim.



Summer Ribbon Salad
(serves 4ish)

Salad:
2 medium sized zucchini, cut with a potato peeler into ribbons
1 cucumber, ribboned
2 grilled corn cobs, with corn cut off
1 avocado, diced
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly
1 champagne mango (it was in season), used for garnish but you can put it in the salad

Dressing
(I really have no idea the measurements, I just made it up as I went along)
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of one lime
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

A Week with Martha

Over the past year I have been subscribed to Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. I have loved it because it's small, fits in your bag, and is full of recipes. Last week I was determined to make dinner at home (something I haven't really done since Felicity was born). So I looked through all my issues and picked out the best weekly menu. This is the best part of the magazine. They pick 5 meals and create a shopping list that you can just rip out and take to the store. No thinking involved. And this is what I needed. I don't have the energy to sit down and come up with a menu for the week. So I chose the meal list from the November 2011 issue and here's how it went.
(Links to the recipes on Martha Stewart's site)


MONDAY
Steak Pizza with Peppers and Onions

This was soooo good. It was the most filling and hearty pizza I've ever made at home. An easy short cut I do when making pizza is just buying the pizza dough from the Publix Deli. I get no satisfaction in making dough, so I don't even waste my time with it. The recipe says that it serves 4 and it really does. My only critique is that I would serve this with some mixed greens.

TUESDAY
Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Fall Vegetables
Yay for vegetables!! There aren't many vegetable recipes that I like, but this one was easy and tasty. I don't think I've had brussels sprouts since I was like twelve and my uncle wouldn't let me leave the dinner table until I finished eating all of them. Needless to say, that did not make me a fan. But now I am. I've also never had parsnips before, but they were pretty good. Dylan did not agree so next time I will just substitute carrots. I think what this dish was missing was somekind of grain. The meal went right through us and we were hungry an hour later. What I LOVED was how the recipe helped plan ahead for Friday's meal (you saved a portion of the tenderloin to be used later).

WEDNESDAY
Greek-style Chicken with Pickled Onions, Tomatoes, and Tzatziki
Flavor-fest in my mouth! I actually just made this meal tonight because we went out that night. It was delicious. This is one of the few meals where it actually took as long to make as the recipe said it would (normally I find that they take longer). Everything was easy. Instead of parsley, I used dill because I like dill in my tzatziki. Since Dylan hates white rice, I made pearl couscous. Will definitely be making this again.

THURSDAY
Mushroom and Lentil Soup
First off, this meal went wrong for us by not naming a meat protein in the title. And when you are making dinner for a man, I've learned, there needs to be meat. Lentils have a lot of protein in them but you either love 'em or hate 'em. I think Dylan hates them.

FRIDAY
Lo Mein with Pork

Again, I loved that the pork for this meal was already made early in the week. That saved so much time. I might have made too many noodles cause it was very "noodley". I feel like it could use more vegetables but I'm not sure what. Will make this again.

Maple Oatmeal Dump Cookies

* Edited 1/30/12: I made these cookies again and modified it a bit. All the modifications are in RED. They came out more moist and crumbly then the first batch. So the choice is up to you.

I totally just made up that name for these cookies and it doesn't sound too appealing. Well you know that cake, "Dump Cake", where you just toss whatever canned fruits you have in it? Well this is kind of the same idea. I was trying to come up with a healthy treat for Dylan and I and mashed up a couple of recipes to get this. I think they were pretty good for my first time making oatmeal cookies and I had to restrain myself from adding chocolate chips because I usually add chocolate chips into everything I bake. I'm sure I will make some adjustments over time to make them a little healthier like adding grated zucchini or flax seed or protein powder. This go around I just used whatever I had. Hope you try it.

Maple Oatmeal "Dump" Cookies
Yields: 24 cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup real maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (pumpkin pie spice)
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (1 cup all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour)
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
*1-2 cups of treats
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup grated carrots
1 cup grated zucchini
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup crushed pistachios


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Beat butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add egg, vanilla, and syrup until well blended.
3. Sift flour, baking soda, salt cinnamon. Gradually add flour mixture until completely blended.
4. Stir in rolled oats and whatever treats you have. I had a bag of trail mix laying around that included dried cranberries, golden raisins, almonds and sunflower seeds.
5. Make cookies and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Working My Way Through Pinterest

If you don't know, Pinterest is the best website out there. Endless pictures of inspiration for decorating, cooking, crafting, cleaning, organizing, etc. It really is addicting. After many "pins" I decided that I actually should start making things rather than just saying that I wanted to make them. So in the last week, I tackled a couple of my pins and wanted to share which ones I tried and what I liked/didn't like about them.

1. Chicken Broccoli Supreme: I searched for a chicken and broccoli casserole so I could freeze half of it for when the baby came. This was really good. I used a little more chicken then what the recipe called for but figured we wouldn't mind the extra protein. At first I was going to serve it with rice, but my husband hates rice so I went with the next recipe.

2. Hasselback Potatoes: I kept seeing these on Pinterest and just had to try them. They didn't come out as crispy as I was hoping. Maybe I was just too impatient to wait for them to cook all the way I don't know. The bottoms were nice and crispy but the rest of the potato was just normal.

3. Snickers Salad: Just 3 ingredients. Snickers bars (frozen), cool whip, and granny smith apples. It did taste good but it can't figure out the right ratios for everything. First I thought I had too much Cool Whip and by the time I got to the end of the dessert I had too much Snickers. I think next time I might add some caramel syrup to it to get more of the caramel apple feel.

4. Mummy Dogs: I just made these yesterday for a Kids Halloween party. Super easy and cute. I used turkey dogs to make them a little bit healthier, but what's one mummy dog gonna hurt.


Once we get a more steady income, I decided to set aside one day a week for Pinterest projects. This way I can hold myself accountable to actually making something rather than mindlessly pinning pictures. It will be fun to finally start checking things off my list.

Pumpkin Spice Syrup

In my attempt to save a little money this fall, I made my own pumpkin spice syrup. It's really easy and makes your house smell yummy in the process. Every fall I make one great purchase and that is Williams-Sonoma Mulling Spices. I've used it for apple cider, for spiced tea, and for pumpkin spice syrup. Here we go...

Ingredients:

1 part water/ 1 part sugar
4 tablespoons of Mulling Spices (from Williams and Sonoma)
4 tablespoons of Pumpkin Puree
Pumpkin Pie Spice
*cheese cloths or tea infuser if you have one

Since I didn't have a cheese cloth to put the spices in, I used a big tea infuser ball that I had. In order to keep it from getting sticky from the sugar, I put some extra water in the pot and let the spices sit in it for a while on medium heat. After about 15 minutes, I took the tea ball out and added the sugar and pumpkin puree, whisking until it dissolved. That simmered on low for about 10 minutes or until it was a little syrupy (sp?).

I got this bottle and funnel from the Container Store (my fav!) for under $4. It was the perfect bottle for this syrup.

The finished product. I actually made more than what this bottle could hold and had to dump some out. I think it yielded about 1 cup or more. I don't really know how long this should last, maybe 2-4 weeks in the fridge. We'll see if it lasts that long.

Here is my attempt at a Pumpkin Spice Latte. It was pretty weak because I had to use decaf espresso (boo). I'll try again with a half-caf. For the latte, I poured the syrup into the milk before I steamed it so that it could heat up with the milk. I added a couple of dashes of pumpkin pie spice to kick it up a notch. I think it could still use more of the pumpkin puree but it still tastes yummy.

Balsamic Skirt Steak

Last night I tried a new Martha Stewart recipe. Overall it was a hit but we were hungry like an hour after we ate. Maybe it needed some bread with it or something.

Everyday Food, March 2008

• Prep Time 35 minutes
• Total Time 35 minutes
• Yield Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 pints grape tomatoes
• 6 scallions, white and green parts separated and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
• 1 1/2 pounds skirt steak (cut into 2 or more pieces, if necessary, to fit in skillet)
• 1 cup balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large saucepan, set 4 cups water to boil. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss tomatoes with scallion whites and 1 tablespoon oil; season with salt and pepper. Roast until tomatoes are tender and some skins have split, 12 to 15 minutes; toss with scallion greens.
2. Meanwhile, add 1 teaspoon salt to boiling water; gradually whisk in cornmeal. Simmer very gently over low heat, whisking occasionally, until polenta is thickened and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Whisk in butter and Parmesan, and keep warm over very low heat (whisk in some water just before serving if polenta becomes too thick).
3. Heat remaining tablespoon oil in a large skillet over high. Season steak with salt and pepper; add to skillet. Cook, turning once, 6 to 8 minutes total for medium-rare. Transfer to a plate, cover loosely with aluminum foil, and let rest, 5 to 10 minutes (reserve skillet).
4. Add vinegar to skillet, and boil over high until reduced to 1/2 cup, 5 to 7 minutes; stir in any juices from resting steak. Slice steak, and serve with vinegar sauce, polenta, and tomatoes.

Anniversary Cake

Yesterday Dylan and I celebrated 5 years of marriage. Its crazy that that much time has passed but then again it feels like we've been together forever. I'm so thankful for everyone who was a part of that day and who has been a part of our lives for the last 5 years. We've been blessed with family and friends that have been great examples of what marriage is supposed to be.

Well, we weren't able to celebrate the way we wanted on the day of our anniversary so we just went out to dinner and I made a cake. I was wanting to get a cake from the same bakery that made our wedding cake, but they just happened to be out of town the last week. So, I just made it myself. Our wedding cake was an Amaretto Raspberry Swirl cake with raspberry filling and buttercream frosting. If you are in St. Pete and want to try the real thing, check out Cakes By Carolynn. I couldn't find an exact recipe for this, so I just pieced together different recipes. Take a look at how it turned out (I took all the pictures with my phone so they aren't great).

The raspberry filling. It turned out delicious and I think it's my favorite part of the cake.

I used 6 inch pans and attempted to swirl the raspberry filling. Apparently I put too much batter in the pans and not enough raspberry for the swirls, so the tops bubbled over and I had to cut off all the pretty swirls. Next time I won't use so much batter for the cake and will mix some of the batter with the raspberry filling and dollop more of it onto the cake.

The finished product after we'd eaten a couple of slices. Notice the thick layers and the lack of swirls.

Served with some frozen yogurt it was the perfect dessert. I would suggest this cake to anyone who is wanting to make a cake for a wedding or a bridal shower. It would even make awesome cupcakes!

Raspberry Filling
12 oz frozen unsweetened raspberries, thawed
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
2 heaping tablespoons cornstarch

1. Thaw raspberries and strain juice from berries. Add enough water to the juice to get 3/4 cup of liquid
2. In a small saucepan, combine raspberry juice/water, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture bubbles and thickens. Remove from heat, set aside.
3.With a fine wire strainer, use a spoon to press the raspberries so that the seedless pulp falls into a bowl below. Strain enough pulp to get between 1/3 - 1/2 cup of pulp. *You can skip this step and just use the whole berries if you don't mind seeds

Amaretto Cake
1 cup slivered almonds
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup amaretto liqueur
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 egg white

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease the bottom and sides of two round cake pans, lightly flour.
2. Put almonds in food processor or blender and grind until finely ground.
3. In large bowl, beat cake mix, almonds, water, 1/2 cup liqueur, the oil and egg whites with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pans.
4. Bake and cool as directed on box for 8- or 9-inch pans.


Buttercream Frosting (one of the best tasting I've made. I halved it for my cake)
2 cups shortening
8 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons clear imitation vanilla extract (I used pure vanilla cause it's what I had and it tastes better)
6 fluid ounces heavy cream
*Optional: 1 Tablespoon of Amaretto Liquor

1. Cream shortening until fluffy. Add confectioner's sugar and continue creaming until well blended.
2. Add salt, vanilla, and whipping cream blend on low speed until moistened. Add additional whipping cream if necessary (up to 2 ounces). Beat at high speed until frosting is fluffy.

Fried Rice

I've been meaning to share this recipe for a while but I kept forgetting. I love asian food but I'm always intimidated by recipes and have never really tried making it at home (except for stir fry). So when I saw this recipe in Martha Stewarts Everyday Food Magazine, I was really excited to try it. It actually was one of the easier meals I've made. It took some time chopping up things and cooking the rice, but I was really pleased with how it came out. Instead of the ground pork I used chicken and shrimp that we had leftover from dinner the previous days. So it really was a cheap meal because I used leftover meat, some leftover rice, and I already had frozen peas and carrots. I look forward to making it again and figuring out whatelse I can serve with it.

New Baby Food

Some of Liam's favorite food right now are blueberry pancakes and mac & cheese. The boy loves his carbs. I actually enjoy making these foods because I get to eat them too! I don't really follow a recipe for the mac and cheese, I just mix together pasta (ditalini), plain yogurt, shredded cheese, and toss a in few vegetables. For the blueberry pancakes I use the recipe from my Baby Love book.

Whole Grain Blueberry Pancakes

Serving Size:

Makes eight 2-ounce pancakes.

Ingredients:

For the pancake mix:

• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar

For the pancakes:

• 2 cups pancake mix (from above)
• 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
• 2 eggs
• 1 pint buttermilk
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted (that is 1/8 pound)
• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Method:

In a large bowl, combine the ingredients for the dry pancake mix. Store in a zipper bag or in a plastic container with a tight fitting lid.

Preheat griddle to 350°F. You can also use a large cast-iron pan or a nonstick pan.

Just let it preheat for a while on medium heat — you’ll have to practice a bit to achieve the correct and consistent heat. Pour the pancake mix and the flaxseed into a large bowl. Whisk eggs in a small bowl. Add buttermilk and then melted butter to the small bowl and whisk ingredients together.

Add the egg, buttermilk, and butter mixture to the pancake mix and the flaxseed.

Add blueberries. Slowly whisk together to just combine wet and dry ingredients.

You do not want the mixture to be smooth. Ladle mixture (about 2 ounces per pancake) onto the griddle and cook until golden brown. Flip and cook the other side until golden brown. This should take approximately 5 to 6 minutes.

So this is the New Year...and I feel very different

Last Night we celebrated the New Year in a very different way. For the past eight years we have celebrated in Atlanta during Christmas Conference. We danced the night away with friends and stayed up really late. Well let me tell you, times have changed. Instead of spending the night out dancing with friends, we stayed in and forced ourselves to stay up til midnight. I felt totally lame. Is this what parents do on New Years?

To make the night a little fun I made an Italian inspired dinner for us. We started with a plate of Bruschetta and Manchego cheese with Honey. Then for our second course we had Eggplant Parmesan (Martha Stewart). For dinner we had Steak with zucchini ( I didn't really follow a recipe for this). Finally my favorite part, we had Lemon Panna Cotta with a Blackberry Balsalmic Sauce. This was my favorite!!!! I was so happy with how this turned out and am anxious to try different combinations. Here are a few pictures.

Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving Photos

Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving. We didn't do a good job taking pictures because we were so busy. And none of them are edited, oh well.

Neither of us had cooked a turkey before so we were a little intimidated.

Disgusting

We almost dropped the turkey putting it in

Our cutie all dressed up. He busted his eye the night before and started getting sick that morning so it was a great day for him.

Our fancy place settings

The turkey was beautiful. Dylan had already started carving it before we realized that we hadn't taken a picture of it yet.

The hostesses.

Post Thanksgiving

It has been a long time since I've written because so much has been going on. Last week, Dylan and I hosted our first family holiday. It was great to not have to go anywhere for a change. We had a full house for thanksgiving, 11 people in all. My sister-in-law and I had the brilliant idea of cooking the meal (which neither of us had done before). It was a lot of work and took careful planning but we pulled it off. And I must admit our turkey was one of the best turkeys I have ever tasted. We do have pictures of it, but they are still on our camera. I don't know why I was so intimidated about the turkey because it was the easiest thing to make. We also made (from scratch) mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, kale, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and a beet salad. It was quite a feast.

Then on Thanksgiving day, Liam started to get sick. We knew something was wrong when he wasn't smiling all day long. The sickness really kicked in after everyone left on Saturday. Stuffy nose, coughing, watery eyes, sneezing. We ended up taking him to the Dr. cause we don't know what we're doing, but they said everything was fine unless he got a fever. But boy were the nights difficult. Monday night he went down at 7 and then woke up every hour. His cough was so bad that he couldn't settle down but the moment I picked him up he collapsed in my arms from exhaustion. Then when I would try to put him back down, he would wake up. So the night ended with Liam finally falling asleep at 1 am in my arms on the floor.

Now, he's feeling a little better but Dylan is REALLY sick. Like flu sick. I think right now he's sleeping on the bathroom floor wrapped in a towel with a space heater on. So our family is completely pitiful right now. Hopefully this night won't be too bad

New Favorite Squash

So last week I made spaghetti squash for the first time. How fun. Why have I never had this before? I found a really great recipe in the Martha Stewart Living magazine but it's not on her website for some reason. So I'm going to attempt to type it all out.

Spaghetti Squash with Turkey Meatballs
1 hr; serves 4 (or two hungry people)

Ingredients:
1 spaghetti squash (about 3 pounds), halved lengthwise
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp EVOO
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh oregano
1/2 ounce grated parmesan cheese
1 tbsp dried breadcrumbs
8 oz lean ground turkey
8 oz mixed mushrooms
1 cup homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
4 oz baby spinach (about 5 cups)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Season cut sides of squash with 1/4 tsp salt. Bake, cut sides down, on a baking sheet until tender, about 45 mins. Let stand until cool enough to handle. Scrape flesh into strands using a fork. Let drain, covered to keep warm, in a colander set over a bowl.
2. Meanwhile, heat 1 tsp oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic, stirring, until soft but not brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add oregano; cook until fragrant, about 30 secs. Divide mixture between 2 bowls.
3. Stir 1 tbsp plus 1 1/2 tsp cheese into 1 bowl of onion garlic mixture. Mix in breadcrumbs, turkey, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper using your hands. Form into 12 balls.
4. Heat 2 tsp oil in large skillet over medium heat. Brown meatballs, turning, 4 to 6 mins; transfer to a plate. Add remaining tsp oil to skillet. Cook mushrooms, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper, adding a few tablespoons of water if skillet browns too quickly, until soft and beginning to brown 6 to 8 mins. Add remaining bowl of onion-garlic mixture, meatballs, and stock; bring to gentle simmer. Cook partially covered, until meatballs are cooked through, 4 to 5 mins. Add spinach; cook until just wilted, about 1 min
5. Divide squash and meatball mixture into 4 servings. Sprinkle with remaining cheese