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What are you up to this weekend? As it is Father’s Day weekend in our home I made this caprese salad as a special treat when J got home from work yesterday. Tomorrow morning he has a choice between breakfast burritos and these special pancakes. And below is mom’s shortcut bloody mary plan for tomorrow’s brunch:) Hope you’re having a good weekend!
A friend of mine had a fun bachelorette weekend in May and I wasn’t able to attend but wanted to start the celebration off with a fun surprise. Running with my baby shower in a box idea I decided to send her a sort of bachelorette in a box.
I kept it classy (though there are a million ways you could go with this) with a simple french gimlet. I’ve been dying for an excuse to buy that tiny St Germain and love the way all the cute little bottles look. The boot shot glass is for good measure since the bachelorette party was in Austin- what a great location, right?
I picked up the mini bottles of liquor at my local liquor store, wrote out the recipe on a pretty recipe card, and wrapped it all up in a box with some fun chevron tape:)
The bride-to-be was surprised and excited to get a cocktail delivered to her door- mission accomplished! I only wish I had thought of this idea sooner!
Hello! How was your weekend? Ours was full but lovely!
We ordered pizza from our new favorite place and had a game night in with friends on Friday. Saturday we were invited to a delightful BBQ which a friend’s Trinidadian specialties (and family HOT sauce recipe) and yesterday we attended a picnic at a beautiful park. I brought this staple to both events- a great summer picnic/BBQ side!
On top of all that I was able to sneak away with a new friend who is also a mom to see The Great Gatsby! We stumbled upon this awesome theater where you can order drinks and they bring them to your seat in the movie— perfect for a mom’s night out in my opinion:) Have you seen Gatsby? What were your thoughts? I wasn’t a huge fan of the detached nature of the book but the way the movie presented Nick Carraway made it more personal, I thought. Plus, it was visually stunning. I would recommend it if you liked Baz Luhrmann’s other films.
Needless to say, Owen and I have been sick are attempting to lay low today in order to recover though we have a few things we need to get done. I hope you are starting your week off healthy and refreshed! Note to self: must work on that next weekend.
A few weeks ago I spotted some time-saving cooking tips and got very excited about one of them. You see, I often (like, every time) underestimate the prep time for a recipe. I guess I need to take a knife skills class or at least learn how to train a 1 year old to sit still and play the harp while I cook dinner because when a recipe promises 20 minutes of prep that is not a good indicator of how long it takes me.
This is just a simple tip but it has gone a long way in our house: while you’re chopping a few cloves of garlic for a recipe go ahead and chop the rest of the cloves and put them in a spare jar, cover with olive or canola oil (and a lid:), and store in the fridge. Next time you need a diced clove just scoop a teaspoon or so amount out of the jar.
I’ve used mine several times since and have loved this little shortcut. It is also a great way to make sure you don’t waste the rest of a head of garlic if you only use a few cloves per week. Happy cooking!
Hello! Today I finally have Owen’s gnome-themed party post ready for you! I really love making celebrations special and this was a very special celebration!
First things first: we knew we needed a gnome hat. No one in our family is skilled at knitting (or if they are it is being hidden from me;) We got this one on etsy and figured we’ll find all sorts of occasions to use it. Definitely going to add a little white ball on top at Christmastime;) Owen’s overalls were a gift from grandma and grandpa and completed his gnome look.
I had a lot of fun designing the invite and trying to cut Owen’s little face out and draw the perfect gnome hat to fit. I also picked up some wood grain contact paper and it went a long way toward the decorations. First I stuck them on card stock and cut these simple banner pieces. A hole punch and some red polka dot ribbon I’d been hoarding and the birthday banner was complete!
We didn’t have much time to catch photos before guests arrived (shocker) but we did have a lot of fun:)
Food: My mom made her special buttercream frosting for the cupcakes and we topped them with red m & m’s for a cool toadstool look.
I also made the legendary (at least in our home) dirt pudding.
For the babies at the party I made these “baby muffins” with blueberries and also had some very watered down blueberry and apple juice. I think Owen was the only taker on these since the other two bebes were either a bit too young for party food or full from lunch:)
Please note the second use of the woodgrain contact paper and the millionth use of my trusty heart punch on the cups- I’m telling you that thing has been a good (party) investment!
Not pictured are the tater tots and black forest ham roll-ups we made up right before/during the time guests were arriving:)
A first birthday party would not be complete without an official birthday banner so I used these printable letters to whip one up! I love these and also used them for a just married sign at our wedding— from marriage to baby- now that is a versatile printable. I grabbed some red chevron tape from the dollar bin at target a few months ago and used that to hang almost everything. If tape is going to show it may as well be cute!
The highlight for me was seeing all the photos of Owen and reflecting on this past year with him- unbelievable! The joy this guy brings to our lives each day just can’t be quantified. Neither can the amount of photos I take of him… Along with the belly shots and monthly photos (1, 2, 3) I printed out some of our favorite instagram snaps using picplum and was thrilled with the prints.
I also enjoyed coming up with this list of things that Owen loves. Ah, such good memories with our boy already!
When J went for balloons before the party he came back very proudly with the gnome you see here- definitely the finishing touch. J also contributed a delicious (non-baby-friendly) punch and I’ll share the recipe in the next few weeks.
Here’s my favorite smash (cup)cake shot so far. He didn’t go crazy like I thought he would but he was certainly happy sitting in that chair for almost an hour (record time:)
Owen enjoyed roaming the balloon filled party, getting lots of attention from grandparents and guests, and his first cupcake. Success!
ps- I started a gnome party board on pinterest if you’re interested in some of my inspiration sources!
pps- We got our new couch delivered the day before the party- yay! Some decorating and baby-proofing posts will be coming up!
Happy Friday and a healthy, yummy and easy recipe for the upcoming week. They exist! You just have to hunt for them:) We haven’t been as strict as we used to be with our veggie-only weekdays. With the little man needing more protein I’ve been incorporating some chicken into the mix.
I was especially excited about this one because I was able to keep our (second) basil plant alive long enough to enjoy some homegrown basil in this recipe— always a good thing!
You’ll Need:
1. Preheat oven to 375 and lightly spray a 9 x 13 glass pan with olive oil
2. Salt and peper the chicken on each side and lay them in pan (if you had some extra time browning them in a skillet for a couple of minutes on each side would be nice).
3. Combine drained tomatoes, drained artichoke hearts, garlic, parmesan cheese and flour. Spread mixture over chicken.
4. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Then sprinkle with mozzarella and bake for another three minutes or until browned.
There’s really no need for photos since the steps are so simple. Enjoy!
ps- Source here - but beware they force you to watch advertising videos before getting to the recipe!
pps- I’ve been busy all week planning Owen’s gnome-themed first birthday party so I’ll share some of the fun next week!
Mother’s Day 2013- my first Mother’s Day with my baby boy in my arms! I had such a joyful time celebrating/marveling at the privilege of being a mom to my sweet boy and reflecting on the past year. At this time last year I was in a very difficult season: I couldn’t be with my mom and little Owen decided to bake a bit past his due date. I look back at that time in awe, knowing that God’s grace carried me through! And I treasure the moments we all have together right now.
I cannot believe this guy is turning one next weekend. And I’ve been busy planning the festivities:) Here’s the inspiration for the theme…
A few years ago I bought J a cool spherical ice cube maker (not going to splurge on one of these anytime soon but…). You know by now that he makes a good cocktail and we wouldn’t want them to get watered down by puny melting ice cubes.
I put the ice spheres on the daytime shift today— no more watered down homemade iced coffee;) I’ve also frozen leftover coffee for this purpose but the trays get sticky and I often spill it all over the freezer. As the weather warms up are you trying any new iced coffee tricks?
ps- If you’re interested in some fun summer drinks feel free to follow my sips board on pinterest:)
One of my favorite goodbye New York activities was taking an awesome Momofuku Milk Bar baking class with a dear friend. If you don’t know about Momofuku I highly suggest you visit any of their restaurants in NYC as soon as possible. My first love was the Noodle Bar…but then they started dealing in sugar. Milk Bar is fun, creative, and, above all, sweet.
I couldn’t believe Christina Tosi and her team were actually teaching the class. They were really great! It was super fun- and not only because there was sugar and beer involved.
Christina explained what sparked the ideas for some of the Milk Bar concoctions and discussed the special ingredients she uses and why. There are some weird ingredients in the cookbook so it was nice to hear the reasoning behind them (glucose? milk powder?) — though I never would question the inventor of the cornflake crunch marshmallow chocolate chip cookie…
As you might have guessed, we took the “crunch” class where we made the above cookies from a crunch base that can be used for a variety of recipes in the cookbook. We also made a ritz cracker pie crust which was delicious. Of course, they brought out several yummy ready-made treats along the way including a frozen grapefruit custard pie.
Had a great time at the Milk Bar kitchen in Williamsburg. Christina was really funny and kind. I highly recommend the class and wish I could go back for more!
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