Bow Tie Brunch Baby Shower

Have I mentioned that I love to throw parties?

Well, my friend Jennifer gave me an opportunity to do just that when she announced that she and her husband would be having a baby boy this summer!

Once I had decided on the theme, I immediately took to Pinterest for inspiration.  You can find most of the recipes and tutorials I used here on my Bow Tie Brunch Baby Shower board.  Jennifer is one of my best friends, and knowing her like I do, I knew she would appreciate all the little details I had planned for the day. 

I designed the invitation printable and all the signage for the party to match and then pulled it all together with scrapbook paper in the party colors.

In lieu of traditional baby shower games (which I believe everyone hates), I provided some fun activities for the ladies.  There was a "Make Your Own Sugar Scrub" bar and after Jennifer opened her gifts I passed out "Wishes for Baby" cards (pictured below) for each guest to fill out.  These were multitasking activities as they provided a take-home favor for the guests and, helped me create a meaningful keepsake for the mommy to be.



Dessert Table with Paper Lanterns



Mini Vanilla Cupcakes, Chocolate Ruffle Cake,
Bow Tie Sugar Cookies, and Powdered Donuts.

Bruchetta with Fresh Homemade Ricotta Cheese, Bow Tie Pasta Salad,
Roasted Red Perrper Soup Shots with Feta, Raspberry Sorbet Punch



Mimosa Bar

Bow tie onsie bunting over the activity table. 
I made the bow ties out of ribbon and tacked them on plain white onsies.
 Photo turned out blurry.



Hot Beverage Bar:  Hot Water, Coffee,
Cranberry Orange Scones and Tea Selection

The full menu also included a "yogurt bar" of cups filled with plain yogurt and blueberries, strawberries, granola and almonds in milkglass dishes.  I covered the breakfast portion of brunch with waflle and bacon bites on mini skewers and a spinach egg quiche. 

The party was a big hit and Jennifer got some great new stuff for baby Parker, who arrived on June 8!  Mom and baby are doing well!

XOXO

Morgan

Tried it Thursday

In an effort to be more consistent with my blogging (see: less lazy) I'm going to commit to a "Tried it Thursday" post every week.  Here I will share a recipe, product, activity or find that I have tried and let you know what I think. 

Today, I give you Rachel Ray's Super Sloppy Joes!

I've been trying to get away from using the packaged seasoning mixes when I cook.  It's mostly because of the sodium content and all those preservatives; oh, and because homemade tastes SO much better.  You see, I haven't always been in to cooking.  It's a fairly new passion of mine.  So, I used to think a package of Manwich on some browned ground beef equaled gourmet "homemade". 

I found this recipe online after a quick "ground beef meals" Google search.  I had some in the freezer and I did not want to run to the store before dinner.  I was very excited to find I had all (well, most) of the rest of these ingredients in my kitchen!

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/4 pounds ground beef sirloin

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon steak seasoning blend, such as McCormick brand Montreal Seasoning*

1 medium onion, chopped (I used red onion)

1 small red bell pepper, chopped

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 cups tomato sauce**

2 tablespoons tomato paste

4 crusty rolls, split, toasted, and lightly buttered***

*I didn't have the steak seasoning so I just seasoned with a bit of black pepper and seasoned salt.
**I'm lucky enough to have tomato sauce that my mom canned from her garden on hand, but the store bought kind will work too.
***Regular hamburger buns in the toaster work just fine!

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil and meat to the pan. Spread the meat around the pan and begin to break it up. Combine brown sugar and steak seasoning (or whatever seasoning you are using). Add sugar and spice mixture to the skillet and combine. When the meat has browned, add onion and red peppers to the skillet. Reduce heat to medium and cook onions, peppers, red wine vinegar and Worcestershire sauce with meat for 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and paste to pan. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to simmer and cook Sloppy Joe mixture 5 minutes longer.

This recipe made enough for my husband to have seconds and leftovers the next day. 

I made my mom's potato salad as a side.  It's one of those recipes that has never been written down, so all of these measurements are approximate and can be adjusted for your taste:

2 large potatoes, chopped and boiled until soft

1/2 cup Miracle Whip

1 tablespoon yellow mustard

1/4 cup sweet relish

2 hard boiled eggs, diced

pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and enjoy!  I usually do a potato/person and adjust other ingredients accordingly.

I got two thumbs up from husband on this one and it was actually pretty quick and easy.  It will definitely be a repeat at our house!

XOXO Y'all!

Morgan

Comfy Country Bridal Shower

A very dear friend of mine is getting married next month.  As soon as I heard the news I knew I wanted to throw her a bridal shower.  It seems most of my friends got married before I was settled into a home where I could host a decent party so, now that I am, I jump at the chance to throw a little soiree.

My friend is laid back and as a casual, rustic theme started to develop for the wedding I thought it would be fun to incorporate that into the shower.  It was a small gathering where men were welcome and pulled pork (lovingly smoked by my husband overnight) was on the menu.  I brought in some rustic elements with burlap runners and red and white gingham fabric.  The flowers, picked up from the local big box store, brightened up the tables with blues and yellows.  I didn't get as many photos of the finished product as I would have liked because I forgot to do it before the guests started arriving and when I thought about it I realized my battery was almost dead which didn't help the quality.  So much for being prepared...

I made the invitations from craft paper and added a raffia ribbon.  I came across these "Love" stamps at the post office that fit my color scheme and I ended up using the lettering in some of the other decorations.

 

I love that bite sized snacks are so popular right now so I created a dessert/appetizer table for the guests to munch on before getting to the main course.

Most of the recipes were old favorites like pecan tassies, vanilla cupcakes with fondant hearts and blackberry cobbler in individual mini mason jars.  I stumbled upon this mini corn dog recipe and this spinach dip recipe on pinterest and they were both a big hit.  I'll be adding both to my list of recipes to repeat. 

(Note:  I used regular sour cream and Miracle Whip rather than the low fat suggestions and left out the water chestnuts in the spinach dip, very yummy, although slighlty less figure friendly)

I added the veggie bites for a bit more color on the table.

To carry the "Love" theme through to the end of the party I sent the guests home with a small jar of Strawberry Chipotle Jam with a tag that read "Spread the Love" followed by the couples' name and wedding date.  This was my first attempt at jam and I was worried that it didn't firm up enough, but I got good reviews from the party goers.  The strawberries I planted in my garden last year should produce fruit this year so maybe I will get some more practice and perfect my jam making skills.

The wedding is in a beautiful lodge in Northern Arkansas and there will be a lot of DIY touches.  I'm looking forward to sharing the details after the big day!



Baker's Buddy

I have a terrible memory.  No matter how many cakes I make I can never remember off the top of my head how many servings a cake yields.  Every time I get an inquiry I have to head over to one of the many web sites I have bookmarked for cake servings...until today.  Today I discovered the Baker's Buddy app.

I'm pretty sure this will be my new favorite app for quoting cake prices on the go.  You simply build an order by selecting the cake pan shape, then add the size of each tier into your order and input the cost/serving on the last page.  It even gives you the option to add on extra cost for fondant, filling, etc. 

I love it when technology makes my life easier :)

Gallery

I don't really have a story to tell today, I just thought I would share some photos of a few of my favorite creations to give you an idea of what I do!

Enjoy!

Where it all began. 

This was the first "specialty cake" I made for my husband's birthday three years ago.

 A couple of cakes for the sports enthusiast in your life.

  

 This cake was for a garden theemed bridal shower.  The hostess used a garden hose for the cake stand!  Such a cute and creative idea!

Angry Birds!

 Some girly cakes that I just LOVE!

I made this sock monkey out of modeling chocolate and dipped his hands, feet, tail and snout in white chocolate.  An experiment that turned out great!

I absolutely LOVE doing wedding cakes (actually I love everthing about weddings) and these are some of my favorites.  The tropical flower cakes were for two lucky brides who got married in Hawaii (no I didn't get to go there to make the cakes) and then had a reception for family and friends when they returned.

And lets not forget the groom.  This cake came together beautifully with the table decorations and this neat bird dog figure on top.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar cupcakes and smash cake.

These are perfect for a summer party and they are acutally margarita cupcakes (made with lime and tequilla) with a lime tequilla glaze and fresh whipped cream icing infused with tripple sec and lime.  I topped them with Sour Punch Straws and Sour Punch Watermelon candies and a rim of clear sprinkles.

Back to school cupcakes for a group of teachers.

Finally, (you may have to be an Arkansan to appreciate this) in honor of football season kicking off this weekend, an Arkansas Razorback Cake!  Woo Pig Sooie!

That's all for now!  I have some exciting events/projects coming up over the next couple of months that I look forward to sharing! 

Chocolate and Beer

Hello!  This is my first blog post and rather than go into a long story about my life and how I got to be here I'll just give you the bullet points.  I love my life, my husband, my family and my friends. I love designer clothes and shoes, even though I can't afford them. I love to bake but I hardly ever eat dessert. I love to crank up my iPod and go for a long run. NYC is one of my happy places...the other is Colorado. I hate summer and always count down the days till the first freeze. I don't function well without Dr Pepper in the afternoon. I rarely brush my hair. I drink beer...the darker, the better. I'm a Razorback football fan. I miss my friends and family whenever they are not with me.  I love the smell of fresh brewed tea, onions sauteing in butter, and red wine.

This weekend, I added the smell of real butter simmering in Guinness to my list. 

You see, while I do have a grownup job to take care of all those pesky necessities like health insurance and my mortgage...I moon-lite as a cake baker.  Some good friends of ours (my husband and myself) are getting married this fall and I was flattered when they asked me to make their wedding cakes.  (I LOVE weddings and wish I could have a full blown wedding event with a different theme every year on our anniversary but Husband vetoed that plan)  I think it is important to incorporate personal touches whenever possible and the groom in this case is a lover of beer.  I immediately started searching for the perfect chocolate/beer cake recipe and I found it at the Smitten Kitchen blog. 

You start by simmering real butter in a cup of Guinness beer which smells heavenly.  I was not able to get my cocoa and beer/butter mixture smooth.  The liquid kept separating from the cocoa (but I was using regular Hershey's baking cocoa so a better quality might work better) and the end result was a little dryer than I had hoped so I might add a little more sour cream.  I topped this cake with a self adapted Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream icing rather than the coffee ganache listed on this site.

Irish Cream Buttercream:

2 sticks unsalted butter
4 cups confectioners sugar
4 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream Liquor
1 teaspoon vanilla.

I creamed the butter and added the sugar and Bailey's one portion at a time, beating it until mixed after each addition.  Then I added the vanilla at the end and whipped it until desired consistency.

Even though I thought the cake was a bit dry (and this could have been due to slightly over baking or the aforementioned beer/butter/cocoa debacle) our friends thought it was wonderful and selected it to be the flavor for their grooms cake.  The beer was not overwhelmingly present in the flavor of the cake but the chocolate and Bailey's tasted great together!

I look forward to sharing photos of the finished cakes in September!