Birthday Party Camp Out

What happens when your kids want a "camp out" for their birthday, and you're a family that camps?  Well, it's taken literally.  What happens when the mom is also an event planner and can't seem to get her head around "just cupcakes" or S'mores while camping (and she's incredibly busy with a large wedding the weekend before)?  She turns to PrintMagic on Etsy a couple of months in advance, a local print shop (and a pair of scissors) in the weeks prior, and a well-stocked small bag by the week of the camping trip.  With 2 adults, 3 kids, and 2 boxers on a camping trip, there really isn't room for a full spread, but a few mini-muffins, some eggless cupcakes, some homemade caramel popcorn, and S'more kits worked wonders for the wilderness.

Favors consisted of a pouch and lanyard for each child to use while hiking.  Inside the pouches were crayons, pencils, notepads, magnifying glasses, and flashlights.

Black Bean Salad with Corn, Red Peppers, Avocado, Jalepeno & Lime-Cilantro Vinaigrette

I saw this recipe on Pinterest, and it looked so good that I had to try it!  I tweaked it a bit, and below is my revised version.

Ingredients:

• 2 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 ears fresh corn, cooked, cooled and kernels cut off the cob, or 1-2 C frozen corn, thawed
• 2 red bell peppers, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots 
• 2 teaspoons salt
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ¼ C extra virgin olive oil 
• 6 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon lime zest (be sure to zest limes before juicing them)
• ¼  C chopped cilantro, plus more to garnish
• 2 Hass avocados, diced
• 1-3 fresh jalepenos, seeds and "white meat" removed, finely diced

Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients except avocados in a large bowl and mix well. 
2. Cover and chill for a few hours or overnight. 
3. Right before serving, add avocados and mix gently, being careful not to mash avocados. 
4. Garnish with a few sprigs of freshly chopped cilantro if desired.  (I'm not a fan of cilantro, so I keep it to a minimum.) 
5. Serve at cold or at room temperature.  It can easily be served as a dip or as a salad on a bed of Bibb or Butter Lettuce.

Kentucky Derby Hat

So as much as I would love to afford Milli Starr to make a hat for me for the Kentucky Derby, I just don’t see that happening unless we are GOING to the actual derby.

I have this fab sun hat that I bought last year (that my husband thinks is ridiculous because of its size.)

I decided this hat could be temporarily dressed-up for the derby.  One flower I bought on a recent outing, a trip to Hobby Lobby for feathers and organza, and about 15 minutes of assembly, and I have a hat that I love for the party!

Summer Goodness Martini

I had a particularly rough day on Thursday of this week (although on Friday, we received even worse news, but the overall day went more smoothly.)  Anyway, point of the story is that when I ran across this martini recipe on Thursday, I knew I HAD to try it.  I think it's funny that the first place I saw and made note of it was on "Feed Your Kids" since you certainly wouldn't feed this to your kids.  I am a Food & Wine magazine fanatic, but I'm guessing this one was originally published when I was pregnant with our first son, so it "didn't apply".  It applies now, and it is VERY tasty.  I played with the simple syrup ratios, because I don't make simple syrup in one drink quantities....I make it 2 C of sugar and 2 C of water at a time and keep it in a glass bottle in my fridge for coffee and anything else that tickles my fancy. 

Basil-Lime Martini
adapted from Boston restaurant Via Matta’s recipe published in Food & Wine Cocktails 2006 .
This is a great light, refreshing Summer drink.
3 large basil leaves
1 small basil leaf or a very small “cluster” of basil leaves for garnish
1 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
2 1/2 oz of your favorite vodka
1 oz Simple Syrup (1 part water to 1 part sugar)
Simmer sugar and water together in a small saucepan just until sugar disolves. Cool. Tear large basil leaves (reserve the small ones) lightly and add to sugar mixture. Muddle (smash) together until leaves are well bruised. (This is much easier if you have a “real” muddler, but you can also use a wooden spoon or potato masher, etc.) Add lime juice and vodka. Chill (with ice) in a martini shaker and strain into a pre-chilled martini glass. Add small basil leaf garnish.
I like to keep big batches (I think I’ve made a 20-batch before!) of this in the freezer, and pull them out when we have friends over. It lasts a long time in the freezer (remove basil leaves before freezing) and won’t freeze, so it can be poured straight from the freezer (shake first, because the lime juice and syrup will settle to the bottom).

Wine Tasting Birthday Party

One of my best friends had her birthday this week, and I threw a Zinfandel wine tasting party in her honor.  I was able to do most everything ahead of time (except cook the pasta), so it made for a fun night with friends and very little "work" during the party.  I bought the cheese at Costco, made the artichoke dipping sauces early in the day, made the spaghetti sauce and meatballs 2 days prior, and all of the tags and paper items in the week leading up to the party.  I got the petitfores from a local bakery: Simon Lee Bakery.  The tray is filled with wine corks that I had in a large vase, and I used a glass plate and 2 glass pedestals to create the main "centerpiece."  The tags are all made with 1 3/4" rounds of paper cut with the Cricut, and I cut the word circles with a 1 1/2" hand punch.  I glued the pieces for the cheese around toothpicks and tied on the wine bottle and glass tags with ribbon. (If you want for me to make these pieces for a party for you, feel free to contact me.)
We used 8 bottles of Zinfandel that I purchased from World Market and Costco.  They ranged in price from $7- $18 each.
Recommended cheeses for a Zinfandel tasting are aged cheddar, gruyere, brie, parmesan, and gouda.  I always have goat cheese and manchego on hand as well, so I added them to the list.  I served a rich spaghetti and dark chocolate petitfores as well.

The bottle on the left was The Watusi and was our least expensive wine ($7.)  All of the other wines were between $10-$18.  Cline, Brazin, Zinfatuation, Bogle, 7 Deadly Zins, Pellegrini, and Sausal.

Cheers!

Mickey and Minnie Mouse Favor Tags and Bags

I decided that making EVERYTHING myself for this party wasn't going to happen this year.  So, I made a few pieces and purchased the rest.  Tags were made with the Cricut.  The bags were purchased on Etsy in handmadebysam's shop, and they were perfect!  I made the Mickey hands with felt and a template that I made from our oldest son's hand.  The chocolate dipped oreo lollipops with Mickey on them are also from Etsy in friendlycreations' shop.  The ears were purchased in TheLittlestFairy's Etsy shop. The bouncy Mickey ball (not pictured) and Mickey bubbles are from a local party store, and the stickers are from JoAnn Fabric.

Front Door Birthday Sign

Even though most everything for the twin Mickey & Minnie party has the silhouette of the heads, I couldn't resist making the front door hanger a little different. It was my first "layer" effort with the Cricut, and it was so incredibly easy!

Highchair name banners for 1st Birthday

These will be attached to the front of highchairs for a first birthday party. They'll be perfect for "smash cake" pictures.  I layered 3 circles and a letter (Cricut's "Accent Essentials" and "Calligraphy Collection" cartridges were used.)

Birthday Banner

I found some adorable birthday banners on Etsy, but I couldn't justify spending the money on them when I knew I could make them myself in a relatively short amount of time.  I made these last month (before the Cricut came to live in our home.)  So, these are all printed and hand cut pieces.  Each letter is 3 layers: black cardstock, red cardstock, white cardstock with printed black letters. If I were to make them again, it should be much easier and can use the Cricut to cut the letters for me.  I chose to string all of the letters for each banner on one ribbon to prevent undue stress points.  I will say that hand-tying 3 layers of ribbon between each letter took more time than I anticipated.