Baptism party {the food}

Back to William's party!!

Typical of me to start with dessert first ;)
From the beginning I knew I wanted to do cupcakes rather than a cake. Granted I would have purchased the cake which would have been less work than making cupcakes (maybe), but I didn't want to have a bunch of leftover cake. I made cupcake toppers to make the cupcakes for festive. I designed the emblem with a cross and the words God Bless William in Powerpoint and printed two dozen. I did buy a scalloped punch, but when I used it, it worked in the reverse way that I needed if that makes sense. So, the individual trips to Michael's and Jo-Ann's and $30 spent didn't help. I resorted to cutting out each circle individually with scrapbook scissors. Same idea, more work. I used a drop of hot glue to adhere the toothpicks to the cutouts before adding a blueberry and topping each cupcake.

For the first time I finally decided to make a watermelon ice bucket! I saw this idea a long time ago (or so it seems) and I finally had a reason to do it. I used the watermelon on the fruit kabobs, which is why I had it. I hollowed it out with an ice cream scoop on Saturday and then kept it on the counter overnight covered in saran-wrap because I was worried about it smelling rotten. Well, it stayed fresh, so I filled it with plain ice cubes and special blueberry ice cubes I made. 

Sadly, this is the only food shot I have and it doesn't capture it at all. The party started and ended so quickly, and everyone was so hungry, that I didn't get the shot I wanted. We had beef brisket, pulled pork and hamburger sliders. Tossed salad, fruit kabobs, cheese and crackers, pasta salad, etc. I also made a few different drinks and put cute little tags on the pitchers to identify them. Stay tuned for the recipe for Fruity Mint Tea which was a hit!

God Bless William: Baptism Party {decorations}

As noted in my latest Time Out Tuesday, William was recently baptized which was very special for us. Following the service at the church, we had about 16 adults and 4 children (of eating age) over for lunch. I began thinking about this party weeks and weeks in advance since everything is a bit more complicated now that we have a baby around, and here is what I decided.

My nice blue and green handmade table runner would stay on the table because I was inspired by its colors as well as William's birth announcement which was baby blue and kiwi green. The green is perfect for summer and a bit unexpected since typically it is blue and white that is used (or at least what I have seen).

A few weeks ago while on vacation, I visited Dollar Tree once the little guy was in bed to hopefully find papergoods. Well, I did! I purchased light blue dinner plates, kiwi green dessert plates and dinner napkins and napkins that were green with white polks dots. I ended up wrapping the clear "silverware" in the polka dot napkins, tying them closed with white curling ribbon and standing all of them upright in a square glass container from our wedding:

The train napkins were leftover from another party

At Dollar Tree I also found blue/green/clear glass marbles which I purchased for a vision I had. I have a small glass globe vase as well as one that is a cylinder and I wanted to put the marbles in the bottom surrounding a candle. I also bought plain white candles (in glass votives) at Dollar Tree to prevent wax from dripping on the marbles. It also made assemble quite easy. Place candle in container and surround with marbles...done!

My mom added a few twisted streamers in our dining room with white curly ribbon at the corners to add additional color. Everything came together great!

I hope you'll come back in two days to hear about the food!!!

Thrifty Home

Time Out Tuesday #3

I will admit that Time Out Tuesday is my only "regular" posting right now, but I am getting better! Getting back into blogging after baby is a bit like getting back to exercising after baby. You mean to do it today (and tomorrow and the next day) but you find something else to do today, tomorrow, and the next day. But of course I always manage to share pictures of my little guy!

This past weekend W met his Uncle Kyle for the first time.

He also attended his first wedding. Believe it or not, he was not the youngest guest -- there was a three week old and another six week old! He slept/ate through the ceremony and slept through a good bit of the reception, music and all. He looked even cuter than he did on Easter I didn't know that was possible ;).

Bakerella's Cake Balls

Years ago, my cousin Kate who doesn't cook, or at least she didn't used to cook, raved about a blog called Bakerella. I have been reading the blog regularly, getting all sorts of great ideas, but wndering when I, a young wife who doesn't regularly have large groups of people over, would be able to make some of these awesome creations. Well, I did it.

I will admit, I started with the basic cake balls, but it was a start. This past weekend we were having friends over with three young children who I knew would get a kick out of the bite size treats. I intended on using green and white chocolate, but my dear husband who picked up the ingredients for me, only found milk chocolate. Bless his heart, I didn't complain! So they went from St. Patrick's Day themed to basic with some decorations.

I already had cake mix and batter in the pantry, as well as some sprinkles and powdered sugar, so I only bought two bags of melting chocolates which was less than $5. I baked the cake according to the standard directions on the back of the box. Once it was cool, I broke up the cake and transfered it to a glass mixing bowl and started turning it into crumbs (my cat appreciated the bits that fell on the floor).

I gradually added vanilla frosting while mixing because I've read mixed reviews about using 1/2 can of frosting versus a whole can, etc. When all was said and done, I used a little more than half. Once it seemed pretty well mixed, I dug in with clean hands to "smush" it all a little more.

Then you start rolling. If you like making meatballs, you'll be good at this. Oh and it is nice that you are playing with cake, not raw meat. I probably could have made my cake balls a little smaller so they were more bite-size for children, but I learned for next time! I just lined two cookie sheets with wax paper to make clean up a breeze and started rolling.

I got three dozen cake balls out of my one cake. I put the trays in the refrigerator overnight, since pregnant ladies get so tired ;), so they would stick together.

The next day I melted the chocolate wafers and placed 3-4 balls in the bowl at a time to coat with the chocolate.

Once coated, I transferred to wire cooling racks and added sprinkles or powdered sugar while the chocolate was still wet. I did keep some plain, but I knew the kids would like the decorated version.

I put about half of them in the freezer so I have an easy way to satisfy my sweet tooth. My husband really liked them so I will be making them again...hopefully I will take on a more creative version that doesn't look like an elementary school student made them :). I can just see myself hosting birthday parties, playgroups, etc and serving up all sorts of fun treats!

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Double Cranberry-Apple Sauce

On Nov. 13, 2009 we moved into our new home. Thirteen days later we hosted Thanksgiving for nine adults. Talk about getting thrown into it?! No, we volunteered, but there certainly was alot going on. I am very organized when it comes to planning holidays in advance so I had my menu picked out as soon as we had approval to move-in which meant our families would be coming to our place to celebrate Thanksgiving.

One of the recipes I came across was this double cranberry-apple sauce from Southern Living's November 2003 issue. I wanted to do something different than the typical cranberry sauce so I tried this out and have made it for a few holidays since. I also freeze extra and serve it with chicken or eat it on its own throughout the year.

Ingredients for 5 cups of sauce (I've found it makes more):

6 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced

1 (12 oz) package of fresh cranberries

1 small lemon, sliced and seeded

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

3/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries (like Craisins)

In a large saucepan (I use a big spaghetti pot), stir together the first 5 ingredients over medium-high heat until it starts to boil. Continue to stir it often.

Reduce heat and continue to simmer for about 15 minutes until cranberries pop (seen below) and mixture starts to thicken.

Remove the pan from heat and stir in the sweetened, dried cranberries. Allow time to cool and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Another wonderful thing about this recipe??? You can store it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks!

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Rosettes

Well, I have a wedding in October and have been looking for a dress. Of course the fall dresses just started coming in, but I knew I wanted to find one sooner rather than later. Funny thing is - I found shoes about three weeks ago that I bought, planning on wearing them for the wedding without knowing what dress I would wear. Although I ordered another dress, once I saw this one and was able to weasle a discount at the store, I went ahead and bought it :). I love the texture of the "rosettes" around the neckline andstraps. Now I have to go back to The Limited and return the purple dress I bought, but I think this one is much better. I love when I find a great item and can get it for less than the price on the tag!