Party: Katie's Baby Shower

My little sister is having a baby in a few weeks.  I helped with her baby shower this last weekend.  It's hard to believe that this will be grandbaby number 15 for my family and even harder to believe that the baby of the family is having a baby!  She's having a boy so we went with a "little man" theme and stuck with the colors orange and gray, the same colors they used in his room. 

A big family means there's lots of people to help with events like this!  This shower was definitely a group effort, which was nice because if you've ever given or helped with a shower, you know they can be A LOT of work. 

We went with comfort food, which tends to be right up Katie's alley.  My sister-in-law, Britney, made mini loaves of homemade brioche for grilled cheese sandwiches.  They turned out delicious!

Here's the menu and some pictures of the details. 

• Mini Grilled Cheese Sandwiches:  bacon and cheddar, three cheese, and ham and swiss
• Roasted Tomato Soup
• Sweet Potato and Beet Salad 
• Limeade
• Peanut Butter Bars
• Vanilla Cupcakes

Three choices of mini grilled cheese sandwiches:

Cute cake and cupcakes made by my sister Emily:

Bottles of limeade with orange and gray striped straws:



The cute guest of honor:

Hurry up and get here, little nephew!  I can't wait to meet you and love you already!

Party: Karrie's gettin' hitched!

I'm back after being flattened by the flu. It was horrible. I typically have an immunity of steel from the exposure to my students and their steady stream of germs. This was definitely the exception. I've never been so sick in all my years of teaching. They really aren't kidding when they say this has been and continues to be a nasty flu season.   

On to more pleasant things . . .

My lovely friend Karrie is getting married in just a few days. We had a little girls' night in to celebrate. We ate delicious food, helped Karrie prep her wedding favors, got the scoop on all the wedding details, and watched 27 Dresses.  It was a low-key (stretchy-pant-wearing) evening of fun and friends! 

We had a little nacho bar with all the fixings.

Everyone got to build their own perfect nachos.  We had Qdoba chips (Have you tasted their limey deliciousness?), Cafe Rio sweet pork, cilantro lime rice, homemade guac, queso blanco (recipe to follow), and the other necessary fixings for nachos.

Karrie loves sweets!  So, of course, we had a little treat bar with all of her favorites. 

I got the scoop on Karrie's favorites from her twin sister LeeAnn.  Everyone sampled the sweets for dessert and took a little bag o' treats home as well.

Congratulations, beautiful Karrie!!  Can't wait to celebrate and dance the night away!

Party: Monica's Pre-Wedding Dinner

I like to have a party now and again.  Since a good party includes good food, and that's what this blog is about, I think I will document my parties as well as continue to share my favorite recipes. 

My friend Monica is getting married next week to my friend Adam.  It's fun when two good friends marry each other.  And, since I introduced them, I feel like I can take some credit for this happy occasion that is about to occur.

I hosted a small dinner to celebrate with Monica before her big day with a few of her girlfriends.  I went with a Mexican theme since Monica and I always go to Cactus when we get together.  We always get virgin mojitos and green enchiladas.  I attempted to recreate our tradition and this is how it turned out. 

The Menu:

• Virgin Mojitos
• Homemade Guacamole
• Green Enchiladas
• Cilantro Lime Rice
• Corn and Bean Salsa
• Chocolate Silk Pie

I made a few tissue flowers for the table and ordered some festive paper fans from Amazon.

Since the guest list was small, I was able to do lots of fun little extras.  Each place setting had a lime placecard, a Mexican bottled soda, a small jar of homemade salsa (from the enchiladas I served), a teeny bottle of Tabasco, and some Hershey's chocolates (Monica's favorite).   

I'm so glad we got a chance to visit with friends and celebrate Monica's upcoming wedding!

CONGRATS, ADAM & MONICA!!  So happy for you guys.