Operation Restore Order Day 2

Well so far so good. I actually managed to get ALL required loads of laundry done and my bonus load, care of my handsome little 2 year old! It was 10pm before the dryer finished but it did finish! Today shouldn't be too hard, a load of dish cloths and then a load of aprons. If that takes all day I may as well quit now!!!

So my big task today is to go through my pantry and freezer and see what I have and figure out what to do with it all. The stock take is done and I seem to have a thing for buying pasta, chocolate chips and powdered sugar! Mmm! That and I actually lost count of the bags of frozen fish in the freezer after 20 something. Think I'm going to have to hide the fishing poles, for my poor freezers sake. Poor think needs to be defrosted BAD!

I also discovered I have a thing for frozen strawberries. Think I was wanting to make some strawberry pies at one stage. So task this week Strawberry Pie.

The pasta will be easy to use because I LOVE pasta. I swear I must have a little Italian blood, of course potatoes are still my first love!

I also have an added dilemma. Cucumbers! One of the gentlemen that Ken works with, I think I mentioned this before, is an avid gardener. I've been making Ratatouille like crazy (I'll post my version of Julia Childs recipe later). The only problem is he had given us 2 grocery bags of cucumbers. I HATE them! For that reason I don't know what to do with them! I will make Ken and the boys a pasta salad that they love and there was some mention of cucumbers in vinegar, must investigate and experiment!

It is such a wonderful blessing to get home grown vegetables and I just love the quality!!! One of the biggest expenses on my grocery bill is produce simply because I cook from scratch so much. I am hoping one day we will have enough land to have a garden to provide all we need.

I was watching TLCs Extreme Couponing last night and the lady went to a farm to buy a whole calf. She said the meat was half the price of buying it at the store! I love the idea. She said one calf fed her family for a year. I think this is something I really want to look into. Right now my main goal is to start reducing a lot of the household expenses.

Well I better go, my chicken is boiling on the stove for some Gumbo. Plus I'm pretty sure I just heard my dryer end!

Happy Home Cooking the orderly way!

Operation Restore Order Update!

Well so far Operation Restore Order, as I have now named it, is showing mixed results. I am so pleased to announce that June's Meal Plan is not only done but I've posted it to the blog. Not all the meals are posted yet but I will sort that out over the next week or two. So if you want to give it a go you can find at the link below or up on the title bar.

June Meal Plan

So that's one thing down! WOO HOO!!!

Now the laundry. I did my schedule out over the weekend. I have set Monday and Friday as my big laundry days to do clothes and towels. I'm a little fussy when it comes to the clothes and as my husband works outdoors and gets really smelly I don't like washing his clothes with mine so they have always been separate, except the whites, but then bleach kills everything. I used to wash the boys clothes with mine but they are just as bad as their daddy at getting outside and muddy so now they get washed separately too. There was also an incident with a red crayon in the wash that I won't mention that was a near disaster, so yes that is four loads if you include the whites. Like I said I'm slightly insane!!!!

A few years ago I worked out roughly how many towels I would need so that I could get away with washing them twice a week and figured enough for four days worked. Although as the number of members of our household has grown so has the number of towels. Thankfully last year I got to get a nice new washer and dryer and they are wonderful. I found the largest capacity I could and went from 3 loads of towels down to 2. So that's my Mondays and Fridays.

I have set Wednesday as bedding day. Tuesday and Thursday are filler days for special loads. At least I can handle throwing a load of dishcloths on. I recently decided that we were using too much paper towel/kitchen roll and even though my coupon/deal searches were usually really good it still seemed I was constantly buying 'bales' (as my 4 year old calls them) of the stuff! So I went and bought cloth napkins, more dishcloths and tea towels. I'm trying hard to be disciplined but the mindless reaching for a piece of paper towel is hard to over come. 

So as it's Monday I'm trying so hard to be on schedule. So far we have 3 loads completely washed, dried, folded and put away, one load in the dryer and one in the washer. That means there's one more to go but it's 4.30pm and I really wanted to be done by now. Plus my 2 year old decided to throw up on my comforter so that's 2 more loads I have to do!!!! But this is something that I am going to have to start handling, adjustments! Adjusting to the situations that arise to the day and trying to adjust the schedule so that everything gets accomplished!!!

Well anyhow the dryer has just played it's little tune telling me it's done. I forgot to mention that instead of a horrible buzzer sound they play a little tune to let me know they are done. It's so pleasant!!! Simple amuses me sometimes!

Anyhow if I've gone way too domestic on you I apologize but like I said the other day my only two areas of control were the laundry and the cooking and that has got off track so for my mental health this is huge!!!!!

Happy Home Cooking the organised way!!!

Happy Memorial Day!

As this is Memorial Day I would like to take a moment to honor all our fallen heroes and their families. President Reagan said it most eloquently in 1984 on the 40th anniversary of D-Day,

 "Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their valor, and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died."

I am proud that members of both mine and my husband's families (including my husband) have served their country not just the United States of America military but also Her Majesty's British and Canadian Forces. We have a long line of heroes that have served in most of the major conflicts from the World Wars to the current Afghanistan war. I thank God all returned home safe. I was always raised with the highest regard for the military and that we can not forget the sacrifices that have been made to allow us to live in freedom.

With that in mind I turn my thoughts to our current active military, that as I type, are on the front lines. I thank God that there are still men and women that have a heart to serve their country. I especially want to mention our best friends' son Grant who is currently serving with US Army in Afghanistan. You will never meet a more wonderful young man, that while in basic training took the time to write to my then 3 year old son, not may young men would do that. Stay safe Grant, we love and miss you! To him and his family THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for the sacrifice that you are making. 

And to all the active military thank you and may God's hand of protection be on you all and come home safely.

God Bless Our Armed Forces!!!

Home cooking chaos!!

I was trying to think of an appropriate title for this post and the word chaos came to mind!

We are in a state of transition over here and this month has been really busy. I made the decision in April NOT to do a meal plan for May because I didn't know what the schedule was going to look like and decided I would fly by the seat of my pants.

BAD IDEA!

I'm not the most scheduled of people but after 2 years of boarding school

I learnt that I actually do well in a structured environment but seem to lack the skills to develop lasting routines. Becoming a wife and cooking has helped nurture some of those skills. I have a laundry schedule telling me which days to do which loads and to minimize the 'I don't have a clean ____' situation. For the longest time it had worked beautifully but I've noticed that over the past few months I've got off it and now Hello Chaos!

It's funny how the laundry and cooking were the two areas I have had some control and structure and now that I'm missing it I am at my wits end. I feel a kind of domestic instability which is spilling over into every aspect of my life. In turn it's leading to added stress on an already stressed load.

It has really highlighted to me the importance in planning when running a household. I've heard some people mention that you need to approach your role as home-keeper like being the CEO.

So time to get things straight again. I am going to spend the rest of May restructuring this house and doing a good clean out, including my pantry. I want to try and use what I have. My freezer is getting a little less packed and hopefully my hubby will refrain from adding more fish because soon all we will have in there is fish! Fish Fry time I think!

So I will try and check in with progress reports and do June's meal plan!!

Tonight I am trying Julia Child's Ratatouille recipe. One of the foresters my husband works with loves to garden and he came home with bags of beautiful eggplant, corn, zucchini, squash, green bell pepper and tomatoes. I've been wanting to give it a go for a while but have no idea what I'm doing!! So fingers crossed it will taste good! It looks messy but it's basically vegetable stew so I don't think stew ever really look pretty.

It was really delicious and got a thumbs up from all the men, although my father in law wanted more tomatoes while my husband argued there were enough.

I think it's a perfect summer dish because it's nice and light but very filling and HEALTHY!!! Doesn't make me feel bad about having a second helping because calorie wise it's probably really diet friendly.

Happy home cooking - minus the chaos!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! I hope whatever you are doing you are getting to relax and be pampered.

A long time ago I told my husband I want 2 days off, my birthday and Mother's Day. So today is my day off. For lunch I got to have some yummy boiled crawfish.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Mini Strawberry Cheesecake Parfaits

Everywhere you look right now, everything seems to be served in mini form and dessert seems to be the favorite thing to shrink. From cake pops to mini parfaits. I guess we are all so conscious about over indulgence and portion control but still want to be able to have that little something to round out a wonderful meal.

Personally I love the idea of mini dessert because I love dessert and I'm really bad at one or two bites and stopping, especially with cheesecake! I think they actually say that the pleasure sensors in your brain stop having as high a reaction after the second bite. I'm not sure my brain is wired that way, I enjoy every bite!!!

Anyhow for the shower the practicality of making a strawberry cheesecake wasn't there. However mini parfaits worked out perfect.

The first time I made them my friend Nancy came over for lunch and I asked if she minded if I used her as a guinea pig. (Have a mentioned that I have a wonderful bunch of friends that let me experiment on them?). I used some small glasses I had so they were larger than the mini cubes.

I was going to make them with regular graham crackers but those things don't last long around here as they are a favorite with my husband and boys. They had finished off the large FAMILY SIZE box of them the day before. All I had was chocolate graham cracker teddies! It was teddy carnage when I took the rolling pin to the ziploc filled with them but they had to be sacrificed for the greater good of dessert exploration. Well that was the end of plain graham crackers. You can use plain if you prefer but the addition of the chocolate just makes this delicious! I used actual chocolate graham crackers for the one pictured; no more chocolate Teddies were harmed!

You can make these up to a day a head but they are better served right after you make them. I just covered them with cling wrap and put them in the fridge.

I now have a bug for wanting to make more mini desserts and I think I will have to get one of those glass mini dessertware sets. I think they are a great indulgence without the guilt of eating a huge dessert. And perfect for any dessert buffet table!

Strawberry Cheesecake Parfaits

Makes 40 mini 3inch cube parfaits

Ingredients:

1 lb of strawberries

3 T sugar, divided

2 packs of chocolate graham crackers crushed

16 oz cream cheese, room temperature

3/4 cup of sour cream

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup whipping cream

Directions:

1. Slice the strawberries and place in a bowl.

2. Add 1 Tbsp of sugar. Stir to evenly coat and set aside.

3. In an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth.

4. Add the sour cream, powdered sugar and vanilla. Continue to beat until combined.

5. In a separate bowl mix the whipping cream and 1 Tbsp of sugar (the sugar will help make it whip quicker) until stiff peaks form. Do not be tempted to us Redi Whip, it won't take long to make it fresh and you may even burn a few extra calories.

6. Gently fold the whipping cream into the cream cheese mixture.

To assemble:

7. Place a Tbsp of the graham crackers in the bottom of each dish.

8. Add a Tbsp of the cream cheese mixture.

9. Add a tsp of the strawberries.

10. Add one last layer of the cream cheese mixture.

11. Place a strawberry on top for garnish.

12. Cover a refrigerate until ready to serve.

Happy Home Cooking!

Strawberry Bruschetta

When we were deciding the menu for the shower, Gabby mentioned bruschetta. When we set it for dessert only we figured we had to be able to do a dessert version with strawberries. There are a lot of versions online ranging from adding Brie to cream cheese.

Well no one recipe screamed out to us, so we decided to get some French bread and a few ingredients and experiment. It was a hard job for us, he he he!!! I think we may have to make a regular date of this!

We tried nutella but it seemed to over power it but man was that good. While we were making the chocolate covered strawberries, we thought the melted Lindt milk chocolate might be a good alternative. But we will have to try that another day! What you find below is the end result of our initial experiment. It works well as a wonderful treat and a great brunch or afternoon tea dish.

Strawberry Bruschetta

Ingredients:

1 French baguette

1 pkg cream cheese

1 pint strawberries

1/4 cup sugar

Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

1. Chop strawberries into small bite pieces. Put in a small bowl and add sugar. Stir to evenly combine. Set aside.

2. Slice the baguette into thin 1/4 inch slices. Place on a baking sheet and place under a broiler just long enough to brown. Be really careful and stand watch, do not be tempted to walk away they will burn in a second!

3. Remove the toasted bread to a cooling rack and cool completely.

4. Spread each slice of toast with cream cheese.

5. Top each slice with the strawberry mixture and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

6. Serve immediately.

Makes about 2 dozen

Happy Home Cooking!

Strawberry Lemonade

We don't really drink soft drinks in our house and when I have got them for a party in the past I've ended up throwing them away. So when I was deciding on drinks for the shower I decided to make ice tea and lemonade. It's hot already down here and who doesn't like lemonade?

Just simple lemonade didn't seem enough considering the strawberry theme so the next level was obvious - add strawberries.

I did some research online and saw a few places where sparkling water was added, almost giving it a punch feel. I tried it on the first batch and loved it. This is not your normal strawberry lemonade and yes it is a little involved but you will not be disappointed with the result and if you don't add the sparkling water it will still be good after a few days in the fridge.

Strawberry Lemonade

Ingredients:

2 cups water

1 cup sugar

1 Tbsp lemon zest

2 cups fresh lemon juice

1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and cut into pieces

2 cups cold sparkling water

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil. Stir until sugar dissolves.

2. Add the lemon zest and juice, stir and remove from heat.

3. When the mixture has completely cooled, strain into a pitcher.

4. Purée the strawberries and add to the lemonade in the pitcher. Stir to combine well and refrigerate until ready to serve.

5. To serve, add ice and sparkling water to pitcher. The colder the sparkling water the better.

6. Garnish with some strawberries and lemon slices.

Happy Home Cooking!

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

With the shower theme being strawberries automatically Strawberry Shortcake comes to mind. However it didn't seem like it would work with the other desserts so I was going to skip it, until I saw this idea all over Pinterest. Strawberry Shortcake Cookies! I keep saying this but another genius idea!!!

I found this recipe on Bakergirl's blog.

It is so delicious right out of the oven but after a few hours isn't as good. They are simple enough that they would be wonderful for an afternoon tea treat or after school snack.

I have halved the original recipe due to the fact it doesn't keep well.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Ingredients

6 oz strawberries, hulled & cut into 1/4 inch pieces (2 cups)

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp sugar

1/8 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/3 cup heavy cream

Coarse sugar, for sprinkling over the cookies

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degree F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a small bowl, stir together the strawberries, lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon of the sugar; set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the lemon zest and remaining sugar. Run the zest into the sugar with your fingertips until moist and fragrant.

4. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the zest/sugar mixture and whisk to combine.

5. Using a pastry cutter or your finger tips, cut or rub the butter into the flour mixture until you have coarse crumbs.

6. Add the cream to the bowl and stir untilthe dough starts to come together, then gently fold in the strawberry mixture.

7. Using a small cookie scoop (about 1 1/2 Tbsp) drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, evenly spaced apart.

8. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.

9. Bake for about 10 - 15 minutes, or until cookies are golden brown.

10. Transfer the pans to wire racks to cool.

Makes about a dozen.

Happy Home Cooking!

Source: Baker's Girl Blog

BLT Pasta Salad

I had planned to spend this week focused on getting all the recipes from the shower posted but while I was surfing Pinterest I saw this recipe for BLT Pasta Salad. I instantly broke my promise to not print any new recipes.

One of my best friends Laura was coming over for a playdate today with her boys and my boys and I thought I would try it for lunch. The poor woman is constantly having to put up with me experimenting on her! You know you have a good friend when they do that willingly!

Just in case you don't know what a BLT is, its a sandwich made with Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato. Simple ingredients with maximum taste! I actually recently got to have an even better sandwich, a BBLT - Brisket, Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato. The brisket just sent the sandwich to another level!

Now back to the pasta salad. Serious what an awesome combination. I simply ADORE BLTs and pasta is pretty much my favorite food. So combining them is a sure fire winner.

I found the recipe on The Cheese Pusher blog and I adapted it to make it fit my tastes. I took out the thyme because I just didn't fancy it in this salad. I replaced it with my beloved Tony's, you should have seen that one coming! I added more mayonnaise and sour cream as I wanted it a little more creamy. I suffer from migraines and a friend told me recently she saw that a magnesium deficiency could cause them and she recommended adding spinach to my diet so when I went looking for arugula I found the mix with it and spinach. I'm really glad I added it!

Sorry the picture isn't very good, I took it with my phone!

Anyhow I hope you enjoy this yummy pasta salad. Perfect lunch with a good friend!!!!

BLT Pasta Salad

3 cups Rotini pasta

1/2 cup milk

10 slices thick-cut bacon

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tsp Tony's seasoning

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour cream

3/4 cup grape tomatoes

Arugula and spinach salad mix

1 tbsp grates Parmesan

1. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Drain and put into a large bowl. Mix in the milk and set aside.

2. Cook the bacon until crispy. Place on paper towel to drain and then crumble.

3. In a separate pan, bring 1 tsp of bacon drippings on low heat. Add the garlic and cook for no more than 1 minute.

4. Put the garlic and drippings into the bowl of pasta and mix.

5. Stir in the mayonnaise, sour cream and Tony's until fully combined.

6. Halve the grape tomatoes and add them, along with the arugula and spinach, to the pasta. Gently toss to

coat the vegetables.

7. Mix in all but 1 tsp of the bacon.

8. Stir in the Parmesan cheese.

9. Garnish with the remaining bacon and a sprinkle of Parmesan.

Serves about 6.

Happy Home Cooking!

Mini Apple Pies

When we set the menu for dessert only I figured it would be a good idea to find out what the bride's favorite dessert was. Secretly I was hoping we already had it on our list but we didn't we only had her no. 2 choice chocolate covered strawberries. So I had to quickly figure out how to make mini apple pies.

Now if you ask my husband he will tell you that I don't have a good history with apple pies, so to say he was unsure how this would go was an understatement. I have to say I thought I had set myself a challenge that might not work out and should have settled for the chocolate covered strawberries. But this was about the bride.

So I went online and looked at about 20 different recipes for the filling and finally settled on the recipe below. I'm not a big cinnamon fan at all and actually I really liked it in these. It wasn't too much to give them that overpowering flavor. I love Granny Smith apples, my mother craved them when she was pregnant with me so I don't know if that has had some lasting effect. I love their tart taste and I find they make the best pies.

If you have been reading the blog for a while you will know that I'm very much a make it from scratch kinda girl. I don't really like store bought pie crust and since I was a little girl I was taught how to rub the butter into the flour. I find it kinda of stress relieving in a weird way and enjoy doing it. Actually there may be some sanity to this because you have pressure points in your fingertips and rubbing them can relieve stress. I know you can use a pastry cutter but to be honest I never have and really don't know what to say about them.

I'm looking forward to supersizing this recipe and making a regular pie. I'll post another recipe when I figure it out. Maybe finally I have tamed the apple pie challenge. That's the thing about cooking, if at first you don't succeed try try try again!!! It takes time and with practice and tweaking recipes to your preference it's as easy as apple pie! Which really is an insane saying but once you have mastered it it really is!

Mini Apple Pies

Ingredients:

Crust

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

10 T unsalted butter, cold and cubed

5 T water

Filling

2 Granny Smith Apples, peeled and cored

1 1/2 T flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/8 tsp cinnamon

Pie

1 egg

Raw sugar

Directions:

Crust:

1. Mix the dry ingredients.

2. Add half the butter to the flour mix and place the other half in the freezer. Bear with me! Rub the butter into the flour mixture with your finger tips, until it is the size of breadcrumbs. You can use a pastry cutter.

3. Add the remaining butter and continue to rub it in until it is the size of small peas. Try to make sure that the butter stays cold.

4.Sprinkle the water into the flour, one tablespoon at a time, stirring with a fork. It should stick together but still look dry.

5. Form into a disk and wrap with cling wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour but ideally overnight.

Filling:

1. Cut the apples into tiny cubes.

2. In a bowl mix the dry ingredients with a whisk.

3. Add the apples and mix until all the apples are evenly coated.

Pies:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Roll out the dough until about 1/8 inch thick. Using a round 2.5 inch cookie cutter, cut out 24 rounds. Then with a 3 inch cookie cutter cut out another 24 rounds.

3. Place the smaller pie crusts on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

4. Add between 1/2 - 1 Tablespoon of the apple mixture to the center of each crust. 

5. Make an egg wash with the egg and a little water.

6. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash around the edge of each pie crust to help seal it.

7. Add the larger pie crust to each pie and press down the seams to seal. Using a fork crimp the edges.

8. Brush the top of each pie with the egg wash and sprinkle with raw sugar.

9. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until the pies are a golden brown.

Happy Home Cooking!

Tea Towel Bouquet

This was so much fun to make for the bridal shower. It's a lovely way to give 'practical' items that aren't very exciting! However the rolling pin is a special gift with a special story,

My husband and I closed on our house on Monday and got married on Friday, I guess we figured we would get all the big things over and done with at the same time. We moved in after we got back from our honeymoon and I found a rolling pin with a little note sitting on our kitchen counter. The very sweet lady that had sold us the house had given it to me as a gift and I like to pass it on to new brides.

So what did the note say? 

Every new bride needs a rolling for two reasons. Firstly to make lots of yummy cookies and pies. Secondly to keep those new husbands in line.

I use mine a lot, thankfully for cooking more than keeping my hubby in line.

I found a tutorial online that showed how to make it. I did mine a little different in that I made the bottom circle bigger. I put a large red ribbon along the bottom. It really was a simple project that looks wonderful. It would also be a great housewarming gift. Or like the tutorial it's a great Mother's Day gift!!!!

Tutorial

Happy Home Cooking (or Crafting!)

Butterflies and Strawberries Bridal Shower

We had such a wonderful time on Saturday at the Bridal Shower for my niece. I really enjoyed working with her best friend Gabby, it's wonderful when you work with like minded people and she came up with some awesome games that were fun, sentimental and a little educational!!! But more about that later.

It's strawberry season here in Louisiana so we decided to take advantage of that and incorporate them in the menu. We also decided because the shower was at 3pm to do a dessert buffet, who doesn't like dessert. 

The budget was tight but I still wanted to make it extremely special for Ashley, it's amazing what you can do with a little thought. My big example is the cupcake stand, it's from Martha Stewarts collection at Joann Fabrics, which opened up a store in March here in Baton Rouge. They were offering a $10 gift card to the first 100 customers during their opening weekend and a 50% off coupon. The stand was $12.99 so with the coupon and gift card it was free. 

As for the food with strawberries in season that made it alot cheaper to buy and I was surprised how quickly you can use a whole flat! I also had stocked up on cream cheese when it was on sale recently and grapped a few 5lb bags of sugar that were on clearance.

Anyhow so let me tell you about it all. Firstly we made the invitation ourselves. I had seen the dress shaped invite online and loved it. I purchased some clipart from Etsy (highly recommend they are beautiful!) and using my photo editing software Corel Paint Shop I did the layout of the wording and pictures. Then printed on some cardstock I had and cut it in the shape of the dress. We then tied a red ribbon around the waistline and attached the dress to some red cardstock with foam stickers to give it a bit more of a 3D effect. Total cost for the invitations excluding postage was around $5. 

My desire for the shower wasn't simply to have a party and Ashley get showered with gifts. I wanted her to be blessed with guidance for her new role as a wife. So I thought it would be nice if all the guests shared a recipe from their personal collection with her. This to me was the hardest part because I wanted something special that would be a wonderful keepsake for her as well as a practical recipe folder. I looked high and low. Photo albums didn't work because of the way the pockets are made to hold the recipe cards. One day after searching my beloved Amazon.com I found the perfect folder and LOVE it, Gabby and I both want one for ourselves! So I created the recipe cards to match the invitations and the recipe sheets that came with the binder. 

I always love to see those diaper bouquets at Baby Showers, so practical but yet so much fun. I saw a great idea for a tea towel bouquet and as I have a little tradition with a rolling pin I will share in a minute I thought this would be perfect. When I got married we bought our house the same week, it was a busy one to say the least. We moved in after our honeymoon and the lovely lady we bought the house from had left me a gift of a rolling pin on the counter with a note attached, it said "Every new bride needs a rolling pin for two reasons, one to make lots of yummy cookies and pies but secondly to keep those new husbands in line!". Needless to say mine has been used A LOT!!! I thought it was such a lovely idea that I like to pass on the tradition. 

Tea Towel Bouquet

So now for the food. I will share all the recipes with you in other posts. Again everything was dessert and another way to cut costs is making it all yourself. I did cheat with the brownies and use box mix but hey everyone is allowed one easy one right!

I found the table cloth in the clearance section of Bed Bath and Beyond for $7 and it's wonderful. I'm tired of buying disposable ones and this will be great for Christmas time. My friend let me borrow some mason jars and her white serving dish. The cupcake stand is from Martha Stewart and I found the white plates and bowls at Target. 

I put some red tulips and white daisies in mason jars to finish the table off.

Mini Apple Pies

While we were working on the menu I though we better ask the bride what her favorite dessert was, fingers were crossed it was something on the menu, and she said apple pie. Not on the menu! Sanity said to go with her second favorite chocolate covered strawberries but again the whole point of the event was to make a fuss of the bride. So I though I'd see if I could make some mini pies. My husband was skeptical because me and apple pie don't have a great history. I had found a new crust recipe that is delicious and after searching the internet created the filling. They really are delicious and they got a huge thumbs up from my husband!

Mini Apple Pie Recipe

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

 Of course if you are having a strawberry theme you can't skip the chocolate covered strawberries. What a genius combination. Strawberries and chocolate. We made them ourselves and enjoyed that process. The bride really wanted to come over and help!!! We did text her a few pictures and she did threaten to stop talking to us!!!! But we were extremely nice and had a whole tray of them for her to take home to enjoy!!! 

Rice Krispie Treats

 I love these guys and because I could make them the day before it helped with the work load. To make them more lady like I cut them into 1-inch squares and drizzled white chocolate over them. 

Coconut Ice

I love coconut ice not just because they are pretty but they are wonderful for anyone with a sweet tooth. I used a little more red food coloring to make them redder and go better with the color scheme. We thought they would be a nice break from the strawberries and chocolate. 

Coconut Ice Recipe

DIY Fruit Pizza

If you a Pinterest person then you will see fruit pizza ideas EVERYWHERE. I think it's a wonderful idea. So I made some round sugar cookies and made up a batch of the Tastefully Simple Lemonade Fruit Dip for the 'sauce' and then chopped up strawberries, kiwi, blueberries and blackberries. The DIY station was a fun way of serving it as I was afraid the cookies would get soggy and the fruit loose it's freshness.
Sugar Cookie Recipe

Mini Strawberry Cheesecake Parfaits

I love the idea of mini desserts and found these cute mini cubes and mini spoons at the party store. They were simple to put together and delicious.
Mini Strawberry Cheesecake Parfait

Strawberry Bruschetta

From the very start Gabby had mentioned Bruschetta for the menu. Normally this is a savory dish but we decided to try and create a dessert themed version with strawberries. To say we had so much fun working this one out is an understatement.
Strawberry Bruschetta Recipe

Sugar cookies

 I love sugar cookies and they are so fun to decorate. I found a strawberry shaped cookie cutter and then decorated them with royal icing. 

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies & Mason Jars

I used mason jars as serveware to add a little variety to the table. The bride loves Twizzlers and we filled one with those as well as some butterfly suckers. The last jar in the picture is filled with Strawberry Shortcake Cookies. These are an interesting twist on Strawberry shortcake and extremely delicious. Their only down fall is that they don't do to well after a few hours. We filled the little bowls with red M&Ms, strawberry cheesecake jelly beans and strawberry fruit snacks from Target.
Strawberry Shortcake Cookies Recipe

Water, Ice Tea and Strawberry Lemonade.

 For drinks we served water, sweet and unsweet ice tea and strawberry lemonade. I found these beautiful bottles for the tea at Tuesday Morning. They are glass and the top closes tight, the bottom says it's made in Italy, nice change from China! The Strawberry Lemonade was made from scratch and was yummy. The tablecloth I used on this table was one that had been given to me from a stash of vintage fabric. It is a tablecloth from the 1940/50s and never used. Worked perfectly!!!
Strawberry Lemonade Recipe

Cupcakes

 Instead of serving cake I made cupcakes. I'm a big cupcake fan because they are perfect portions, you don't have to worry about cutting them and serving. With these ones I went all out and found these butterflies for the top which are edible. 

The party games were so much fun. We played four in total. The first was the clothes peg game where everyone gets a clothes peg and if you said the word 'wedding' then whoever heard you got to take your clothes peg. The second game was awesome, Gabby had a cute spice rack from Target where the spices are in test tube style bottles. She put a numbered sticker over each lid to cover the name of the spice and through sight and smell everyone had to guess all 18 spices. I think the winner got 12, some were hard even when you knew the name!!!! It was a little educational when there was a dispute over the Garam Marsala, which is an Indian spice blend that one of the ingredients is Nutmeg. It was argued that if they guessed nutmeg they should get it.  I don't know what the solution was!!! But we all know that Garam Marsala is the Indian Tony's Cajun Seasoning!!!

The next game was wonderful because it put the focus squarely on Ashley. Gabby got everyone to write down a memory they had with her on a piece of paper and then she read it out and everyone had to guess who the memory was from. It was a wonderful time with lots of stories about Ashley and lots of giggles!!! I highly recommend this game as it does make it more Bride focused.

The last game by far was the funniest. Toilet paper wedding dresses!!!! In teams of two they got to make a wedding dress out of toilet paper. It was so funny and entertaining and interesting seeing what you can do with roll of toilet roll!

Toilet Paper Wedding Dresses

 As favors we found these pretty little glass bottles with corks and filled them with strawberry cheesecake jelly beans. I printed out a little label with a butterfly on it and the date of the event and tied a red ribbon around the top. All together they were under $1 for each one. We also got small bottles of water and printed out a label saying Thank You and added a picture of the happy couple. Some curled ribbon finished it off.

It was a wonderful afternoon and the bride enjoyed herself. Ashley was one of my bridesmaids at my wedding so I'm looking forward to watching her get married at the end of the month. 

Happy Home Cooking Bridal style!!!

Suppliers:

Clipart - The Digital Chick Etsy Shop

Martha Stewart Cupcake Stand - Joann Fabrics

Recipe Folder - Amazon.com

Edible Butterflies - Sugar Robot Etsy Shop

Mini Dessert Cube - Party City

Lemonade Fruit Dip - Tastefully Simple

Glass Favor Bottles - Beau-coup.com