The Tweetest Little Baby Shower in Texas

Favor Bags: Homemade Strawberry Jam, Fruit-Scented Hand Sanitizers,
Pearberry Bath Fizzies and Handmade Felt Bird Brooches

For the first baby shower I've ever been too - and the first one I've thrown - I think it went well... and was definitely tasty! We had lots of inspiration along the way as you might remember from THIS PREVIOUS POST. So here's the recap - with recipes to follow this week:

Grandmas in yellow and the Mom-to-Be with the diaper wreath and their sashes

Day and Time: Saturday at 2:00 pm
Season: Summer
Theme: Birds
Colors: Red, Yellow and Turquoise 
Baby: Girl (Riley)

What a feast! (Minus the platter of apple/brie/walnut toasts)

DIY Items: Invitations, Diaper Wreath, Game Cards, Wishing Tree, Favors (Bath Fizzies, Strawberry Jam, Felt Bird Brooches), Bunting, Table Runners, Game Prizes (Layered Cake in a Jar)

Guests filled out their best wishes for baby Riley...

... and hung them in the wishing tree!

Menu:

• Savory - Chicken Skewers with Sauces (Thai Peanut, Buffalo, Honey Mustard), Caprese Skewers, Roasted Red Pepper and Corn Salad, Roast Beef and Turkey Pinwheels, Jalapeno Artichoke Dip, Guacamole, Brie/Apple/Walnut Toasts
• Sweet - Vanilla and Red Velvet Cakeballs, Lemon Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream, Strawberry Pretzel Salad, Lemon Whoopie Pies, Orange-Berry Mini Cheesecakes, Lime Margarita Fruit Dip with Fresh Fruit
• Drinks - Strawberry Lemonade, Pearberry Mimosas with Prosecco

Top Row (L-R): roasted red pepper and corn salad, dips, caprese skewers;
Middle: strawberry pretzel salad, cupcakes, lemon whoopie pies;
Bottom: orange berry cheesecakes, pinwheels, cakeballs

Decorations/Special Touches:

• Fabric Table Runners and Bunting
• Wishing Tree with Chipboard Birds
• Diaper Wreath
• Flowers - sunflowers, daisies and mums
• Fabric sashes for Grandmothers and Mom-to-Be
• Blue and Yellow Tin Bird Watering Cans with flowers

Birds and daisies - perfect for a summer afternoon shower!

Games:

• Nursery Rhyme Fill-in-the-Blank
• Pick Her Traits Guessing Game
• Present-Opening Bingo

Saltwater Stories: Sailing and Cupcakes

Flickr photo by cogdogblog

A spent a lot of time during my childhood on boats - sailboats, motor boats, boats with outboards, canoes - so it was pretty likely that my little vacation down here on the Gulf Coast was going to involve getting on the water! Today was the day. 


It's breezy here, to say the least. With winds around 30 mph, we got a 44 foot sailboat up to 9 knots (about 10 mph) in 4 foot waves. And I was even at the helm - water crashing over the bow, the main and jib sails only unfurled halfway. It was glorious after so many years away from this life of racing, weekend trips to Galveston, and skipping out of school early to sail with friends on Friday afternoons.


As I stepped in the shower to rinse off oily sunscreen and salty seawater, I felt fresh and new, scrubbing away layers of stickiness and grit. Likewise with the heat, I feel like I've been sweating out negativity and years of my own grit. How good it is to wash away the grime. 


Licking my lips, I still taste a little tang from the waves and have this notion of something spicy and sweet, with a pinch of salt on top. That's me, right? I made these zucchini cupcakes with caramel frosting a few weeks ago and they were a MAJOR hit. I think they would be divine with a pinch of sea salt on top and would encourage you to give it a try. 


Sidenote: I went to my FIRST EVER cupcake shop - Sprinkles - this week and had a bite of my mom's salted caramel cupcake. This frosting is not the same as the one from Sprinkles (not as creamy) but I rather liked it that way!


Zucchini Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting (Taste of Home)


3 eggs
1-1/3 cups sugar 
1/2 cup canola oil 
1/2 cup orange juice 
1 teaspoon almond extract 
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt 
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1-1/2 cups shredded zucchini

CARAMEL FROSTING:
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup 2% milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 to 2 cups confectioners' sugar


In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, oil, orange juice and extract. Combine dry ingredients; gradually add to egg mixture and mix well. Stir in zucchini. Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.


For frosting, combine the brown sugar, butter and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Cool to lukewarm. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until frosting reaches spreading consistency. Frost cupcakes. Top with a pinch of sea salt, if desired. 


Yield: 1-1/2 to 2 dozen.

Bird Feed: Mini Fillo (Phyllo) Cheesecake Cups

I can't lie - this last week has been perhaps the hardest of my life. A lot of big disappointments, a few exceptionally hard decisions that I'm not sure are right. (Do you ever really know?)

The one highlight is that I'm leaving town for a whole week to go down to

Texas to help throw my sister-in-law a baby shower. This break couldn't

have come at a better time.

I've done a lot of recipe experimentation recently to figure out which

ones would be good for the shower AND which I might want to sell at the farmer's 

market this summer. These cheesecake cups seemed like a good fit for an

afternoon summer shower - and since it's a bird theme I think they

conjure up the idea of a cherry cheesecake nest!

It's a pretty standard recipe that would be super simple to whip up

for a dinner party or backyard BBQ. You could flavor the filling in different

ways - I'm thinking anything from chocolate to lemon would be so yum. 

I even have a small dream to make a "turtle" version...

There are lots of recipes out there, but I found that the one over on

the Athens Foods website appealed to me the most - and besides, I tend

to trust recipes from the companies that make the main ingredient!

PETITE CHEESECAKE CUPS

Ingredients
4 oz. softened cream cheese
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon flour
1 egg
1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons lemon juice
15 Athens® Mini Fillo Shells (1 box)
1/4 cup sugared berries, preserves or canned pie filling

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and flour. Blend in egg, vanilla and lemon juice, until smooth. Spoon 1 rounded teaspoon of filling into each Fillo Shell. Bake in preheated 325°F oven 12-15 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes. Top with 1/2 teaspoon of fresh fruit. Serve immediately.

Makes 15 Desserts

Monday Music: Sarah Harmer's "Almost"

Funny how a song more appropriately matched to my upcoming trip to the Gulf Coast reminds me of a place so completely opposite of all things Texas. Sarah Harmer, Canada, I miss you. 

And if I am a sailor

You are the warm Gulf wind

And you've blown into this little port

And roused my dreams again...

Big "News" Day: Pie Bird Cupcakes in the Paper

Excuse the camera phone quality, but my cupcakes made the local paper this week. Hooray! Although I admit it must be a slow news week when a photo of cupcakes get a 1/3 page spread, I'm pretty sure that any news involving delicious cupcakes is appreciated by most people.


These cupcakes - coconut with lime infusion, berry tart lemon, and vanilla vanilla - were made for a local food fest reception last week. If you think eating locally is hard, try baking locally... especially when you live in Wyoming! I ended up using local eggs, flour from Montana, butter from Utah, homemade vanilla extract and milk from Idaho! Not ideal, but hey, I'm proud of the effort.


After I e-mail the reporter to ask for some copies of the photos, I'm off to go buy some copies of the paper!