SPD ‘13: Dessert and decorations

I didn’t do a very good job of taking pictures of how we decorated the house or how the ultimate food and drink set-up went.  In the few minutes before the party started, my priorities weren’t focused on future blog posts but on getting the grub put out and labeled.

Luckily, I set up the dessert buffet earlier so I was able to snap a few photos before I turned into one of those proverbial chickens minus their noggins.

So from left to right, we have: Lemon Gooey Cake Bars, chocolate cupcakes with three different frostings, the NY Times Cookies with butterscotch and white chocolate chips, mint Oreo-truffle brownies, and Puppy Chow.  The one thing missing was the peanut butter fudge, which was very soft so it was in the freezer until just before our guests were due to arrive.

The three frostings were, from top to bottom, mint, vanilla, and chocolate Irish cream.

If you like chocolate chip cookies, you HAVE to try the NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I made the original ones at Christmas and everyone loved them.  I figured we had enough chocolate for the party so that’s why I went with butterscotch and white chocolate chips in this batch.  I have a kitchen scale so when I made them the first time, I weighed my dough and baked the 3.5-oz dough balls that the recipe suggests.  Those were some BIG cookies.  For the party, I used my 1/4-cup scoop so my cookies were uniform but still significant in size.

Don’t skip the sprinkling of sea salt on the dough.  It takes the cookies from pretty darn good to downright FABULOUS.

Next up are the brownies.  I made these truffle brownies with regular Oreos for Olivia’s birthday and went with the mint Oreos for the party.

And last but not least, everyone always loves Puppy Chow, especially me the day after the party.  It’s in that bowl on the far right.

The drink station was set up in the window.  We had punch, soda, water, liquor, beer-vodka lemonade and wine inside while the beer and cider were out on the deck in coolers.

Other than taping up some shamrocks, my main decoration was the backdrop for the food table.  I saw some streamers sewed together so that they were ruffly and I asked my mom if she could help me out.  She came through with flying colors, then it was up to me to figure out how to hang the streamers.

I ended up cutting a length of painter’s tape the length I needed and laying it out on the kitchen floor.  Then I cut the streamers so they were 5 feet long and spread them along the tape in a layout that worked.

As you can see, it was a very precise process.

And how did it look on the wall?  Awesome!

And later with food on the table.

We also had some green lights strung on the railings on the deck.  Allow me to show you.

People pics next!

SPD ‘13: Self-portraits (a.k.a. McWife Overload)

I’m going to break the party up into at least three posts: the random self-portraits that I and a few others took through the night, some decorations and food, and then the party in general.  So sit back and scroll through the first set of people pics and imagine how much fun we were having.

Jeremy and me

With Jovyn

Just Jovyn, looking much more serious.

My teeth and Fred’s eye.  Note to self: Make sure the camera’s zoomed out…

Let’s try that again.  (BTW, Fred is my neighbor.)

Me and Vanessa

And last but not least, Tawnya and me.

All right, that’s more than enough of me.  I’ve got fun decorations, yummy treats, and lots more friendly faces to share this week.

{Recipe Recap} Oatmeal Cherry Chip Cookies

A quick cookie post for you this morning.  I made these a couple weeks ago and I can’t wait to make them again.  They were quite delicious.  The cherry chips were a nice change of pace from chocolate, cinnamon, and butterscotch. 

I just happened to see the cherry chips at Walmart a while back and bought two bags of them.  Thank goodness I did because now I can make that second batch.

The recipe called for a teaspoon of vanilla extract.  I went with half a teaspoon of vanilla and half a teaspoon of almond extract. Genius!

Everyone who tried these pretty much raved about them.  I’m not sure the cherry chips would be easy to find, but the base dough recipe is good enough that you could put whatever chip you want in and you’d still get a fabulous cookie out of it.

This recipe is a definite keeper.  And with all the oats in it, it’s not the worst treat you could eat so you don’t even have to feel guilty about indulging a bit.

{Recipe here}

{Recipe Recap} Banana Bread Muffins

I made these muffins and knew they’d be good, but I didn’t realize HOW good.

I packed up most of them to send with the McHusband to work but it wasn’t enough that he had them available to eat during the day at the office.  He requested that six of them stay at the house.  We compromised with two.

I took four into my office as well and they got rave reviews.  Instead of chocolate chips, I used cinnamon chips, which was the right move to make.  I’m not too keen on the chocolate-banana combo but cinnamon and banana?  It works every time.

I suggest you go buy a bunch of bananas then set aside about three of them just for this recipe.  You will not regret making these.

Unless you can’t resist eating three of them at a time, in which case you probably will feel a little bad.  But your tummy will be full and your tastebuds will be thanking you.

This might be my go-to banana bread recipe from now on.

{Recipe adapted from here}

Wine Wednesday

I had an HOA meeting last night so there wasn’t a lot of time much less mental energy for a post.  There was, however, a bottle of wine consumed when I got home from the meeting.

Okay, so it was just one of those mini bottles, and I had it instead of my popcorn, but it was exactly what I wanted.  Work was busy and stressful and then I tried to get in a quick muscle workout before the HOA meeting.  I also set out two sticks of butter to soften so I could make cookie dough that needed to be refrigerated for a day or so before I baked it into cookies.  But when I got home from the HOA meeting, I realized I was an egg short of the two I needed for the dough.

So, yeah, I drank a bottle of wine.  And it hit the spot.

Two cats + lots of sunshine = bliss

I’m not sure anyone enjoyed the sun and warm weather this past weekend more than the cats.  They soaked up the sun like they were never going to see it again.

I’d put Morgan outside so she too could enjoy the beautiful early spring day and when she came back in, I left her bed out there.  Emma has always had a thing for the dog beds with the cedar in them.

I don’t know if the wood is akin to catnip or what, but it always makes her act a little strange.

Tori, with her black fur and extra layers of, well, we’ll call it insulation, preferred to be only sorta in the sun.

The glimpse of what’s to come weather-wise was a tease, but it was a good one.  We ALL have full-blown spring fever right now, that’s for sure.

{Recipe Recap} Cinnamon Blondies with Coffee Buttercream

Between it being Monday and it feeling like we got up an hour earlier than usual, I figured a little sugar-and-caffeine pick-me-up was just what the blogger ordered this morning.

I followed this recipe for the blondies, but I added cinnamon chips to them.

While I’m not a coffee drinker due to the fact that I don’t like coffee, I don’t mind a little coffee flavor when it’s partnered with the right other flavor.  I decided to top these blondies with a coffee buttercream rather than the plain vanilla one.

The McHusband didn’t like the combo too much, but he likes coffee even less than I do.  However, he agreed that the blondies were pretty terrific.

I will most definitely be keeping these blondies in my rotation of go-to treats.

{Blondie recipe here}