My 33rd Birthday: The Food

This cake was the stepping off point for the inspiration behind the food at my party. I found it on Pinterest, but I am giving you the link directly to the website which it is based from....because I think credit should be given where it is due!

So my baker, Yumi's Bakery, created a very similar cake. Only they topped it with the lavender roses...and I finished it off my surrounding the base of the cake with the roses as well. Also in this picture you see red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (my favorite), chicken salad sandwiches, meat and cheese platter, veggie platter, freshly made pico de gallo and guacamole, and chips.

On the other side of the island was the chocolate. It was suppose to be a chocolate fountain, but the heater never heated, so we threw the chocolate into a crock pot. Still tasted good! We had salted nut rolls, strawberries, rice krispy treats, pineapple, & bananas for dipping into the chocolate.

 

Don't these strawberries look so fresh and yummy!

 

The inside of the cake! I later heard that one of the guest was just certain that this cake was grape flavored! Nope...it was just white cake with regular frosting inbetween the layers and fondant on the outside. The cake did lean a bit...but still turned out great! I have made these stacked cakes many times before (never with fondant) but one of the most important things is to freeze it every couple of layers..for a couple of hours before adding your new layers. Otherwise you will get a leaning cake. 

 These were mini quiches! They were my favorite right behind the cupcakes!

 In all...the foods were easy to handle, finger foods. The only thing the forks were required for were for the cake. I wanted to create an environment where people mixed and mingled. I pulled all the chairs away from my tables and island and placed them throughout the house. I think all of these foods worked great for this atmosphere!

My next post will be about the party drinks!

Upside Down Grilled Pizza Family Fun!

On August 17th I attended a Bloglove event hosted by Chris Ann & Kristen of LoveFeast Table. It was amazing! You can read more about it here. Among the bloggers who attended was one brave dad blogger. I am sure you have heard of him, Rob's website is  "Cooking for Dads". I did not get the pleasure of getting to speak to him myself...but I did take the time to look him up after the fact. I immediately became enamored with this recipe for Upside Down Grilled Pizza.

As soon as I watched his video I knew I had to make this recipe! On this past Sunday everybody in our family handed in our cell phones after church. We unplugged the computer and turned the TV off! It was our last peaceful day as a family alone before the ratrace of school was to begin Monday morning. We all took a nap, then played this board game called "Argue"...which was really fun...then the kids went downstairs to hang out while James & I began to cook. The original plan was to include them in the actual cooking, however, after playing our new game...James & I needed a bit of time to recoup after the yelling of the game. So, onward we went cooking up a storm!

We watched Rob's video together...my husband scoffed a bit at the thought of getting pulled into something related to blogging (it just isn't his thing)...then we went to the kitchen to prepare. We first made the dough. We followed Rob's recipe but with one slight variation, we used whole wheat unbleached flour. I was leary of the texture that was turning out but we continued with the cooking. My husband still kind of reluctant...started to take over this whole project more and more as we went on.

While we waited for our dough to rise, we hung out in the kitchen together thinking of new concoctions. We invented a wonderful new stuffed mushroom which I will soon be making again and blogging about! Seriously, SO good! We talked, we laughed, we flirted a little. (sorry mom...but I have to blog the whole truth, right?) There is something really flirty about getting into the kitchen and cooking a new, fun recipe together with your spouse. When it is cooked out of fun instead of nourishment necessity there is a certain relaxation about it then allows you to just loosen up and enjoy the process of cooking.

James got so into the process that he took over the dough rolling, or shall I say dough throwing process! Before us getting married, James was the manager of a local pizza restaurant for 3 years, which is where he learned his mad dough throwing skills.

So, please...enjoy our ameteur video. Ignore my wheezing laugh...and the 5 minutes it took me to figure out how many more pizza's we had to make after the first one was done. OR...you could just turn the sound off all together and not listen to me and just watch the video. Alright already...here it is:

Ok, now that that is over...moving on to the toppings.

We varied the toppings a bit for our family. For 3 out of 5 pizzas we started with feta cheese, sun dried tomato pesto, sun dried tomato's, grilled chicken, olives and just a tad of regular pizza sauce.

For the other 2 picky eaters we did just feta, pizza sauce, and chicken.

End result:

Aside from the crust on a couple of them being slightly charred...they were delicious! We used the same amount of ingredients that Rob suggested for his crust...and we were able to get 4 regular size and one mini pizza for baby! Everybody was full and everybody was satisfied. We had fun eating this pizza! My husband ended up "eating" his words because he thought this recipe was fantastic! Don't you love when mama is right? I know I do. Humbly of course. ahem.

Thank you Rob for sharing your recipe and by adding a little fun to our family night!

Nameless Muffins

Today I made random muffins from scratch, without a recipe. I started adding stuff...and couldn't stop. The following items are what I grabbed and threw in:

1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1 cup of multi-grain oatmeal

1 egg

about 1/3 cup of unsweetened applesauce

a little more than a dash of cinnamon

about 1/2 cup flax meal

approx 1 Tablespoon of flax oil

1/2 tsp of baking soda

1/2 tsp of baking powder

about 1 cup of flour (would have preferred to use whole wheat flour)

pinch of Morton light salt

1/2 cup of Splenda 1/2 sugar blend

a squeeze of honey

a spoonful of Nutella

About 5 shredded baby carrots

a dash of pure vanilla extract

Pretty much everything but the kitchen sink.

Mixed it all together. Put them in greased muffin liners in a muffin pan. Sprinkled a little sugar and coconut over the tops of the muffins. Baked for about 15 to 20 minutes. It made 12 full size muffins.

The outcome...they were good! The ultimate test taste pass was when Xavier liked them! He, of course, is the pickiest eater of all times. He can sniff out onions, garlic, and "green things" in food from a mile away.

If and when I try them again, I may replace the shredded carrots for shredded zucchini.

This picture was taken with my camera phone, so not the greatest.

If you make them, or something similar...let me know!

Oh...and...I need a name for my invention. Any suggestions?