My turn for Bunco!

It was my turn for Bunco at our house. Gasp!  So a couple of things:  I always dread having a party at my house....but then actually I love it too, it's just a matter of finding the time to clean and straighten it all up.  As a matter of fact, when I told my husband I was hosting Bunco, his response??  "Oh the house will get cleaned?"  Don't get me wrong, we don't live in a total pigpen.  But since I work full time, well, let's just say certain things get put on the backburner.  But, I have to admit, now that Bunco has been here and gone, my floors and kitchen and bathroom and....well you get the idea.....all look great and now that it is the weekend, I am breathing a sigh of relief that the house is clean.   Now what do I do with my time??  Oh yeah....laundry.  There's always something right? 

I really enjoyed putting together and hosting the Bunco party this month.  Let's agree that the Dollar Tree is our best friend!  - and and the Target clearance rack.  And with a little help from Pinterest my dinner party came together and (I think) the ladies had a great time!  No pictures of the girls, you know we are camera shy....but the food wasn't camera shy! 



Mini cupcake idea that I found on Pinterest.  I used the Ketchup cups you find at fast food restaurants.  I picked up the cups at Smart and Final.  I have a TON of them left.  So lots of mini cupcakes in my future, or some other crafty food project. 



Chocolate covered Strawberries.  These were WAY more popular then the mini cupcakes.  Chocolate and Strawberries are like the worlds best combo. 



Dessert table - Yes please!



Dinner Table - Light food for a hot summer's day.  And it was warm, I turned our air conditioning on at 3 and the party started at 6.  Ugh, the house cooled down to a warm 79....finally around seven, it was cooler outside, so we turned off the air, opened up the doors and moved our little bunco party outside onto the deck.  So nice!

Mini BLT's.  YUM!

Mini Crunchy Chicken Salad Sandwiches.  Canned Chicken, cut up celery, sliced almonds, Mayo, Celery Salt and Pepper to taste.  This salad is especially good when you slice an avocado in half and stuff it with this yumminess...oh and top it with Season salt. 

Mini Vegie cups.  Another brilliant idea I found on Pinterest.  I wish I could take credit for this idea.  Although, when I recently attended a business meeting in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay, they had a beach party, well, on their beach and served this too!  You think the chefs at Mandalay Bay go to Pinterest for ideas too?

21st Birthday Present

My Best Friends daughter turned 21!  I have known Melissa since she was about 4 years old.  Melissa and my 2 boys grew up together. We've done holidays together, vacations together, acted like crazy people together and my fondest memory, the kids in the back seat of the Toyota 4 runner singing (SCREAMING)  "Feliz Navidad" in the most awful pitch.  Julie ( my BFF) and I looked at each other and knew that we should appreciate it while it happened.  Even though, I could feel the headache coming on.    We just laughed about it.    They treat each other just like brothers and sister and they protect each other the same way.  So when Melissa turned 21, of course I wanted to do something special for her.

WIth that said, I LOVE Pinterest!  How did I get along without it?  I find the *best* ideas.  Just put something like "21st Birthday present" in the search field and "presto" you get pictures of 21st Birthday present ideas. So of course I took one of the ideas and made it my own.  :) 

So here goes: 

Select and decorate the Container.  I found this white "box" like basket at Michaels

 

Go to the liquor store and find a nice selection of mini bottles. I bought vodka's, tequilas, schnapps in many flavors, and loads more!  In total about 25 bottles.

 

Hot glue gun is your BEST friend!  Kabob sticks hot glued to the back of the bottles



Next, begins the FUN!  Underneath that pink fluffy little girls boa that I found at Michaels is a Big White Syrofoam ball.....Start inserting the liquor 'sticks' into the ball to creat a "bouquet"

 

The finished product is a Bouquet of Liquor.  And the result??   - you take it down to the restaurant for the Birthday Party, you get lots of folks complimenting you and coming over to take pictures of your genius "idea" 

   Enjoy making your own basket.....take it and make it your own!  :) 

Strawberry kabobs

It's BBQ time as it's so close to 4th of July. SUMMER food!  Yay! One of my girlfriends picked up a bunch of strawberries and told me to make dessert.  Okay!  They are super easy to make.  Cream Puff on top, cut up Angel food cake in-between, brownie on the bottom, then drizzle all over with chocolate.  Doesn't get much better then that! 

Best Salad EVER

I've made this salad for myself, for girlfriends and for dinner parties and I never have leftovers. Who wants leftover salad? It gets all soggy and icky anyway. I haven't named the salad, other then Best Salad EVER, so if you have a better name, let me know. :-)

Recipe:
1 Head of iceberg lettuce
chopped up Grape tomatoes
sliced in half Bacon Prepared, made into BIG bits (don't use bacon bits, just isn't the same)
Feta cheese Balsamic Vinegar Ranch Dressing

Toss the 1st four ingredients together. Drizzle Balsamic Vinegar over the salad. Then toss the salad with Ranch dressing. Sit down and enjoy.
So YUMMY!

Chocolate Covered cream cheese filled Strawberries

I recently came across this recipe via Pinterest. I decided to make a large batch for our Easter Potluck that we had out in the desert. I made two platters full of these and they didn't even make it to dessert time. In fact, they were pretty much an appetizer before dinner. They are easy to make and oh, so good! I'll definitely be making these over and over again!

I had posted an image of these on facebook and received requests for the recipe, so here goes:

Ingredients:
a package of your favorite candied dipping chocolate
8 ounces room-temperature cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 TB tablespoons confectioners' sugar
12 strawberries

1. Trim tops and bottoms of 12 strawberries to level. Use a small melon ball er or paring knife to scoop out tops. I used a paring knife.



2. This next part is a bit tricky as it depends on the size of the strawberry you have. Melt the candied chocolate according to package directions. Take a "trimmed" strawberry and dip the top end of the strawberry into the chocolate just enough so that it covers the bottom of the strawberry. Place dipped strawberry on a piece of wax paper to dry.




3. Whip room-temperature cream cheese on medium speed until slightly fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract and 2- 4 TB confectioners' sugar.(this is all based on your preference) Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch star tip with cream cheese mixture; pipe into berries until it brims over tops.

Try not to eat these as you go along. Shear will power is needed, as I had one and put these away in the refrigerator until serving time.

Egg with the hole in the middle

Egg with the hole in the middle has been a favorite at our house for many years. I was first introduced to it by my husband 20 years ago. It is super simple to make.

1. Create a hole in the bread by taking a glass and using as a cutter
2. Butter both sides of the bread and of course the hole that was cut out of the bread
3. Place bread in the pan at a medium heat, put another pat of butter in the open hole
4. Crack egg into open hole. We like to bread the yolk as we like our hard cooked, you may prefer otherwise.
5. I flip over the bread and egg after a few minutes to get a nice golden brown color on both sides of the bread.

EAT and ENJOY!

Carrots for Easter

I was surfing around and found the idea that inspired the picture below. We are hosting Easter brunch at our house on the Riviera aka our Desert house. I presented the basket to my husband and asked, "Do they look like carrots?" Well, he gave me the face, you know crinkled up forehead with silly grin. So I told him to use his imagination. This was a super cheap project thanks to the 99 cent store. All of the items were there. Total project cost $10. Yes, we are hosting a large brunch!