Kick-off Party!

I hosted my Pampered Chef Kick-Off Party yesterday!  I am blessed to have so many friends to come out and support me in my cozy, colorful home.  I am really excited about being able to be social and make a little extra money to help out with all of those expenses that sneak up on us, and I love the products.  There will be more posts with what I make using my new toys!

Onto the food ... I made Crack dip that I found on Pinterest (on my "appetizers" board) and it links to the Plain Chicken blog.  It is really easy: sour cream, ranch packet, bacon, and cheese.  I am pretty sure someone liked the bowl clean ... I am pretty sure I am married to him ... I understand though, I could eat this on a shoe.

I also made Spinach Crostinis which disappeared quickly as well.  I make these often and always have to search the recipe again, I will pin it today ... but there is no picture.  I found it at My Recipes. I love these, you can make them in advance and freeze them on a cookie sheet for an hour and pack them in a freezer bag, you just need to let them thaw or cook them longer.  They are very forgiving.

I bought a ton of fruit and made two dips.  One I found on foodvee (on my "appetizers" board).  Another very easy one.  Vanilla pudding mix, milk and cool whip.  I could eat this by itself.  It would also be great as a summery frosting on cake.  The other dip is a Pampered Chef that I found on the Pork Chop Tuesday blog.  Peanut butter, yogurt and cool whip - best thing ever for apples!

I also splurged and treated my friends to sangria.  I am not a expert, and I think I had actually only drank sangria once before, but I love the idea.  My husband and I tried a recipe that was less than amazing.  So I scoured Pinterest again (why look anywhere else?).  And I kind of made my own.  I used strawberries, peaches and oranges in Moscato (I like sweet wine).  It was popular - we went through 5-6 bottles.  The longer it sat the better it got!

Fried Rice

So my first experiment with my new manual food chopper was a success.  I cut the onion to fit it into the chopper and then just pushed -- I like the results.  I also like that there is no locking the lid into place, makes everything easier.

I found the fried rice recipe on pinterest and it is one i have used for over a year now ... Xman really likes fried rice! The pin is on my "Things I actually tried instead of just pinning" board and it links to Life as a Lofthouse (this link will take you directly to that blog post).

Shaved garlic?

Many moons ago, in a land far away (Seattle) my husband and I discovered an oasis ... Buca di Beppo.  At that point they had a garlic bread that was something sent straight from garlic-heaven.  Thick bread with pesto, mozzarella and garlic ... I may be making up the pesto.  The garlic on the bread was thin slices, and mellow ... amazing!

Yesterday I was talking to a friend about garlic (it happens more than you would think) and she was wanting an easier way to deal with fresh garlic.  I recently bought a garlic slicer at a Pampered Chef party I was invited to, so that I can make my version of that bread again soon!

So, as soon as I took my garlic slicer home, I had to try it out.  Thankfully I had a whole head of garlic waiting on me. 

For Jennifer, this is the easiest way I know to break apart a head of garlic, without damaging the garlic too much.  (I saw a video of someone "peeling" a whole head by putting it in the kitchen aid mixer, and I tried it.  The mixer beat up my garlic cloves a little too much, and the peel was glued to the bowl.  I think this is easier, but feel free to try the other method yourself.

Some of these cloves were already cracked open from me breaking the garlic apart.  I break the other cloves open by pushing on them with my hand.  I have smashed them before by smashing them with a knife, but I like that if I am mincing them, because I really smash them!

So now for the new toy!

Two garlic cloves into the base and  started turning!

And I have shaved garlic.  Xman is wanting to make bread tomorrow, so I see garlic bread in our future!!

Enjoy some fresh garlic today, mashed, diced sliced or roasted .... hmmm .... roasted garlic!

And I dss