Birthday Play Dates v. Birthday Parties

If you love throwing a big shindig for a kids party - awesome, invite me.  But if that sounds too stressful and too expensive, how about a birthday play date?  

You still have to clean house.  Set out a few snacks.  You can let the kid open presents as they come in, so it is less likely for kids to sit and cry because they want to open presents.  This year it was 80 degrees the day before Xman's party, and it sleeted and hailed during his party. Thankfully he still had a few friends show up, and he had a blast.  And thankfully I didn't spend a fortune on decorations, gift bags, and scheduled games to play that not many people would have gotten to see.  

I even let the kids decorate their own sugar cookies ... because I ran out of time.  It's not a competition, right?

Dinner Faster

Ever forget to set out meat for dinner.  I have a bad habit of this.  I am loving this idea.  If you remove the meat from it's original package, put the frozen-meat-block in a big freezer bag, and put in in the sink with cold water and weigh it down, you will be cooking in no time!  

Please excuse the Christmad bowl in February, I would like to say it just didn't get put up, but I love ten so much I use them year round.  Check out the shape and size of that bowl!  

Clean-out-the-fridge Pizza

I broke the pizza stone out of the box tonight.  The first pizza on the stone: pesto, chicken, red onion, black olives, mozzarella and feta.  I used a refrigerated pizza crust and put the whole thing together in under 5 minutes (everything was already chopped), and it cooked for about 15 minutes and 400 degrees.  

Perfect for a lazy Friday night at home.

Chipotle Chicken Cornbread Cups

Okay, so I have been slacking, but what's new.  I have been busy trying out new Pampered Chef toys as well as Pinterest and Pampered Chef recipes.

I forgot to take a picture, but I made Chipotle Chicken Cornbread Cups.  I liked them. I don't think I will have them for dinner again ... but I will be making them for parties.  They are cute, unique, and yummy!!  The filling comes out a little like warm chicken salad.  The cilantro on top is definitely a plus, don't skip it.  It makes 24 appetizers with one big chicken breast.


*picture is from PamperedChef.com

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