Tag Archives: party

All of the Green Things

Posted in Mmm...Food... by

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

We had a little shindig over the weekend to celebrate both an early St. Patrick’s Day and the fact that my hubster, and most of his grad school pals, completed their comprehensive exams last week. A HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT. Now they just have ot pass all their classes, and they will be good to go!

And in the spirit of St. P’s, I attempted to make as many green-colored foods and drinks as I could. And so I give you, a few of my favorite simple foods with a green twist…

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Green Champagne

A quick tip on green champagne…We put our food color right into the bottle, BUT here’s the thing. I have Americolor food coloring, which is really made to color icings and cakes and cookies and things. It’s more of a paste than a liquid. I recommend using the good ol’ cheap grocery store stuff. The Americolor dropped into the bottle in a few clumps, and with the first pour, looked like the photo above. But by the end of the night, it was completely dark emerald green – the clump of food color had slowly dissolved with all the bubbles!! It was kind of a fun experiment, but seriously. Use the cheap, watery stuff…

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Crinkle Cake Cookies

These cookies are SO GOOD. And I love them because you can make so many varieties.

Ingredients:

1 box cake mix (I used french vanilla)
2 eggs
6 tablespoons of butter, melted
1/2 cup powdered sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together cake mix, eggs, and butter. Add food coloring (if you want! Or you can use colored cake. Or anything you want…endless options!). Form into balls and roll in powdered sugar mixture. Coat them good!! Place on baking sheet and cook for 8 minutes. YUM. Add extracts for yummy flavors, too.

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Skinny Taste Spinach and Artichoke Dip

What did we do before skinny taste? I seriously LOVE this spinach and artichoke dip. Made it exactly to recipe, and it is AMAZING. Check out the recipe!!

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Turkey and Zucchini Roll Ups

Couldn’t be easier. Use an apple peeler to make some ribbons of zucchini. Wrap a slice of zucchini, a slice of turkey, a dab of mustard, and a pinch of broccoli slaw all up together, and secure with a toothpick. Healthy! Easy! Green!!

Baked Brie has ALWAYS been my go to party recipe. I made it here and here and used brie another way here. But I haven’t switched it up much over the years. I was in the mood for a good baked brie, and thought long and hard about how to make it St. Patrick’s themed. And then I realized: Green Pepper Jelly! Delicious and green. Also, green apples and pears served for dipping (and wheat thins, but they aren’t pretty or green). I even added a little shamrock on top. OH HEY.

Baked Brie with a shamrock :)

Baked Brie with a shamrock 🙂

Baked Brie with Green Pepper Jelly

Baked Brie with Green Pepper Jelly

Crostinis for your Christmas Party

Posted in Life As I Know It, Mmm...Food..., Uncategorized by

Are you hosting or attending a holiday party and are just fresh out of ideas for some delicious food? I highly recommend a crostini platter. It couldn’t be easier or prettier!

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I tend to always make the same treats for every party I host or attend. So when my roommate and I recently threw a little holiday get together, I decided to switch it up. I finally landed on a build-your-own crostini platter. This idea comes from Julia, as so many of my creative ideas do!

It is exactly as it sounds – first, you slice up one or two french baguettes, at an angle, and coat each side of the pieces with a little olive oil. Simply bake these for 8-10 minutes on each side (anywhere between 350-400 should work) until they are nice and toasty. They can be served warm or at room temperature.

Then pick out your fixings. You can choose whatever you would like! I put out some jam (fig is your best bet), sun-dried tomatoes, plain goat cheese, goat cheese with pesto on it, and…

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Tasty Tuesday: Memorial Madness

Posted in Blogging Blah Blah, Mmm...Food... by

Before there was Pinterest, there was foodgawker (well, it still exists, but is less important). Back in 2009 when I posted this post, just after Memorial Day, I had no idea that the photo of my M&M Pretzels would go nuts. I got it on foodgawker, and years later, it spread out over Pinterest. Because of these social media pushes, this post has been viewed more than any other post – even my homepage!!! – with over 58,000 views. Heyo!

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It was an all-in-all successful Memorial Day. I realized that we had a cookout last Memorial Day, just after we moved into the house. Hard to believe it’s been over a year! Anyway, take a look at the goodies we enjoyed…

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Want to make these little delicious treats? Just melt Hershey’s kisses onto tiny twist pretzels (275 degrees, 3 minutes), remove, and immediately press a single m&m on each. Refrigerate until eating to make sure they are deliciously solid!

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See the iced tea I brewed? To try this flavored, yet unsweetened tea, just brew orange spice, orange pekoe, and lemon teas (4:4:2) in 1 gallon of hot water. Allow to cool and serve over ice!

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My dad’s famous pasta salad. Sorry, can’t give out this recipe…but with pepperoni, pepper jack cheese, and green chilies, it definitely has a little kick 🙂

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Chicken kabobs! A summer favorite. We also had burgers…

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Brunch {Because Mimosas}

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brunch

(You can get this amazing sweatshirt over here on Etsy)

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Okay okay, I don’t ONLY love brunch for the mimosas. I love brunch because WHO DOESN’T?? I also love hosting things, as you may know, so I recently said to myself, “Meghan, you should host a brunch.” So I invited a few lady friends over, made breakfast casserole, and set a pretty table.

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But THEN I got so wrapped up in chatting with the ladies I didn’t really take any food or chit chat photos – Sorry!! Alas, I hope this provides you with a little bit of brunch-set-up inspiration. I set the bar up as well, and I promise, OJ and champagne did make an appearance…bar1

Stella and Dot Love

Posted in Columbus Adventures, Mmm...Food... by

Recently, I hosted a little Stella and Dot party. It was such a fun excuse to play with jewelry, hang out with some girlfriends, and eat some yummy food. If you haven’t checked out S&D jewelry, I highly recommend it! Such high quality, and completely worth what you pay for them.

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Had a great time socializing with these lovely ladies. Of course, I served yummy apps, including bell pepper nachos…

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And DEFINITELY a lot of sangria…

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Kahlua Chocolate Cake

Posted in Daily Notes, Mmm...Food... by

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

I can’t even begin to tell you how delicious this cake is. Like, melt-in-your-mouth-“what-is-IN-that” kind of cake. The kind you bring to parties and then people ask you to bring to other things, which is how I got the recipe. My lovely friend Claire made this for our Stock the Bar party last spring, and then I made her bring it to my bachelorette weekend…and then I finally stole the recipe and made it myself. And it was just as much of a hit here in Ohio!

Kahlua Cake

Kahlua Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Cake:
1 box Devil’s Food cake mix
1 small package instant vanilla pudding
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup Kahlua
1 large (12 oz.) bag of chocolate chips
1 large (16 oz.) container of sour cream

Glaze:
1/4 cup Kahlua
1 cup confectioner’s sugar

Mix together all cake ingredients, except chocolate chips.  Add chocolate chips adn fold in by hand (not beater). Bake in a greased Bundt pan for 60 minutes at 350 degrees.

Mix 1/4 cup Kahlua and confectioner’s sugar (adjust amounts for desired consistency). Drizzle on cake prior to serving.

EAT YOUR HEART OUT!

House Warming in O-H-I-O!

Posted in Columbus Adventures, Life As I Know It by

It’s hard to believe that the hubby and I have been fully settled into Columbus for an entire month now. We love our home, and have already met some really incredible people. So what better way to celebrate the start of this phase of life than to have a house warming party?

Over the weekend, we had a great time mixing and mingling with our new friends, and I think they enjoyed meeting each other, as well. I had a great day on Saturday, making all sorts of little snacks and treats. As you probably know, this is my idea of a perfect Saturday. Recipes are forthcoming!buffet

We set up our buffet with food, and our bar with plenty of wine. Not to mention, with so many wedding decorations still floating around, I used a few chalkboards to label our appetizers. And big thanks to my friend Lindsey who gave me some “R” napkins…what better time to use them?? We also had some Yazoo Dos Perros from Nashville, which most of our guests had never had and I think was very well received.

Bar Bar2 It also turned out to be the most PERFECT night. Jonathan built a great bonfire, where we all spent a good amount of the night. I only wish we had marshmallows on hand!fire

When everyone left, we ended the night with a glass of wine and a toast to a great night. We are so grateful for the friends we’ve made so far!wine