Kid project: Cookie decorating party!

A great, easy way to celebrate the holidays! I baked a bunch of sugar cut-out cookies (who says butterflies aren't a Christmas shape?!)... bought a lot of fun sprinkles and little candies... and invited a group of Annabelle's friends over to decorate. The moms helped frost while the little ones got creative at my big dining room table. Who knew little Miss Olivia (above) was such a perfectionist? The girls decorated, played outside, and each took home a plate of very specially decorated cookies.

Food: Butternut Bisque

The perfect fall meal: Butternut Bisque, Gouda, fresh apples and crusty bread. This soup is simple and affordable, and tastes like it came from a high-end restaurant.

Butternut Bisque

1 Butternut squash (3-4 pounds), seeded, peeled and chopped
1/4 C Butter
1 White onion, chopped
1 Large carrot, chopped
1 Stalk celery, chopped
4 Garlic cloves, minced
1/2 TSP Nutmeg
1/2 TSP Ginger

2 Gala apples, peeled, cored and chopped
48-oz Chicken broth
1 C Apple cider
1-2 Fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded and sliced
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1/2 C Sour cream

Melt butter in a dutch oven, add first set of ingredients. Cook for about 15 minutes, until your vegetables start to soften. Add remaining ingredients, except sour cream. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes. Add the sour cream and use an immersion blender (or food processor) to puree the soup into a smooth bisque. (This is soooo easy with an immersion blender. Go out and buy one JUST to make this soup. I promise it is worth it!)

Heat the soup thoroughly once again, garnish, and serve. Recommended garnish: Crumbly bacon, shredded Gouda or Swiss, a swirl of heavy cream.

Food: Buttercream frosting

My daughter requested "bugs" as a theme for her 4th birthday. I obliged with a chilly outdoor scavenger hunt for plastic bugs, and with these easy cupcakes. The buttercream frosting is what makes them so good - - you can get away with a boring cake mix as long as you make the frosting from scratch!

The kids always love their cupcakes baked into ice cream cones, and it makes clean-up easy too.

If you haven't made frosting from scratch, you should try it at least once. It's easy, and it tastes incredible.

Easy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1/2 C Butter (softened)

1 TSP Vanilla extract

1/8 TSP Salt

16 oz Powdered sugar

3-5 TBSP Milk

Beat the butter, vanilla and salt using an electric mixer. Once it is creamy, add the powdered sugar and milk (a little at a time, alternating). Keep the blender on a lower speed, and scrape the sides of your bowl well. Soon, you'll have a creamy, smooth, lovely frosting that is easy to work with and wonderfully tasty.

PS. I have lots of buttercream frosting versions... cocoa, espresso, citrus... I'll share some of these recipes later!

Celebration: Baby Shower

Buzz is Having a Baby Bee!

With a nickname like "Buzz," the theme for this shower was pretty easy. (Plus, she registered for tons of cute Pooh stuff, and there are lots of bees in the prints.) I looove throwing parties, and this one was extra special because Buzz is such a dear friend.

The cupcakes with edible frosting bees were my favorite touch. Just buy ready-to-use fondant from a bakery supply store and work with it like play-doh. I used toothpicks dipped in decorator gel for the eyes; a straw (tilted at an angle) for the smiles, and added stripes. The wings are almond slices. Here are my bees in progress.

And a few more photos of the party decorations. (That's a baby picture of Buzz.) I stuck with the colors green, pale yellow, brown and lots of white. I stumbled on the adorable 3D bee stickers and searched out the tiny wired bees in the floral section of a craft store.

The party decorations doubled as gifts for my friend: a diaper cake, a basket of wrapped baby items that we used for a guessing game, and some framed baby pictures of the mommy-and-daddy-to-be.

I also found an old yellow ceramic jar at an antique store and spelled "HUNNY" on it, Pooh-style. A small bunch of balloons, the cute cupcakes, and an enticing spread of munchies was all it took to round out this special party. Well, that and a houseful of wonderful guests!

I started with Martha Stewart scrapbooking papers in coordinated colors and prints. I used the same papers for handmade invitations, party favors and prize bags. I also (finally!) splurged on a couple of decorative punches, which made the job of creating 20+ of everything much easier... and more symmetrical.

Food: Steal-a-Boyfriend Apple Pie

Please welcome my first "guest editor" to the blog: my good friend since freshman year of college, Mary Jensen. Her apple pie is infamous for the time she - - almost - - stole a boyfriend from me after a single bite. She was kind, and let me keep him. And even kinder to share the recipe!

Here, in her own words, is "Steal-a-Boyfriend Apple Pie."

Apple pie is best when you keep it simple - homemade crust, fresh apples and a high quality cinnamon. Keep in mind that apples are the star so it is important to chose the right apple. My favorite apples to use are Ida Reds, Paula Reds or Jonathan apples. If these varieties are unavailable I fall back on the old stand by Macintosh. If you like a tarter pie Cortland or Granny Smith (I find Grannies make a runny pie) might appeal to you but stay away from any of the Delicious varieties or Gala apples.

This pie features a strusel or crumble topping which I think makes it an easier recipe for a novice pie maker to master.

1 9-inch unbaked pie crust
6 apples or 6 cups of apples, peeled and sliced
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of salt

Toss together the apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. You want all the dry ingredients to mix with the apple juices to form a sort of syrup coating the apples. Pour the mixture into the pie crust.

Topping:

1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter (cold is better)

Mix these ingredients with a fork or pastry blender until crumbly. Cover top of the apples with this mixture. Bake the pie at 450 degrees for 10 minutes then lower temp to 350 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes.

Food: Harvest Salad

Every salad tastes even better with some fruit, especially this time of year. There’s nothing fancy about this recipe, but when I brought it to my friend’s potluck last Friday, her husband (an excellent cook) complimented it… so I decided it might just be blog-worthy. It's got all my favorite food adjectives: crunchy, sweet, tart, biting...

2 small apples, coarsely chopped
Handful red table grapes, halved
Handful radishes, thinly sliced
4 pieces celery, thinly sliced
Honey roasted walnuts (near salad fixin's in finer stores)
Large bag mixed greens
Balsamic vinaigrette

I cheated and used Kraft Organic Balsamic Vinaigrette (really quite good!). Here’s an easy dressing recipe that would be even nicer:

1 cup olive oil

½ cup balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 clove garlic, minced superfine

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp salt

Dash fresh black pepper

Put all ingredients into a bowl and whisk.

Food: Cone cupcakes

Do you remember eating these when you were little? They’re perfect for pudgy fingers - - the wafer cone keeps the mess to a minimum. Plus they’re cute! I’m giving you a super easy box recipe… but most basic cake recipes will work.

I made these pastel "bugs" for my daughter's second birthday party... just bought colored wafer cones; colored spray for the plain white frosting; and colorful candies to decorate the tops.

Cone Cupcakes

Box cake mix

Water, oil, or eggs called for on box
30-36 flat bottom ice cream wafer cones
Frosting

Heat oven to 350°F. Mix up cake batter according to directions on box. Fill each cone no more than half full of batter. Stand them up in a regular muffin pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool at least 1 hour. Frost and decorate.

Food: Avocado bacon salad

A fresh summer favorite. This delicious side dish looks best if you don’t make it too far ahead. (The avocados tend to brown.) I can't say it's the healthiest salad ever invented, but at least avocados and olive oil have "good" fat, right?

Avocado Bacon Salad

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
3 drops Red Hot or Tabasco sauce
3 medium avocados
6 slices bacon
2 medium tomatoes
1 small onion
Baby spinach leaves

Cook the bacon until it's extra crisp. Crumble and set aside. Whisk oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and hot sauce in medium bowl. Cut avocado into cubes and toss lightly in oil/vinegar mixture until well-coated. Stir in bacon crumbles, diced tomato and chopped onion. Refrigerate at least an hour. Mix into one bag of baby spinach leaves (or any greens). Serve.