Tag Archives: Party Foods

My current snack

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The night before Sylvi’s birthday party, I panicked and thought I needed to have a warm dip to go with the random bag of pretzels I felt compelled to purchase.  I made it, tasted it, declared it tasty and then packed it up to take to the party.  Once I got to the party room at the Children’s museum, I discovered that my mini crockpot never even started to warm the dip up, so I just packed it up and brought it home.

Honestly, it sat in the fridge for over a week because I was afraid it wouldn’t reheat well and I’d have to throw it away.  That’s right, pushing something to the back of your fridge is the best way to avoid it.  Anyway, my husband has hardly been home for the last few weeks and I’m finding myself getting hungrier and hungrier while I  try to stay awake long enough to say hello and the dip called to me.  It’s so warm and gooey and cheesy and flavorful.  I had caramelized the onions until they lost the bite and were sweet instead.  Even then, they were still too chunky for the style of dip I was going for so I added them into the food processor with the rest of the ingredients.  The result is a smooth dip that when heated retains that gooey, cheesy goodness that makes me glad that no one got to eat it at the party… just me, after the kids are in bed, curled up with a vapid Disney movie waiting for my husband to make it home from a night being the artist he is.

  • 1 large Vidalia onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 cup shredded provolone cheese
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 2 Tbsp. minced chives
  • 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
  • hot sauce
  • salt and pepper to taste
Chop the onion and the garlic and saute slowly in olive oil until well caramelized.  In the bowl of a food processor, shred the cheese and then add in all the other ingredients.  At as much hot sauce as you like, but don’t leave it out… it really adds a different layer of flavor that you can’t miss!  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, until browned and bubbly.  Serve warm with crackers.

Tea and Cake

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I am fully aware that the 1st birthday party is for the parents and not so much for the child.  Obviously the attention is on the child, but the celebration is the parents’.  We’ve made it an entire year and everyone is still in one piece.  Personally, I think all birthday parties must come with cake.  I am learning that I like to do cupcakes instead of a cake since they are faster to ice and serving sizes are equal.  Also, small children feel they have hit the jackpot when given their own cupcake.

This cupcake recipe has the ability to be flavored however you’d like.  Because it’s a basic white cake, you can experiment with the tea you use to infuse the milk.  I chose a brightly flavored tea, but you could use Earl Grey or Green tea or whatever your heart desires!

Tea infused cupcakes

  • 7 oz. whole milk
  • 1 cup raw sugar
  • 2 cups All Purpose flour
  • 1 level Tbsp. Baking Powder
  • 3 large eggs
  • 4 Teabags (I used a Pomegranate Green Tea for this recipe)
Warm the milk gently in a small sauce pan.  Remove from the heat.  Unwrap the tea bags and place them in the milk so that they are submerged.  Cover the pan with a lid (leaving the tags hanging out so you can grab them easily) and allow to steep for 10 minutes.  When the time is up, squeeze the excess milk out of each tea bag and discard.  Check the temperature to make sure the milk is not warmer than 100 degrees.
Beat the eggs and then add the rest of the ingredients, the infused milk last.  Do not overbeat.  Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake at 325 degrees for 17 minutes.  Ice according to your taste and the flavor of tea you used to infuse the batter.  Cupcakes are best if eaten within the first 24-48 hours.  (After that, they were pretty dry.)

Low Impact Birthday Round 2

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Ok.  When Liam turned 1, we threw a party at our house to celebrate.  I was really, really excited about it since I felt that there was minimal waste and I had succeeded in utilizing all the local food sources.  This time, I realized that while I wanted to have the same environmentally friendly celebration, there were older siblings to entertain and the yard still is not yet fenced in.  We booked our party the local children’s museum and then all I had to to was figure out how to make this party happen without a lot of waste.

Paper Product Usage:

Of course, I still have my cups and plates from Liam’s first birthday and they have gotten a lot of use.  While I realize they are plastic, I don’t care.  Nope.  Parties with children mean at some point, something will get dropped and in our case, the plates and cups just bounce.  And also, at the end of the party, we literally tossed them in the tote, snapped the lid on and brought them home.  We were late setting up the food stuffs at the party so I couldn’t find my biodegradable forks (found them when we got home, though) and the huge box of plastic silverware came out.  Also used, paper napkins.  However, I’d like to mention that they came from a package purchased for a baby shower over a year ago and have been used for several parties since then.  In light of this, I think I will have to start scoping out the fabric sales in search of fabric that will work with the party stuff and just make a huge stash of napkins to go along to parties.

Food:

Once again, I stuck to the locally grown or produced foods.  I made my first deli tray this weekend.  It was nice and I learned that for every 30 people, they recommend 4.5 pounds of meat and 3 pounds of cheese.  People at local delis are so nice.  Meat and cheese produced an hour from our home.  I made Remoulade sauce, brought a jar of my pickles, and some homemade jams.  I had thought that the kids would like peanut butter and jelly, but not a soul wanted any.  Also, fun idea for fruit: smaller bananas, clementines and grapes.  Bonus: leftover fruit is perfect for afternoon snacks and Matt’s lunches!

Decorations and Gifts:

Sylvi didn’t get a giant banner because as a second-time mother I realized that it was impractical.  Instead, I made her a picture that used the same fabric I used for her invitations and bib.  It worked great for portability and I will be making another one for Liam.  I also made little toppers for the cupcakes, but that was probably my most wasteful decision yet.  Seriously.  They were cute and all, but I threw every single one away.  I saved all the tissue paper and cardboard in the recycling bin.  Most of the gifts people brought were books, but one friend brought a plant (she was informed she rocked for knowing me so well) and another brought a handmade outfit. Matt and I bought her a shopping cart and some felt veggies from Etsy; I was really into a food theme this year as her Easter basket had books about gardening and food too.  It was a great way to celebrate her first birthday!

In retrospect, I see a need for cloth napkins to permanently take residence in my party tote.  Even though I did my best, there was still a lot of plastic useage, but considering that there were lots of kids and I had to haul everything from my home to the museum and then all the way to the back and up a flight of stairs (thanks to those to helped me with muscle!) I think that I’m doing the best I can for now.  Maybe in the future, I’ll add glass plates and phase out the plastic, but for now, this was as low impact as I can get!

How do you celebrate birthdays in your family?

Sunshine

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Yesterday, my little peanut turned 1.  It’s hard to believe that a year ago, I was writing about her birth story and still marveling at how intense her labor was.  And how tiny she was.  Well, still is actually.  She weighed in this morning at a petite 16 and a half pounds, despite the volume of food she puts away daily.  She has a bright and sunny personality and while I knew I wanted to throw a birthday party that was low on the ecological impact, I also wanted color.  

In my mind, I could see the colors yellow and teal to describe Sylvi.  No teal food occurs in nature (that I can think of), so yellow it was!  Because I used egg yolks in the cupcakes, they had a golden color, but I wanted yellow icing.  A little bit of research and I was sprinkling turmeric in the mixer with the cream cheese.  I was really hesitant about the taste because I knew the spice was in there, so I could taste India in every bite.  I put out an offer on Facebook and people were quick to offer to taste test.  Not one person thought the taste was off, so I decided to give it another whirl for the party.

Round two of the turmeric colored icing worked out much easier.  I used 2 Tablespoons of lemon extract and mixed almost a teaspoon of turmeric in.  Pouring the color in was so. much. fun!  I had already mixed together the cream cheese and powdered sugar, and when the liquid hit it, this bright streak of yellow spread through and made me feel sunshine.  The happy ending to this already triumphant tale is that only 2 cupcakes out of 3 and a half dozen came home with me.  It was such a happy birthday!

Pink Lady for a Birthday

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Today is my bloggy friend Abbie’s 30th birthday!  She has a lot to celebrate this month what with it being her birthday, the first birthday of her adorable son, her blogiversary… Wow!  To kick off all the celebrations she has this month, she has instituted a Spring celebration on her blog, the Farmer’s Daughter.  Today’s post is my contribution to the festivities. 
Birthdays in my house growing up were an opportunity to try new recipes and the birthday person could request anything they wanted.  My dad, he always pumpkin pie for his birthday.  My youngest brother liked German Chocolate cake, without the icing.  My mom, being the mom, always made her own cake until I was old enough to take over the request and do it for her… when you’re the mom, you have to take of things for yourself!  My other brother and I liked to change things up and try out different styles of desserts.  One year, I had brownies.  Another year, I just asked for fruit.  This year, I already know that I want this pie.  I’m a fan of rhubarb pie, but this little twist on the dessert is perfect for my birthday since it’s in the summer and this pie is phenomenal when served straight from the freezer!  Since it just takes a few minutes to prepare, it’s also the perfect solution to moms like Abbie and I who have busy little ones keeping up company in the kitchen all day!
Pink Lady Pie
- 2 cups rhubarb, diced
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 oz. strawberry gelatin
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 2 cups whipped cream
- graham cracker crust

Cook the sugar and rhubarb over low heat until the fruit is fully cooked down. Stir in the gelatin and continue stirring until it has dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool. Add in the lemon juice and fold in the whipped cream. Heap the crust with the filling. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving and then garnish with whipped cream.

**Alternate version:  Add in an additional cup of either strawberries or raspberries when you are cooking the rhubarb.  Then, once you’ve chilled the pie and garnished with the whipped cream, sprinkle the berries over the top as an additional garnish.