Engagement Party Details + The Best Pesto

It's official - wedding festivities for Amanda and Justyn have begun! Justyn proposed to my sister Amanda in Vegas in the spring, and a few weeks ago we finally got both our families together to celebrate. I loved meeting Justyn's family and getting to spend some quality time with my own as well.

Since my house is fairly central to both families (and since we finally finished our massive patio project), my mom decided to hold the party here in our backyard. I was thrilled to have it here. Amanda and Justyn wanted something casual yet elegant, so my mom, grandma, aunt and I had a lot of fun party planning over the last few months to surprise them with something that suited their style. I was so excited to see it all come together!

To get the feel we were looking for, my mom rented tables with white chairs and flowy white tablecloths, and we set up a big white tent with twinkling white lights. It looked pretty during the day and had a beautiful warm glow at night. We set up flowers and silverware in Mason jars (my fave), little white candles in glass votive holders, and hanging white and black paper lanterns. I think the combination of glass jars, simple flowers and the outdoor setting mixed with white lights and linens made the party feel elegant yet rustic.

Amanda's wedding colors are blue and yellow, so we tried to do similar colors for the engagement party. Her shade of blue is a bit harder to come by, so we settled for yellow and white, which looked really nice for a backyard summer party.

How cute are these favors? My mom filled them with maple kettle corn from Vermont - a little taste of home for Amanda!

After a week of gorgeous weather, of course it poured like crazy the morning of the party, forcing us to change the setup we originally planned. Thankfully the rain cleared up around 2:00 just in time for the guests to arrive, grab a glass of wine and start nibbling on some hors d'oeuvres.

As for the food, I was in charge of the appetizers and after-party s'mores setup. I love making cocktail food, and put out a spread that included some fun apps as well as a few easy things I could just pull together last minute, like a big antipasto platter and pre-made bruschetta.

My mom handled the main course, which included catered Italian favorites like shrimp scampi, sausage & peppers and lemon chicken. She also set up an awesome dessert table with a chocolate fountain and my dad's homemade vanilla cake with lemon curd filling. He is one heck of a cake-maker!

Side note: To make the strawberry basket for the chocolate fountain, I just reused a basket Matt's mom received from Edible Arrangements a few weeks ago. I put two pieces of foam inside and covered them up with some kale, and then skewered the strawberries and stuck them into the foam. So easy, and a nice way to display berries rather than on a plate.

One of the snacks people seemed to buzz about the most was the pesto. I used it in two different places - as a dip for the caprese salad skewers, and in the pesto layer dip.

After the party several people asked for the recipe, to which I replied: It's seriously the easiest thing ever. I don't even use a recipe. I think the key to its deliciousness is the quality of ingredients - using sharp, nutty, fresh parmesan cheese, fresh basil from the garden and nice fruity olive oil really makes a difference.

That said, my general recipe includes:

The Best Pesto

Makes approx. 1 cup

- About 2 cups fresh basil
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 1/2 cup good parmesan cheese (freshly grated if possible)
- 2 cloves garlic
- Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste (I use about a pinch each)
- About 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place all ingredients, except the olive oil, in a food processor and pulse until everything is finely ground. Then, with the machine running, drizzle in olive oil until the mixture comes together and is the consistency you desire. Taste and season with extra S &P if desired. Use right away, or place in a container and drizzle olive oil on top (this preserves the green color), and refrigerate or freeze.

I could honestly eat this stuff on just about anything. Since I have about 100 pounds of fresh basil in my garden, I've been making batches of it and freezing it for future use. It tastes just as good when thawed as it does when fresh.

***

I am so, so happy for Amanda and Justyn and loved being part of their special day. They're going to make a beautiful bride & groom!

Now that we've gotten through the engagement party, it's onto the shower and bachelorette! ;)

Dinners Lately

I feel like a farmer's wife this week. A little like Ree from The Pioneer Woman...a husband doing hard manual labor from dawn till dusk every day and me, the wife, handling all childcare, housework and cooking duties. About a month ago I mentioned to Matt how much I really want a nice big patio out back (our current one barely fits our table & grill), and the amazing guy that he is, he jumped in with both feet and gave up his entire spring break this week to work 14-16 hour days in 40 degree weather to build me one. I love this man! In about two weeks, we went from this...

To this...

I'm loving it! It's going to look so beautiful when it's done. I spent some time outdoors today watching him work and envisioning how I'm going to furnish and decorate the whole thing when it's complete. And chasing after Riker who loves to jump in the sand immediately after Matt gets it perfectly smooth and ready to lay pavers down. And snacking.

With Matt working so hard, I've been wanting to make sure he has something tasty and filling to sink his teeth into when he takes his dinner breaks. Of course on the days I work in the city, that hasn't been possible and we've admittedly ordered pizza and Mexican a few times over the last few weeks when I just didn't have time to cook, but for the most part we've had some good home cooked meals.

On a warm day, we had lox & fried eggs over Food For Life English muffin halves, with a side of salad with homemade dressing. This is a pretty standard staple around here, we usually eat it once every two weeks.

When it got cold (um, why is it 42 degrees in the middle of April?!), I made a pot of vegetable barley soup. Right before serving, I threw in handfuls of fresh spinach and topped it with fresh parmesan cheese. So warm and hearty.

When creativity escaped me, I took to my Pinterest boards and tried out some recipes that I'd pinned a while back. I actually included these on my meals list for the week to make sure I had the ingredients on hand. 

One of my favorites was Grilled Salmon & Pineapple with Avocado Dressing by Giada DeLaurentiis. I made a few adjustments to her original recipe, but for the most part kept it the same. It was SO good - highly recommend! I'd eat that avocado dressing on just about anything. On the side we had some roasted fingerling potatoes and steamed broccoli from my Door to Door Organics box.

My other favorite Pinterest find of the week was Orange Sesame Tofu from In Jennie's Kitchen - one of my favorite food blogs.

I made a fair amount of adjustments to this recipe too, including adding quinoa and kale to turn it into a full stir-fry meal, but I didn't mess with her sauce. The sauce was so fresh and orangey and just felt bright. Loved it!

But tonight I finally did some real cooking. I totally forgot Recipe ReDux is coming up on Tuesday, and thank goodness I remembered today or I never would've had time to come up with something since tomorrow is Easter and weekdays are just too hard for recipe testing.

We had crunchy quinoa burgers with a side of baked carrot fries. In Matt's words, these were killer. I was glad to give him a fun and delicious dinner as a reprieve to all that brick-laying he's been doing today. I'll be posting the recipe on Tuesday!

Alrighty, time to go put together Easter baskets and relax for the evening. G'night!

Christmas Kettle Corn In a Jar (Recipe ReDux)

This month's Recipe ReDux theme is riiiiight up my alley. When I read the November theme - "From hostess gifts to holiday gifts, it's the season for DIY offerings from your kitchen" my brain immediately started churning with ideas. We were challenged to come up with innovative homemade mixes to share with others during the holidays, so I wanted to do something beyond the classic bread mix-in-a-jar (which I love by the way, and give out to neighbors and family nearly every year).

For some reason I couldn't get the idea of sweet & salty kettle corn out of my head.

So I went with it. And it was not only super easy to put together, but seriously snackable. I of course had to make a batch to taste test the measurements, and I couldn't keep Matt and Riker out of the kitchen for more than 2 minutes at a time while I was playing around and snapping photos. Those two were like hungry little birds snatching handfuls every time I turned my back.

The recipe, if you can call it that, calls for the simplest of ingredients: popcorn (I use organic, and that's really about the only healthy thing in here - but come on, it's the holidays after all), sugar, salt, pretzels and red & green M&Ms.

When you give it to your neighbor/friend/coworker/babysitter/anyonewholovespopcorn, all they have to do is melt a half stick of butter from their own fridge, dump in the jar of goodies and they're good to go. They have a whole bowl of the perfect movie snack to munch on while watching Elf. Or whatever's on the ABC Family Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas (which, um, started last night and you know will be on in our house for the next 30 days straight).

Plus how cute are they?

I adore.

Christmas Kettle Corn in a Jar

Makes 1 Jar, or 1 large bowl of popcorn (can easily be multiplied for additional jars)

Ingredients
1 12 oz. mason jar
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup red & green M&M's (I use peanut M&Ms)
1 cup mini pretzels
1/2 stick butter (recipient will have to supply this)

Place the popcorn kernels in a snack size plastic baggie. Remove all air and seal tight.

Mix together the sugar and salt in a small bowl, set aside.

To layer the jars, place the sugar & salt mixture on the bottom; then add the M&M's, then the pretzels, and finally the baggie of popcorn kernels. Screw the lid on tight.

The gift tag should read:

Christmas Kettle Corn

You'll need: 1/2 stick butter

Pop the corn kernels in an air popper or on the stove top with 1 Tbsp. oil.

Melt 1/2 stick of butter, and pour over the popped kernels. Toss to combine.

Pour the contents of the jar into the popcorn, toss and enjoy!

Summer Salad with Homemade Raspberry Vinaigrette

Yesterday we helped Lindsay and Ryan christen their new home with a big backyard housewarming party. The last time I was at their house they were just moving in, so it was nice to see it all set up and decorated. Lindsay had a bunch of appetizers and a huge spread set up for dinner, but I had offered to bring a salad to share. I went with a classic - one that I've been making since I was in high school and worked for a catering company that used to serve it at weddings. It's a mesclun greens salad with various fruits, goat cheese, nuts and raspberry vinaigrette, and it's always a hit when I make it.

Isn't it so pretty? Love those colors! I usually dress it with a bottle of store bought raspberry vinaigrette, but yesterday I suddenly got the urge to try making my own dressing. The store bought stuff usually has corn syrup and is loaded with sugar and other not-so-great ingredients, and I figured, I make vinaigrettes all the time anyway, so how hard could it be to make my own? Turns out, not so hard!

I didn't have a recipe so just went with my tastebuds and adjusted things as I went along. I had some gorgeous, sweet fresh raspberries that I pureed in my Magic Bullet with a little water. Then I strained the puree in a small strainer to get out all the seeds.

I used a spoon to smush the puree through the colander.

Once I had a half cup of smooth puree, I added oil, vinegar and a few other things, dumped everything in a Mason jar and took it with me to the party to shake up and pour over the salad at dinnertime.

All dressed up...

Check out the full recipe below! But back to the party. When we first arrived I nibbled on some veggies and dip, chatted with the girls for a while and sipped on a Heady Topper that Ryan's dad brought down from Vermont. I was so excited to see these at the party, I savored every last sip!

Matt and I took turns running after Riker, who was feeling much better after his visit to the doc this morning (he has pretty bad allergies, the poor kid) and was finding all kinds of new things to get into.

Oh my god, a hose!

He's learning to share now, and watching him and his friend Delia (Heather and Kevin's little girl) share bubbles back and forth was the most adorable thing ever.

Then we ate, we hung out, we sang songs to Ryan playing the guitar. It was a pretty fantastic afternoon.

I have to say, though, one of my favorite parts of the evening was smashing Kevin's face into a cake. Kevin's birthday is in a few days, so Lindsay picked up a birthday cake to surprise him with at the party. Lindsay's aunt taught me a little trick just before the cake was cut...get Kevin to smell the cake, and then when he leans over shove his face into it. How have I never heard of this before?

I told him the colored balloons all smelled like different flavors and he just had to smell them. He fell for it, poor guy. I even surprised myself on this one - I'm not usually the one to throw anyone in a pool, play a prank or shove someone's face in cake. Good thing Kevin is a good sport. ;)

Speaking of birthdays, Matt's dad's birthday is this afternoon so we have a nice little family day planned. Off to enjoy this beautiful day!

Summer Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette

Serves a party

Ingredients - Salad
1 8-oz. package organic mesclun greens
1 can sliced pears (in pear juice, not syrup)
1 fresh pear, sliced (if in season)
1 large can mandarin oranges (in juice, not syrup)
1 small package raspberries
1 8 oz. package goat cheese, crumbled (I used cranberry goat cheese)
1/2 cup toasted pecans or walnuts, chopped
Raspberry Vinaigrette

Ingredients - Raspberry Vinaigrette
1 cup raspberries
3 tsp. water
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
Pinch sugar (optional - not needed if the berries are really sweet)
1/3 cup flavorless oil (walnut, grapeseed, or canola)

In a large bowl, layer half the greens, pears (these should be sliced fairly thin), oranges, raspberries and goat cheese. Repeat layers once more, then top with pecans or walnuts. Dress with raspberry vinaigrette just before serving.

To make the vinaigrette, add raspberries and water to a small blender and blend until smooth. Pass the puree through a small strainer to strain out all the seeds. Transfer the puree to a mason jar or bowl, and add all remaining ingredients. Whisk or shake well to combine.