Categories
Food

Baby Shower Punch

I mentioned in the VA Babies Shower post that I’d snagged the recipe to the delicious punch they served.

It was so good that I agreed when they offered us to take home the rest of it in a pitcher & while the rest of my family enjoyed cocktails that evening, I drank the heck out of the punch!

Ingredients
2 32 oz bottles of apple juice, chilled

2 12 oz cans from cranberry juice concentrate

2 c & 1 tbsp orange juice

3 liters ginger ale

Directions
In large punch bowl, combine apple, cranberry & orange juices. Stir until dissolved/combined then slowly pour in the ginger ale.

The original recipe Mom’s friend Jan gave me said to cut up an apple and float the slices on top. Instead, they sliced oranges and floated those on top. The oranges were really delicious later too {think eating the fruit from pj punch from college days minus the liquor}.

Jan also has a note that says if you wanted to make it alcoholic, the use champagne instead of ginger ale! That would be great for bridal shower or if you wanted to make two for a baby shower.

Categories
Family/Travel Food

Food for the Family {Sunday Brunch Edition}

Hope everyone had a very happy Valentine’s day! We kept things low key but enjoyed a great night together.

On to feeding my gathered family last Sunday morning. The shower began at 2p, so I wanted to have something fairly hardy yet easy for brunch Sunday. I think by now y’all have realized I don’t eat {& thus don’t cook} pork or beef. So that takes out a lot of breakfast casseroles.

I turned to the Pioneer Woman in hopes she could help me out. Seriously, you can never go wrong with a PW recipe ~ she has yet to fail me. My family & I LOVED her Sleepin’ in Omelette casserole. It was easy for my mom, Nana & I to assemble Saturday night & cooked up beautifully Sunday morning.

Ingredients
Onion Rolls {she says use 6 but 5 was more than enough for my 9×13 pan}
1 c grated cheddar cheese
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 & 1/2 sticks of butter
10 eggs
2 c milk
1 tsp chopped chives {Suz fail ~ I didn’t have this!}
1/2 tsp dry mustard {another Suz fail so we used spicy brown liquid mustard}
1/2 tsp salt
a dash of cayenne pepper

Directions
Nana & I crumbled the onion rolls on the bottom of a greased 9×13 pan. We topped the bread with the cheddar cheese, crumbled cream cheese on top of that & then Nana thinly cut up the butter on top that all that.

Mom mixed the remaining ingredients in a bowl & I photographed while she poured it over the top of the dish trying to spread the egg mixture throughout. We covered it with foil & placed it in the frig over night.

Sunday morning, I baked it covered on 350 {even though PW says 325} for 45 min then removed the foil & baked uncovered for another 15 minutes.

I remembered my friend Emilee Beth had brought an awesome hash brown casserole to our last girls’ night sleepover & thankfully she & the recipe orginator Alison shared it with me. & it would only be fair that I share it here right? {& so I remember it too!}

Hash Brown Casserole aka Cheesy Potatoes

Ingredients
32 oz bag frozen hash browns {diced or grated}, slightly thawed
10 oz grated cheddar cheese
1/4 c onion, diced
2 c sour cream {we used 1 c light & 1 c regular}
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 c butter, melted
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
Mix all the ingredients together {except for the potatoes & a little extra cheese}. Then add the potatoes & mix thoroughly. Spray a 9×13 pan generously with Pam & pour in the potato mixture.

At this point Saturday night, we tossed the casserole into the frig wrapped well with foil. Sunday morning, I added a little extra cheese on the top of the casserole & baked it at 350 degrees for an hour. I did 45 minutes covered & uncovered for the last 15 minutes.

Nana & Jason’s mom cooked up some bacon {the first I’d ever purchased} for my meat-loving family. We served the casseroles & bacon with a pretty fruit salad {thanks Costco} to which I’d added blueberries & strawberries. I’d forgotten to buy oj but had sparkling pomegrante juice {from Trader Joe’s} along with coffee & sodas. I’m pretty sure we were all members of the clean plate club & some {me!} went back for seconds!

Categories
Food

Baby shower recipes

So a couple yummy food items stood out from Saturday’s shower. The pink/red punch, the garlic hummus, & the fruit dip. 

B used Macaroni & Cheesecake’s punch recipe: one carton of pineapple orange juice to half a bottle of grenadine. They left out the fruit but I think floating frozen pineapple slices would have been fun. I also think rum or champagne could be added for even more fun!

The hummus might be the easiest to share with y’all. Trader Joe’s basic Garlic Hummus. It was so good with pretzels & B’s slightly overdone baked pitas. 🙂

I quizzed Ashley for her toffee fruit dip recipe while the shower was going around us. I found a hidden recipe file Monday & realized I’d already saved this dip for future use. So that I {& y’all} will really remember it, here’s my noted recipe.

Ingredients
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 bag toffee chips

Directions
Mix together. The recipe {& Ashley} said you can add vanilla as well {maybe 1/2 tsp}. Depending on your taste, you can add more or less sugar. My recipe says serve with apples, but at the shower it worked well with strawberries too.

Categories
Everything Else

Friday Cheers

It’s Friday! Anyone else ready for a post-work cocktail? I’m not usually one for liquor. Give me a glass of white wine &/or a light beer & I’m good. But this week I’ve been wanting liquor. I blame the Bethenny Ever After marathon I saw Sunday & all of @FireFlyVodka’s tweets.

I stopped by our local ABC store Tuesday afterwork. I picked up soco for the husband & wanted Skinny Girl margaritas & Skinny Firefly for me. I was excited to find Skinny Girl on the shelves. I was equally surprised when the employee said they don’t have the skinny firefly nor was he sure when it’d be there. {I tweeted Firefly & they said they’d check on it for me. Gotta love twitter.} It’s in Charlotte so I’m hoping one of the Charlotte girls brings it for our beach trip!

Jason & I both enjoyed a Skinny Girl margarita Tuesday night. I’ve got my mind on another one for tonight!

What are y’all looking forward to celebrating the end of the work week with tonight?

Categories
Everything Else Food

Chi O Dinner Club

Last night, after meeting baby Reagan for the first time {blog post to come tomorrow}, I joined 4 other Chi O alum sisters at a dip themed dinner club.  I planned to make a crock pot spinach & artichoke dip.  Instead, I didn’t have time & picked up Whole Foods spinach & artichoke dip, black bean hummus, pretzel chips & a couple of bottles of wine!  I brought home 2 bottles of wine, some of the pretzels chips & the hummus.  That spinach artichoke dip was amazing!

Rhiannon made her signature Buffalo Chicken dip {aka crack dip for the nest girls}.  Lauren made a spinach dip.  Erin made a beer dip that was unlike anything I’d had before {I’ll share that recipe when I get it}.  Jennifer brought strawberries, grapes, & a wonderful cream cheese dessert dip.

Also, $2.99 Whole Foods wine was good y’all!  I took a photo of it just to remind myself to get it again next time.