parties: A Baby Shower.

Oh boy, do I have something fun to share with you.  Last weekend, I had the privilege of helping to cater a baby shower in Dallas and oh, what a privilege it is when you are working with friends who put so much love and work into the party.  My friends Abby and Katie (with the wonderful help of sister Hannah, mother Karen and Katie's mom Barbara and her wonderful home) threw a lovely shower for Abby's sister, Emily.  These girls know how to throw a party, but more importantly, how to decorate. I happen to meet sweet Emily this summer on our trip to Italy and let's just say that I could have never imagined I would be helping with this darling shower for a baby that will be born exactly nine months from the week I met her {Oh, Italia}.  I put together a few shots of the food, but every detail of the party is worth mentioning so here it goes...

(scroll to the bottom for notes about the menu)

This January Shower was a mix of comfort food + bright pops of color.

The photo booth captured everyone's predictions as to whether a baby girl or baby boy was in the works.  The mom to be is unsure, but grandmothers have good instincts and this one is going with boy. 

There was a table with packets of sweet peas for guests to plant for favors and a jar to shower the mom-to-be with advice. 

And by the end of a lovely shower, the three of us had a little fun with the photo booth. 

Menu Notes...

• Click here for the tomato basil soup.  
• The grilled cheese were made with buttermilk sourdough bread from Central Market with sharp cheddar cheese and olive oil to crisp the bread. 
• Click here for Avocado Chicken Salad. 
• Click here for Pesto Pasta Salad recipe.  I substituted these marinated mozzarella balls for the feta ... not sure I will ever go back to feta. It was delicious.
• Click here for chocolate chip cookie recipe.
• And the Oatmeal Cake Cupcakes with buttercream frosting were amazing! I am going to do a little begging to see if I can get the grandmother to be to share this perfect recipe.  

Little Kitchen Catering

Anyone tired of staring at spinach salad yet?

I know, I know... first I tell you I will have a week of Thanksgiving recipes, and then I leave you high and dry with a two during the biggest month of food.  Followed by the fact that I am not even sharing a recipe now.  But I haven't exactly been sitting around eating bon bons so I thought I would share what has been going on in the little kitchen.  Sunday night I catered a cocktail party for 75 and I have been in a tizzy of gourmet appetizers for a couple of weeks.  Unfortunately, I was way more focused on getting out hot food than getting good pictures, but I will share what I do have.  Starting with the menu...

Bloody Mary Soup Shot with Herb Marinated Shrimp and Olives

Baked Brie with Crackers and Fruit

Ham and Gruyere Thumbprints

Olive Tapenade Crostini

Roasted Shrimp Cocktail

Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Chipotle Mayonnaise, Arugula, Focaccia Toasts & Roasted Tomatoes

Spanakopita

Lamb Chop Lollipops

Prosciutto wrapped Asparagus with Marinated Tomatoes and Mozzarell

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, Coconut Macaroons, Dark Chocolate Fudge Bites,

Madeleines, and Cheesecake Brownie Bites

This is the moment where I need to immensely thank my mother and friend Jennifer for being the best help a girl could ask for.  It was a tall order, but somehow we got all the food out and we are still standing.  Excuse the fuzzy iphone pics, but here's a sampling...

Prepping in the little kitchen...

My new best friend, Pat with Roasted Shrimp Cocktail

Display of desserts (just a sidenote, I simply filled the trays with desserts...did not decorate this beautiful island)

Fuzzy pic of grilled beef tenderloin bites with roasted tomatoes, chipotle mayonnaise and arugula...

very blurry pic of one of the food tables...

close up of the bloody mary soup shots with shrimp and olives...

Mr. Hungry's plate of leftovers... just a few of the items.

 

Sorry once again for the bad pictures, but I thought I would share what I have.  This may or may not be my sad attempt at getting some grace for being gone so long.  But I will be back with a few recipes from the party... hopefully sooner than later. 

lily's luncheon

I am officially over missing the original little kitchen and I am full fledge in love with the new one.  You could say this luncheon for 30 was its first big test and it passed with flying colors.  In fact, it makes me question how I did things like this in the original little kitchen.  I have to say it is a combination of having great windows in here and the fact that Mr. Hungry actually fits in the kitchen at the same time to help assemble everything.

This was a luncheon for a darling 5 month old baby named Lily who was christened at her church last week.  The only mistake I made last weekend was not getting a picture of her to share with you.

On the menu was...

Tomato Bruschetta

Artichoke Dip

Avocado Chicken Salad with avocado dressing

Assorted Breads and Crackers

Pesto pasta salad with feta and pine nuts

Egg Salad and Pimento Cheese Sandwiches

Triple Lemon Cupcakes

a cupcake factory

Okay, so I'm not exactly a cupcake factory, but it feels that way a bit. I have made quite a few in the last week. I have loved each and every batch and just wanted to share. Things have been slowing down a bit around here (by around here, I mean this blog... definitely not in my life or the little kitchen, but that's usually a direct correlation to not being able to share as much!) and I will try to get back on top of things and get back to some recipes because yes, we have still been eating. So for now, here are some toppers...

These were double lemon cupcakes that were ordered for a festive mojito filled 30th birthday party...


And these were cookies and cream cupcakes ordered for an engagement party...


and there was my friend's birthday...Happy Birthday Mel!

Birthday Cupcakes

I had an order for birthday cupcakes this weekend and considering I didn't get any, I sure was excited about them.  I suspect the excitement was because I wanted to experiment with cupcake toppers.  These were for a 60th birthday party and the order was for a dozen triple lemon cupcakes and a dozen chocolate chip peanut butter cupcakes (recipe coming soon).  The birthday girl's name started with an S so I decided to do different font S's on one side with happy birthday on the other.  I have to say they sure do spruce up a cupcake and can be made with paper and toothpicks.  If you don't love this idea, I'm sorry... because I have a feeling you will be seeing these at every opportunity I get to top something.

Heart Cookie Explosion

First of all, I would like to apologize for another Valentine's post.  You either a.) like Valentine's Day, but already celebrated and have moved on or b.) you hate the day to begin with and would rather be spared for at least another year.  But I just had to share...
Our home was invaded this weekend  with pink, red and white icing and lots of sprinkles.  I was hired to make 300 valentine's cookies and while I just had a ball making these, they kind of took over our sweet little 900 square feet that we live in.  I am pretty sure the bed is the only surface that was not drying cookies on Saturday (and if Mr. Hungry had not been taking a nap, I do not think it would have been spared).  I ended up with 3 sizes... a teeny mini heart with pink icing, a medium sized heart that I adorned with different sprinkles, and a fairly large heart, which I made into conversation hearts.
I share these because I have picked up a few tricks on how to make that perfectly iced sugar cookie that I thought only existed in magical bakeries.  I realize some bakeries can still blow these out of the water with their precision, but I thought these hearts turned out pretty darn cute.  Just thought I would share and I will be back soon with the tips I picked up on how to ice a sugar cookie.

A Lovely Ladies Luncheon

I find it quite ironic that the busier the little kitchen is, the quieter this site is.  But that's just the way it goes when the cook, photographer and writer is yours truly (who also has a little thing called a full time job).  And when I say busy, I mean real busy... I catered a luncheon for eighty women on Friday and three hundred finger sandwiches later, I lived to post about it.  I thought I would give you a little sneak peak with the pictures and promise the recipes to follow.  This doesn't really give you an idea of how much food there was because there were two servers that were refilling the trays, but this was the menu...

Herbed Goat Cheese Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes

Pasta Salad with Tomatoes, Feta & Pesto

Egg Salad Tea Sandwiches

Pimento Cheese Tea Sandwiches

Chicken Salad Tea Sandwiches

Fresh Berries and Melon

Oh yeah, and these aren't the greatest pics, but I tried to snap a few shots with my phone when I went to the party.  Another problem, the busier with the cooking, the less time I have to document with photographs... my apologies.  So instead, I creeped around the party trying to get a few quick photos.  The women at the party who did not know I made the food probably thought I had a weird obsession with tea sandwiches as I shot them from all angles. 

I also have to give a very big thank you to my wonderful mother and sweet friend allison for helping me with all those teeny little sandwiches!