Saturday, May 15, 2010

Pink Champagne Cupcakes - Part Deux


Remember when I made these

They are so fab-u-lous
that I made them again today
for my friend, Misty's French birthday dinner

I will be making fish en papillote

I am using this recipe as my inspiration

On the cupcake recipe (click on Girls Gotta GetAway), I did modify the frosting
I only used 2 cups powdered and 1/4 stick butter with about 1/4 cup of champagne
I did not use vanilla
It makes just enough to cover all the cupcakes

Friday, May 14, 2010

Little Miss Muffet...


...sat on these tuffits


Check these out!

They are concrete stepping stones for your garden!

Aren't they adorable?

Thursday, May 13, 2010

One for the Money - Movie Casting


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I love Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series...

so much that it inspired me to start a book club with my friends...

Not sure how I feel about Katherine Heigl playing Stephanie Plum...

Jason O'Mara - I can kind of see as Joe Morelli
but
Daniel Sunjata isn't rugged enough for Ranger

Sex in the City


Who's in?

I do not know about you, but I feel like it just appeared out of nowhere.
I remember hearing about a 2nd one when the 1st one came out
but...
forgot about it...
(sorry Carrie)

When I saw the first preview for Sex in the City 2
 coming out on May 27th

At first I'm like, do I care?

and...

I'm like...

of course I do...

Then...

to add to the intrigue even more...
I'm at Costco and see this book...

"The Carrie Diaries"

You Go

Way to jump on the young adult bandwagon
of course we all want to know about Carrie
before
Sex in the City


I haven't read the book yet, but I will
There are some great young adult series out there that I've read
but that's for another day, another post

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Jimmy's Food Store

I took this picture on my last visit to Jimmy's.

Jimmy's is awesome
It is a family owned italian meat market
located
off Fitzhugh & Bryan Street

They have the best italian sausage
I use it in all my italian dishes
(spaghetti, lasagna, baked penne pasta, baked manicotti, etc)

They also have the best pepperoni
I get it thinly sliced

Perfect for my Pepperoni Lasagna
 that I served on Mother's Day

They also carry italian wine and serve great sandwiches

I recommend the caprese panino or the cuban sandwich!



Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Flower Power

These are the roses I got on Saturday
So are these tulips...


...and these lovely red roses
are from my precious son

Monday, May 10, 2010

Stuffed Mushrooms


These were also served on Mother's Day!

Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients

1 pkg whole white button mushrooms
1/4 stick butter, melted
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 container boursin cheese
1 cup parmigiano reggiano
3/4 cup italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
4-6 tablespoons olive oil


Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray or line with foil
Clean mushrooms & remove stems
In a small bowl, mix melted butter and garlic powder together
Brush the mushrooms with the butter mixture
In another small bowl, mix the boursin cheese, 1/2 cup parm-reggiano cheese and bread crumbs together
With a small spoon, stuff the mushrooms with the cheese mixture
Mix the panko bread crumbs, remaining parm-reggiano with olive oil - just enough to coat
Place on top of mushrooms
Bake until the mushrooms are tender, the filling is heated through, and the mushrooms are golden on top - 30-35 minutes


Note: I buy boursin cheese at Costco.  You get 3 boxes for approximately $7.99 versus regular supermarkets carry it for about $5.99 - $7.99 per box.

Also, Lulu Powers  has a recipe for boursin cheese
 in her new book, "Lulu Powers - Food to Flowers"  
that I plan to make and blog about soon

Mother's Day Celebration



 Who knew that this table

could grow into this table???
I thought it was going to be all complicated
 but..
all I had to do is pull out each end of the table

and waaa-laaa
10 +1 place settings
for all my special mom's
and their spouses

A family gathering isn't a gathering without a kid's table


Breads and Cheeses
(my favorites)

This is the dessert and drink table

Wine...
more wine...
water and soft drinks

more water...
this is so simple and has such a wow factor
just throw blueberries and lemons or limes in a pitcher of water

Dessert
Mini angel foods cakes from Costco
with toppings-
whipped cream, sliced strawberries, blueberries, bananas,
Dread Head Chef's Strawberry Mango Salsa and Pineapple Banana Macadamia Nut Salsa

and of course, something chocolate
(and folks, it looks like bundt is just a part of our lives)
this is a bundt cake that my friend, Wendy brought
O
M
G
delicious

Click here for the cake recipe
&
here for the glaze recipe



Oh yeah...
the main course..

&
Stuffed Pasta Shells


I will post the Stuffed Shells Recipe this week

A gift for all the mom's
Lavender or Peppermint Salt Scrubs
(Recipe to be posted later this week)



Thanks to Wendy for taking pictures for me so I could play hostess.
She did a fantastic job

I especially LOVE the staging of the HOT trivet behind the lasagna!

Just curious...
why this picture ?



Becoming More Than Just a Good Bible Study Girl

We kicked off our bible study on Saturday. This is our 7th book over the last 5 years. I am really excited about this book. It was just r...