Archive for the ‘Menus’ Category

Party On, Part Deux

December 8, 2007

Technically we would have had to move our dinner party to Taco Bell if the fabulous Stephanie hadn’t come over and saved the day. She helped me shop for table decorations and favors AND she polished the silverware and set the table. Her husband even rushed over to the market to pick up ice and napkins and drag over a variety of last minute items from their house.

MY hottie would have probably PREFERRED Taco Bell instead of having people at our house, but he still helped by sweeping, mopping, swishing dishes and boiling the stickers off our new glasses, not to mention watching the kids while I rushed around town to my appointments and last minute shopping.

What did I do you ask? Well, I DID go to my Drs appointment and had the sweetest 3D Ultrasound. Then I ate lots of the cookies while we put the favors together.

Here’s some photos….I think it turned out AWESOME.

Here’s the table. Our table seats 8 and we expected 13. We had to squish everyone in and at the last minute we had 2 people cancel…pulling out the two extra settings helped but it was still pretty nice and cozy.
The Table.

Obviously our theme was red and gold. It looked awesome since my kitchen is red and maizey-gold and my tree is red and gold and I pretty much heart read and gold. We had a mini saga when I went to just about every store and they were out of any kind of red, gold or white tablecloths and napkins. Seriously, Target had no linen napkins left. Not even ugly ones. I called my MIL who saved the day with a long, fancy, gold table cloth that we just folded down the middle and used as a runner.

Here’s the setting:
The Setting

The scroll on my fancy new dishes matched the scroll on the table cloth pretty dang good, eh? And yeah, don’t ask where the napkins were….we ended up getting paper napkins at the very last minute, which by that time was perfect and I didn’t really care anymore because I wanted to do was eat all the food and sit down.

Didn’t our favors turn out cute? They doubled as place cards, we put their names on the miniature ornaments I found at Ikea. The buckets were from Michael’s dollar section and I found some good sales on cherry chocolates, Linder Truffles and picked up those cute dark chocolate covered shortbread cookies from Trader Joes. (Which are so delish and I can eat a box by myself. As a matter of fact I hid a box in my candy stash and will sudo chop any fingers who try to sneak one.)
The Favor

To drink we had 3 choices: water with lemon, Mock Champagne (super easy and yummy, click for the recipe) and Strawberry Pomegranite Italian Sodas. The sodas were super tall but had lame lables on them, so I wrapped them up in gold foiled wrapping paper and tied the bow around them. They were supposed to have a cute tag on them, but like I said, I ran out of time. I should have taken a photo of the drinks because they were the exact shades of gold and red as the rest of the table.
Italian Sodas

This one shows our centerpiece a little better. It’s just a hurricane glass with ornaments, a little generic, but easy, cheap and perfect. Plus, everyone could still see everyone over it. Don’t you hate when you’re trying to follow a conversation and you have to lean into your husband to even see who is talking on the other side of a massive table arrangement? Geez, I HATE that, I like to watch lips move I guess. Anyways…We found a long strand of the funky gold covered leaves to swirl arround the base and the bead covered glass candles were a great find in the super clearance at Michaels. I had an extra spot in the frame so I put in an extra photo of the cookies that I’ll be going to eat a handful of as soon as I’m done typing here. I have a feeling the box will be gone before dinner.
The Centerpiece

Before I forget, all the digital scrap goodies are from Shabby Miss Jen who has 3 adorable new Christmas kits. I got them all and can’t wait to use them over at ScrapJunkie which has been put on the back burner with all this Christmas Hoo-Rah.

Cookie time.

Menu Plan Monday

March 25, 2007

menu plan monday

Another week of dinners! Here’s what we’ve got coming up this week!

Sunday Sunday Chicken with steamed broccoli
Monday Asian Lettuce Wraps
Tuesday Southern Chicken Roll Ups
Wednesday Chile Verde (a freezer meal!)
Thursday Left Over Night
Friday Taco Salad
Saturday DH was sick last week so I didn’t get my hot date with a steak dinner. Hopefully it will work out this time!

If you haven’t already seen the post, The Soapy Dish is hosting a Freeze it Friday meme. If you have any great freezer meals, tips or ideas, get ‘em ready for this Friday!

Menu Plan Monday

March 18, 2007

Menu Plan Monday

THE LINK TO THE CHEATERS CORDON BLEU HAS BEEN FIXED! SORRY ABOUT THAT!

Another week of cooking….ugh and yay at the same time. I love to cook, but we’re low carbing over here and that means I can’t cook any treats or goodies or pastries that made me chubby to begin with. I am really craving a good gooey brownie smothered with peanut butter right now.

Laura over at Org Junkie was commenting that she was trying to Organize all her menus and recipes and I just did a post for my friend Stephanie about Writing Your Own Cookbook. There are some templates for you to start your own – check ‘er out!

(Laura-I tried to post a comment to your blog but it wouldn’t let me use anything other than a blogger account….any way to bypass that?)

I hope you enjoy the menu this week, although it’s low carb, there are places to put scrumptious carb loaded morsels in for the kids. I could kill for a roll right now.

Monday Cheaters Cordon Bleu with Asparagus (SUPER EASY and FAST!)
Tuesday BBQ Chicken Salad
Wednesday Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Thursday Curried Chicken Salad sandwiches (on rolls for the kids, in lettuce wraps for low carb eaters)
Friday Taco Night (wrapped in lettuce for the low-carb eaters)
Saturday Hot Date Night for some good steaks with DH if I can talk him into it!

As always, visit Org Junkie for menu ideas galore!

Menu Plan Monday

March 4, 2007

Last week’s Hawaiian Chicken Bake had lots of hits and I received lots of hits saying how yummy it was, so if you haven’t tried it yet, you should! It’s delish!

And, before I get into my menu for this week, be sure to come back lots this week, I have a full line up of great posts ready for Tackle it Tuesday and Works for me Wednesday, including a killer pattern for the cutest and EASIEST Tote Bags ever. If you’re worried about forgetting, subscribe to my feed so you don’t miss it!

This week I have visitors coming to town, so I needed some fast and easy, low-prep meals. I really think you’ll like them

Okay, on to the menu of the week….

Sunday- Best Ribs with white rice (seriously, this one is to die for and crock-pottable too)
Monday- Quesadillas and Mexican Dip
Tuesday- Grilled BBQ Chicken and Cheesy Veggies (frozen veggies from Costco, just loaded with sprinkled cheese.)
Wednesday-Shrimp and Noodles (this is my kid’s FAVORITE dinner and it takes me 3 minutes)
Thursday- BBQ Chicken Salad (using pregrilled chicken from Tuesday)
Friday- Leftovers night to clean out the fridge for visitors!
Saturday- Family in town…going out for something I don’t have to make with several diet cherry cokes!

Be sure to leave a comment if you try something and like it, or if you have a good alteration!! If you’re looking for some more great menus, visit our hostess, Laura at Org Junkie. See you tomorrow!

If you’re coming in from Laura’s site, check out my front page!

Menu Plan Monday

February 25, 2007

Menu Plan Monday

It’s time to plan our Weekly Menus!
What’s for dinner at your house this week?

Here’s our week of delectable dishes:

Sunday Sunday dinner at Grama’s House!
Monday Ritz Chicken
Tuesday Meatloaf and ’seasoned tots’ (read, frozen tater tots with some Season All)
Wednesday Tuna Casserole
Thursday Hawaiian Chicken Bake
Friday Hamburgers with swiss and Sweet Potato Fries (have you guys tried these yet? You can get them bagged at Costco and they are spicy and gooooood!)

Be sure to share a good recipe in your comment or link us up to your Menu Plan! If you try one of my recipes and love it or improve it, comment in the specific recipe link!

Last week Hawaiian Chicken Bake was on our menu and we didn’t get to use it, hence the duplicate entry and by Laura’s Request….I’ve posted the yummy recipe!! For more Menu Plan Monday Participants, visit Laura’s site: Organization Junkie.

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