{Easy Entertaining} Festive Blue Holiday Dessert Table and Chobani Giveaway Winner Announced!

Happy Belated Christmas/Hannukah/Festivus/Holidays everyone! We just returned from a quick, but wonderful, visit to my hometown of Toronto. While we were there, my mom told me we were also surprising my dad with a "Congratulations on your (sorta) Retirement" party (sorta since my dad will still be working part-time with his employer - they can't let him go! =) )

So I wanted to put together a fun dessert table for him but because it was a surprise, I decided on a "Winter" theme so he would think it was a table for our Christmas party. Unfortunately, I only had a day to put everything together. And since I was in Toronto, I was without my stash of pretty paper, fancy hole punches, and color printer.

I scrambled and improvised. It's not as festive as last year's dessert table (which I also had a lot more lead-time for in addition to being able to bring supplies from NYC), but I think the dessert table turned out well.  Read on for tips on creating a quick and easy dessert table.

I made last year's cake pops from scratch but this year I cheated and bought Timbits (or donut holes). The best donut holes to use are the round, dense ones (i.e. I used cherry and chocolate Timbits). In each Timbit, I stuck a 6 inch Lollipop stick. Then I melted a bag of Wilton Candy Melts and coated each donut-hole-on-a-stick with the melted candy coating. It only took minutes to make these cake pops!
 

One bag of popcorn, some homemade spiced nuts, and a pan of brownies can go a long way when served in mini baking cups. I also love using brightly-colored ornaments and peacock feathers. Cut flowers, fresh fruit, or anything else you might have on hand can be used as decoration on the dessert table. Rummaging my mom's china cabinet was the best place to find plates and glasses to hold the desserts.

Less than one roll of patterned wrapping paper goes a long way! Instead of cake platters, I wrap empty boxes to elevate the desserts. I also used wrapping paper as cupcake toppers/flags.

Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones!

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Thanks for everyone who participated in the Chobani giveaway! Using Random.org, the winner is Tara @ Chip Chip Hooray who wrote:

I like to use yogurt when making muffins--it helps me to think they're a liiiittle bit healthier when I make breakfast out of 'em! :) 

Congrats Tara! We'll email you with details on how to claim your prize.

{Easy Entertaining} Red and White Holiday Table

Merry Christmas everyone! We wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of you and your loved ones a very happy holiday full of warm company, good eats, and safe travels.  Most of all, thank you for reading our blog! Your kind comments and encouragement have blown us away.  Peace and Joy is the theme for our dessert table this year and we wish you both. We hope you enjoy our photos. I'll update this post (after we fly home!) with information on how I made the various desserts and decorations on the table.  Happy Holidays! 

So I cheated - I didn't make the Gingerbread House from scratch, but I did add onto what the kit provided.  I like using frosted mini wheats cereal for the roof to add texture and make it look like an English cottage.  I also used rock sugar (found a large bag in an Asian supermarket for 99 cents) for window panes and the icy ground.  The red (cherry) jolly ranchers were used to make the tiled walkway.  And of course, I had extra ice-cream cone trees (from my cupcakes) to fill out the front lawn.

The background was large cardboard (from large TV boxes) covered in Christmas wrapping paper ($1 from Target). The little swirl lollipops came from Oriental Trading ($9.99/24) and the name tag holders were from the dollar section at Michaels.  (Did you notice that I used the paint chips for the food tags, like I did for Thanksgiving?)

I made my first cake pops!  After reading Bakerella's blog for so long, I finally made my own lollipop cakes. All you do is make a cake, crumble it up, and mix it with frosting. Form the balls and chill/freeze them with lollipop sticks. After they have chilled, dip them in melted candy melts (I used Weston's Candy Cane candy melts), sprinkle some red or white crystal sugar on it, and keep them elevated with a Styrofoam block.

I also colored some fudge cookies with red King's icing and created all of the cupcake toppers and other tags myself.  The JOY sign was also from Target (only $2.50!)  For all of the empty glass jars and tumblers I used to fill with candy, I just searched around my mother's cupboards.  

I made all of the cupcakes and decorated them myself (the instructions are in this prior post). 

 

Wishing all of you a very sweet holiday season!!

{Easy Entertaining} Decorating Holiday Cupcakes

After styling the food tables for my friend's baby shower and my husband's birthday, I've been eager to design a holiday dessert table for my parents.  This year, I decided to go with a red and white theme (maybe because my parents live in Canada). And every dessert table needs an abundance of cupcakes, so I chose three fun ways to decorate them.

For my ice-cream cone Christmas tree cupcakes, I was inspired by both Martha Stewart's Christmas tree cupcakes and Bakerella's Candy Cane Christmas tree cupcakes.  My version is very easy to make and uses fairly easy to find ingredients (though I had to go to a few grocery stores to find mini triangular ice-cream cones)

Martha used waffle cones and Bakerella used sugar cones, but I opted for mini ice-cream cones because they're smaller (no need to cut them) and the $2 box I found contained 72 of them (in case I break or mess up a few "trees").  I also used red Jujubes, snowflake sprinkles, silver dragees, frosting, white sugar crystals, and candy cane candy melts.

I melted the candy cane candy melts in a glass so that I could easily coat the cones.  I then sprinkled white sugar crystals on top to make them shimmer.

After frosting my cupcake, I added the cone.  Using frosting, I added the other decorations onto the cupcake and cone.  My Christmas tree cupcake is now ready for its close-up!

Another of my favorite entertaining sites is One Charming Party.  It's where I found their cute North Pole cupcakes and had to make my own.  (They also provide free "North Pole" sign template on their site)  If you're short on time, these are much easier to make than the Christmas tree cupcakes.

Instead of candy canes, I used old-fashioned cherry candy sticks and broke them in half.  Because I had a bunch of berry gummies, I used those instead of gobstoppers.

Using frosting, I "glued" all of the candy together to make these cute North Pole cupcakes.

The last, and easiest, cupcake decorating method I used was making my own Cupcake Toppers.  I designed a whole bunch of toppers on my computer and used my 1-inch circle punch to cut them out.  I glued them onto sparkly red circles I made with my 2-inch circle punch.

But if you have a bunch of old holiday cards lying about, I would take a 2-inch circle punch and glue these circles onto lollipop sticks. Instant cupcake topper - with a green-friendly twist!

There's still more to do for my holiday dessert table. Stay tuned for the complete post!

(Easy Entertaining} NY Yankee/Pub Themed Birthday Party

After Thanksgiving dinner with the family in the Hudson Valley area, we came back to the city to prepare for another celebration:  my husband's birthday!  I turned our apartment into a blue and white NY Yankees (his favorite team) haven with comfort food everywhere.  We had lots of DIY plating stations so guest could make their own fish or shrimp tacos, dress up their own nachos, and put together their own s'mores.  By the end of the night, everyone was stuffed but had a great time.  We hope that our party inspires you to make your own pub night at home!

The decorations were really easy.  I went to a sporting goods store to buy most of the Yankee bat and balls.  I made and designed all of the paper decorations (banner, slider toppers, etc) using my Circle Cutter, circle punch, and card stock.  The popcorn containers (for the baked sweet potato fries and onion rings) and mini popcorn containers (for the peanut butter pretzels and pretzel m&m's) were easy to make (templates below).  I went a little overboard and actually scored pinstripes on the mini white containers with my Scoring Board. You can also see how I used paint chips as food labels and to dress up the boxes I used as food platters.

I found the little NY Yankee hats at our nearby sporting goods store and thought that they were perfect for snacks like truffle and white cheddar popcorn (with Garlic Gold toppings), caramel bacon popcorn, and my homemade spiced nuts (recipes below).  These hats were also favors for his guests to take home.

My husband grilled up the sliders (with our Le Creuset Cast-Iron Reversible Grill/Griddle) and served them on potato rolls with his homemade onion jam, homemade pickles, and various condiments.  I also made Mac n' Cheese cups so guests could easily pick them up.

Both the DIY fish/shrimp tacos and nacho stations were a hit.  We put out 4 homemade toppings - tomato salsa, pineapple salsa, cabbage slaw, and yogurt cilantro sauce - and guest could dress up their fish (we used Spanish mackerel) and/or shrimp tacos to their liking.

For the nacho station, I made a serving platter of nachos. On top of a plate of Trader Joe's tortilla chips, I piled on mushrooms, peppers, jalapenos, scallions, and shredded cheese and then toasted the plate in the oven.  We put out sour cream, our homemade guacamole, and our homemade vegetarian chili.  This dish was another big hit.

My husband does not have a sweet tooth, but he and his friends love my peanut butter cups.  I also put out a S'mores Bar - graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate squares with almonds.  Guests put a marshmallow and chocolate on top of a graham cracker, and then microwave it for about 20 seconds.  Once the marshmallow puffs up, we take the plate out of the microwave and squish it down with another graham cracker.  

In addition to the mini hats, we gave out 2 other affordable favors.  One favor was a Trader Joe's dark chocolate bar (only $0.25 each!) that I wrapped up in customized striped label I made.  The other was a DVD of the 2009 World Series (that the Yankees won) that I found for 99 cents each!

A signature cocktail is a must for any party!  I made a drink with blueberry juice, lychee syrup, lychee fruit, freshly squeezed lime juice, and passion fruit vodka.  Along with Trader Joe's macarons (on top of Blueberry Jelly Belly jelly beans), I made another easy dessert:  Chocolate-covered Cheerios.  I melted chocolate in the microwave (10-20 seconds so it doesn't burn) and then poured the cereal into the bowl.  I made cereal balls, and then placed them in a parchment paper-lined tupperware container.  I let them chill overnight in the refrigerator and then served.  So sweet, crunchy, and easy to make!

Happy Birthday honey! I hope you enjoyed your party!  Much thanks to his friends and family who came to share in this post-Thanksgiving celebration!

Templates:

Popcorn template

Mini Popcorn template (I used the same template for the Halloween Baby Shower I hosted)

Homemade Spiced Nuts (adapted from Darryl Robinson's Savory Mix recipe)

Ingredients:

2 cups almonds (can also substitute with other fave nuts like hazelnuts and cashews)
1 cup pecans
1 cup walnuts
2 tsp dried rosemary
2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp paprika
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Toss the nuts in a medium bowl with all the remaining ingredients.
3. Spread out on sheet pan and bake for 15 minutes.
4. Stir occasionally to ensure even browning.
5. Remove from oven and serve.

{Easy Entertaining} Halloween Baby Shower

Happy Halloween everyone! Remember that baby shower I was prepping for with our DIY cupcake wrappers?  Well, it happened yesterday and I think it was a great success!  A lot of the decorations were easy do-it-yourself projects and a lot of the food came from Trader Joe's.  Despite being a Halloween theme, I think the ideas and colors (black, white, purple, lime) could be used for a stylish birthday party or glamorous bridal shower too.

My initial inspiration came from this great party-design blog, TomKat Studios.  Kim's a very talented party stylist whose dream job started when she decided to leave her real estate career to stay at home with her kids.  I liked her Halloween design concept (no orange!) and I even found the same purple trees she used at my nearby TJ Maxx.

Trader Joe's was a gold-mine for most of the food we served - including vanilla meringues, Canadian maple leaf cookies, and 29 cent chocolate bars that I wrapped in a custom-printed label I made.  Michael's was my second home for scoring all of the cardstock and scrapbooking paper I used.  (Easy decorating tip: use scrapbooking paper as "placemats".  They add a bold pattern - and when they're on sale for 25 cents, they're inexpensive too)  The baby shower banner was really easy to make.  Between this Martha Stewart alphabet template and her Circle Cutter, I easily put together a personalized banner.

I made chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting and then decorated them with our cupcake wrappers and homemade cupcake toppers (all you need to do is print images on cardstock, lollipop sticks, mini glue gun, Scallop Hole Punch, and assorted gem stickers).  Yes, after my Thanksgiving toppers and Birthday toppers, I'm now officially addicted to making these guys!

The bright green mini popcorn containers were made using this template from another cool design website, Eat Drink Chic.  Instead of popcorn (because these cups are so small), I filled the containers with chocolate-covered almonds and yogurt-cover raisins.   I didn't have enough cake stands, so instead I wrapped empty cardboard boxes I had to add both color and height.

In keeping with the purple and lime green theme, I kept an eye out for matching candies.  I went everywhere from the M&M store in Times Square (where they sell single-colored m&m's in bulk), Chelsea market for the lime green juicy pear jelly bellies (which tasted like bosc pears!), and Target for grape-flavored Mike and Ike's.  Though jars of candy look beautiful, it can get expensive (and a waste if no one eats them!).  Instead I just used these candies for a pop of color, filling one layer of candy on shallow square plates, and adding vanilla meringues on top.

Loved these glow-in-the-dark tumblers! (Though it never did get dark enough for us to see if they worked!)  We bought the tumblers, rubber ducks, and fruit tote bags from Oriental Trading.  I bought the Sour Apple Cotton Candy (found at Michaels and Duane Reade), broke off pieces, and put them on 6 Inch Lollipop Sticks.  (Yes they tasted really sour!)

I had such a good time putting this spread together - especially because the parents-to-be are good friends of ours and exceptionally wonderful people! 

Reminder:  There are only a few hours left until our $55 CSN Stores gift certificate giveaway ends! Check out this post for your chance to win!

{Easy Entertaining} 70th Birthday Party

Like the Bronx cobra, we've been MIA for a little bit.  Unlike Mia (the cobra) though, we haven't been hiding to take a nap.  We've been busy with a number of events - the most important being my husband's father's big 70th birthday. 

I'm so happy that after last week's baking, printing, and paper cutting marathon, the blue and silver party decor and dessert table I created was a big success!  Everyone loved the desserts and the usually stoic birthday boy himself teared up when seeing the '70" photo collage my husband and I made.

My husband's mom dug up old photos from the birthday boy's childhood for me including his baby pictures, first communion photos, and his yearbook portrait.  I scanned many of the photos, while my husband photocopied others. We printed them all in black and white and in various sizes.  Then I laid the photos out to make the "70" shape and taped them all together. We used a mounting putty on the wall to hang the poster.  (I got this easy idea from Martha Stewart.)  This was a very easy, but impactful, party decoration that could be used for any milestone birthday or anniversary.

For the paper decorations, I used the theme of "New York" and "70 years young". I incorporated my father-in-law's yearbook photo onto one of the cupcake topper designs. I baked all of the cupcakes, Oreo truffles, and cocoa PB oatmeal cookies. (You can see my nephew eagerly anticipating dessert time!)

For me, the favorite dessert I made was the Oatmeal Cookie sandwiches.  This was a new-to-me recipe (which I'll share soon) that I made for my husband's 10-year-old first cousin, once-removed. He is allergic to soy, which means he cannot eat foods containing Oreos, vegetable oil, margarine, etc.  After chatting with his mom and reading websites (this one was very helpful) I became more aware of foods and ingredients (including some flours, sprinkles, and many baking mixes) that contain soy.  I also made Vanilla Cupcakes (using his favorite Cherrybrook Kitchen mix because I was worried that the flour I had at home may contain soy) and Cocoa Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies (though he's allergic to soy, he isn't allergic to soy lecithin which is normally found in chocolate).  But it was these Oatmeal Cookie sandwiches that were his favorite.  They were soft, tasty, and completely soy free - he loved them and took the leftovers home.