7th Birthday Brownie Bliss and Some Party Details...

As I sit down to type this post, it's nearly 10 pm EST. I just realized that exactly 7 years ago at this time I was laying in a hospital bed, clad in a flimsy gown and hooked to all sorts of monitors. Our daughter is the first grandchild on both sides of our family, so both sets of our parents had made the trip to the hospital and were camped out in the waiting room. I'd just received the blessed epidural and a calm had fallen over the delivery room. I was propped up on pillows, watching Sunday night football with my husband and I was too excited to " just rest" as the nurse had advised me.

I knew that life would never be the same, but I really had no idea what lie ahead: Colic. Sooo many sleepless nights (I should have taken that nurse's advise and rested!). First smile. First tooth. First words. First steps. The first time our daughter slept through the night consistently (Unfortunately in that order...as you read this post you will see that sleep is not high on my daughter's list of priorities). First day of school. The first time my daughter read a book all on her own.  Her first solo bike ride on two wheels. And now...the first slumber party.

It's been a whirlwind. Our dynamic daughter is an amazing kid, so full of life and joy. She's tireless, except when I am trying to wake her for school in the morning. Ugh.

Parenthood has made me appreciate "the little things" more. Tonight I counted for her as she hoola-hooped to 100. It was quite an accomplishment! I'm looking forward to experiencing a lifetime of firsts with my children. It's certainly never boring!

When I asked my soon-to-be 7 year old daughter what she wanted to do for her birthday this year she all but screamed, "SLUMBER PARTY!" Her other two requests for the night were pizza and brownies (She despises cake, or rather the frosting that accompanies birthday cake. Weirdo.)

We ordered pizzas, and I purchased plenty of chips and popcorn for late night movie-watching junk food. My only food preparation responsibility for the party was brownies. With a fancy, theme-decorated cake out of the question, I focused my creativity on the brownies. Kids love brownies, but I didn't want to just serve our guests a boring, brown, square.

Inspiration struck when I found tie-dye themed plates at the party store. I had an "Ah-ha Moment":  I would do a 60's theme with daisy-shaped brownies!

To prepare the brownies, I lined the baking dish with 2 layers of foil, then sprayed it with non-stick cooking spray.

Then I poured in the brownie batter. I have to admit that I  "cheated" on the brownies. I used a boxed mix purchased at Aldi, then stirred in some chocolate chips to make them extra chocolaty. No apologies for the boxed mix. It made some delicious brownies.

After baking, I lifted the brownies from the pan and let them cool on the countertop before placing a flower shaped cookie cutter over the brownies and...

cutting them out.

After the brownies were cut, I transferred them to a sheet lined with waxed paper and sifted powdered sugar over the top.

With a final touch of yellow Reese's pieces pressed into the center of each "daisy" I was finished!

Now I only needed to set the table, strategically fling crepe paper from the rafters, and blow up some balloons to transform our dining room into "party central".

Here's a closer look at the table. Sparkly confetti strewn everywhere really spruced up the white space and made the tablescape appear festive.

My husband's parents were visiting this weekend for the occasion. They took our daughters out for the afternoon while I decorated.

The birthday girl was "psyched" when she returned home to the party scene I had created for her special night.

Now all we needed were guests! Here she is with her little sis and 4 "besties", getting ready to blow out all 7 candles on her brownie.

After dinner and dessert, I took the little ladies to the salon for a makeover. That is, I transformed our toy room into a salon.

You know all of those "free gift with purchase" deals and free samples that you get at department store make up counters? I'm not a hoarder, except for when it comes to this stuff. I have a whole drawer full of it. Most of it isn't even mine. My grandma, mom, and sisters send it to me. It makes for perfect play makeup!

I played make up artist for the girls...

while my mother-in-law took over the role of manicurist at the "Nail Salon".

Our make-shift salon was a huge hit!

As for the rest of the night? There was a game of flashlight tag in the lawn, a Barbie movie, a dance party, and then...lights out. The whole night went very smoothly except for the lights out part. At 12:30 I thought that the girls were all settled into their sleeping bags and getting ready to drift off. By 2:00 am I was issuing threats of separating them. At 3:30 am, my daughter was standing in front of me asking if it was morning yet because she was "bored". Really. BORED?! Go to sleep, child!!! Finally at 4:30 all was quiet and I abandoned my post on the sofa for my comfy bed. Only, I couldn't sleep. I was worried that one of the kiddos would wake up and need me. And so I laid wide awake with our bedroom door open, listening. At 8:00 am one of the girls came upstairs to tell me that she was hungry. I shuffled back downstairs to serve donuts with a smile on my face and a huge cup of coffee in my hand. Just 2 hours until the parents arrived to pick up their daughters....Please Lord, help the time pass quickly!

I'm still recovering. I think that I need at least two more years before I plan another slumber party. It makes me wonder: How did my mom do it? She survived 3 daughters and we all had slumber parties.

That must have sucked.

Thanks, mom!

Heart Cakes

My baby turned 3 today. She is truly a blessing to our family. She brightens every day with her gorgeous smile and her cute little personality. On Saturday, we celebrated her birthday with cake and ice cream and some good friends.

A couple of weeks before her birthday party, I asked her what kind of a party she wanted (Dora? My Little Pony?). She just shrugged. She has the cutest little shrug. This indifference was surprising to me because my oldest had definite and detailed ideas of what her party should look like from the age of 2 on. I decided to approach the subject from a different angle, "Okay, what kind of cake do you want?" She answered matter-of-factly, "A heart cake. A BERRY heart cake." I was surprised and thought that I had misunderstood. "Do you mean Strawberry Shortcake?" "Nooooo, Mommy," she answered, "A heart cake WITH berries!" Just to clarify, I asked, "And what will the cake taste like?" Then she smiled her big, beautiful smile and answered, "Chocolate." Whew. Glad I asked...

Here's what I came up with:

As luck would have it, I purchased a small heart-shaped baking pan similar to this Wilton Dimensions Cast-Aluminum Nonstick Crown of Hearts Panat a garage sale last summer. Finally, an opportunity to use it! Going with the "chocolate" request, I baked a Devil's Food cake mix into it for the occasion.

This was super easy to decorate, the pan made for a pretty cake all on it's own, so I just traced the lines with buttercream frosting, embellished with some dots and big stars for a border, and garnished with berries. I'm talking 10-15 minutes, from start to finish!

Since this heart cake was on the small side, I decided to provide the guest of honor with her very own birthday cake and then bake tiny individual heart-shaped cakes for her friends using my Wilton 6-Cavity Nonstick Heart Mini Cake Pan.The pan only makes 6 and 12 children would be attending the party, so I baked one pan of chocolate and one pan of vanilla.

On the morning of the party, I frosted and decorated the little hearts. These were served with vanilla ice cream. I have some weird aversion to scooping ice cream during a party, so I placed individual scoops of ice cream into  muffin cup liners, put them on a cookie sheet, covered them with plastic wrap, and put them back into the freezer a few hours before the party. Before calling guests to the table for a round of "Happy Birthday", I placed one muffin cup full of ice cream next to each little heart cake. Easy-peasy.

I decorated each heart just a little differently from the next. To avoid confusion, chocolate cakes were frosted with pink....

And vanilla cake was frosted with white.

Chocolate.

Vanilla. You get the idea...

After baking the heart cakes, I had lots of leftover cake batter. I poured the remainder into muffin cups for cupcakes for the adults in attendance. If you don't have a big star tip for frosting cupcakes bakery-style, then check this out: Decorating Tip-#1M Star. I soooo prefer frosting with this tip to holding the cupcake and smoothing on frosting with a knife. Using a decorator's bag and tip is much easier and faster and the end result is prettier!

A few days before the party, I took my daughter to the local party store. "Alright, you can pick your plates and napkins." I told her. To my surprise (and delight) she by-passed all of the themed party packages (Barbie, Disney Princess, etc.) and walked straight to some plain pink plates. "Pink, mommy!" she exclaimed as she grabbed up a 24-pack of dessert plates. Okay, then. I completely appreciated her "less is more" approach to the tablescape. It's way more my style... : )  Granted, if she had reached for plates with characters smiling back at me, I would have indulged her. After all, you only turn 3 once! We've done Elmo and Dora and Ariel the Little Mermaid in the past...but I loved that she just picked a color instead.

On the way out of the store, I grabbed streamers in two colors of pink and a roll of white for decorations.

Tip: Streamers are cheap (about $.70 a roll) and you can cover a lot of area with them, making a room look festive for a child's birthday with just a little bit o' cash.

The morning of the party, I decorated the party room (under the management of my toddler).

I realize that the decor looked VERY similar to that of her 1st birthday party, which I planned without her input. Was she trying to recapture her youth? Ha ha.

Oh, and for a centerpiece....I grabbed all of the leftover Christmas goodies from my pantry (Fudge-covered mint Oreos, candy canes, peanut brittle, caramel corn, M&M's, a separated chocolate orange) and placed them in candy jars on the table.

As we all gathered 'round to sing the birthday song, I had one happy little birthday girl! She LOVED her special cake...

One more note: That's a "Shirley Temple" in front of my daughter. This happens to be her new favorite beverage when we go out to eat. Before the party, I poured a 2 liter of Sprite into a pitcher over 1/4 jar of maraschino cherries (with the juice) and tah-dah! Kiddie Cocktails! These were the perfect beverage for the pink motif of the party.

So that's my daughter's 3rd birthday party, but these ideas would easily be applied to Valentine's Day party! It's just a little over a month away after all...

Happy Monday, everyone!

Stay tuned for some Spicy Crispy Orange Beef Stir-Fry tomorrow!

Ice Cream Sundae Party! Hot Fudge and Peanut Butter Sauce Recipes

Last weekend we travelled home to Indiana and threw a big birthday party for our daughter-a pizza party with her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all in attendance. She loved her birthday party and had a wonderful time, but she was still a little bummed on the way home. "I wanted a party with my friends at home too." She pouted as we drove across the state line and into Ohio. Being the occasional over-indulgent parent that I am, I caved. "Well, maybe we can have a couple of your friends over for cake and ice cream next weekend." Tough negotiator that she is, she came back with, "No cake. Just ice cream." The kid despises birthday cake. Why? She can't stand frosting. (Who is this kid?!) "Okay, just ice cream" I agreed. Hey-no need to spend hours constructing another Ariel birthday cake. Like I was going to argue. So, at the after school pick-up this week, I mentioned to some of the neighborhood moms that we'd be having a little ice cream social at our house on Saturday in honor of my daughter's birthday. I'm glad I indulged her this time. It turns out that a couple of her friends were a little miffed that they'd been excluded from the out-of-state birthday celebration she'd talked about all week AND it gave me the opportunity to try out 2 wonderful ice cream topping recipes!

If you're looking for a fun birthday party on a budget, then try this! We'd already spent more that we budgeted on the weekend festivities back in Indiana. So, for this party, I picked up a big bucket of ice cream at ALDI ($4.99), a bunch of paper bowls at Walgreen's ($1.50) and 2 rolls of streamers ($2). Napkins are also a good idea (Luckily I keep an abundance of those on hand). I already had most of the sundae topping ingredients in my kitchen: Oreos, candy, whipped cream, and the ingredients for peanut butter and hot fudge sauce. With little time for planning games, I set out my daughter's favorite board games around the house (Candyland, Operation, Chutes and Ladders, and Ned's Head). At school they call them stations or centers. My daughter quickly pointed out this comparison. The kids were thrilled. Of course, we put up the bounce house in the lawn too. Oh, and favors? I just poured the leftover candies from the sundae bar into clear plastic cups and sent them home with the happy kiddos as they departed.

In order to save time before the party, I dished out the ice cream the night before, then covered it and put the bowl-filled trays into our basement freezer.



This afternoon before the guests arrived, I set out all of the toppings: homemade hot fudge and peanut butter sauce (recipe below),chopped or crushed Oreos, M & M's, bananas, chopped peanuts, whipped cream, cherries, and sprinkles.



Then I put those 2 rolls of streamers to work!



Gather a group of your favorite kiddos (or adults) around a table,



then supervise as they build their sundaes! This is the creation of one of my daughter's friends.



Once the kids were served, I moved the toppings into the kitchen and the adults went to town!



Here's my creation. Lots of hot fudge, peanut butter sauce, and whipped cream, sprinkled with peanuts, and topped with a cherry. It was perfection! It's pretty safe to say that the adults enjoyed the sundae bar even more than the kiddos.



Let's talk about the seriously delicious Peanut Butter Sauce.



It's easy to make...in the microwave no less!

Just combine a cup of brown sugar, corn syrup, and butter in a microwaveable dish.



Then heat to boiling in the microwave, for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes, stirring twice.



Stir in a cup of peanut butter until smooth.




And finally, stir in 1/2 cup of evaporated milk until completely combined. That's it! Easy as pie! Actually easier....



The sauce was great on ice cream and you can store the leftovers in your fridge for later. Today I pulled out the leftovers and dished up a couple spoonfuls to reheat...



for another snack. It was pretty amazing on apples too! The perfect discovery just in time for apple season.



Here's the recipe from the Taste of Home website:

Peanut Butter Sauce

22 Servings Prep/Total Time: 10 min.

Ingredients
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
3 tablespoons butter
Pinch salt
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup evaporated milk
Vanilla ice cream
Peanuts, optional
Directions
•In a 1-1/2-qt. microwave-safe dish, combine the brown sugar, corn
syrup, butter and salt. Cover and microwave on high for 2-1/2
minutes or until mixture boils, stirring twice. Add peanut butter;
stir until smooth. Stir in evaporated milk.

•Serve warm over ice cream. Sprinkle with peanuts if desired. Cover
and store in the refrigerator. To reheat, microwave at 50% power for
30-60 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 2-3/4 cups.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (2 tablespoons) equals 149 calories, 8 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 6 mg cholesterol, 95 mg sodium, 18 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 3 g protein.

Hot Fudge!

The hot fudge sauce also came together quickly and is oh-so-decadent. I had to stash the leftovers at the back of the top shelf of my fridge because every time my daughters walk past, they beg for another spoonful!

Just melt 3/4 cup of chocolate chips with 1/4 cup of butter in a small saucepan.



Then stir in 2/3 cup of sugar.



And gradually add 2/3 cup of evaporated milk, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat and boil over low heat for 8 minutes, stirring frequently.



Here's the recipe:

Mad for Plaid Hot Fudge Sauce from Better Homes and Gardens

Start to Finish: 15 minutes

Ingredients
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate pieces
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 5-oz. can evaporated milk (2/3 cup)
Directions
1. In a small heavy saucepan melt the chocolate and butter over medium heat. Add the sugar; gradually stir in the evaporated milk; stir to dissolve the sugar. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Boil gently over low heat for 8 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Cool slightly. Serve warm over ice cream. (Cover and chill any leftovers for up to 3 days.) Makes 1-1/2 cups.

Nutrition Facts
Calories145, Total Fat (g)8, Saturated Fat (g)5, Monounsaturated Fat (g)2, Cholesterol (mg)14, Sodium (mg)41, Carbohydrate (g)19, Total Sugar (g)18, Fiber (g)1, Protein (g)1, Calcium (DV%)4, Iron (DV%)2, Other Carbohydrates (d.e.)1, Fat (d.e.)1.5, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Enjoy!

An Easy After School Party and Sangria Punch

Last week was my daughter's first week back at school. On Thursday morning, as she ate her breakfast, she asked if she could have some friends over after school to jump in our bounce house. Yes, we have a bounce house...and not one of those little ones that will fit in the basement. It's a good size. Lots of screaming little bouncers will fit inside. My husband bought it a couple of years ago from a store that was going out of business. Apparently it was quite a bargain. He was so excited about his purchase. I love that he's such a kid at heart sometimes. It totally balances out the "Type A Mom" in me. But ever the practical (and frugal) person that I am, I was like, "Do we really need a bounce house?" As it turns out, this bounce was an excellent investment. Sorry that I doubted you, honey. It's not difficult to set up and the kids will play in it for hours. We set it up at cook outs, birthday parties, or just whenever the mood strikes and the kids want to jump.

I told my daughter that we could put out the bounce house the next day...after she picked up her toys that were scattered around the backyard. She agreed to clean up and I agreed to tell the other moms about the playdate. Then we shook on it.


As the neighborhood moms gathered to walk our kiddos home that afternoon, I told them that our bounce house would be up the next day after school and that I'd probably put out some snacks to celebrate our first week back to school if anyone wanted to stop by.

After my daughter got on the bus the next day, I ran to the store to grab some ingredients for punch. I returned home and looked around the kitchen for snack food. I had ripe bananas, salsa, chips, and all of the ingredients for caramel corn. I quickly formed a plan and two hours later, when it was time to pick up my daughter, I had the bounce house in place and snacks on the table.



Here's a closer look at the snacks.

I served Banana Bars. Such a quick, easy, and delicious snack, made with ingredients that I usually have around the house.



And my Grandma's Caramel Puff Corn. It's always a crowd pleaser, you can make it in the microwave in minutes...and it's addictive!



Then I just opened a bag of chips and popped open a jar of my Home Canned Salsa. Here's my tip: add some freshly chopped red onion and cilantro and it will taste like you just made it! This works with store bought jarred salsa too!



Lastly, I stirred together this kid-friendly Sangria Punch. For a fun touch, I served the drink in cups garnished with colorful paper umbrellas leftover from my daughter's Little Mermaid birthday party. They make any drink special. : ) Kids will guzzle this punch like it's candy.



I found this recipe a few years back in Kraft Food and Family magazine.

Sangria Punch adapted from Kraft Food and Family

1 qt. (4 cups) cold cranberry juice cocktail
1 cup cold orange juice
1 Tbsp. Fresh lime juice
3/4 cup powdered Lemonade (or pink lemonade) Drink Mix
3 cups cold club soda (or Sprite...or Ginger Ale)
2 Oranges, sliced
2 Limes, sliced
Make It
ADD cranberry juice cocktail, orange juice and lime juice to drink mix in large pitcher; stir until mix is dissolved.

REFRIGERATE until ready to serve.

STIR in soda and fruit. Serve over ice cubes.

About 3 years ago, my sister Karla and I made this punch for our youngest sister Angie's baby shower. While we prepped for the shower, we decided to make an alternate version of the punch just for us non-pregnant sisters. The secret ingredient: Coconut Yum..errr...I mean RUM.



I like to add half a bottle of coconut rum per punch recipe. I have to tell you, the sweet coconut rum makes this drink amazing! Irresistible. I served the rum-enhanced version of this punch to the 7 moms in attendance at the after school party. After all, it was Friday...AND happy hour.

Our little unplanned party was a big success. You may remember the phrase, "If you build it, they will come" from the movie Field of Dreams. Well...if you put up a bounce house in your lawn and drop the words, "Sangria Punch" to a group of hard working mommies, you WILL draw a crowd. Between 4 and 6 p.m. last Friday, there were over 20 people in my backyard. This may just become a Back to School tradition!

I hope that you all have a wonderful long weekend!