Courtney’s Bridal Shower Desserts

by penji1

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Here’s the dessert spread for the Bridal Shower and, as we all know, my favorite part of any event!

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First up, Easy Oreo Truffles (recipe already on the blog), should have made a double batch as they were gone in 60 seconds!

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I made these little white chocolate wedding cakes as the thank you or takeaway gift for the girls who came to the shower.  I found the cute little wedding cake mold at a store in SLC called “Gygis”.  Super easy to make – just melt candy melts according to package directions, spoon carefully into molds, let sit in fridge until firm (in this case 20 – 30 minutes) then carefully turn out of mold by turning upside down and twisting slightly.

I also made Tiny Applesauce Cinnamon Loaves and Mini Chocolate Cupcakes, see next 2 posts.

Bacon Cheddar Pinwheels

by penji1

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These were great!  But then they have bacon in them so how could they not be great?  It’s a Pillsbury recipe, pretty easy and pretty yummy!

1 (8 oz) can Pillsbury refrigerated crescent dinner rolls or 1 (8 oz) can Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations refrigerated seamless dough sheet

2 tablespoons Ranch dressing

1/4 cup cooked real bacon pieces or 4 slices bacon, crisply cooked, crumbled

1/2 cup finely shredded Cheddar cheese (2 oz)

1/4 cup chopped green onion (about 4)

1  Heat oven to 350.  If using crescent rolls:  Unroll dough; separate into 2 long rectangles.  Press each into 12 x 4″ rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal.  If using dough sheet:  Unroll dough; cut lengthwise into 2 long rectangles.   Press each into 12 x 4″ rectangle.

2  Spread dressing over each rectangle to edges.  Sprinkle each with bacon, cheese and onions.  Starting with 1 short side, roll up each rectangle; press edge to seal.  With serrated knife, cut each roll into 8 slices; place cut side down on ungreased cookie sheet.

3  Bake 12 – 17 minutes or until edges are deep golden brown.  Immediately remove from cookie sheet.

Shrimp Tarts

by penji1

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These were not as much of a hit at the shower as the “Mini Ham Puffs” and the “Bacon Cheddar Pinwheels”.  Courtney said they tasted funny, Bob said they tasted ok but not like shrimp and I can’t tell you what they tasted like because I don’t like shrimp so didn’t eat any!  Courtney loves shrimp so I was just trying to incorporate that into the shower menu.  The recipe comes from Betty Crocker.

1/2 cup original Bisquick mix

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 eggs

2/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup chopped cooked shrimp (I used the shrimp in a can)

4 green onions, sliced (about 1/4 cup)

1  Heat oven to 400.  Spray 24 mini muffin cups with cooking spray.

2  Beat Bisquick, milk, sour cream, Worcestershire, and eggs with spoon until blended.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Spoon about 1 tablespoon mixture into each muffin cup.

3  Bake 15 – 20 minutes or until golden.  Cool 5 minutes.  Loosen sides of tarts from pan and remove.

Courtney’s Bridal Shower Food

by penji1

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Courtney’s 2nd Bridal Shower today at our house, hosted by her best friend and maid of honor Kindra.  She had another shower last Saturday with all the ladies in our neighborhood and this one today was for all her friends so an “Old Lady Shower” and a “Young Lady Shower”!  The best part of the friend shower was that I got to do all the food!  So this will be the first of a couple of posts featuring all the eats from the shower.  The picture above is of all the lunch food.  I’m going to show you what I did here in this post and then I’ll post the recipes for the things that are new.  (I made the banner hanging above the table, you can’t see it very well but it says “Love Is In the Air”.  Courtney asked me last night what I would do without my Cricut and Pinterest and I said I would be lost and not very creative!)

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Got this idea from Pinterest of course!  Individual veggie cups with Ranch dressing.  I used 2 spears each of carrots, celery and mini cucumbers with some store bought Ranch in the bottom of the cup.  A great idea from a blog called “A Little Loveliness”.

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And another great idea from Pinterest, fruit kabobs!  What a cute and easy way to serve fruit!  This idea is from a blog called “Noosh Loves”.  I used pineapple, strawberries, blackberries, oranges, red and green grapes.

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I also served a traditional 7 Layer Dip and this Southern Style Salsa (this recipe is already on the blog), both are favorites of Courtney’s.

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Courtney also loves these Mini Ham Puffs; this recipe is also already on the blog.

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And to drink, this “Fluffy Punch” which I also found on Pinterest from a blog called “Enchantresses 3”.  There weren’t really specific instructions for the punch, they just said that it was cranberry juice, 7-Up, raspberry sherbet and frozen raspberries so I just kind of mixed all that together until it looked and tasted good.  Everyone seemed to like it.

I also served “Shrimp Tarts” and “Bacon Cheddar Pinwheels”, see the next 2 posts for the recipes.

Monster Cookie Dough Dip

by penji1

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Movie night with the young ladies at church which meant pjs and treats so I decided to try one of these dessert dips that I’ve been seeing on Pinterest.  This one sounded pretty good and it did not disappoint!  It comes from a blog called “Skip To My Lou”.  It tasted really good but didn’t taste much like cookie dough to me so I think if I make it again I might try tweaking the recipe a little by adding some flour to see if that gives it more of a cookie dough flavor.

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup oats, regular or quick

1 cup miniature plain M&Ms

1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Mix cream cheese, butter, vanilla and peanut butter until smooth.  (I did this in my mixer.)  Mix in brown sugar and powdered sugar and mix well.  Next fold in oats, M&Ms and chocolate chips.

Butter Pecan Bars #2

by penji1

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Some treats for some friends of mine, you know who you are!  🙂  They taste really good but the crust is so crumbly and the chocolate does not want to stick to the top so they are really messy to eat.  The recipe comes from a website called “Midwest Living”.

crust:

2 cups flour

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup cold butter

filling:

2/3 cup butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 cups chopped pecans

topping:

1 1/2 cups milk chocolate pieces or semisweet chocolate pieces

1  For crust:  In a medium bowl, stir together flour and 1 cup brown sugar.  Using a pastry blender, cut in 1/2 cup butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Press crumb mixture into bottom of ungreased 9 x 13″ pan.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until very lightly browned.

2  For filling: In small saucepan, combine 2/3 cup butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar.  Cook and stir until mixture boils.  Boil gently for 1 minute.  Remove from heat.  Sprinkle pecans over crust.  Pour filling over pecans.

3  Bake for 15 minutes or until golden and mixture bubbles over entire surface.  Transfer pan to wire rack.

4  Immediately sprinkle bars with chocolate pieces.  Cool for 10 minutes.  (You can spread softened chocolate over surface of bars if you like.)  Loosen edges and cut into bars while still warm.

Triple Layer Fudgy Mint Oreo Brownies

by penji1

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OK, now these are to die for!  So delicious!  I highly recommend them!  There are only like 2 left so they must have been good.  These come from a blog called “Averie Cooks” and my thanks to you Averie wherever you are or curse you Averie as the case may be.

1 (7 oz) jar Marshmallow Cream

1/8 teaspoon mint extract

green food coloring

1 batch brownies, to make 9 x 13″ pan (I just used a brownie mix)

1 (17 oz) package Mint Oreos, hand crumbled

3/4 cup white chocolate chips, melted

1 cup vanilla frosting (I seem to always have leftover homemade buttercream frosting in my fridge so I used that but she said you could use store bought too)

1  Preheat oven to 350.  Line 9 x 13″ pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.  In medium bowl, stir together Marshmallow Cream, mint extract and green food coloring (to your desired shade).

2  Prepare brownie mix as directed on package (or homemade, as you prefer) and then fold in 12 crumbled Mint Oreos.

3  Spread brownie batter in pan.  Drop about 1/2 cup minty marshmallow mixture onto brownie batter and reserve remainder for later.  Gently pull a knife through the batter in S shaped curves for a swirled design.  Bake 23 – 25 minutes or until brownies are set.  Cool completely, about 1 hour or put in freezer for 10 minutes if you’re in a hurry.

4  In a microwave safe bowl, melt the white chocolate chips.  Add melted white chocolate chips and vanilla frosting to minty marshmallow cream.  Add more green food coloring as desired and mix well.  Spread over cooled brownies.  Sprinkle with remaining 18 Mint Oreos, slightly pressing them into frosting layer.  Allow top layer to set fully before slicing and serving.  (I stuck mine in the fridge to speed up this process.)

Triple Chocolate Quick Bread

by penji1

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And now on to the sweet stuff which is always my favorite part of any party!  I made this chocolatey quick bread and I also made a Lemon Loaf (which is on the blog called “Pecan Lemon Loaf” but I didn’t have enough pecans so the one I made yesterday was just Lemon Loaf!).  I just ate a piece of this for breakfast along with a Diet Coke and it was delicious!  It comes from a blog called “Hungry Huntley’s”.

bread:

1 1/2 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips, divided (I used regular size)

1/2 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

glaze:

1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips (I used regular size here too)

1 tablespoon butter

2 – 3 tablespoons half and half cream (I didn’t have this so used evaporated milk instead)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

pinch salt

1  In microwave safe bowl, melt 1 cup chocolate chips then set aside to cool.  In large mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and cooled chocolate and mix well.  Add applesauce and vanilla and set aside.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt then add to creamed mixture and mix well.  Stir in remaining chocolate chips.

2  Spoon into 4 greased 5 3/4″ x 3″ x 2″ loaf pans.  (I made 1 large/regular size loaf and 1 small loaf.)  Bake at 350 for 35 – 40 minutes (longer for large loaf) or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool.

3  For glaze, melt chocolate chips and butter in small saucepan, stir in cream.  Remove from heat and stir in powdered sugar, vanilla and salt.  Drizzle over bread.  Cool completely.

Texas Caviar Bean Dip

by penji1

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Here is dip #2 that I made for the party.  It is similar to the “Southern Style Salsa” that I make which Courtney loves so I thought I’d try this one and she said it was great too.  It comes from a blog called the “Reluctant Entertainer”.  This makes a huge batch of dip so if you aren’t needing a lot, you might want to halve it.

2 (15 oz each) cans black beans, drained and rinsed

2 (15 oz each) cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15 oz) can cannellini beans (it didn’t say to but I drained and rinsed these also)

2 (15 oz each) cans white corn, drained and rinsed

1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies, do not drain

1 jalapeno chile pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and finely chopped

1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded and finely chopped

1 small red onion, finely chopped

2 – 3 stalks celery, finely chopped

1 bunch cilantro leaves, finely chopped

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 – 2 avocados (I left these out)

1  In large bowl, mix all beans, corn, chilies, all peppers, onion, celery and cilantro together.

2  To make dressing, stir vinegar, oil, sugar, cumin and garlic together in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil, remove from heat and cool.  Pour dressing over mixture and toss to mix evenly.

Crock Pot Spinach Artichoke Dip

by penji1

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So last night we had a “Pinwheel Party” here and for those of you who don’t know, a Pinwheel Party is when you bribe all your friends with food to come over to your house on a Thursday night for 2 hours and sit and make pinwheels for your daughter’s wedding reception!  Courtney and I had about 19 friends show up (thank you! thank you! thank you!) and we got about 100 pinwheels made.  Judging by the amount of laughter that filled my house last night, I’d say that a good time was had by all!  Here’s what the pinwheels look like

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and here’s the first recipe that I made for them!  It’s your basic Spinach/Artichoke Dip but you make it in the crock pot which was really handy.  It comes from a blog called “Budget Savvy Diva”.

9 oz frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1 (14 oz) can quartered artichoke hearts, drained (she didn’t say to chop them any smaller so I didn’t but next time I will)

8 oz cream cheese (she didn’t say to have this a room temperature but next time I’ll do that too!)

3/4 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

pinch of cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon dried onion flakes

1/4 cup milk

pinch of pepper and salt

Place all ingredients in crock pot, put lid on top and set to high.  Cook for 1 hour and then stir ingredients together.  Cook for 1 hour more then top with additional Parmesan and serve.