Fall in....

Tonight was the first night that it felt like fall was coming...as soon as the sun went down, there was a chill in air and you could just feel it. I'm not complaining :)

Here is a quick idea to get a jump-start on fall without leaving too much summer behind.

Line a clear, straight-edged container with glassine paper, fill with water and add flowers. I used seeded eucalyptus and mini-mums in a small footed trifle bowl. The glassine paper is similar to wax paper and can handle the water without getting moldy (my arrangement lasted more than a week) or breaking apart like tissue paper would. I used a bit of clear tape to hold the paper in place against the glass.

Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend!

[Don't forget to check out all the centerpiece ideas posted at Whistlestop Cafe each month!]

BBQ Dessert Platter

Hey everyone! Running around like crazy as I have a wedding to shoot tomorrow and some friends coming into town for the holiday weekend, but I wanted to post this super easy and festive dessert platter. I made this for my mother-in-law's July 4th BBQ, but it would easily work for Labor Day too and it feeds a crowd!

Here is what I included on the platter:

Soft & Chewy 10-minute cookies (both the vanilla and chocolate versions)
Mini-cherry crumble tartlets (I used a mini-muffin pan)
Vanilla brownies (cut them fairly small since they are pretty rich-tasting)
Mixed berry cakes (recipe from Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine)

I own a bunch of plain white ceramic platters from when I used to do some catering - they are perfect for parties and pretty inexpensive at a bunch of different discount stores (I got several of mine from TJMaxx, Marshall's, Target and Homegoods). Arrange all the desserts in groupings in different sections of the platter - it looks great and keeps everything in one place.

Enjoy & Have a great weekend!

Cheap & Chic

Its been awhile since I've posted something non-food related! I swear, if you read this blog, it must seem like I only eat, sleep and blog.

For new readers of this blog, I actually used to blog cool etsy finds, or neat websites and shopping/crafty links. I'm going to try to get back to that a bit. I love anything design-related - including a serious addiction to unique paper products, cool pottery, dishes and home decor. Tim & I still rent an apartment so I don't have much room or freedom to decorate our space, but I try to do little things around to make it at least a little unique.

Anyway, enough of the intro. Here is a cool centerpiece. All of these flowers were bought at the local regular grocery store - 4 mix & match bunches for $10!

Now, I usually don't like carnations. But when you make an arrangement of almost all carnations tightly packed together, it has a totally different effect than just one or two stuck in. Try it out. It works with all different types of flowers - another one is baby's breath. Normally hate it. But the other day, after arranging some flowers, I had it leftover. I put it in a small pottery cup - just the baby's breath - totally different look.

Back to these flowers. I decided to take the emphasis off the flowers (and how cheap they are) and put it on the style of arrangement - so I made several small arrangements in containers that I had around - a few different size drinking glasses, a beer glass, and one tea cup. An odd number usually works the best - 3, 5, 7.

My table is small and round, but these would work great down the center of a longer table too. I added a small succulent (hens & chicks) to the mix as my 5th piece. I think it looks pretty good! You could also separate the containers and use them around the house as a way to unite the different rooms. Try it out sometime!

I'm also entering this into the Centerpiece of the Month event - a great monthly event now hosted by Sandi at the WhistleStop Cafe. Thanks Sandi!

St. Patrick's Day

Time to Party! St. Patrick's Day also just happens to be my mother-in-law's birthday - so, today, in honor of her birthday and St. Patrick's day (we are an Irish household), we had a small family party. Here is the menu:

Appetizers

Mini-Irish sausages wrapped in puff pastry (so good...)

Irish cheeses (Dubliner & KerryGold swiss) w/ crackers and blackberries

Shamrock sugar cookies (recipe below)

Main Dishes (all individual-sized)

Homemade macaroni & cheese

Shepherd's pie

Desserts

Vanilla 3-layer cake with strawberries and cream cheese frosting

(more) Shamrock sugar cookies

My mother-in-law's FAMOUS Irish soda bread

The soda bread is loved by all....as shown by my adorable cousin

So, since they came out so cute - I thought I would pass along the recipe for the sugar cookies. This dough came together really fast and I made it the day before and let it sit in the refrigerator until I was ready to roll and cut out the shapes. Sometimes sugar cookies can be a bit dry and boring (exciting to look at, but lacking in taste), but these were really good. I would definitely advise icing them with some type of frosting though to enhance their appeal :)

Shamrock Sugar Cookies (dough - Good Housekeeping Perfect Desserts; icing - me :)

Ingredients
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

Steps
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Beat butter and sugar until blended; then mix at a higher speed until light and creamy.

3. Beat in egg and vanilla until blended; then add in flour and baking powder, mixing until just combined.

4. Divide dough into 4 pieces and wrap (I use wax paper and plastic wrap); refrigerate about 1 hour (or more) or until firm enough to roll out.

5. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface approximately 1/8 inch thick (the thickness can be changed depending on how chewy/crisp you like your cookies - adjust the baking time accordingly). Cut into shapes (I used shamrocks), place on parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for approximately 10 minutes.

6. Top with icing of choice and any other toppings (I used Wilton St. Patrick's Day themed sprinkles for mine). I was going to do a fancy piped icing, but ran out of time and ended up going with the old standby: sifted confectioner's sugar and water (or milk) with a dash of vanilla extract. There is no real ratio, just add the liquid until you reach the consistency that you are looking for (usually I'm going for spreadable and not too runny). The icing will harden after about 1/2 hour.

Simple & Light Ranch Dip

Good Morning! I have a bunch of great posts for this weekend :) The first is a great, easy ranch dip/dressing that I made last week. I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for a good dip - I have found it difficult to get really good flavor with a homemade dip, constantly forcing me to rely on hummus. Not that hummus is a bad thing (we love it!), but life needs some variety, right? Plus, my husband loves any kind of dip - ranch, hummus, dill, cheese, oil, whatever.

This dip/dressing is out of the latest issue of Everday food - a great magazine for easy recipes and fast weeknight meal ideas. If you can believe it, this dip actually tastes like ranch dressing! Not from a jar, doesn't have a ton of preservatives and other chemical crap, and its light! Try it out sometime; we served the dip with kirby cucumber, celery hearts, and toasted pita chips. I think grape tomatoes or radishes would be a great addition to the platter too. It is also perfect as salad dressing or sandwich condiment.

Light Ranch Dip/Dressing (Everyday Food Magazine)

Ingredients
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup light mayo
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
2 scallions, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
kosher salt/freshly ground pepper

Steps
Whisk together all ingredients. Season to taste. Store in the refrigerator.

Notes
When you add the scallions - go slowly. I prefer a little lighter onion taste, so I didn't use the entire recommended amount. I also used a bit more dill. I usually edit the ingredient amounts in my posts to show exactly what I did, but for this, I didn't because I think its definitely a personal taste sort of thing :) Enjoy!

Ready for the Holidays?

I love to entertain and have people over during the holidays (or anytime) - now that we live closer to our families, we're hoping to have a holiday get-together (although fitting a number of people into our small apartment could pose a serious challenge - hopefully everyone likes to stand...close together :). Anyway, I've found that my favorite (and most versatile) items to use for parties (small or large) are non-decorative platters, stands and other serveware. More simple and sleek - white ceramic, clear glass, and aluminum (silver) are my usual go-tos. I've found that they can be used for any time of year, any holiday; they don't break or chip easily and they look great. Plus, they can play double-duty as a centerpiece with some fruit/flowers/organic materials and spruced up very easily.

So, I've collected some of my recent favorites - check them out - just in time for the holidays! The prices are actually quite reasonable and they should last for a really long time (note that I'm not vouching for the quality of any of these particular items; just providing suggestions!).

(clockwise) (1) C&B: Square serving platter ($28.95) & Delish Cake Platter ($28.95), (2) Target: White rectangular serving platter ($19.99 - [I own this one]), (3) Pottery Barn: Great white soup tureen ($40), (4) Macy's: Martha Stewart Collection Whiteware Cake Stands (circle/square available, $14.99-$29.99), (5) Target: Aluminum beaded cake stand ($24.99), (6) Kmart: Martha Stewart Everyday footed dessert dish ($3.99), (7) Target: Tiered pedestal serving plates (set of 3, $24.99), (8) [center photo] Pottery Barn: Great white square dinnerware ($28-$36 for varied pieces/sets)

Note: You can also find really good deals on similar items at discount stores like TJMaxx and Marshall's, if you have those stores near you.

Cheap & Beautiful

I love flowers. I like to have them in my house as often as possible - I know they are typically a waste of money because they die so quickly but I still love to have them, arrange them - different flowers (I like tree branches, vines, and weeds too!), different containers, and different styles. Better Home and Gardens put out a cool article on Grocery Bouquets - or how to arrange easily-available flowers into beautiful home or event arrangements. It got me thinking about how to make different kinds of "bouquets" - Here are a few ideas:

One-Blossom - creates a central impact

(photo: BH&G)

Skyline - creates a visual line down the table

(photos: BH&G [top], Martha Stewart [bottom])

Fresh - Use materials from around the house as the main "flower" or for added excitement to the bouquet (photos: [top & bottom] Martha Stewart)

There are a lot of great stores/websites to find cheap containers to get creative with - a few of my favorites are:

• IKEA
• Jamali Gardens
• Pier 1 Imports
• Christmas Tree Shops (New England)
• Specialty Bottle
• Marshall's/TJ Maxx

Good looks for cheap

...or reasonable, anyway.

Check out this furniture (and many, many other home items) from CB2 (a new site from Crate & Barrel). It seems on par with Ikea but maybe, a bit more style-minded. I love this table and chairs - too cute for a small kitchen.

The lighting featured in this ad ($30) is great - especially love the colors (chocolate brown and rust) and the use of them in a row.

These glasses are great too - $20 for a set of 6. Would make a great gift too.

For those located in NYC - the SoHo store is opening in September....!

I love labels...

Not the labelmaker kind....although those are kind of retro, but I love design labels and tags for presents, food gifts, jars, favors, etc. Here are some of my favorites lately.

Etsy -- Shop Remake

Etsy -- Shop everyjotandtittle

Etsy -- Shop hhayden

Etsy -- Shop livetosew

I like a lot of these repro vintage travel stickers,

I just happened to find these on etsy, but I've seen them elsewhere.

They look great as gift wrapping over brown kraft paper.

Fruit & Flowers

I just love this combination - I think it looks rustic, a little country, but elegant and chic all at the same time. Also, it can really help cut down on the cost of event flowers since you use about half of the flowers you might normally use for a centerpiece. For my wedding, I really wanted to mix fruit and flowers so our floral designer (Flowers by David Anthony) mixed herbs, hydrandreas, pears, apples, roses in a garden urn (that we bought from Christmas Tree Shops!) - I loved how they came out.

photo: Zlatko Batistich

These photos are from a recent Martha Stewart Weddings article. I like the use of seasonal fruits with the peaches in the 2nd photo and the plums in the 3rd photo for a late summer wedding.