Luau in January

I can't think of a better time to have a Luau birthday party than in the dead middle of winter! Haha, actually I can think of many better times, but my daughter always picks the most convenient themes for her January birthday party, so January luau it was! Luckily, its such a popular item in the winter (catching my sarcasm?), at least most of it was on sale! When it was all up, I loved having all the bright colors and tropical themes all throughout my house, while it was cold and gray outside.

I may say lets have a January luau every year!!!

Out in the front of the house we had 4 torches burning to set the scene. I had purchased a hot coals runner that I had planned on lining the sidewalk up to the house with, but it didn't arrive in time. Once the guests entered the house they were greeted with our tiki bar table and waterfall that I had created running down our entryway staircase lined with twinkling fairy lights. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it, it looked really great against all the bright colors.

You can kind of see the side of it in this pic.

 The guests were given a party bag with a little beach ball, coconut cup with an umbrella straw, tattoos and flowers for the girls hair

then they were able to pick out a grass skirt and flower lei to wear during the party.I worried about the skirts fitting all the different sizes of kids because they were just children's, but with the elastic waistband and velcro it fit everyone up to the 11 year olds!

those were all for the kids, but every guest at the party was given a lei, you have to set the scene for it to feel like your really at a luau, right?

 They then got to catch a wave in front of our giant wave background while we took their picture to later put in their frame, which was the craft project. We also had photo props for the photos. They included this Ukulele, shark fin and surf board

 Each child got to pick out a fun paper border and glue it to their wood frame, adding stickers, drawings and wooden dolphins or crab embellishments to go with their picture!

The food is the best part at a luau, right? I made sure that color was the main ingredient on the dessert table, incorporating all different bright colors to be highlighted against the turquoise tablecloth

 Sea shells on the sand chocolate covered oreos

 flip flop nutter butters

 candy sea glass

 raspberry macaroons with lime and candied ginger filling

 chocolate covered flip flop oreos- I didn't want to double up treats, but these always go so fast and I loved the color combination!

 Must have pina coladas at any tropical suarez- Pina colada cupcakes

 Roasting "gummy" Pigs on a skewers

 Beach ball cake pops

 Marshmallow cut plumeria flowers

 Now onto the real food (unless your me, the real food is dessert- who are we kidding!) I just loved the ability to have macadamia nuts and pretty wood serving platters so I pulled out all the dishes from my travels and visited my local Hawaiian Hut!

 Dole whip Luau Punch- almost as good as Disneyland's. Recipe below

 One of the favorites- Bacon wrapped pineapple skewers. We tried to do almost everything in finger style portions so it was more like a luau buffet so people could snack on a little of everything. 

 super yummy fruit dip served in a hallowed out pineapple

 loads and loads of tropical fruits sprinkled with fresh orchids

and the pulled Kahlua pork..... oh the pork! it had an amazing sauce on it from the Hawaiian Hut, custom made made the Polynesian family that owns it, Throw it all in the slow cooker for 9 hours then shred the life out of it! Mmmmmm

 While the kids played, we had tattoo stations for them to visit as well

I usually try to make cakes my own design, but my daughter was in love and had to have this exact cake, so I copied it from a beautiful one she found on pinterest.

 Birthday girl and her bright pink hibiscus cake!

If you haven't had a luau party, I highly recommend one! Especially in the dead of winter! 

Dole Luau Juice

Ingredients: (this makes 2 big batches of punch)

2- 12 ounce cans orange juice concentrate (thawed a bit)

1- 12 ounce can lemonade concentrate (thawed a bit)

1- 46 ounce can Dole pineapple juice

6 cups water

2 cups sugar

6 ripe bananas  

2- 2 liter bottles of 7 up (add when ready to serve)

New Years Celebration Party

New Years this year was a little scaled down due to our entire family being sick over Christmas. Despite an ER visit on the 26th, I thought I just had a bit of a bug and proceeded on through New Years. Had I known I had Pneumonia, I may have resigned to the couch for our new years celebrations! Thank goodness I had saved my decor from last year, so set up was minimal! It's still a super cute way to celebrate the new year!

 We always go out to dinner with the adults then come back after to the kids. With all the extra excitement, I like to put together bags of activities for each hour for the sitter to do with the kids. At least the sitters wont go crazy! They are little games or activities that can be completed in the hour. I've toyed with having over next year and would do activities for the kids and all their cousins. I think its fun to have the anticipation for the next hours activities!

 Each bag this year also had a handful of "watches" made with chocolate coins and watch faces, since my daughter was learning to read a watch it was a fun way of incorporating the learning into each hour bag, not to mention- yummy!

 I purchased my bag printables and new years activities a while back from the dating divas, i absolutely love them! The whole kit is so much fun and comes with everything (except the watches) as well as a game which we played and is also very fun. I love the little kids new years resolution page. My daughter had a blast drawing it up and I thought it was so sweet to read through! It was a good way to introduce new years resolutions to the young kids!

What midnight celebration is complete without the midnight toast? I loved loved loved this drink and was able to find the perfect plastic martini glasses to make it worry proof and easy clean up! It could be made spiked or non like we did. It is basically martinelli's cider with a shot of mango nectar and peach nectar. throw in a few pomegranate seeds and a sprig of rosemary to cut the sweetness! It was wonderful! For the adult version, add peach schnapps's instead of nectar!

Christmas Party Treat Table

Every year to kick off the Christmas season we host an Angel Tree party. In our area, the Salvation Army collects names of families that need help providing children with Christmas gifts and clothing. We usually select 2 children to start with and are usually able to add more children, depending on the turn out of our get together. We send out the childrens names and info, and guests are welcome but not obligated to bring a gift if they like, or they can just come to the party and help wrap gifts. This year we were able to sponsor 4 children, which made my heart so happy!

 I love this party because I love seeing the charity of others especially at the holiday season, and I love baking for the party while listening to my Christmas music! I figure, if I'm asking people to give gifts, the least I can do is feed them well! :) It is one of my favorite parties. and this year gave me the extra time to try some new recipes that I will share!

 Pomegranite Macarons (white) and Raspberry White Chocolate Macarons (left) Loved the colors!

 Christmas Pavlova- was so much fun to make, and beautiful to see- not to mention tasty!

 Christmas Fudge- Microwave-super-easy-but-tasty Style

 who doesn't love sugared cranberries

 This was one of the best. I love peanut brittle, but seldom make it due to the time. I wanted to make it but alas, my candy thermometer was broken that day. So I pulled out this awesome microwave recipe I've had for a while but haven't tried and it was amazing! Better even then the slow version! Recipe included below- make it..... love it!

 I always have requests for my snowman and girl sugar cookies

What a  beautiful site, and night! Happy holidays!!

Super Easy 10 Minute Microwave Peanut Brittle

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 1/2 cups dry roasted peanuts
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 pinch salt (optional)

Directions

1. Grease a baking sheet, and set aside. In a glass bowl, combine peanuts, sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Cook in microwave for 6 to 7 minutes on High (700 W); mixture should be bubbly and peanuts browned. Stir in butter and vanilla; cook 2 to 3 minutes longer.
2. Quickly stir in baking soda, just until mixture is foamy. Pour immediately onto greased baking sheet. Let cool 15 minutes, or until set. Break into pieces, and store in an airtight container.

 Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

Autumn Calls For Butternut Squash Soup and Recipe

November 1st is always butternut squash soup night at our house. Our busy Halloween Season is over and we usually have all our decorating taken down and can just enjoy a quiet peaceful autumn night. This year our Nov. 1st was acutally on November 2nd, but whose counting :) It was actually a perfect soupy night due to a big storm coming in! I have two recipes I love, one is fast and one that takes a little more "love" haha. This time I was too tired for the extra "love" so we did the quick one so I could just break out the crock pot and then thoroughly clean my house and do a million loads of laundry. That was the plan, I actually ended up veging out on the couch and catching up on my recorded shows from October. (I think the great 3:30 am mass exodus of all décor Halloween earned an afternoon on the couch!) Anywho- if you have a busy afternoon of "house cleaning" scheduled, break out your slow cooker and here is the recipe for the quick Butternut Squash soup we like:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
• 1 Granny Smith apple, cored and diced
• 1 medium butternut squash, (I just dumped a box of cubed butternut squash from Costco in)
• 1 sprig fresh sage
• 1 white onion, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper, or more to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne, or more to taste
• pinch of ground cinnamon and nutmeg
• 1/2 cup canned coconut milk
• (optional garnishes: extra coconut milk and cayenne)

Directions:

Add vegetable stock, garlic, carrot, apple, butternut squash, sage, onion, salt, pepper, cayenne, cinnamon and nutmeg to a slow cooker.  Toss to combine.
Cook for 6-8 hours on low, or 3-4 hours on high, or until the squash is completely tender and mashes easily with a fork.  Stir in the coconut milk.
Use an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth.  (Or you can transfer the soup in two batches into a traditional blender, and puree until smooth, being very careful when working with the hot liquid.)  Taste, and season with additional salt, pepper and cayenne if needed.

If you have time for the extra "love" recipe, here it is. It's one of our favorites, courtesy of

Tyler Florence from the Food Network! The smell while cooking this is DIVINE!!

Butternut Squash Soup with Amaretti Cookies
Courtesy of Tyler Florence
Ingredients

• 2 (2 pound) butternut squash, halved lengthwise, seeded
• Vegetable oil
• 1/4 pound amaretti cookies (I used lorna dune cooikies instead, but you can also omit them)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 bunch fresh sage
• 1 onion, sliced thin
• 4 cups chicken stock, either homemade or store-bought (I only used 1 cup chicken stock and 3 cups vegetable stock so the flavor of the squash didnt get lost in the chicken stock~)
• Pinch of grated nutmeg
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• (i also added brown sugar to taste and lots more nutmeg and salt)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch glass baking dish with vegetable oil. Place squash cut side up in prepared dish. Pierce each squash half several times with toothpick or skewer. Bake until squash is tender, about 45 minutes.
While the squash is cooking, use a handheld mixer with the chopping attachment to pulse the cookies until roughly chopped. Set aside.
In a large pot, bring the olive oil up to almost smoking. Quickly cook the sage leaves until crisp. Remove and reserve the sage, and saute the sliced onion. When the squash is done cooking, using a large spoon, scrape squash into the pot; discard peel. Add 3 1/2 cups chicken stock and nutmeg and puree until smooth, add additional stock to reach desired consistency. Stir soup over medium heat until heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with crushed amaretti; garnish with sage leaves