Birthday Dinner { Gluten~Free Sunday's}

Last Sunday we celebrated our middle son's birthday with a Birthday Dinner full of some of his favorite foods. The menu included marinated pork loin with homemade honey mustard, rice and black bean salad, kale and carrot salad and cornbread. 

The Kale & Carrot Salad shown below was a new recipe I tried from New Seasons Market. It was easy to make and very good. The dressing had a kick to it which surprised us at first but we really liked it. It was full of flavor and I decided I could always cut back on the cayenne pepper if needed however we tend to like things a bit on the spicy side.  The only change I made to the original recipe was adding some avocado so other than that I followed the recipe.

The Birthday Dinner was completely Gluten ~ Free

except for the 

Oreo Cookie Cheesecake

{ another one of his favorites! }

however,

the Chocolate Birthday Cupcakes 

were 

gluten ~ free.

Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday!

Easter 2018 ~ Appetizers

Our Easter dinner menu is usually about same each year no matter who in the family is hosting and as tradition would have it I kept it the same. Ham, potato salad, asparagus, marinated carrot salad, fruit salad and cardamom Easter bread are some of the mainstays of our meal so to change things up a bit I like to serve new appetizers.

These one bite appetizers were packed with flavor. 

I served fresh veggies with this beautiful hummus. It was delicious and such a pretty color for spring. 

Assorted crackers were added to the roulade platter along with a cute little knife to serve up this delicious basil cheese . 

The Mango Basil Prosciutto wraps were so good and easy to make. This would make a great summer snack as well. 

These appetizers got good reviews on Easter so I am sure they will show up again soon.

Have a Wonderful Weekend!

Easter 2017 ~ festive food

It is always hard to whittle down the holiday menus to a somewhat reasonable length when there are so many tasty traditional "must have" items as well as the optional but "oh so fun" choices that are so festive.

Easter Bunny Hummus Bread Bowl

The bread I picked for the Bunny Bread Bowl was a bit out of proportion in relation to the roll for the head which was disappointing. Though after some thought, I decided it might work to trim the loaf down to a more proportional size which worked out ok. In spite of the color difference I think our little bunny was still pretty cute. 

Deviled Egg Chicks

My deviled egg plate is flat in the middle however I wanted the "chicks" to stand upright so I cut out 4 clear Costco egg carton sections keeping them attached in the middle. It worked great. 

Angel Food Cupcakes

We usually have an Angel Food Cake for Easter however I had never tried making cupcakes. They were easy and turned out well but we decided we prefer the traditional tube cake version.  

Marinated Carrot Salad

Always a favorite! 

{ or at least one of my favorites }

Lemon Curd Mousse Parfaits ~ gluten free

{ Lemon Meringue Pie ~ back right }

Potted Carrots in Hummus

These little pots of hummus and carrots were just too cute! The little flower pots were some I painted several years ago for My Favorite Things Tea Party. They were perfect for the carrots. 

Happy Tuesday!

Meals on Heels ~ Lemon Layer Cake & more

A few days after Easter it was our turn to deliver another Bake & Take meal. This time my meal planning started with dessert which is fun. Since we had recently stocked up on lemons for baking this month we had plenty on hand so I decided to use some to make this yummy Lemon Mascarpone Layer Cake as the finale to their meal.  

An eight inch two layer cake seemed about the right size and would leave just enough leftover batter for another small two layer cake for us, which is always a bonus. 

Lemon inside and outside the cakes. It doesn't get better than that. 

Topped off with vanilla frosting. 

I try and bake everything the afternoon of delivery so that it is fresh, hot and ready to eat when we drop it off. Since the cake would need time to cool I mixed that up right after I got the carrots marinating for the carrot salad.

Next were the bread sticks. Once the dough was rising I moved onto the lasagna. 

The two lasagnas were made and ready to bake just about the time the cakes came out of the oven so everything was on schedule. As I usually do, I doubled the meal so our dinner was covered too.

By that time the cake layers were cool enough to start assembling and then I realized I was out of cake boards. Unfortunately, there was not enough time to run out for one so I needed a plan B. Since I was in a pinch I considered using a paper plate and then I had another idea. I asked Mr. Wonderful if he could quickly cut me one from a board in his shop. "Piece of Cake", he said. 

Sure enough, he had a perfect wood scrap and made not only one for this cake but 5 others in varied sizes as well. "Go big or go home" is his motto. After washing and drying the new cake board and covering it with foil I frosted the cake and finished with little time to spare. 

We packed up everything in our cooler on wheels, except for the cake of course, which I carried, and we made our delivery...and on time too.

I love when a plan comes together! 

Happy Saturday!