Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Place Settings: The Three Little Drawers
































I definitely think every dinner deserves a place setting. Even if it is just me, I set the table (the coffee table). For years, I've lived with the placemats, napkins, and coasters from denby that perfectly match my denby dinner plates, but recently I've started collecting pieces that just make me happy. It really doesn't cost that much to buy one or two place settings of anything.




I keep my placemats in the top drawer...open pick one! I keep my napkins in the second drawer...open pick one! I keep the napkin rings in the third drawer...open pick one!




































































some of pinks favorite friends are pups, so I made two kinds of doggie treats for canine guests at her enchanted forest party. The Eat Your Veggie! treats called for 3/4 cup of powdered milk. I went to three stores, all of which only carried powdered milk in giant packages for around $15.99. I just couldn't pay that so I posted on facebook, and my friend and event photographer, Claire Eads had bought one of those giant boxes for 1/2 cup to use in a recipe she never made! Bless her busy heart for bringing me 3/4 cup!



Eat Your Veggies! Dog Biscuits

2 1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup powdered milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons brown sugar

3/4 cup vegetable broth

1/2 cup carrots

1 egg

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Roll out the dough until its about 1/4 inch thick, and cut the dough into cute shapes (like bones) with cookie cutters or use your pizza cutter to cut into strips. Bake about 30 minutes.



Cookies! for Doggies!

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup canola oil

2 eggs

3 tablespoons peanut butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 and lightly grease baking sheets. In a large bowl, mix together flour, cornmeal, and rolled oats. Little by little, add in the remaining ingredients until well mixed. I flattened little balls with my fingers then used a squirrel shaped small cookie cutter, and baked 11 minutes. Let them hang out in the oven for 20 more minutes to harden.
Pink's favors for her Enchanted Forest party were handmade, glittered acorn ornaments. They were packaged in a green faux bois box, with tags that read:





a favor from pink


please hang these acorns on your tree

to forever fondly remember me




































Pink is such a social ferret! She loves meeting new people, cuddling, sniffing dogs, playing with kids. I made her a 'friends book' for her enchanted forest party, kind of like a wedding guest book. I thought it might seem weird to guests, but it was the hit of the party!!! Guests of all ages and species read it over and over, and wrote in very sweet and funny messages!


























































I also handed out in person these little cutie pie invites.....just a simple forest creature cutout!






Invitations for pink's enchanted forest party. Even though I mulled over the wording forever, it sounded like a funeral invitation! I just wanted to have a fun-filled celebration of all the joy she brings.





These are dwell studio from Wedding Paper Divas. I just fell in love with the deer....so sophisticated, like pink. Yet, I felt like they needed something extra, so I added a ecru satin ribbon and a feather.


Black Forest Brownies





I bought these plastic deer cupcake toppers on etsy, just because they were so cute and cheap! I decided to make black forest brownies (for the enchanted forest theme) at the last minute, by using a box and adding dried cherries and chopped walnuts. Although they turned out so cute, I had to commit, knowing I wasn't going to get the deer back!














One of the party sub-themes was: acorns. Why? because squirrels eat acorns and I like to think that when a dog sees pink, it thinks 'oohh huh? a albino squirrel on a stick?' So of course I had to have an acorn treat for the party: I made these by using chocolate frosting to glue mini Nutter Butters to Hershey's kisses. They were gobbled up soooo quickly, or maybe guests just filled thier cheeks?




























ps...there were exactly the same number of Nutter Butters and Hersheys kisses in each bag to not end up with extra of either!!!!










The adults are loving this unusual recipe for gingerbread cookies. It uses orange zest and lemon juice and bakes up soft and thick. It also stays fresh for a long time, so I could make them in advance. An unusual recipe always deserves an unusual shape: hedgehogs!


Tuesday, August 9, 2011









s'mores rice krispy treats! d e l i c i o u s ......... The test batch was gobbled up at CCYPAA host committee meeting, so I made 4 more batches for pink's party!