Fall entertaining

Saturday I was in the kitchen almost all day. Note to self: next time listen to music while cooking! Part of the reason for the "cook fest" was for Amie's bridal shower- which turned out quite nicely. Except for the fact that the video I made of Gery wouldn't burn onto a DVD, so we had to watch it on the laptop. Oh well. She loved it!

I asked my friend Becky to be in charge of the decor and she did such a fabulous job! I found this cute "Choose your love, love your choice" free printable and thought it would be perfect for the shower. (Pres. Monson quoted this last General Conference too.) Was gonna provide the link so you could print a copy too but, now I can't find it. Sorry.

I made probably my most favorite appetizer for the shower called Cheese Canapes. I first had these when I was at BYU. Our Stake President's wife (who is Italian from Italy. Represent!) made these for a group of us. I couldn't stop eating them. Every time I make them people ask me for the recipe. Without fail. So, I figured I would share it here on the blog since the season of entertaining and get-togethers is upon us.  It's always nice to have some extra arrows in your quiver when it comes to bringing an appetizer/treat that is sure to please. So, without further ado, here it is. You can thank me later ;)

Cheese Canapes

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (not a bottle of Kraft, you gotta use the real deal)

1/3 cup finely chopped onion (I use my food processor)

1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup mayo

1 large baguette sliced (it is a PAIN to slice it yourself. Buy a baguette from the bakery in your grocery store and ask them to slice it for you. It's free and will save you time :)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Place sliced baguettes onto a cookie sheet. Spoon the creamy, cheesy deliciousness onto baguettes. Place under broiler until bubbly and brown (about 5 mins). I triple this recipe for 15+ people.

I also made a salad that I just made up. So, to be fancy this is the name I'm calling it: Harvest Apple & Walnut Salad with brown sugar and cinnamon dressing. How's that for fancy? I am one of those people that doesn't follow recipes. There is good and bad to that. The good- I can make some really super tasty things that I just make up in my head with ingredients that I have on hand. The bad- since I don't measure and it's not written down I can rarely duplicate my culinary masterpieces. So, here's my attempt at remedying that and providing a recipe for the salad. Keep in mind, I didn't measure, so these are all approximations.

Harvest Apple & Walnut Salad with brown sugar and cinnamon dressing (hee, hee)

1 bag of Italian Salad (usually romaine lettuce with the red radicchio. maybe some arugula?)

 1 Gala apple cored and diced (I leave the peel on for color)

About a cup of walnuts coarsely chopped

Dressing

About 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar

2 TBS of olive oil

1 TBS brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Dash of garlic salt

Dash of pepper

Mix all dressing ingredients in a separate bowl and then pour over salad just before serving or you run the risk of it getting soggy and wilted. 

For the drink I made some lemon water and displayed it in a pretty drink dispenser. Since it has lemon extract and citric acid in it, it has a real citrus kick that I love.

Citrus Water Punch 

{recipe adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe}

2 tablespoons citric acid (it looks like rock salt & can be found in natural food stores or perhaps a gardening center since it's good for sprouting)
5 quarts water
  1.5 cups sugar
2 tablespoons pure lemon extract
3 sliced lemons
3 sliced limes
Crushed ice

In a large pitcher or punch bowl, stir water, sugar, citric acid, and lemon extract together. Add sliced fruit and ice.

*If you have leftover punch, remove the sliced limes and lemons before refrigerating. The limes and lemons will give the punch an overly sour acidic taste if the punch is stored overnight that way.

Then after the shower I had to return to the kitchen to make some snacks for our Primary meeting after church the next day. Thanks to Pinterest I discovered this easy, tasty, recipe. I thought it would be the perfect snack with the onset of Fall.

Turtle Bites (Rolo pretzel bites)

{recipe & pic from Glorious Treats}

3 ingredients:

Square pretzels (snaps)

Rolos

Pecan halves

Click the link for baking instructions.

Though this is a simple recipe it's time consuming to unwrap all the rolos. If you live close to a specialty grocery store (like Fresh Market) you can buy rolos or any kind of chocolate caramel candy really in bulk and not individually wrapped, cutting down on prep time considerably. These are SOOO amazing! A nice balance of sweet and salty.

I also made mini lemon cupcakes (from a box) for the Primary children. I bribed them with a treat if they listened to their Primary CDs I made them to practice for our upcoming Sacrament Meeting Presentation. The thing is that I only have 1 small mini cupcake pan so it took me about 5 batches to make it all. Note to self: need to buy another mini cupcake pan.

Happy Fall entertaining friends!