June Super Supper

With summer comes lazy days and crazy nights... or at least the memory of when that was true! So, the Supper Club decided to change it up a bit with our usual "Thursday's at the Hill House" routine.

Step one was having Ashley host at her Summer Home. She's house-sitting this summer in a large, eclectic house in our neighborhood. What fun!

Step two was hosting on a Friday. This ensured that everyone could arrive late and stay as late as they pleased without worrying about a 6am wake-up call the next morning.

The changes seemed to be successful! As was (most of) the meal!

Michele brought a lovely salad-- Summer Watermelon Salad with Honey Orange Vinaigrette (p. 117)

 I made the Cambert and Pecan Quesadillas with Pineapple Salsa (p. 56) 

Let me tell you-- NEVER again! 

The salsa (which goes on top) wasn't difficult:

But the Camembert cheese was a nightmare to "peel off the rind and cut into cubes". Ha!

It was like a Martha Stewart instruction. Seems so easy. But turns into disaster!

We finally figured it out (kind of) and prepped the Quesadillas for the skillet:

All in all it was a tasty dish (and delightfully different) but it was not worth the prep (the skillet part wasn't the easiest either). Maybe just maybe I'd make it for fewer people. But chances are low. 

On the other hand, Ashely's dish was tasty and not impossible!

Seared Sesame Tuna (p. 161)

Although seared, it wasn't as bright pink as you see in this photo. Sashimi grade tuna isn't cheap-- but it's delicious!

All in all a nice buffet:

And a colorful plate!

But wait! There's more! Carol made these a-maz-ing perfect for summer cookies!

Lemon Coconut Cookies (p. 227)

Delish!

All meals come from the Houston Junior League's cookbook: Peace Meals. If you don't have it, get it! And try out some of these recipes! But maybe steer clear of the Quesadillas... or... try them and tell me what I did to make it so complicated!!

Can't wait for next month for another Super Supper Club: Summer Edition!

Houston's Beer Fest

Aaaaaand we're back. Sorry for the break (my mom's been dropping hints like crazy!). 

My friend Ashley is a bundle of energy.

She is constantly finding new and interesting things to do in Houston. Like a few weekends ago... when she invited a group to try out the Houston Beer Fest.

Beer Fest is on the lawn in front of the mayor's office which made for a very interesting scene!

Yep. That's a guy swimming in the fountain in front of the mayor's office.

And those ladies are playing volleyball in the same fountain.

We were a bit more low-key about the fountain, but still had a great time!

And even though the heat and crazy crowds ensured that this will be my only time at Houston's Beer Fest... it was still worth the Saturday afternoon to enjoy some time with great friends and superb people watching.

May Super Supper Club

Well after a day of the "I'm not at Disney World blues", a day of "Laundry Mountain" and three days of converting my house back to a home (and not the "Animal House" my hubby and K-Dog enjoyed while I was gone) I'm back to "normal". Ish.

Between my Disney trips, a lot of things happened. One of which was Super Supper Club!

Michelle started us off with White Bean Dip with Lemon Sage Olive Oil (page 53 of the Peace Meals cookbook):

 Stephanie was in charge of (and masterfully prepared) the Pan-Seared Tilapia with Honey-Jalapeno Vinaigrette (p. 154):

You see her enjoying it there along with Gingered Sugar Snap Peas (p. 208) made by Carol and Stuffed Red Peppers with Cheesy Polenta and Black Beans (p. 95) made by me!

Here's a close-up of the tastiness:

And a big close-up of the Stuffed Red Peppers:

(Which started off looking like a healthy side, then with the addition of half and half and a ton 'o cheese turned unhealthy fast!)

We ended the evening with Citrus Mint Granitas (p. 251) which was perfect after the heavy meal. Although when the recipe starts with "this recipe requires advance preparation" you should probably start before your guests arrive. Oops. Also, I didn't take a photo of it. Oops again. 

Thanks for sticking with me during my Disney marathon blogging. And for not complaining too much while I took a few days off (mom)!

Barton's Birthday

I'm just getting to that stage of life where happy hour and bachelorette party invitations are being replaced with Baby Shower and children's birthday invitations. I still have my share of fun single-girl parties, but it's nice to change it up a bit with the little ones.

Which is why I was delighted to attend Barton's 3rd Birthday!

Tara's new home never looked better:

These poms really added whimsy and dimension to the house. I took a good look at them-- I wouldn't be surprised if they don't make an appearance on www.A-Little-Something-Extra.com soon! :)

Here's a close up of one of the little details she included that really brought the decor together:

The cutest, though, was the kid's table.

The table and chairs were perfectly sized for the little ones. Here's Barton waiting for his friends to come to the party!

Adorable!

April Supper Club

We hosted our largest Supper Club this month and it was quite a success! Our chosen cookbook for the year, Peace Meals, inspired a tasty feast!

Michele and Robert arrived with boiled shrimp and homemade remoulade sauce. This was a bonus dish that Michele concocted... it's not in Peace Meals. 

Doesn't it look beautiful??

My appetizer was the Spicy Rosemary Cashews (p. 66):

 This was very easy and quite delish. I could see it in a cute little bowl at a Christmas party or in a jar wrapped with cute ribbon as a hostess gift. Not really great for an appetizer at a dinner party... but wonderful for a larger party, I think. 

We had plenty of time to socialize and snack on the appetizers:

(Notice the aprons... I need to make more aprons before the next large Supper Club... I only had enough for the first 4 girls who came!)

(The boys chose not to wear aprons.)

While Ashley worked on her amazing cake:

Stephanie helped... kind of... 

Carrie made Bulgar Wheat Pilaf with Currants (p. 214) which was extra impressive as I had only heard of about half the ingredients:

Ashley and Winne are working together to peel the beets for Ashley's Beet and Blood Orange Salad (p.110):

 And the outcome was beautiful:

 All all agreed, though, that for the work it required... there are other salads that are just as good and easier. Especially those beets-- they are not the easiest things to peel!

Here's our main dish with Carrie's Bulgar wheat and my Oven Roasted Bourbon Salmon (p. 165):

 I will absolutely be making the salmon dish again. It looked nice, tasted great and was so simple! (And healthy!)

After the meal Ashley brought out her finished dessert, Spiced Layer Cake with Berry Filling (p. 241):

Again, a hit! In fact, several went back for seconds... :)

The Peace Meals cookbook keeps impressing us with remarkable dishes that are (fairly) easy to create!

Seder Dinner

Last weekend I had the Stables girls over for a Messianic Passover Seder Supper. Seder dinner has been celebrated since the Old Testament and it is a remembering of the days that God's Chosen People were freed from slavery in Egypt (you know the story of Moses, Pharaoh, the plagues... "Let my people go!"). It is typically celebrated in the Jewish community. We're not Jewish... but our Savior is! As Christians, we believe that God has opened this freedom to anyone who accepts Jesus as their Savior*. So the Messianic (from the word Messiah) Passover Seder Supper remembers the waiting that our spiritual ancestors went through and celebrates the Messiah who has come to set us all free! If you're super interested in this, let me know and I'll e-mail you the ceremony script that I compiled.

So here's the ceremony set up:

You'll notice a pitcher of wine (and a carafe of grape juice for those who preferred), little glasses, and the middle plate which has everything we used for the ceremony-- horseradish, a lamb bone, parsley, charoset, matzoh (unleavened bread), an egg and salt water. Also... finger puppets! I found these at Bed, Bath & Beyond... there are ten finger puppets each representing one of the ten plagues. We found these to be quite fun:

(That's Lindsay with Locusts and Lice.)

Here Stephanie is pouring the wine for the ceremony:

I thought it would be fun to have the wine poured from an old-fashioned pitcher instead of a bottle.

The ceremony starts with lighting candles:

After "the four questions" we talk about the different items on the Seder plate:

Like the parsley which is dipped into salt water and eaten to remember the bitter suffering and tears of the Jews before they were set free.

And the Matzoh which, in the Messianic Seder, represents Jesus. I hid the matzoh in the house and during dinner the others went looking for it.

Stephanie was the winner!

After the ceremony we feasted:

(Brisket, asparagus, broccoli and black bean quinoa... delish!)

And I passed out party favors that I made from (gasp!) Martha Stewart's website!

Unlike everything else Martha says is "so simple" these actually were! They are carrots made from crepe paper. And inside were little goodies!

Like cute baby chic hair clips and stick-on mustaches!

We had fun with the mustaches:

A lot of fun:

A WHOLE lot of fun:

I miss seeing the Stables girls everyday... but I treasure the evenings we do get to share!

*If you're interested in learning more about my beliefs on the freedom Jesus grants... feel free to ask me! :)