Featured on Southern Weddings

Yesterday, the engagement party that we threw for Marielle and Chris was featured on Southern Weddings' blog. I also shared a bunch of tips for hosting your own party. Exciting!!

Check it out here: http://southernweddings.com/2014/06/09/north-carolina-backyard-engagement-party/

Southern Garden Party Recipes

Today I'm sharing with you my favorite recipes for hosting your own backyard garden party, or any party for that matter. Many of these are my tried and true favorites. If you come to an event of mine, they are almost guaranteed to be on the menu!

Sangria

1 bottle (750 ml) red wine (I use syrah/shiraz or cabernet sauvignon)

1/2 cup triple sec

1/2 cup brandy (optional, I didn't include this)

1/2 cup orange juice

1/3 cup frozen lemonade concentrate

1 cup Sprite

Sliced oranges, lemons, limes

Empty bottle of wine into pitcher or drink dispenser. Add triple sec, brandy (optional), orange juice and lemonade. Add sliced fruit. Allow to sit in the fridge for a few hours or overnight for the flavors to meld. Add Sprite just prior to serving. Serve over ice and garnish with fruit. This recipe is easily multiplied to serve more. 

Pimento Cheese Sandwiches

Make this homemade pimento cheese and spread onto white bread, cut off crusts and slice on diagonal. Serve!

Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

via

Chop large bunch of mint and dill. Combine with a ratio of 1:1 of softened butter and cream cheese. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Allow mixture to sit for a few hours in the fridge. Spread thinly on white or pumpernickel bread and top with thinly sliced cucumber. Cut crusts and slice sandwiches. Recipe modified from Epicurious.

Glazed Ham Biscuits

 Fill biscuits with ham, cheese, and honey mustard before baking! Recipe.

Curried Chicken Salad Croissants

Recipe to come.

Buffalo Chicken Dip Bites

Make this buffalo chicken dip recipe and bake in ready-to-use phyllo shells.

Pigs in a Blanket

Recipe

Mac & Cheese Cups

Recipe

Baked Brie Bites

Preheat oven to 400. Fill frozen phyllo shells with small amount of raspberry or mixed berry preserves. Top with 1/2" cube of brie and a pecan half. Bake in oven for approximately 8 minutes. Recipe

Watermelon Pops

Slice watermelon and cut into triangles. Insert popsicle stick into rind, serve!

Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookie recipe

Royal icing tutorial

Enjoy!!

Bright Backyard Engagement Party

This past weekend we hosted a big engagement party for Kevin's sister Marielle. She and Chris got engaged a few months ago, but this was the first time everyone was able to get together to really celebrate! They are planning a destination wedding at the beach next April, so this was a great party for everyone that could make it.

Engagement Party Invitation via Etsy

The party was held on Sunday afternoon, it was a beautiful day and actually almost hot!  We were so glad that there wasn't rain, especially since most of the party took place in the backyard.  When I started planning, I wanted to go with a garden party theme, incorporating bright fun colors. I think we achieved that pretty well. Everyone had a great time and commented on all of the details. 

Drink table outside on the deck

Tables on the lawn

Beautiful peonies in mason jars for flowers

Drink station with lots of DIY details

Mimosa bar!

Sangria, yum

Custom reusable cups for the party!

Flowers in mason jars on each table

Gorgeous coral peonies

Tables on the lawn, and lawn games in the background

DIY chalkboard sign

Playing cornhole

Family at the party

The newly engaged couple!

Dessert table, with custom sugar cookies

Beautiful cake with custom cake topper

Cutting the cake

Advice cards for the couple

It was a fabulous party, I know that everyone had a lot of fun! :) Congratulations Marielle and Chris!!

Sources: 
Invitation: Etsy
Cake: Simply Cakes, NC
Rentals: Party Reflections
Cake Topper: Etsy
Cups: Stadium Cups
Flowers: Fifty Flowers

More posts to come featuring the recipes and DIY projects that made the party a success!

Busy Weekend!

Whew, that was a whirlwind weekend! We spent the day yesterday with family and friends celebrating Kevin's sister's recent engagement. We Marielle and Chris a big engagement party at our house. It was a lot of fun and complete with lots of little details (more on those to come in the next few days!).

Here's a sneak peak into some of the pictures from yesterday:

And I definitely could NOT have pulled it all off without the help from my amazing friend Kelsey from Southern In Love!!! Everything went so smoothly with her assistance :)

Hope y'all had a great weekend. We missed the Kentucky Derby... but I hope you had a chance to enjoy the great weather and sip on a cocktail, or two!

Spring is in the air!

Well, it's been forever since I've blogged! Sorry about that! I am back with an update (and lots of pictures) about what's going on in our yard now that Spring has finally decided to stick around. We had a couple of late season hard freezes last week :( but most of my plants have made it through.

We planted our veggies in our raised garden bed a few weeks ago. We always get our plants from the local farmers' market, where they are usually great quality and inexpensive. I also supplemented with some more things from Home Depot after these pictures. Our raised garden bed is still in great shape after making it last year. Click here for the post on how to make your own DIY raised garden bed. 

We also planted herbs in our planter boxes on the deck. These are doing well and I've already used many of them in our recipes. I love having easy access to so many wonderful herbs. 

So, the list of all of the edible things we have growing this year are:

Roma tomatoes

Heirloom tomatoes

Zucchini

Straight neck yellow squash

Pickling cucumbers

Bibb lettuce

Rosemary

Sweet Basil

Kentucky Colonel Mint

Oregano (2 types)

Thyme (2 types)

Chives

Dill

I also have some seedlings that I started from seed using a technique called Winter Sowing. This didn't go so well this year, because they got too hot in their mini greenhouses on a day where it got above 80 back at the end of March!! The seedlings that did survive though are coming along, but still fairly small. There, I have planted mostly wildflowers, lavender, zinnia, dianthus, etc. I tried a few veggies from seed, but I have come to the conclusion that it's better to just wait and buy seedlings from the farmers' market than bother with seeds that don't grow strong enough. 

Winter Sowing containers aka mini green houses

Elsewhere in my garden, my roses are doing great. They are enjoying the weather recently and most of them have buds, ready to explode. I added a few more David Austin Roses this year, I love their fragrance and shape.  I also had a bunch of tulips planted with the roses this year. I love that the tulips come up right as the roses are taking off. A new perennial that I added was purple pincushion. This should bloom most of the season and I think it will be good contrast with the roses. 

First bloom of the season on April 23rd!

Roses and tulips in early April

Purple pincushion

The rest of my beds of tulips did awesome this year. I had planted a bunch more bulbs and started planting them in bunches for more effect. I had so many that I even had enough to give away to friends!

Red tulips in early April

I also have Lamb's Ear and Dusty Miller going this year. The Lamb's Ear is awesome, I have split these so many times and it still keeps producing. I love the velvety texture of the leaves and the purple flowers that they produce attract a lot of bees.

Well that's a lot and it wasn't even everything that I have growing right now! I am really enjoying my garden this year. We have a big party planned in a couple of weeks at our house and I am excited for everyone to see all of the plants and flowers blooming.

Authentic Irish Soda Bread

Happy St. Patrick's Day! At our house, we don't go crazy celebrating this holiday, even though Kevin is Irish. We do usually make a traditional meal with Kevin's favorite foods. If you're looking for inspiration, try pairing colcannon with lamb or corned beef. I love colcannon because it's a mixture of cabbage and potatoes, it's hearty and really tasty! This recipe is very close to what I make, although I usually add cheese. What's better than loaded mashed potatoes mixed with sauteed cabbage?

One thing Kevin loves to make every year is Irish soda bread. This recipe was passed down to us from his great grandmother, so it's both special and authentic!

Authentic Irish Soda Bread
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
1 stick of butter or margarine,
8 oz. of raisins *optional
2 eggs, beaten
buttermilk (~ 1 cup, enough to make stiff dough)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, mix flour, salt, sugar and baking soda. Mix the butter into the dry mixture with a wooden spoon, until it is well incorporated. Add in raisins and beaten eggs, mix. Add enough buttermilk to form a stiff dough (probably ~1 cup but this amount will vary). Bake until a knife or toothpic inserted comes out clean, for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. We usually bake it in a cast iron skillet and put a cross in the top of the dough. If it begins to brown too much before it is done in the middle, tent with foil.

Enjoy a slice with butter for breakfast or a snack. This makes a good addition to dinner if you omit the raisins (or not, if you like).