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

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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!!

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).

Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

It's Valentine's Day-week! Are you thinking about what you're going to get someone special in your life? Last night my friends got together to decorate cookies for Valentine's Day and I thought I'd share the recipes.

Chocolate sugar cookies and classic sugar cookies
with royal icing

We made sugar cookies with royal icing, and although royal icing can be trickier than normal frosting, you can make some beautiful designs!! Here's the recipe for the perfect classic sugar cookies, they are really easy to make and only take 8 minutes to bake. Plus, they hold their shape really well, so you can use any cookie cutter you want!

Classic Vanilla-Almond Sugar Cookies via Annie's Eats
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
With the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, beat the butter on medium until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar to the bowl and mix until well incorporated, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl. While beating on medium-low, add the egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract. Turn the mixer to low and gradually add the flour and salt. Mix until everything is evenly incorporated, taking care not to over-mix. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

To make the cookies, preheat the oven to 375. Lightly flour the work area and rolling pin and roll the dough to ¼ inch thickness. Cut with floured cookie cutter and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, checking the at 8. Cookies should not brown. After a few minutes of resting on the pan, transfer to wire racks or parchment paper to cool.

If you're looking for another fun option, try these Chocolate Sugar Cookies via Annie's Eats. (YUM!)

Royal Icing
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp meringue powder
- 5 tablespoons water, plus more for thinning

Mix powdered sugar, meringue powder and water in mixer with paddle attachment on low for about 5 minutes. You may have to add a little more water to get it to the right consistency.

Place royal icing in individual bowls or containers and add gel food coloring to create the desired color. Add water when needed to thin icing.
source: Annie's Eats

Stiff icing consistency should be thick, almost like toothpaste and is used for outlining cookies and decorating that you don't want to smooth out. This is what the consistency should be when it comes out of the mixer.

Medium consistency icing has a little bit more water added to it and it flows a little better, but doesn't get runny. This is best for decorating cookies that have a base of icing already.

Flood consistency icing is thin and runny (but don't add too much water!). This is used to fill in the border of your cookies by "flooding" them with icing. Also use flood consistency icing to decorate wet on wet designs where the icing is all in one plane.

This is what flooding inside your bordered cookies looks like:

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Here's a tutorial and comparison of icing thicknesses:

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Here are some more cookie decorating tips:

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Here are some awesome inspiration pictures for Valentine's Day decorating:

My Favorite Appetizers & Party Dishes

It's time for the Super Bowl! That means gathering with friends and family to watch the game and my favorite: the commercials. I'm also excited that there are so many players who played at NC State. Go Russell Wilson!!

Well, whether you're hosting or going to a party this weekend, you're probably looking for something to make. Here are some of my favorites...  I highly recommend making some of these if you haven't before. YUM!

New Favorites

Chili Lime Shrimp Cups

Cucumber Crostini

Classics

Knorr Spinach Dip

Stuffed Mushrooms

Mac and Cheese Bites

Frank's Buffalo Chicken Dip with Ranch

Pigs in a Blanket

Raspberry Brie Bites

Rolo Pretzel Delights

Others to Try

Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites

Baked Mozzarella Sticks

Dipped S'mores

Hope you have a great weekend!!

Thanksgiving Recap

Yes, I know, it's already been a week since Thanksgiving! It's crazy how fast time flies, Christmas will be here before you know it!

We hosted Thanksgiving for our families at our house this year. We had a wonderful time on Thursday, here are some pictures from the day.

Amazing Salted Caramel Pecan Pie Recipe Here

On Friday, I hosted a Friendsgiving girls' night with friends. We all brought dishes and it was a ton of fun. I set the table slightly differently for this event since it was smaller.

On Saturday I went to the last NCSU football game of the season. Even though we lost, it was fun to see Sarah and hang out with my family. Then, Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent, and I love this time of the year with all of the decorations at church. Later that afternoon, we took our Christmas card photo and went to get our Christmas tree!