Daddy's 50th Birthday

So this year was my dad's 50th birthday and he had decided he wanted a party. Between my mother and I, we decided that she would be in charge of food, while I'd be in charge of the theme / decorations. Since my dad's 2 favorite things are fishing and candy, I went with the fishing theme for the invitation and then decided to make the party an old school candy theme.

Here's the invitation:

I bought different shaped jars to fill with candy as the centerpieces and created my own can tops that i glued onto the lids:

Another idea I found while stumbling was the concept of making your own photo booth. I had to try it. We hung up a white sheet, I made a little banner for decoration, and then I made an assortment of lips and glasses as disguises. We also dug into the costume box for hats. It ended up being a huge success, because although not everyone is into taking pictures, everyone found this too fun to pass up. 

One last major decoration I made was inspired by Martha Stewart 

Martha's Version

As much as I loved the idea of the old pictures of my dad, I wanted it to be something that was usable after the party. Therefore, my version was a little different...

I scanned in old pictures and made a 50 in photoshop using all the pictures. I then had it printed at staples  on a board with a white border for everyone to sign.

Wedding Stuff

So after stumbling across a website all about unusual wedding guestbooks, there was one that I knew I had to try. However, since I'm currently short a fiance, I figured it'd be best to do it for someone else. This fingerprint tree was so fun to make/watch people use. I really love it.

Also, a friend of mine just got engaged and had an engagement party. I had absolutely no idea what an appropriate gift was, and surprisingly, the internet didn't help as much as I hoped it would. I ended up creating this personalized picture for them and framing it. I gave it to them, along with a bottle of wine. 

Perfectly Purple PB&J

I've already shared my PB&J cupcake recipe in an earlier blog, but I was pretty proud of this cute batch, so I thought I'd share pictures:

Perfect for Overripe Fruit

Ok, so I'm not a huge pie person. First of all, I feel a sense of incompetence in that I'm incapable of making a pretty crust. Therefore, I have to go buy them, which I never really feel like doing.. Plus, they're overall, kind of a pain if it isn't a special occasion. However, in my house, we tend to have fruit that goes bad a lot because it doesn't get eaten quickly enough... especially pears. This recipe was super simple and so tasty (especially with vanilla ice cream). Give it a try:

Easy Pear Cobbler
An easy pear cobbler recipe with butter and cake-like batter, along with fresh pears.

Ingredients:

• 2 to 2 1/2 cups sliced fresh pears
• 2 cups sugar, divided
• 4 ounces butter
• 3/4 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg

Preparation:

Mix pears with 1 cup sugar and let stand. Put butter in 2-quart casserole and place in 325° oven until melted. Combine all dry ingredients, including the remaining 1 cup of sugar. Mix well. Whisk together the milk and egg; slowly combine with dry ingredients to make a batter. Pour over melted butter. Do not stir. Spoon pears over the batter. Do not stir. Bake at 325° for 50 to 60 minutes, or until nicely browned and pears are tender.
Serve hot or cold with ice cream or whipped cream.

Trying Something New..

So while searching for a new easy dinner recipe, I came across a website that's pretty great..

Cheap Healthy Good - 65 Cheap, Healthy, One-Dish Meals with Good Leftover Potential

The recipe I tried was Jenny Craig's Moroccan Chicken and Orzo. It was surprisingly delicious. The recipe is as follows (I left out the raisins):

Moroccan Chicken and Orzo
Makes 5 1-cup servings
Adapted from Jenny Craig's No Diet Required.


1 cup orzo, uncooked
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric or 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large clove garlic, minced
14-16 ounces chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces (1" or smaller)
2 teaspoons vegetable or olive oil
1-1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1) Cook orzo in salted water until al dente.  Drain and set aside.

2) While orzo is cooking, get out a medium bowl. Add paprika, cumin, salt, turmeric, cinnamon and garlic, and stir to combine. Add chicken and stir until poultry is entirely coated with mix.

3) In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion. Saute about 4 minutes, until it's a little soft and translucent, stirring occasionally. Add chicken. Brown chicken, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 more minutes. Pour in broth and raisins. Drop heat back to medium and let it cook for 5 minutes.

4) Kill heat. Remove skillet from burner. Pour cooked orzo into skillet. Stir until the whole shebang is thoroughly combined. Top with fresh cilantro and serve.

Calories, Fat, Fiber, and Price Per Serving
327 calories, 4.3 g fat, 2.4 g fiber, $1.18

Calculations
1 cup orzo, uncooked: $0.40
2 teaspoons paprika: $0.08
1 teaspoon ground cumin: $0.02
1/2 teaspoon salt: $0.01
1/4 teaspoon turmeric or 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads: $0.02
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon: $0.01
1 large clove garlic, minced: $0.04
14-16 ounces chicken breast: $1.99
2 teaspoons vegetable or olive oil: $0.07
1-1/4 cup chopped onion: $0.30
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth: $0.50
1/4 cup golden raisins: $0.45
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped: $0.99
TOTAL: $5.88
PER SERVING (TOTAL/5): $1.18