Fourth of July Week: Drinks

It's almost the Fourth and I'm celebrating by having one of these fancy drinks tonight! Check out these Fourth of July themed cocktails.

Deliciousness via Bubblews

Patriotic Punch via The Kitchen Prep

Star Spangled Martini via The Kitchen Prep

So many yummy mommy drinks! Each link has the recipe. The Patriotic Punch and Star Spangled Martini recipes are at the bottom of The Kitchen Prep. And altering the punch to make it kid-friendly would be easy and delicious!

Red, White and Blue Drinks, says nothing but fun!

Which drink sounds the best to you?

Fourth of July Week: Food

Happy (almost) Fourth of July! I wanted to do a little planning and prepping to show some fun ideas I found. First, food! A quick warning though, they're all sweet and awe-mazingly festive!

For breakfast, check out these Fourth of July Pancakes:

Star Pancakes via The Grant Life

How delicious! I love the strawberries and blueberries in between the pancakes.. Yummm!

Pizza is for lunch! Well, sort of. This is Sweetza Pizza:

Red, White, and Blueberry pizza via Aviva Goldfarb on PBS Parents

Oh my goodness. I can't wait to make this!! But wait... We're having kabobs for dinner. Steak? How about brownies?! I'm game! Here they are:

Brownie and Fruit Kabobs via The Editors on Recipe.com

Just wow. What a yummy day! And I absolutely love the mix of sweets and fruit. Great for kids!

Which will be on your table on Wednesday?

Antipasto Kabobs

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I think my stomach just growled.

This kabob appetizer of Italian-awesometasticness needs to find it's way to my fridge right now! And maybe your cocktail hour! What a great way to serve antipasto that isn't a mess, and you don't need a fork!

This can be completely customizable to your needs, wants, likes and dislikes. All on a stick.

Dessert for Breakfast

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I am sure you are wondering what eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee have to do with a wedding, right?

Think about a day after wedding brunch... or having these delivered to your guests rooms the day after your wedding...

Dessert for breakfast is just one of those guilty pleasures you have to indulge in every now and then, but cookies that actually look like breakfast?! Now that's something I could get used to.

We are always looking for fun and unique items for Wedding Brunch, and these are too cute!!!

I'm sure I could come up with a last minute brunch party to have these at.

Mini Food - Sliders, Beers and Sammies

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These bite-size savory treats are perfect for a groom's party or even a football get together. And those mini beer mugs, can you say awesometastic?!?!

I just can't get over how much I love mini food, mini grilled cheese, mini beer, mini soup, maybe becasue I feel like I can eat 98 of them and not feel guilty... okay, that's a slight exaggeration.

Am I alone in my love for mini food? Who's with me?

Baseball Strawberries

These would be awesometastic at a tailgate party or a rehearsal dinner if you or your honey were into sports, played sports or were a lover of all things baseball.

I think these would be fun for a DIY sports themed birthday party, perfect for summer! Yum!

What do you think?

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Mini Caprese Bites

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These mini caprese bites are perfect summer finger foods and look awesometastic on any party platter! We're pretty sure we could eat a whole plate of these in a couple minutes, okay seconds.

Are you up for mini food, or do you think it's a fad?

Dinner Party

It is no secret that I love food, I love to bake and I love to eat. I love simple, and delicious food. But really, who does.

I can't lie though, I do occasionally enjoy some fru-fur french food.

I digress.

My dear friend Inge and I have been trying for almost a year to get our families together for dinner. And a few weeks ago, we finally did. Except I messed up the dates and it wound up being 8 of us, and Gabriel had a snotty nose. So he stayed home. But really, it was amazing!

The dinner the friends it was just perfect. So perfect, I had to tell you about it.

It all started with these cup cakes, they simply delightful cupcakes. I wanted to make something that looked fabulous but tasted even better, so, I got out my Martha Stewart Baking Handbook. Found a recipe using strawberries, since they are so in season right now. And immediately got to baking. Although they were a bit more labor intensive than I thought, the frosting was Orgasmical! Seriously... (I'll post the recipe at the bottom for ya'll, just incase you want it).

Again, I am digressing.

Dinner Party.

Okay, so Inge had a dinner party, she was making the main dish, and the other two couples made side dishes and I did baked the Orgasmic Cupcakes as a bonus.

There were no rules, just knew that Inge was making a Beef Tenderloin. One of the many things I love about her is that she is very conscience of what she eats and what she feeds her family. Organic, Grass Fed, Not Processed, all fresh, things you should eat that are better for your body.

The eight of us got to talking about Organic Foods, and how a can of bread crumbs has 61 ingredients.... most of which have more than 20 letters. Really... it's Bread.Crumbs. Bread????

Soooooooooooo, making a longer story longer, Teresa, one of the guests at dinner has a blog, My Food Plans, she shares her views on food, recipes, fun stories about great places to eat, and did I mention recipes! I've been pouring over her blog and her recipes all day, cannot wait to get started making her French Lentil recipe!

Did I mention Inge's Tiramisu? Hooooolllllyyyyy Yummmm!

Dinner Party......

Moral of the Story: Don't stress about making a dish for a dinner party, it doesn't have to be fancy to be delicious. Everything everyone made was incredible, the food and company were a perfect blend.

Simple Food, Made Simply, Made Local, Made Delicious.

Cupcake Recipe: (per Martha Steward Baking Handbook)

Ingredients

• 3 cups cake flour, (not self-rising)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 8 large egg whites
• Strawberry Meringue Buttercream
• 24 small fresh strawberries, washed (hulls intact), for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two standard 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until just combined. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; set aside.
4. In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on low speed until foamy. With mixer running, gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar; beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 4 minutes. Do not overbeat. Gently fold 1/3 of the egg-white mixture into the butter-flour mixture until combined. Gently fold in remaining egg-white mixture.
5. Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each with a heaping 1/4 cup batter. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until the cupcakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack. Invert cupcakes onto rack; then reinvert and let cool completely, top sides up. Frost cupcakes with strawberry meringue buttercream, swirling to cover. Cupcakes may be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Garnish with strawberries just before serving

Awesometastic Details and Giveaway: Food Accessories

It's difficult enough to make a menu, but then trying to add in details to food gets tricky. Katie had personalized paper straws and cupcake flags made to make all the food stand out and it looked amazing!

Did you have personal details like these? Enter our giveaway by submitting pics to Melissa {at} awesometasticblog{dot}com.

All of the giveaway rules can be found here.



All photography by Verve Studio and Cupcakes by Share your Cupcakes

Wedding Brunch

Craft and Creativity

My first Cinnamon roll project was this....

And they were delicious, but were missing that gooey-not-quite-cooked center, and with the adorable Heart Shaped Cinnamon Rolls you get two center, ummmm, delish!!!

Help Me Plan a Party: Food

On to the yummiest part of a party.... tell me what you'd like to see at a Poolside Shabby Chic dinner party. Remember nothing wedding'y.

This:

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Or This:

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Or This:

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