Quick TIp- Festive Platter

Tonight I had a back to school night event and needed to bring a dessert platter. Another mom had already picked brownie bites so I was not in the mood to cook anything else that would most likely go uneaten. I was at Walmart on Sunday and found frozen Eclairs, they sell them at most grocery and bulk stores.

I started putting them on a platter by themselves then thought how can I make these a little more interesting and festive. I had bought a huge bag of Candy Corn, tis the season, for 1.88 at walmart. Placed them under the eclairs and amazed at how quick, easy and inexpensive it can be. One mother actually commented on them so I thought I would include them in today's post. Fun thing to do at easter with jelly beans or any other event. Candy can be very creative!!

Please comment on your favorite ways to brighten up a not so pretty platter.

Golf Party Part 2

Well the invites were sent now we are just hoping for good weather as we were planning a golf clinic for 5 boys at a local golf course. You really can't bring this party indoors and we don't even have a Wii!!

The preparations for this party were pretty simple as it was not at my house and the majority of the party was on the golf range and putting green.

I enlisted my father a lifetime golfer to the task of getting party favors at the club where I grew up. He simply picked up a few score cards, golf tees, ball markers and golf pencils. I decorated some white bags similar to the invitation envelopes and added a bunch of candy. I originally thought I would add golf balls but thought of my own son with this weapon at hand!!

I bought a dark green plastic table covers, white plates and light green napkins.

For the table centerpiece I bought a tin paint bucket and filled it with popcorn balls to resemble a bucket of golf balls. This was a really easy recipe as you did not have to boil mixture to a certain temperature.

The weather was fine and the kids were all well behaved and surprisingly focused on hitting balls. I chose to make cupcakes because originally we were going to be on a picnic table under a tent near the golf range. But I think kids like their own little cakes anyway. Details on the cupcake can be at previous post as I used a Barefoot Blogger recipe.

For thank you notes I really enjoy this idea and saves money and gives parents an idea of what their child was doing at the party. I simply take a picture of each child doing an activity-this was easy each child taking a golf swing-or opening or enjoying the gift they were given. For example, if your child was given a bike from his grandparents, just take a picture of him riding it. Then I make up a template in word to resemble the thank you cards that you fill in the blank for TO: and thank you for.... your friend.....

Just glue the picture on top of the card and have your child print in the details. The kids will like seeing themselves come in the mail. I can email you my template if you wish.

Beatty's Chocolate Cake-Cupcakes Barefoot Blogger

This month Barefoot Bloggers had 2 cake recipes. Being a month with a birthday in our family I was not too concerned. I have made this Beatty's Chocolate Cake by Ina Garten before and it was always a hit, Very moist and chocolaty. However, this time since I had just made the humongous cake the week before I thought how about Cupcakes that 1/2 could be used for my son's birthday party and the other 1/2 for a meeting my husband was having at the house.

I was a little nervous about making them into cupcakes because the batter is very runny after you add the coffee but I baked the cupcakes about 22 minutes and they were fine. Let them cool and put half inside a Ziploc bag and but the in the fridge. It was only a few days so I did not feel it was necessary to put in the freezer which you could easily do with this recipe.

Half the cupcakes had to look like golf greens so I simply used tinted white icing, out of a can. I used a small star tip, #22 and lifted them to resemble grass. I know there is a real grass tip but this would work fine for five 5 and 6 year olds.

Put in a real golf tee and found wrapped golf chocolates at the Love for chocolate for about 10 cents a piece.

The other half was made to resemble the real recipe. I simply halved the frosting recipe and then added a few chocolate shavings to dress them up. I think the men enjoyed them, probably did not expect them at a "fathers meeting" watching Sunday night football. I had no complaints and most of them were gone!

Keeping herbs for the winter months

While you are getting your fall garden ready or just feeling the cooler air roll into your area it is now time to think about your herb garden. Don't let all your hard work keeping your herbs alive go to waste.

Pick that basil and prepare pesto and freeze it at we noted in our Basil post.

Don't forget to try freezing it in ice cube trays for easy thawing.

You can also do a lot of other things with your herbs besides just picking and using.

Pick off a good size branch of your basil, mint, or rosemary, take off the lower leaves and place in water near a window. Soon you will have roots you can plant in a pot by a sunny window for the winter.

You can also simply chop your herbs and place in a freezer baggie for a quick addition to a stew or sauce. I have found this works great with parsley, basil and cilantro. Just be sure to label them because they do all look the same in the freezer bags!!

These should last a few months in the freezer.

It is also recommended that you change your dried herbs every year or so...Please I have them from when I bought my first herbs on a rotating shelf in 1995. However, I have recently gone through my spice cabinet and thrown out most of those. But do not throw away those good glass jars. Save them for some dried herbs from your garden.

Simply place them out on a paper towel or I used old coffee filters and they will dry out in a few days. You can grind them and place in a jar or I just put take them off the stems and will grind them when I need them. Or just rub them between my fingers to reduce their size. I have recently had success with sage, mint, rosemary and oregano.

Fall Gardening

Fall garden

In many areas you might be enjoying your final days or weeks of frost free weather.

In Virginia our fall is mild enough that we can have a fall vegetable garden. Even though my green beans were still producing, it still took a few days to have enough to serve the family, I pulled out the very healthy looking vines to acquire the much needed real estate.

My grape tomato plants,basil and a few carrots are the only ones that are still producing so I decided to leave them right where they were for a few weeks. I am also surprised how bountiful my green pepper plants have been in their container. I still have 6 small but lovely peppers maturing on the plants. I only harvested one slightly deformed green pepper in the unamended soil in a flower garden.

I hand tilled the garden soil a little bit and added a little compost to provide some new nourishment for the new plants. I even organized it in rows more neatly than before since most of the items came in seed form. The newspaper shredding are leftover from my mulch for the tomatoes.

We are going to try broccoli again as it did very well in the spring. I also cheated and picked up some kale at the local nursery. I have started my lettuces in a smaller pot a few weeks ago it get a head start and will transplant them when they are a little bigger. I did this in the late winter and the lettuces transplanted wonderfully.

We are going to try beets and carrots as well.

Another great fall item is garlic. Most likely you have all that you need in your kitchen.

Simply plant one of the garlic cloves, with the brown end down into the ground and come late spring, early summer you will be able to harvest it. If I am successful we will discuss harvesting techniques then.

I did notice that with the past few warm afternoons my broccoli wilted a little bit but always perks back up in the am.

Please comment and let me know how your summer garden went and if you are going to try any other fall veggies.

Golf Birthday Sheet Cake BB

When I received the recipes for this month by Suzy of Everyday Gourmet I was excited to find a cake recipe as my son's birthday is just in time for the first Barefoot Contessa Recipe, Birthday Sheet Cake. However, after looking on the food network reviews, I was unsure of the outcome.

Well, I did not make the chocolate frosting per the cake recipe and per another suggestion made it in a regular 9x12 pan and baked it for about 15 minutes longer. Also one suggestion I used,was just using 3/4 tsp of baking soda vs the 1 tsp in the recipe. The result was a moist, dense and lemony cake.

Since I was making it into a golf course I could not use the chocolate frosting but next time I will definitely try it. .

To make the golf course cake, before frosting the cake I cut out the water hazards and bunker areas then added a little layer of frosting inside the cave. Then frost the entire cake in green. Fill the bunkers with graham cracker crumbs and the water with blue gel icing. The cart path was simply white chocolate chips turned upside down.

For the trees I used Ju Ju bees some raised on toothpicks and some placed lower as bushes.

For the golf invitations, I simply used items I already had around the house, green construction paper, mailing labels, toothpicks and markers. To give depth to the golf ball I hole punched a circle out of pop dots and added dots.

I printed out the details onto card stock and simply glued them to the back of the green.

To make the invitations a little nicer, I adorned the envelopes with a little golf motif.

All of this was simple, inexpensive and made with things I found around the house in a pinch.

Cherry/Grape Tomatoes

I happen to have a bumper crop of Grape but they look more like Cherry tomatoes currently. I have used them in enough salads and my kids wont eat them like grapes as they once did. Unfortunatley you really cant store them for the next season, so here is a few ways to use them up in large quantities. I will miss having them in a few months I know.

This is a recipe I got off YOU'VE Got Supper several months ago. I changed it up a little bit using not only basil but also a couple handfuls of fresh spinach when you add the hot orzo and that steams up perfectly. I have also added grilled chicken to this and served it as a main meal. It has become a great stand by recipe that can be made ahead of time. I dont bother roasting these for 1 1/2 hrs, I simply put them under the broiler for 20 minutes or so, just watch them carefully not to burn.

• 1 cup(s) orzo, dry • 1 pint(s) cherry tomatoes, halved • 2 tbsp olive oil • 4 oz feta cheese, crumbled • 1/4 cup(s) fresh basil, coarsely chopped

1. Cut tomatoes in half and place on roasting pan. Drizzle with oil and roast at 200 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours or until blistered. 2. Cook orzo according to package directions. 3. Combine orzo with tomatoes and oil from the pan. Toss with basil. Let cool. Add a little extra olive oil if needed. 4. When cooled, toss with feta. Serve.

You can also simply saute the cherry or grape tomatoes in olive oil and a little salt and pepper and serve over pasta. Add some feta and kalamata olives and you have yourself a yummy meal.