entertaining

How to Set Up a DIY Mimosa Bar

These tips for setting up your own DIY mimosa bar make it easy for the hostess to relax as guests help themselves at your weekend brunch, wedding, bridal shower, or other reason to celebrate.

Unlike cocktail party martinis or game-day beer busts, mimosa brunches aren’t intended to get anyone hammered or be the stepping stone to the dance floor and get the party started. Instead, they’re for those of us who appreciate a barely buzzed, lazy day, bubbly champagne sipper.

I recently hosted my niece’s bridal shower and like any good hostess, my first goal of the party was to keep things easy on myself. I set up a DIY bagel brunch bar with a few salads and desserts so the guests could help themselves.

For drinks, I thought abut setting up another on of my famous DIY Bloody Mary Bars, but feeling the need for something more refined, I made a DIY mimosa bar with all the makings for the perfect mimosa recipe instead.

Stocked with plenty of chilled and bubbly sparkling wine, fresh juices, and fun fruits to add to the champagne flutes, a DIY mimosa bar for baby showers, Mother’s Day, Easter, or just about any excuse for a holiday is just the right recipe for adding a little fizz to the day’s festivity.continue to the recipe… about How to Set Up a DIY Mimosa Bar

How to Make the Perfect Mimosa

Mimosas made with bubbly sparkling wine instead of expensive champagne adds one more reason to toast “cheers” to lazy weekend brunches or any special occasion.

My best friend Kim is the queen of mimosas. Whether it’s going out for a weekend’s bottomless mimosas brunch, a lazy summer bring-your-own-mimosa-to-the-beach day, or just the ticket for getting though a long flight on an airplane, her recipe for a good time always starts and ends with mimosas.

Bubbly and fizzy, light and bright, mimosas are the perfect champagne cocktail for adding a festive flair to any occasion that’s fit for bubbly. Or basically, Tuesday :).

Mimosas are an essential for bridal or wedding showers, baby showers, Mother’s Day, Easter, Groundhog’s Day…just about any holiday you can make an excuse to celebrate. Lest we forget New Years Day, where they are the best easy eye-opening hair-of-the-dog-sipper that won’t take your breath away.

In my humble opinion, there’s no better way to set up a cheers than with a little bubbly spiked with a little something sweet. That’s why today I’m sharing the perfect recipe for the best mimosas, made with bubbly sparkling wine instead of expensive champagne, making the cha-ching of dollars dropping into your hand just one more reason to toast “cheers” to all the celebrating we’re about to begin.

My little family and I recently visited where legend has it the mimosa was created, at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, so naturally I imbibed. I also took notes on how to make the perfect mimosa, so here we go.continue to the recipe… about How to Make the Perfect Mimosa

How to Serve a DIY Bagels and Lox Brunch Bar

Wondering what to serve a crowd at your next party? Make it easy on the hostess with this breakfast and brunch buffet idea: Serve a DIY bagels and lox brunch bar.

Last year when my niece Chandler announced she was engaged, I knew I wanted to host a bridal shower for her. With her wedding date set for early May, coming up with spring shower ideas would be perfect timing.

So this past weekend with 20 to 30 guests arriving for her bridal shower party (why doesn’t anyone RSVP anymore???) something totally unexpected happened, and it pretty much blew my mind.

For probably the first time in my hostessing career, I didn’t freak the freak out while prepping for the party.

Why didn’t I have my usual pre-party hostessing melt down? Because you guys convinced me to make it easy on myself and create a build your own bagel and lox brunch bar as the centerpiece of our day.continue to the recipe… about How to Serve a DIY Bagels and Lox Brunch Bar

Moms Rule! The Ultimate Mother’s Day Brunch Guide

The ultimate Mother’s Day brunch guide, filled with recipes and gift ideas any mom would love!

Mother’s Day falls just once a year (don’t forget May 10!), but it’s important to remember that moms never stop being moms. They love us every day, and they never stop worrying about us, no matter how old we get.

When we stop and think about all our moms have done (and still do) for us, devoting just one day a year to show them our appreciation seems insufficient. So at least we can show them a thoughtful day that celebrates how truly incredible they are.

Making your mom feel relaxed and stress-free is crucial on this day—she shouldn’t have to lift a finger. So whether you deliver her a luxurious breakfast-in-bed or organize the brunch of her dreams, we’ve compiled the mega mother’s day guide to end all mother’s day guides.

From a full-fledged brunch menu (cocktails included), to DIY mother’s day gifts, we’ve gotcha covered.

This is to all the moms who drove us to and from sleepovers, and birthday parties, and soccer, dance, and swim practices. It’s for all the moms who are still the first person we call when we have news, both good and bad.

We love you mom, and we’ll never stop needing you.

Now let’s celebrate MOM!continue to the recipe… about Moms Rule! The Ultimate Mother’s Day Brunch Guide

How to Host a Wine and Cheese Pairing Party + Free Printable

I’m the first to admit it. I’m not an expert in the nuances of cheese. And I am a far, far, far cry from calling myself a wine enthusiast, let alone a sommelier. You didn’t by chance notice those ice cubes in my Chardonnay, did you? Hang my head in shame, but that’s how I roll.

But I do love cheese, and I do love wine. So throwing a casual party that marries my love of the two really isn’t that hard of a thing to fathom. Especially after I learned a thing or two to set me on my way thanks to my friends at Wisconsin Cheese.

A few weeks ago I was in Miami, Florida for the yearly Blogher Food Conference. It’s a get together where a bunch of us foodies on the web emerge from our blogging caves to network with one another, meet sponsoring brands, learn how to better our craft, and basically be forced into the open air of society—aka, a great excuse to go shopping for new clothes! You can read more about my trip here.

One of my favorite parts of the Blogher conference was going to the Wisconsin Cheese Bloggers By the Bay cocktail party. For the past two years I’ve been fortunate to work with Wisconsin Cheese in creating recipes, photography and videos, and I’ve even been a judge for their Grilled Cheese Academy Recipe Showdown. I’m a judge again this year so watch for my Instagram feed to be melting down in ooey goodness later this month. Ha. Melting down. The puns are flowing today. Brace yourself.

continue to the recipe… about How to Host a Wine and Cheese Pairing Party + Free Printable

The Best Bloody Mary Recipe and a Build Your Own Bloody Mary Bar

Give me a loaded Bloody Mary or give me a chardonnay. Because when it comes to brunch, I want more, more, more.

You might say this cocktail looks like a salad in a glass. I definitely wouldn’t disagree.

A loaded Bloody Mary is my dream Best Ever Bloody Brunch Mary. Snacking on all of the extra trimmings while I wait for my actual meal to arrive is kind of a necessity. I mean, it’s almost lunch. I didn’t eat breakfast. And this girl is hungry.

Like everything else I eat, I love nothing more than a bite of this and a taste of that. Which is exactly why a do it yourself Bloody Mary bar is right up my alley.

continue to the recipe… about The Best Bloody Mary Recipe and a Build Your Own Bloody Mary Bar

30 Oscar Worthy Recipes and an Academy Awards Party Hosting Guide

Today’s 30 Oscar Worthy Recipes post comes to us from our resident movie fanatic / FoodieCrush contributor / queen of the Academy, Hayley Teater, who every year schemes over Academy Award fétes with the same passion that Southern belles plot and plan their dream wedding. On with the show…

While many people were getting wrapped up in Super Bowl Sunday mania, I was busy scheming over the menu for our annual Academy Awards dinner. It may be un-American of me to say it, but I just can’t seem to get myself pumped up over the Super Bowl. The Academy Awards on the other hand? That’s my Super Bowl.

Ever since I can remember I’ve been obsessed with movies. I’d find one I liked and watch it over and over again and was equally fascinated with celebrities and everything having to do with them—particularly awards shows, and even more particularly, the Academy Awards.

I’d stay up as late as I was allowed on a school night to see them, as we’d camp out across the living room floor with a blanket and some dinner. I’d watch, mesmerized, and savor every red carpet interview and every sentimental, teary-eyed speech.

About seven years ago, my family started having special Oscars dinners, with a menu centered around puns on the Best Picture nominees (like “Into the Wild Salmon,” with “Crashed Potatoes,” or “The Wrestler’s Mussels, ” and a “Winter’s Bone-in Pork Chop” with “The King’s Peach Compote”).

Still today, we have just as much fun planning the menu as we do watching the awards. And of course, plotting the party…

continue to the recipe… about 30 Oscar Worthy Recipes and an Academy Awards Party Hosting Guide

Slow Cooker Balsamic Chicken

When I received an S.O.S. comment on Facebook from one of my favorite readers, Maribel, I put on my thinking cap and went straight into action.

With Christmas Eve approaching in just a wink of an eye, Maribel commented that she was in need of a recipe that had enough style to impress at the holiday dinner table.

But there was one condition. The main dish had to be cooked in a slow cooker.

See Maribel doesn’t have an oven. No, I don’t know why—I’m fantasizing it’s because she’s either in the midst of an amazing kitchen remodel or lives in a teepee fashioned with an es long extension chord to a chugging generator or possibly just doesn’t believe in the clutter an oven adds to her kitchen?

continue to the recipe… about Slow Cooker Balsamic Chicken

Hot Shrimp Creamy Cheese Dip and Friday Faves

I’m finishing up my unofficial, undeclared week of delicious cream cheese dips with just one more cheesy wonder: Hot Shrimp Creamy Cheese Dip.

While I’ve been slathering my Smoked Salmon Spread on bagel crisps, and dipping chips into this Porter Caramelized Onion Dip (check out the cookbook giveaway that features it), I figured what better time than this very moment to break out a Hot Shrimp Creamy Cheese Dip.

Because I haven’t broken into the crackers yet!

continue to the recipe… about Hot Shrimp Creamy Cheese Dip and Friday Faves

Porter Caramelized Onion Dip and Crushing on The Beeroness

Being deemed The Beeroness—which in drink-speak is similar to bearing the title of Princess, Duchess or Queen—has plenty of responsibilities that come along with the nobility. Luckily for us commoners in the ways of ale, stouts and malt liquor, we have food blogger and author Jackie Dodd to lead us down a beer-inspired foodie path. And with recipes like her Porter Caramelized Onion Dip, you’ll be bowing down in no time.

With just two years of blogging under her belt, the lovely Jackie Dodd has made an indelible impact of bringing beer to the culinary forefront through her popular food blog, The Beeroness, where she shares recipes that infuse craft brews of hops and barley into everyday foods.

Sporting the tagline “Have your beer and eat it too,” Jackie focuses on craft beers as the flavor enhancers to recipes sweet and savory and everything in between on her blog and has newly released The Craft Beer Cookbook, 100 Artisanal Recipes for Cooking With Beer.

Jackie’s ambitions as a food blogger didn’t start in the kitchen, but rather with her drive and determination to realize her desires to be a part of the craft beer world.

“I really wanted to be a part of the craft beer community but I didn’t brew,” says Jackie. “So I started to write recipes for the beers I loved, started to take photos of them and it caught on.”

But creating a food blog wasn’t familiar territory for this beer connoisseur.continue to the recipe… about Porter Caramelized Onion Dip and Crushing on The Beeroness

Smoked Salmon Spread

Celebrations call for bites of all sizes, big, small and every other. Luckily, my Smoked Salmon Spread fits the bill no matter how big you’re craving is or the size of your eagerly awaiting mouth.

There’s a beautiful reason to add to today’s celebration, because the lovely food blogger Stefanie of Sarcastic Cooking is soon to deliver a bouncing baby boy.

Babies are not only good for nuzzling and snuggling and the reason to max out the credit card buying an exorbitant amount of needless baby gear for, but also because soon enough they turn into expert taste testers. Which comes in handy when mama is a food blogger.

Stephanie has been a kindred spirit of mine for a long time. Not just because she is a consistent supporter of other food blogs, takes mouth watering photos and develops terrific recipes for my kind of food, but also because she makes food I love to eat.

Like…

continue to the recipe… about Smoked Salmon Spread

Baked Brie Graham Cracker Crostini with Lavender Honey Plus Friday Faves

While some wax on about why you should never again bring Brie to a party, I say, that’s cool, go ahead and don’t do that.

All the more for me to bring.

We all know brie is a favorite classic small bite at parties and gatherings. We know this thanks to observing the multiple visits to the food table your best friend’s sister’s boyfriend makes as he finally hovers over that last scoop of the smooth cheese and you somehow skillfully edge him out of the hunt and pop it skillfully into your mouth because this tutorial showed you how to eat it.

Brie is so passé. Really? I don’t think so.

I mean what person in their right mind (unless they’re lactose intolerant du course) would turn down a slather of gooey, fragrant cheese at an adult mixer?

I for one think brie should be accessible to the taste buds of everyone, whether you’re 5 or 50. And my little secret of bridging the gap of savory and sweet all starts with honey graham crackers. And brie. Made into a little crostini. And drizzled with lavendar honey and topped with Marcona almonds.

And you need this recipe.

continue to the recipe… about Baked Brie Graham Cracker Crostini with Lavender Honey Plus Friday Faves

Roasted Cherry Sangria

Red, ripe and juicy, these cherry bombs are ready to be toasted in this Roasted Cherry Sangria recipe sponsored by my friends at Harry & David.

I’ve been known to enjoy a nice, cold refreshment on a warm summer’s eve. Maybe once, probably twice. Okay, like, definitely more than that.

Back in the day I was a red wine kinda gal. Once I’d graduated from wine coolers, aka college, I discovered my happy spot when I was with friends or family with a freshly opened bottle on the table and glass of red in my hand.

As I’ve gotten older my tastes have changed, thanks mainly to the increased rate of heartburn I somehow have contracted with red wine consumption, and thus I’ve switched over from reds to whites, with a steady lean toward unoaked chardonnays or a fruity and bubblicious Prosecco.

While I certainly love a great sauvingnon blanc in summer—light, fresh and a little more like the wine version of a summertime gin and tonic—it’s not really the type of drink that calls out, “Hey, it’s time to sit by the pool and drink like we eat in the heat.” As in fresh, cold and happily.

That’s what this Roasted Cherry Sangria is for. To make me happy.

continue to the recipe… about Roasted Cherry Sangria

Nectarine and Wisconsin Burrata Bite Crostini

This past weekend I allllmoooost could have posed as a hipster. If I was 15 years younger and dressed a whole lot cooler. I mean hipper. I mean I don’t know what is better, cooler or hipper to say these days. And if I had a full blown beard—thank God it hasn’t come to that, YET. And liked to listened to those bands that like to harmonize as if they’re stuck in a time warp and have just emerged from 1976 retromania ala Crosby Stills and Nash.

No, I wasn’t in Brooklyn or Venice, CA. That is soooo two weekends ago.

This past weekend I was in yet another favorite haunt of all things hip yet no need to be humble, the great city of Austin, Texas for the Blogher Food blogging conference. Not that EVERYONE in Austin is a glorified hipster, but it certainly has its fair share mixed in thanks to the outrageously delicious food trucks, crazy good music scene and a few traditional cowboys along the way.

Food bloggers vs. hipsters vs. cowboys. Not sure who won the sterotype title for the weekend but it sure was fun eating and greeting my way through it.

I’ll have a more visual recap of the conference on my Friday Faves post this week, but I wanted to get this recipe out because a lot of people have been asking about it. It is that good.continue to the recipe… about Nectarine and Wisconsin Burrata Bite Crostini

Roasted Garlic and Pickled Jalapeño Guacamole

How many times have you heard it? You know the phrase, the not-so-very-much-original one we all say because it’s just so perfectly descriptive.

You know it. Come on, say it with me. Think it. Live it: “Hoooooooly Guacamole.”

Okay it’s a little trite, but so true. Guacamole is the ultimate dipper, topper, finger licker. Cinco de Mayo by now is in the holiday back seat but with summer’s festivities on the bright lights horizon, there’s so many more reasons to kick back and “dip-toe through the tortilla chips.” Okay, that was a stretch but let’s just roll with it.

photo via Garlic Girl’s Instagram

My recipe for Roasted Garlic and Jalapeño Guacamole is a riff on a recipe created at this spring’s Big Traveling Potluck by Jodi of Garlic Girl, Des of Life’s Ambrosia and Melba of Out a Thyme, the ladies who stole the show and won the Best Tasting Recipe award at the Guacamole Challenge we all competed in. It was a friendly competition. That said, there may have been some tears shed when the winner was announced and my team didn’t win.

We were CONVINCED we were shoe-ins with mango and bacon in our version of guacamole. We were wrong.continue to the recipe… about Roasted Garlic and Pickled Jalapeño Guacamole

Escape with Ghirardelli Intense Dark: How to Host a Chocolate Tasting Party

It’s been a long, snowbound winter, and while the new rush of spring has officially arrived—along with blooming daffodils and bright colored shorts and cute strappy flip flops begging me to buy…Buy…BUY!—I’m still hanging onto the last few weeks of family and friend time in the snowy wonder of my beloved Utah mountains.

Spring skiing. It is the best. THE BEST I tell you. It’s the perfect escape from winter, an affirmation of the thaw ahead. Warm sun kissing my cheeks, the smell of burgers on the outside grills mid-mountain and slushy snow to guide my skis through. For some reason spring skiing always seems so much more freeing, like you don’t have as much to prove by getting better, skiing harder and weathering the storms. Which is why I savor these last few outings with Smudge and our friends.

Watching Smudge and her BFF *E* ski together is such a crazy experience. These two little girlies met in pre-school and became inseparable—they were one another’s first playdate, went to their first concert together and are always at the top of one another’s sleepover list.

Thank goodness Smudge has such good intuition, because *E*’s parents quickly became some of our best friends too, maybe because we share way too many coincidences in our life timeline to ignore that our friendship was meant to be. Michi and Adam—or A-Game as we like to call him—are the type who are always quick to the rescue and pretty much game for anything, especially when it comes to giving *E* as much life has to offer as possible. You can see why we’re friends, I mean, who WOULDN’T want to be friends with people like that?

For the past two years we’ve all gotten season ski passes so the girls can get outside and take advantage of living among some of the greatest snow on earth. It was pretty much a given Smudge would be a skiier since G Dawg and I grew up on skis. Smudge and *E* were both born in Los Angeles and we’re all convinced they will be pretty disgruntled when they realize they could have grown up as beach bunnies, rollerblading up and down the Venice Boardwalk instead of making snow angels. Ah, but we will do our best convincing that growing up a snow bunny will definitely have its merits. Hello, who doesn’t want to be Lindsey Vonn in the winter and Gabby Reese in the summer?

But until they decide they need to hang up their ski boots for boogie boards, we’re all about documenting and encouraging them to have fun. A-game is always at the ready with his camera, videotaping each event and documenting the memories we are apt to create. G-Dawg has the patience of a saint, teaching the girls how to move from “french fries” to slaloms with a bunch of snow ball fights in between. I’m just there to corral the cats.

Now Michi on the other hand, she’s the heart and soul of the group, the organizer, the one that makes things happen no matter how hairbrained a scheme it may sound to others. She’s all in, and I can’t wait for her newest conquest of acquiring an Airstream trailer comes to fruition. She has dreams of camping, whilst I have visions of parking it in the ski lot, pulling out the barbeque and camping out for happy hour after the day’s runs are done.

continue to the recipe… about Escape with Ghirardelli Intense Dark: How to Host a Chocolate Tasting Party

Celebrate with the Bubbly French 75 Cocktail

In December of last year, my husband and I took a quick weekend-er to celebrate our anniversary and get some much needed “us” time in one of our favorite cities, San Francisco.

My dad grew up just outside San Francisco so I spent a lot of time there visiting my grandma every summer. It’s also the scene of the crime, the first time my husband met my dad at the Hyatt Hotel sports bar before my dad and mom took us to a San Francisco 49ers game. At that time I was a college-graduated-sorority-girl-waitress dating a guy with purple hair and pierced ears and who was the lead singer in a punk band. Polar opposite of the preppies I was normally attracted to, and one of the funniest, easy going guys I’d ever met. He was my perfect foil.

After that visit, San Francisco became a spot we’d visit as often as we could. Since having Smudge we haven’t been back for a while and we were due.continue to the recipe… about Celebrate with the Bubbly French 75 Cocktail

Easy Entertaining with Harry & David

The wrapping paper and ribbons have made their way back into the holiday storage bins, the purple and gold polka dotted neck tie found its way back to the department store. While Christmas is geared toward filling the stockings with care and the joy of giving to others, adults are eagerly looking ahead to celebrating the night that puts the focus on renewal and the promises of a New Year.

New Years Day is when I do my official ring-a-ding-ling-ing of the New Year. In my opinion there’s really no reason for the party to end. But after celebrating the night away the eve before, having the party goods delivered to my door is what New Years day really calls for.continue to the recipe… about Easy Entertaining with Harry & David

Fig Spread and Cheese Crostini Appetizer + Korin Giveaway

Are you tired of me saying it yet? Talking about how much I adore salty paired with sweet? I hope not, because you’re in for a big dose of it today.

This past weekend we made our way to our friend’s annual holiday company Christmas party. No, I’m not moonlighting on the side for their business—Lord knows I’ve tried—but we’ve been really good friends for a few years and somehow we’ve weaseled our way into getting an invite each year.

Maybe it’s because we’re helpers in the kitchen—during that last minute flurry of panic before the guests start rolling in, lending a helping hand. But since they always have it so well put together, I think its just because we are so much dang FUN! And these guys, well they go all out so it definitely isn’t a chore to whoop it up and have a good time.

This year I was asked to give my opinion on the menu. Now, Sherrie is an amazing cook and party giver, so she really doesn’t need any help from me. But since I’m a bone fide food blogger (ahem, cue smoke and mirrors) people seem to think I know what works when it comes to food.continue to the recipe… about Fig Spread and Cheese Crostini Appetizer + Korin Giveaway

Hotel Inspired White Peach Sangria with Harry & David

The weekend started innocently enough. We landed. We checked in. And then, we discovered our gift boxes. And that’s when the party started.

Sweet Riesling, sparklin peach juice, fresh fruit and a few resourceful food bloggers. I smelled Sangria, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

back row: Rebecca, Kristen, Jenna, Lori, me and Bridget front row: Maria, Sandy, Rachel, Jessica, and Amy

This was a weekend of food bloggers on a trip to learn about a storied company. Yeah, you’ve heard about these gigs before. Well, this was my first one. The newbie in “the group.” A little trepidatious and a lot honored at being asked to go. I mean who am I? I’m just someone who likes to tell people about cool recipes and food bloggers. I’m not of “their” echelon.

But guess what? They didn’t have an echelon. They were just real. Live. And lovely. And thanks to our hosts, Harry & David and Sandy and Paul, I figured that out really quickly.

And yes, the sangria didn’t hurt either.

continue to the recipe… about Hotel Inspired White Peach Sangria with Harry & David

Short Rib Fettuccine and a Fantasy Virtual Dinner Party

Right now I’m cozying up to fall. And I’m relishing it every step of the way.

I’m clearing the garden in anticipation of an imminent frost, hanging the Halloween ghosts from the oak trees in the front yard and craving simple, earthy flavors for dinner.

When it comes to simple and fall, I like to put a chunk of beef in the oven and let it braise, perfuming the house with its glorious smell. The smell that signals the change in season almost as much as the sound of bantering commentators and supercharged ‘manly music’ from Sunday’s NFL football games that drift from the man cave to where I’m safely hiding in the kitchen.continue to the recipe… about Short Rib Fettuccine and a Fantasy Virtual Dinner Party