(I bet you can't guess who the mom to be as she's still so tiny but now has a bump). BTW, I don't know what was going on with my hair but ugh, oh well!
Taylor is decorator extraordinaire, all of the adorable decorations you see are her brain child. She also ordered the cutest waterbottle labels from etsy...they were a huge hit!
I crafted the simple brunch menu for the day. We noshed on chicken salad in phyllo pastry cups, parmesan pepper shortbread, fruit kabobs with freshly whipped cream, blueberry and banana nut muffins.
Our sweet treats were handmade and decorated sugar cookies (my special recipe), salted brown butter crispy squares and french vanilla cupcakes.
Photos and recipe links:
Chicken Salad - from epicurious, I tailored it some and had an "oops" moment and learned something new!
Chicken Salad Recipe - I bought store rotisserie chicken to make my salad which meant the chicken was pretty fresh but not too moist. I omitted the nuts, as I do not like them but the combination of mayonnaise, plain yogurt and dijon mustard was delicious. These were one of the first bites to go! My oops moment came when Cory taste tested this and said it was too salty. Oh no, what to do! I didn't have more chicken and I didn't want to add more white to the salad. After researching, I found out you can add a little bit of brown sugar and it will help alleviate the saltiness without adding a sweet taste. I tried this and it worked; oops averted!
Mini Phyllo Cups Recipe - who better to learn from than Paula Deen? I didn't follow her recipe exactly because I left out the garlic and herbs but the execution was spot on. I did almost burn the cups though as the recipe said 10 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees but at 8 minutes, they were golden brown. Just make sure to watch them, as they will bake/burn quickly.
Fruit Skewers and freshly whipped cream
I had the most difficult time finding skewers in any stores (Walmrat, craft stores, etc.), I finally settled on some clear acetate, short skewers from Hobby Lobby and they worked perfectly with my fruit tray.
Sweetened Whipped Cream - if you don't want to go to the trouble to make a fruit dip, freshly sweetened whipped cream works great.
Parmesan Pepper Shortbread
My aunt recommended this delicious recipe for me to make. I should have put a better description on the card, as I believe the appearance didn't entice enough peope to try these but trust me, they are delicious! They are made with a traditional shortbread recipe but you add freshly grated parnesan cheese, pepper and lemon zest to create a small bite that will treat your taste buds. They were very easy to make and you can either roll and cut them out like I did (don't over roll the dough, as it can be quite flaky) or follow the recipe and roll into little balls.
Here are some photos of the sweet treats I made from scratch and my own special recipes :)
More photos of the decorations:
All in all, it was such a fun and wonderful way to shower our friend and her baby with love!
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