LUAU by Stephanie & Sonya
To truly appreciate this evening, you must click:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPHM3yXVPSA&feature=related

A little ambiance for your listening pleasure as you scroll through our lovely Hawaiian evening by 

Stephanie & Sonya!

THE FEAST
Appetizers: Butterscotch Dip with Fresh Fruit, Artichoke Dip and Crackers
Main Course: Pulled Kahlua Pork Sandwhich, Cucumber Salad, Sonya's Hawaiian Rice
Dessert: Sorbet in fruit shells (they are so cute!), & Strawberry & Chocolate Wonder (ful)
YUM!
Everything was festive and delish!! Recipes coming!!

 Our festive table-scape! Complete with flower "lei" and we won't talk about the comment that Brother Crane made regarding that accessory.

 Such fun detail on our table-- so relaxed and cheerful! 

 

Lovely Houlihans - Bon Vivant style. We missed out on our group picture with Jennise while she was there. We were glad Janell was able to make it amongst all her baseball traveling! Summer gets busy, but we were certainly grateful to have this evening to chill and enjoy great company and yummy dishes.

Our cute take home. I love those flipflops! I wore them all summer :)
The yummy smelling car freshner-- a reminder of our tropical evening... as well as the cocnut lotion. Such a great evening-- thank you Sonya & Steph!!!

More lovely hula-ladies

Our sweet little 'surf-er' girl :)

Authentic Hawaiian babes! :)

I am wearing the cute hibiscus hair clip that came with our invite (so darling)! It even came with instructions:
"In Hawaii women often wear single flowers over one ear. A flower behind the left ear means being taken or married. Behind the right ear means still available."
We did have one who might have forgotten that little bit of info, and she didn't get any grief about it at all.

Here is cute Jennise with our Hawaiian hostesses... we apologize to our available men out there-- but she really is taken. :)

"The Stars at Night...."

                                           WANTED: For serving too much delicious food!

THE STARS AT NIGHT: Jennise & Kristin
.SO. much. DARN. fun. It was our first outdoor dining event and the evening was filled with such yummy food, laughs and beautiful weather!!! It rained the day before, and the day after-- but Texas knew it was the special guest that night and Mother Nature made sure to keep the skies clear. We missed 2 of our beautiful ladies... Courtney and Bonnie. {HUGS}
Thank you to Jennise & Kristin for a wonderful evening under the stars!

The Texas Tablescape
Look at all the fun detail. Our appetizers were served on the cute tins and we were able to fill them up with leftovers to take home. I will be honest, I was not shy about my doggie-bag portions!
Kristin and Jennise had fun quiz's & information about Texas for us...
What is the state animal-- anyone? anyone?

Dressing for the occasion!

Ambiance

The Menu

The "watering hole"
Those little hay decorations are so darling!

Appetizer Buffet
Texas Caviar w/Bagel Crisps, Sweet Potato Fries, Cornbread with Honey, Buttermilk Biscuits with Butter & Jam

Chewy Praline Recipe

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2 cups sugar 2 cups white corn syrup 1 lb. butter 2 cups whipping cream 2 tsp. vanilla 7-8 cups chopped pecans

Instructions:

Ingredients:

Cook sugar and corn syrup over medium - low heat
until candy thermometer reaches 250 degrees.
Remove from heat.  Add butter and stir until melted.
Add whipping cream(unwhipped) slowly. Return to
heat stirring constantly.  Cook until thermometer reaches 242 degrees. Remove from heat.  Add vanilla and pecans. Drop on foil sprayed with Pam. When cool, wrap pralines in saran wrap.
                      Delicious chewy treats!

Texas Caviar (from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 (8 ounce) bottle zesty Italian dressing
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can black-eyed peas, drained
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 bunch chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix together onion, green bell pepper, green onions, jalapeno peppers, garlic, cherry tomatoes, zesty Italian dressing, black beans, black-eyed peas and coriander. Cover and chill in the refrigerator approximately 2 hours. Toss with desired amount of fresh cilantro to serve.
2. We served with Bagel Crisps with sea salt.
   
   Cousin's Cornbread (from the Essential Mormon Cookbook)
   1/2 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
   1 cup sugar
   2 eggs
   1 cup yellow cornmeal
   1 1/2 cup flour
   2 tsp. baking powder
   1/2 tsp. salt
   1 1/2 cup milk
   
   
   Cream butter, sugar and eggs. In a separate bowl blend cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt. Combined creamed mixture, dry mixture and milk. Blend. Bake in a greased 8X8 inch pan at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes. I used an 11X7 pan to make more and it still works.
   
   
   Biscuits (from the homesicktexan.blogspot.com)
   Ingredients:
   Two cups of flour
   1 tablespoon of baking powder
   1 teaspoon of sugar (can add more to taste)
   1/2 teaspoon of salt
   1 stick of butter, cold (8 tablespoons)
   3/4 cup of buttermilk, cream or half-and-half
   
   Method:
   Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
   Mix all the dry ingredients together.
   Cut the stick of butter into pieces, and work into the flour mixture with your hands or a pastry blender until it resembles pea-sized crumbs.
   Add the liquid, mixing until a bit loose and sticky.
   Pour dough out on a floured surface, and knead for a minute. Dough should be smooth and no longer wet. You can sprinkle more flour on the surface if you find it’s sticking.
   Take dough into a ball, and hit it with a rolling pin, turning it and folding it in half every few whacks. Do this for a couple of minutes.
   Roll out dough until it’s 1/4 of an inch thick, and then fold it in half.
   Using a round cutter (can use a glass or a cup if don’t have a biscuit cutter) cut out your biscuits from folded dough.
   Place on a greased baking sheet close together (so they rise up not out), and bake for 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
   Makes 10-12 biscuits.
   
   If you don’t want to roll and cut them out, after kneading and beating the dough you can drop the dough onto the baking sheet with a spoon. They’re not as symmetrical (dropped biscuits are also known as cat head biscuits) but they’re no less delicious.
   
   
   Sweet Potato Fries
   Cut sweet potatoes into long slices, coat with olive oil, then in a bowl with parmesan cheese, garlic salt, salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 400 until at the crispyness factor you desire!

The Main Course
BBQ Brisket, Chile Cheese Grits, Stemmed Green Beans with Nana's Fruit Salad

BBQ Brisket

Select a brisket (or skirt steak, The briskets you buy in Texas are usually what is known as a packer cut—this means that it’s the full chest muscle and it’s usually covered in a generous layer of fat and weighs anywhere from seven to 11 pounds.)

Wrap the brisket in foil and pour Claudes' brisket marinade, and some Claude's BBQ brisket sauce on the meat(http://www.claudessauces.com/p_claudes_brisket_sauce.html), it will be sitting in the sauces. Place it on a pan with sides like a cookie sheet, and bake at 250 degrees for 8-10 hours or over night. You can let it marinate over night, then bake it. Then slice it while its warm. 

Chili Cheese Grits

Cook 1 cup grits in 6 c. boiling water (follow the package directions on how to cook grits)

Then Add:

1 lb. Velveeta cheese, cut up

1 cube butter/margarine

2 tsp. seasoned salt

3 eggs beaten (to avoid the eggs from curdling, beat the eggs into a smaller bowl, add a little of the hot grits slowly to the eggs, and keep adding a spoonful at a time  then when they are warm add them to the grits in the pan)

1 can chopped green chile

tabasco sauce to taste

Stir until all the cheese is melted and Pour into a greased 9X13 pan.

Bake at 255 for 2 hours.

Dessert
Mom's chocolate Sundae Pie, Fresh Peach Pie, & Pecan Pie with fresh whipped topping.. mmmm.

                                 Have you ever seen 2 more beautiful "cooky's"?  Love you gals!!

Our fun take home!!! Along with our Texas place card cookie & tin full of leftovers-- we were given the cute little bag above filled with goodies! Yummy pecan caramels, a sweet little bracelet to remind us of our evening under the starts & and a Texas ornament. Oh! And there is a peak Kristin & Jennise's rustic invitation that was mailed to us all the way from Texas!!! It was so fun to get mail from the Lone Star State. (FYI... NOT the largest state in the U.S.)

YOU SCREAM, I SCREAM, WE ALL SCREAM FOR....
Root-beer floats? Yes, folks, Rootbeer.
We are missing two of our beautiful country-gals. We Love ya Bonnie & Courtney!
Thanks again  Jennise & Kristin for all the country fun!

We've been SPARKLED!

         Our SPARKLING hostesses!
Bonnie & Janell went to so much effort to make this a special SPARKLING evening. Like Jennise and Kristin, they had planned to entertain outside-- but with our wacky Utah weather-- they wisely moved indoors. Their glamours tablescape & decor of black, apple green and white staged the evening for fun conversation and laughter -- as usual!
                 Thank you Bonnie & Janell!


Our Sparkling Group!
We are missing 2 ~ and you were so missed & we love you ladies. Our prayers were with our sparkling friend, Courtney, that evening.

Our SPARKLING table setting!

Notice the ROCK... I will be having mine mounted ;)

Bonnie & Janell's tablescape definitely added glitter & glam to our dog days of summer! There were hidden treasures to be found such as the FUN sparkler detail to our polka-dot napkin!

We had our own  "Sparkling" water bottles-- and the entry display was so darling. We each had a little adorable tag with our name and a description of why we Sparkle! Thank you ladies for making us feel so special! We were treated royally and sent home with a fun little carton filled with goodies! They really went all out on the detail-- not only do you ladies sparkle.... but you "ROCK!" ;)

I can't wait to try my MOCK Mojito!

Bonnie & Janell's Sparkling Recipes!

Grilled honey mustard chicken salad


1 box suddenly salad classic pasta
1/2 cup mayo
1 tablespoon honey mustard
2 cups grileed chicken
2 cups washed baby spinach
1 cup cherry tom., halved
1 stalk celery, chopped about 1/3 cup
1 cup cheddar cheese
3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
3 sliced bacon, crisply cooked and crunmbled
cook pasta, and drain rinse with cold water, drain well.
In large bowl, stir together seasoning mix, mayo and honey mustard. Add pasta, and other ingredients. Stir well, serve or chill in frige for 1 hour.

                                    

Chicken kabobs
3 T soy sauce
3 T brown sugar
2 T pineapple juice
1 T sesame oil
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
3-4 boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 3 inch pieces
sprite
Mix in dish, had chicken. It is best to have enough chicken all covered, this is were you had the sprite, to make sure it is all covered. (about 2-3 cups sprite, give or take) All so best if marinaded over night.

Cheese bread

8 oz cream cheese
8 oz cheese whiz
8 oz sour cream
small can diced chile
green onions diced (as many or as little to your liking)
1 sheepherders bread (bread bowl)
Hollow out bread, put all ingredients in bread bowl, the cheese will be a little lumpy that is okay. Wrap in foil, bake at 350, cooks about 45 min. Stir cheese and possibly cook a little longer. If the cheese is still lumpy then cook longer, the cheese will look smooth and if its warm, then its done.

Fruit Salsa

1 cup fresh pineapple, diced
2 kiwis, peeled and diced
2 Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored and diced
2 fresh ripe peach, diced into 1/4" chunks
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 tbsp white granulated sugar
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp brown sugar

Cinnamon Chips
10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
butter or margarine
butter flavored cooking spray
2 cups white granulated sugar
2-3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together 2 cups granulated sugar and 2-3 teaspoons ground cinnamon. Spead thin, even layer of butter on a flour tortilla. Cut each into 8 wedges and place them in a single layer on a large cookie or baking sheet. Sprinkle the wedges evenly with the cinnamon sugar. Spray each wedge lightly with cooking spray to set the sugar in place.
You can do two pans at a time to make this go faster. Fill them up as close together as you can before sprinkling the cinnamon sugar on them. Bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly brown. Remove from the oven and let them cool 5 minutes in the pan and transfer them to a platter or plate to finish cooling for another 10 minutes.
While the first batch of tortillas are baking, begin cutting up each of the fruits as noted above. In a large bowl, combine the chopped fruit, granulated sugar, brown sugar and honey. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or more.

Lemon Pepper Butter
½ cup butter, room temperature
1 tbsp lemon juice
¼ tsp grated lemon peel
¼ tsp garlic salt
Pepper to taste
Combine butter and seasonings. Beat until light and fluffy. Great on fish and vegetables.
Chile-Lime Butter
½ cup butter, room temperature
½ tsp Chili powder
2 tsp lime zest
Salt and pepper, to taste
Combine butter and seasonings. Beat until light and fluffy. Great on fresh corn.

Sweet Tangy Chicken Kabobs
6 tbsp soy sauce
6 tbsp brown sugar
5 tbsp pineapple juice
2 tbsp sesame oil
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp garlic powder
2 cups lemon lime soda – enough to cover chicken
6-8 boneless chicken breasts – cut into piece
Mix first seven ingredients together well. Add chicken and marinade in covered container in fridge for at least 3 hours or over night. Thread on skewers and grill for 15-20 minutes.

Brazilian Lemonade
4 juicy limes (try and find ones with thin, smooth skins; they're the juiciest and the thin skin cuts down on the chance of your drink being bitter)
1 c. sugar
6 c. cold water
6 Tbsp. sweetened condensed milk
Mix cold water and sugar very well and chill until ready to use. This step can be done ahead of time.
Wash limes thoroughly with soap (I just use hand-dishwashing soap or regular hand soap); you need the soap to get the wax and pesticides off of the limes because you're using the WHOLE lime, baby. Cut the ends off the limes and then cut each lime into 8ths.
Place 1/2 of the limes in your blender.
Add 1/2 of the sugar water, place the lid on your blender, and pulse 5 times. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a pitcher (the one you'll serve the lemonade in) and pour the blended mixture through the strainer and into the pitcher. Use a spoon to press the rest of the liquid into the pitcher. Dump the pulp and stuff in the strainer into the trash. Repeat with remaining limes and sugar water. Add sweetened condensed milk; You may want to taste test it at this point; I used giant, thick-skinned limes tonight and didn't test it and it came out a little bitter. If it's bitter, just add some more sugar and maybe a little more milk.

Serve immediately over lots of ice. This does not keep well, so don't make this in advance (although you can cut the limes, mix the sugar water, and measure the sweetened condensed milk in advance). Serves 4.

Creamy Vanilla ice Cream
12 servings
2 eggs
1 C sugar
¼ tsp salt 2 ½ C heavy whipping cream
2 C half-and-half
2 ¼ tsp vanilla extract
In a heavy saucepan, combine the first five ingredients. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat a metal spoon and reaches at least 160 degrees. Remove from the heat; cool.
Cover and refrigerate or freeze immediately. When ready to freeze, pour custard and add vanilla to the cylinder of an ice cream freezer. Freeze according to the manufacture’s directions. Makes about 1 ½ quarts.

Bonnie & Janell severed this frozen vanilla treat with cashews, carmel & grilled pinapple-- YUM (as seen demonstrated below!!) GIRLS CAN GRILL! GO JANELL!

CANDID MOMENTS!
Sonya's Sparkler moment--- the pictures say it all.
I didn't get a pic of Janell adding up Sonya's brain waves... "Sonya see sparkler. Sonay see flame. Flame see Sonya's sparkler!"
Bonnie's jaw dropped as she walked in from check the grill and spotted Sonya with the sparkler-- IN THE HOUSE!
Sonya: "MOM SAID I COULD!"

Heather: "Oh no she DI'NT!"
Stephanie: Oooohhhh-- it's so pretty!

Thank you for a SPARKLING summer evening, Bonnie & Janell!

~*~** S*p*A*r*K*L*e*~**~

I can't wait to add sparkle to my summer!!! Bonnie & Janell's glitter-glam invitation has created quite a buzz!!  I have caught myself gazing at the so cute invitation on my message board in anticipation of our next dining experience... can't wait to see you all then!