My daughter Nikole turned 30 in May and her guy, Brad, and her sister, Caitlin, hosted a birthday party in her honor. It was a fun party lots of food and drink on their beautiful deck and patio. To say that their was tons of food would be an understatement. Caitlin and Brad arranged for lots of food and then everyone that came brought a dish to share as well. I will share as many recipes as I can collect.
But first a couple of pictures of her birthday flowers.
Flowers and cupcakes...
The birthday cupcake...
Caitlin made the cupcakes, complete with homemade lemon curd and fresh raspberries.
A few pictures of guests...
 |
| Honey, Nikole and Brad's dog |
 |
| Mars, Brad's parents, Bobbi and Jeff's dog |
 |
| Greta, Nathan and Michelle's foster dog. |
Nathan and Michelle's other dog, Reese did not make the photos. Nikole and Brad's friends all have dogs and usually when there is a gathering they all come along. Their back yard is fenced and all of the dogs are off leash and all get along. It adds a fun aspect to a party.
Nikole's lilacs from the yard.
Some of the food...
One of Nikole's favorite appetizer is a pickle, spread with softened cream cheese and wrapped with dried beef and cut into slices. This dip, made by Caitlin has the same combination of flavors but is a dip for crackers. It was very good.
We made these Sausage Feta Skewers. These were one of the recipes I
trialed for this party at the appetizers only buffet. They are quick
and easy, the sausage that we chose was fully cooked so there was no
cooking necessary. Slicing the cheese and the sausages was the only
prep work and then it was just to put them together on a skewer.
These were skewers of cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto. It is a common menu item in Italy. There is just something about the combination of flavors that is so good. There is not a separate recipe for these, just two ingredients.
This was the marinated cheese, another recipe from the appetizer only party earlier in the month. Can be done early in the day. The Italian dressing adds an added dimension to the cheese.
Robb brought Cowboy Caviar. It was made my Traci, Robb's mom and she shared her recipe. It was really good, lots of fresh ingredients.
Colleen and Tom brought a broccoli salad that was very good. I didn't get a picture but I did get the recipe from Colleen after the party.
We made Lisa's sweet corn mac and cheese that had been a hit at the grad party for Kaylee and it went over well here as well.
All but the last photo were taken by Caitlin and shared with me for this post. Thank you Cait.
Links to the recipes are here:
