Meal Ideas

Sometimes I have the hardest time thinking of how to create a flavorful and well balanced meal- below are a few of my favorite meal combinations that we like to serve together as a theme.

Romantic Dinner / Empress Your Guests

• Herb-Crusted Salmon with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce
• Cheesy Roasted Asparagus
• Wild Rice 
• Chocolate Mouse

Birthday Party for a Crowd

For our son's 2nd birthday I channeled my inner Paula Deen, Rea Drummond & Martha Stewart and prepared this menu- it hit the spot and is enough food for 20 people plus leftovers!  Since he is really into Elmo at this age, we did a Sesame Street themed party with a primary color theme. 

Thrifty Decor & Tablescape Ideas:
A couple of things that I did that were pretty nifty and fairly thrifty:

• Paper Pom-Pom Centerpiece of Sesame Street characters
• Used a cheap plastic tablecloth, and topped it with Birthday Wrapping Paper (from the dollar store) as a runner and used creape paper to frame it out. I taped this to the table cloth and topped it all with a clear plastic tablecloth.
• Put my plastic dishes of cold food down inside of flowerpots that I had put ice into the bottom
• Put my plastic dishes of hot food down inside of a flowerpot that I had put microwaved beans in to keep it warm.
• Made little signs that matched my theme that said what each item was.

Menu

• Barbeque Trail Mix
• Roasted Corn Guacamole
• Fresh Salsa
• Jalapeno Popper Dip
• Buffalo Chicken Sliders
• Philly Style Cheese Steak Sliders
• Poppyseed Ham Delights
• Peanut Butter Cup Brownies
• Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bites (I served them in cupcake wrappers)
• Elmo Cupcakes (from grocery deli)
• Cherry Limeade
• Sweet Tea
• Assorted Soft Drinks (served on ice in a big tin washer)