Baby Shower Yummies

So throughout this pregnancy journey I have been so lucky to have one of my dear friends along for the ride. Her due date was 5 weeks ahead of mind and she has already welcomed her bundle of joy. At the beginning of August we threw each other a baby shower. We decided to do it the same weekend in case any of our mutual out of town friends were able to make it in. Crazy busy weekend for two pregnant ladies, but totally worth it and a great time! Her sister and I co-hosted her shower, but most of the food was my job. Today’s post is dedicated to sharing all the yummy treats we had.

BBQ Beef Sandwiches

I took some help from the internet and my crockpot for the main dish. Here is the recipe. Super easy and just served with some buns. I didn’t even set out BBQ sauce since the crockpot had a sauce in it. Also, apparently I forgot a picture of the meat but you don't need one right?

Fruit Bowl

I cut the watermelon out of the rhine and used as my bowl. I then used a melon baller to get circle pieces of watermelon and cantaloupe and added grapes and blueberries.

Veggies and Dip

I found some cute little martini glasses and filled them with chopped veggies - cucumber, carrots and red pepper. The dip was a version of my ranch dressing. Instead of mayo and milk, I used sour cream and plain yogurt to make it thicker.

Ingredients:

Dried parsley, 2 tsp

Dried dill, 1 tsp

Dried onion powder, 1.5 tsp

Dried garlic powder, 1.5 tsp

Salt, ½  tsp

Pepper, ¼ tsp

Sour cream, 1 c

Plain yogurt, ½ c

Deviled Eggs

Not going to lie, these were the saddest eggs I have ever made. They would not peel for the life of me, so they weren’t very pretty and the yolks were very very light in color, so the flavor was pretty light as well. Cooking isn’t perfect for everyone all the time and I wanted to go ahead and post them, because I think it is important for people to remember that!

Ingredients:

Eggs, 1 carton

Dijon mustard, 2 tsp

Mayo, 2 T

Yogurt, 3 T

Hard boil the eggs. I use my egg timer. Let cool and then peel (hopefully easier than for me). Slice eggs in half. Mix your mustard, mayo, yogurt and yolks and then add to a ziplock bag. Cut the tip off of the bag and use as a piping tool to add the mixture back into the egg whites. Make sure the yolk is well smashed so it can make it through your baggy.  Top with some paprika and fresh chopped chives.

Caprese Kabobs with Balsamic Reduction Drizzle

This concept is not new, but so yummy! I think the balsamic reduction makes these. I used the ‘little ones’, also known as pearls for my mozzarella. They are a little bit smaller than the traditional bocconcini size balls. Any will work.

Ingredients:

Cherry tomatoes

Fresh basil

Mini mozzarella balls

Balsamic vinegar

Using a toothpick or something similar and skewer the cherry tomato, mozzarella and basil.  Set aside and make the balsamic reduction. Pour balsamic vinegar in saucepan over low heat and simmer until it reduces by half. You can also stick a spoon into the saucepan and you will start to notice it thickening because it won’t run off the spoon very easy. Once done, let cool and then drizzle over kabobs.

Potato Bites

These are perfect little bites of yumminess. I found the best size of potatoes, called nibbles but my guess is you may not be able to find these. If you can only find bigger ones you could cut the potatoes in half. You could also use a melon baller to scoop out some of the potato flesh from the inside for the yummy topping to go inside of instead of on top, like I did. If you scoop out some of the flesh, don’t throw away the potato - you might have enough to make a little side dish.

Ingredients:

Potatoes, 2 lbs

Sour cream, ½ c

Garlic powder, ¾ tsp

Cheddar, shredded, 2 T

Fresh chives, 1 T chopped

Cooked bacon, 3 slices crumbled

Roast potatoes with a little oil, salt and pepper in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Once done, let cool.

Make the topping mixture by combining remaining ingredients and add to a ziplock bag. Cut the tip off, just like we did for the eggs and use the bag to pipe topping onto the potatoes.

Party Favor: Homemade Lavender Sugar Scrub

This is a great exfoliator in the shower. Feel free to use salt instead of sugar, it will just be a bit more coarse. The sugar helps exfoliate and the oil helps give you super soft skin. Be careful if you use on your feet though, because the oil will make it slippery.

Ingredients:

Sugar, 2 parts

Oil, 1 part

Essential oil, optional

Mix and add to your favorite container. You know me - I love mason jars and these are just too cute, 4 oz ones!

Her sister also made some cute baby cupcakes and we had a mimosa bar. She bought some different juices and I spruced them up by adding them to some of my wine bottles that I use for water when entertaining. I then added chalkboard vinyl sticker labels so people knew what the flavors were. And of course we had some non alcoholic champagne for the mommy to be (and me)!

Overall, I think the party was a success! Welcome to the world - Lexie! I can’t wait for our little guy to grow up your best bud or boyfriend, you get to decide :).

~Ashley