Strawberry Shortcake Birthday

A great summer birthday party theme for a girl is strawberry shortcake. Yes the little smell good dolls have made a comeback. When I was young the characters had big scented heads and childlike faces and bodies. Much to my dismay the characters have had a makeover to make them slimmer, add make up and a teen fashion sense. But my daughter likes them so we created a memorable party.
Party City has a few items which we bought in theme but the rest was my doing.

 First find things in pink, red, lime green and red & white polka dots. Hearts look like strawberries so dig through valentines day crafts.
I bought 1 set of Party city table toppers and made 2 more centerpieces for table height & weight...
Strawberry Sticks- Kid can Help! I made tall strawberry sticks with pink, red and green card stock, glue sticks, wire hangers and strawberry shortcake logos cut out from party city wrappers (no waste here).

1. Cut or bend wire hanger to desired height. 
2. Trace & cut 2 red or pink hearts & 2 lime green stems
3. Cut out logos, pictures of strawberries and stickers
4. Glue 1 side of strawberry and place wire hanger in the center
5. Match second strawberry on top and smooth out
6. Repeat with 2 stem pieces
7. Add fun stickers & logos

To complete centerpiece I bought 2 tall red heart buckets from Target & 4 red & white polka dot daisies from Michaels. Add some green sprigs, a Strawberry stick, a balloon and rocks in the bottom to keep balloon from flying away..
Party Favors and Crafts for guests to make and take

Party favor basket for under 2 dollars each

1. Container-  99 cent store
2. Bubbles- party city
3. Heart glasses- party city
4. Pencil- party city
5. Candy- party city, vons
6. Bookmarks- Kids make at party and take home

Bookmark Craft- Baskets, colored Popsicle sticks, glue sticks, red, pink, green cardstock, stickers, scrap book paper & cut outs

1. Trace & cut out circles with a mason jar lid. 2 sizes of circles
2. Reuse/recycle the wrapping of party favors & centerpieces with any pictures or strawberry shortcake logo and cut out. Find any stickers of shortcake. I only found 1 kind at party city. Michaels has hearts & strawberry stickers. Stamp patterned paper circle and hearts.
3. Use 3 baskets(99 cent store)- 1 for glue sticks (Costco), 1 for decals & sticker and 1 for circles and popsicle sticks, 
4. Have children pick 1 stick, 4 circles(2 large, 2 medium), a few decals and share glue sticks
5. Have them glue on decals and 1/2 of circles
6. Glue 1 side of circle and place stick in center
7. Glue other circle on top to secure the stick
   

Game- Strawberry Basket Toss- 1 cone, 3 baskets, 3 balls, 3 strawberries with 10, 50, 100 points, candy as prizes

1. Set out baskets with closest basket as 10 points and farthest 100. Assign a candy giver and a judge/ ball chaser.
2. Kids make a line.  Each kid gets 3 shots. 
3. If they make 2 baskets & earn 20 points they can get 1 candy, 50 points gets 3 candies, 100 gets 8 candies each turn
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

As for food, we went to the park with a barbeque and made hamburgers and hot dogs with some fun toppings. Of course we had farm stand strawberries, pita chips and hummus and strawberry yogurt raisins. I made my famous strawberry lemondade and chocolate covered strawberries.

Strawberry Lemonade

1. Juice 2 cups of fresh lemon juice (10-15 lemons)
2. In small saucepan put 2 cups strawberries, 2 cups sugar & 2 cups water
3. Dissolve sugar and macerate strawberries
4. Strain out strawberry pulp and that is the sweetener for lemonade
5. Add lemon juice and sweetener to pitcher and add 7-8 cups water to dilute

Strawberry Cake & Cake pops
I usually make desserts from scratch but with all the work I put into the other parts of the party I used boxed cake mix and frosting.
Cake

1. Mix ingredients of a Red Velvet cake box according to directions
2. Pour 1/2 mix into a heart shaped pan (Buy at Michaels with a coupon) and 1/2 into a circle pan
3. Let cool, gently release from pan by turning over onto large cutting board
4. Repeat same procedure with a White Cake box 
5. Once cooled, slice rounded top off each heart cake (save top for pops) & circle cakes so they are flat for layering
6. With strawberry jam glue 2 heart layers together on a cake plate
7. Cut a leaf shape out of the 2 circle cakes to sit above the strawberry
8. Glue leaf shape together with strawberry jam
9. Frost strawberry with pink frosting and stem with green frosting
10. Accent edges and seeds with edible red gel 
11. Use extra cake and frosting to make strawberry shaped cake pops in red, lime green and pink
12. Small shortcake buckets available at Party City and floral styrofoam at Michaels.
13. Put styrofoam in bucket and cover with red napkin
14. Stick cake pops in foam so they stand up

Meat (Pulled pork) and Vegetarian (Butternut squash) Empanadas

2 Kinds of Empanadas

This is a laundry day recipe. Could take a while. Prepare fillings ahead of dough.

Pulled Pork Filling
2-3 lbs pork putt on the bone
5-10 cloves garlic
3 T salt
2 red onions
1 bunch cilantro

1. Place pork butt in crock pot and stuff with garlic and cover with salt. 
2. Cook on high for 4 hours
3. Cook on low for at least 4 and up to 8 hours more. 
4. Should fall off bone and shred with 2 forks.
5. Thinly slice red onions and saute in olive oil or pork fat until sweet and caramelized. 
6. Chop cilantro

Butternut Squash Filling 
1 organic large butternut squash
4 anaheim chiles
bundle of sage

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Halve and seed butternut squash.
3. Roast squash until tender approx 60 min
4. Cool, remove skin and make small cubes
5. Roast chiles on broil until charred on all sides
6. Cool, peel and seed chiles
7. Chop sage then chiles

Empanada dough
3 c all purpose white flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c corn meal
3 tsp salt
1 c cold butter cut into small cubes
2 T white vinegar
1-1 1/2 cups ice water
extra flour
pastry cutter
egg wash for assembling

1. With a pastry cutter or preferably a large food processor get the first 5 ingredients to a crumbly consistency. 
2. Pour mixture into large bowl to work into ball. 
3. Add vinegar to water mixture in measuring cup.
4. Pour 1/4 cup water at a time to form a dough with your hands. 
5. Dough should not be too wet. If too sticky add flour
6. Make 2 balls and set aside in fridge or freeze for another time

And now you have to build them.

1. You will need a large circle cookie cutter or can to cut dough circles
2. Make an egg wash 
3. Flour a large flat surface 
4. Use a rolling pin to get dough thin and even
5. Cut out circles
6. Put a small amount of filling in the middle of a dough circle
7. Brush edges with egg wash
8. Close with pie press or fork
9. When finished with all they can be frozen or baked immediately 
10. 350 until golden brown
11. Makes about 20-25 depending on size

Good Luck!

Eggplant Parmesan Slices with Marinara from Scratch

Marinara Sauce

3 lbs tomatoes ( combination of roma and vine ripened)

1 tsp salt for water

2 carrots chopped

 1 onion chopped 

3 cloves garlic 

1/2 c chopped red bell pepper 

1 T evoo

2 tsp Italian seasoning 

salt and pepper

1. Boil 6 c water in medium pot. Add salt.
2. Score tomatoes (slice shallow X for easy peeling)
3. Blanch tomatoes (boil 1 minute)
4. Drain, chop tomatoes and reserve for sauce
5. Saute vegetables (except garlic) in evoo 7-9 minutes in Dutch oven
6. Add garlic and saute 2 minutes, dont burn
7. Add tomatoes and seasonings and simmer 20 -30 minutes. Add water if necessary.
8. Cool sauce and Puree mixture with boat motor 

Eggplant Parmesan

1 medium firm eggplant 

1 c panko bread crumbs
1 tsp italian seasoning
1/2 c parmesan cheese
2 eggs
2 T cornstarch
2 T flour
canola oil for frying

1. Peel eggplant and slice 1/4 inch thick. Lay slices, salted on paper towel to drain moisture.
2. Pour oil into fry pan 1/4 inch up pan. Heat oil to 375 before frying
3. Place flour and cornstarch with salt and pepper in 1 bowl
4. Whisk eggs in bowl 2
5. Combine crumbs, cheese and seasoning in bowl 3
6. Dip eggplant into bowls 1-2-3 to create crust on eggplant
7. Fry one side until browned and flip and repeat
8. Drain on drying rack on paper towels and keep warm in 250 degree oven until ready to serve.
9. Freeze leftovers
10. Serve with marinara dip

Crazy Pita Pizza Night

Pita Pizzas
To veer from the traditional I made and used some interesting toppings for this pizza bar. I used leftover items in the fridge that may be wasted and vegetables left from my organic produce box. I prepared and put out all the toppings and pitas so the family could make their own crazy pizzas.
We had a lot of fun!!!
Here are some topping ideas that I prepared ahead or had left over:

• Sauteed garlic and kale
• Carmelized red onions
• Thinly sliced zucchini
• Roasted grapes
• Roasted garlic
• Chicken bits
• Home made marinara sauce
• Roasted and peeled chiles and peppers

 

Some other toppings I put out that required little preparation:

• kalamata olives
• sliced tomatoes
• barbeque sauce
• apricot, peach jam 
• grated mozzarella cheese
• grated cheddar
• feta
• chopped cilantro 
• chopped basil
• chopped ham

Now time to build pizzas

Here are some of the fun pizzas we all came up with, sweet and savory:

• Mediterranean- marinara sauce, kalamatas, red onion, sliced tomatoes, feta and mozzarella
• Southwest- bbq sauce, caramelized onions, chicken, roasted chiles, cheddar cheese, mozzarella
• Super veggie- roasted garlic spread, kale, olives, zucchini, chiles, mozzarella and feta
• Kidza- marinara sauce, zucchini, chicken, ham, cheddar and mozarella
• Sweetie- apricot jam, carmelized onions, roasted grapes, feta and mozzarella
  
  
  
  
   

Bake pizzas at 375 for 10 -12 minutes or cheese is lightly browned. This was a messy but fun dinner with plenty of leftovers

Curryous Butternut Soup

Curryous Pumpkin Soup

1 whole butternut squash or sugar pumpkin
1-2 c chicken broth
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 T fresh ginger
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp fresh chopped sage
Salt and pepper
plain greek yogurt
roasted pumpkin seeds

• Slice each end of squash with large knife. Peel squash down to the bright orange color.
• Set up squash vertically on fattest side and slice in half. Spoon out seeds and inner flesh of each side
• Rub with olive oil , salt and pepper.
• Roast squash on cookie sheet at 400 for 45 min or until tender
• Saute onions until opaque
• puree all ingredients except garnish

Miso Egg Drop Soup

Miso Egg Drop Soup
6 oz snow or snap peas
1 c thinly sliced mushrooms
2 cloves chopped garlic
4 c vegetable broth
2 c water
2 tsp miso paste
3 tsp soy sauce
3 sheets Nori chopped in strips(optional)
2 eggs

1.  Saute first 3 ingredients 3-5 minutes in dutch oven or shallow pot
2. Add next 4 ingredients, bring to boil. Lower heat, simmer 10 minutes. 
3. Add seaweed. Whisk eggs. Raise heat on soup to medium.
4.  Add eggs to soup slowly with fork to make them cook in soup like feathers.

Lemongrass Chicken with Chinese slaw

Lemongrass marinade
1 stalk lemon grass chopped
2 clove garlic chopped
2 T minced ginger
2 T rice wine vinegar
3 T canola oil
3 T ponzu sauce
1/2 lime

Marinate thin chicken breasts 3 hours- overnight. Remove from marinade and grill for 5 minutes each side.

Chinese slaw with Sesame Citrus Dressing
Dressing
1/2 lime juiced
1/2 lemon juiced
1/2 blood orange juiced
2T sesame oil
2 T honey
1 T rice wine vinegar
1 tsp grated ginger
3T canola oil
Whisk ingredients.
Slaw
1/2 head napa cabbage sliced
1/4 purple cabbage sliced
1 red bell pepper sliced
20 snap peas sliced
6 radishes sliced
1/2 bunch chopped mint
3 scallions sliced for garnish
sesame seeds for garnish
Dress salad and marinate overnight.serve with scallions mint and sesame seeds.