My extended family is incredibly close. Growing up we even lived together in one house for a large portion of my childhood, with my Grandmother watching the cousins who didn’t live with us while my Aunt and Uncle worked. Spending this much time together made our relationship more like siblings then cousins.
When my cousin Jeannie announced that she was expecting her first baby, I was so excited to start working on her shower alongside the rest of my family. As we began planning, I wanted to do something fun and spend more time on decorations than food to make her woodland baby shower really special.
What better way to plan a stress free party then letting someone else handle the food. Our local Safeway has an amazing deli and bakery, so I had them help me put together an amazing spread of food so I could spend more time decorating!
Safeway has an huge entertaining guide outlining all of their catering selections that you can pick up at your local store.
A party wouldn’t be a celebration without an amazing fruit and cheese platter. The fruit and fromage tray is the perfect combination of your favorite artisan cheeses along side fresh seasonal fruit. Each tray is put together with beautiful artistic touches like rosette oranges.
This overflowing beauty is a large tray meant to serve 18 – 24 guests.
Veggie trays are always one of my favorite things and the Garden Fresh Vegetable Tray is a bounty of fresh veggies everyone will love. I’m the person who ends up standing next to the veggie tray snacking away throughout an entire party so having a wide variety of options gives me a few things to choose from.
The Garden Fresh Vegetable Tray has veggie tray classics like cucumbers, cauliflower and carrots but it ALSO has things like jicama, snap peas and green onions. I love getting a bit more variety. The ranch dip is served in a hollowed out cabbage! I love how it adds a touch of color to the display and keeps from having more plastics to recycle.
For the main course we picked out two different kinds of sandwiches. The tea sandwiches are the perfect size for giving guests something a bit more hearty without overfilling their plate. A combination of turkey on white and ham on wheat sandwiches mean there is a little something for everyone.
Tortilla roll ups are one of my favorite things for parties and I love this more filling variation that Safeway calls Hye Rollers. Deli meat, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and cream cheese made these tasty roll up’s a favorite of everyone at the party!
The cake was the show stopper of the entire party. Safeway has amazing cake decorators who can take your pinterest inspiration and turn it into a reality. This naked cake design captured the woodland shower theme perfectly. Rosemary, mint leaves and cinnamon sticks added natural elements that bought the entire effect together. Our woodland creatures are nestled alongside a miniature fire made from toffee and chocolate.
To ensure there were enough treats for everyone at the party we added cupcakes that would be easy to hand out as people were ready for sweets. I could not get over the little pinecones added to the top. The details in the icing was really amazing.
The best part about ordering catering trays from Safeway for this event was how amazingly simple the food prep turned out. I picked everything up the day before the party and about an hour before guests were due to start arriving brought them out and remove the lids. It was really that easy. After this experience I will never hand assemble another party tray. The stress free aspect of having the food completely taken care of is by far the best way to throw a party!
More party highlights are coming your way throughout the week! Looking for other party planning tips? Check out my posts full of tailgating tips.
This post was sponsored by Safeway. Safeway provided catering samples and floral arrangements to inspire this post.
Thanks for joining me for a Thanksgiving treat bought to you by Oxo! I receive product samples and the fabulous new Now & Again cookbook to inspire this post.
We have friends who host an annual Friendsgiving Celebration each year a couple of weeks before the official Thanksgiving Holiday. They carve up the turkey and everyone attending brings one of their favorite sides. For me, Thanksgiving recipes are nearly ritualistic. The shopping experience, the seasonings, everything is baked into a sense that I can follow with ease.
Friendsgiving is different. It’s an opportunity to try out other families favorite treats and be a bit more experimental with what I decide to make. When I dove into the Now & Again Thanksgiving menu I knew I needed to try something new for Friendsgiving this year. Written by Julia Turshen, Now & Again features a year of recipes intended to be reinvented as leftovers for weeks to come. When it comes to Thanksgiving, there is no better menu to consider both the 1st meal and all the proceeding leftover makeovers. With large portions and flavors that last for hours on the buffet table Radicchio and Roasted Squash Salad is the perfect dish for a Friendgiving gathering!
I love that this recipe is easy to prep in advance so I can pull it all together to day before and Oxo’s kitchen products are just the ticket for laying out this meal in advance.
This dish calls for Butternut Squash, raddicchio, olive oil, salt, honey, garlic and maple cider vinegar.
When prepping in advance I start out by peeling the butternut squash using Oxo’s swivel peeler. This easy to use peeler is perfect for the tough skin of a butternut squash and the handle makes peeling a whole batch a breeze. After chopping into pieces you’ll store the squash in the top tray of Oxo’s On-The-Go Lunch Container. The bottom half we’ll fill with sliced raddicchio. We’ll set those ingredients aside to roast before the actual dinner.
Thanks to the combination of honey and apple cider vinegar the dressing for this dish is both sweet and savory. I mix up twice as much so I have left over dressing for other salads throughout the week.
Anyone else really struggle with measuring out liquids by the tea or table spoon? I love this little mini measuring cup! The angled view of the measuring line helps make a more accurate pour.
Everything gets whisked together and stored in an Oxo Squeeze Bottle until I’m ready to use it. Toss it all in the fridge and we’re prepped for heading to dinner.
A few hours before we head over to the party is time to roast the squash. Once cooked, everything goes back in the On-The-Go Lunch container and combined with the dressing before serving. It’s such an easy recipe but it feels like a fancy dish that took hours!
What are your favorite Thanksgiving Traditions? Do you celebrate a Friendsgiving before the official Holiday?
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of OXO.
On of the best things about fall is pumpkin spice everything and I love how versatile pumpkin can be in a bunch of different recipes. I once attended a cooking class where they taught how to make a pumpkin stew with chicken and when I started brainstorming what kind of recipe I wanted to make for Halloween night, this variation of chili came to mind. The pumpkin in this recipe gives the chili a subtle sweetness and the cinnamon is just enough of a reminder that fall is here.
This is the perfect recipe for whipping up quickly before trick or treaters start arriving and leaving to slow cook as you hand out candy. In just a couple of hours the flavors have fully combined and it’s ready to serve.
CrockPot Pumpkin Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb ground sirloin
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 cup diced green bell pepper
- 1 14 oz can pumpkin puree
- 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
- OPTIONAL 1 can Kidney Beans
- 1 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 tsp piri piri season
- 1 tsp red cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp table salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1.) This dish start off by sautéing a cup of yellow onion in olive oil. Once the onion is translucent, add in the ground sirloin and allow it to brown. I used an 80 / 20 blend so before putting into the crockpot I drained off the grease. If you use a leaner cut of meat you might not need to do that.
2.) In the Crockpot add the beef and onions, bell peppers, canned tomatoes, kidney beans (optional) and pumpkin puree. Mix it together well.
3.) Add all the dry seasonings and mix well. At this stage the recipe will be very thick. Add in 1 1/2 cups chicken broth and stir until combined.
4.) Place the on high and allow to simmer for 2 hours. When done, serve topped with Avocado and cheese.
With the new house it was definitely time for upgrading our window coverings. In our old home the master bedroom faced North and a few fabric blackout shades were fairly effective at keeping the home dark most of the day. Additionally at the time Drew was working swing shift, so total darkness was not really necessary to ensure he had a good night sleep.
In the new house our master bedroom faces west. During the mid afternoon the sun coming throughout the windows is BRUTAL. From about 11 am on, the sun streams directly through the front window into headboard. Imagine trying to sleep with all that going on. Right after moving into the new house Drew’s shift moved from swings to graves. One of the top things that make being married to a police officer challenging is learning how to balance his unorthodox work hours against my regular 9 to 5.
Our inverse working schedules mean we rarely see each other as is and when we do see each other we want to be able to spend that time enjoying one another’s company. Finding a blackout shade that would help Drew sleep better on the days he works means that he is better rested on days off and we are able to do more as a couple.
Old blackout shades
When I first learned about Comfortex I was fascinated by their ColorLux line that blends easily into popular paint colors. I want our bedroom to be a relaxing refuge, not windows covered with multiple layers of curtains that don’t appear to fit in the decor of the room. Once I started talking with one of the Comfortex sales team I learned that I could get not only blackout shades that match our paint colors but also ones that would block out 99% of the sun!
Comfortex SlumberShades are constructed with blackout cellular fabric and specially designed sidetracks lock the shade into place while absorbing additional incoming light. Each shade is custom ordered with the color you prefer and cut to fit your window perfectly.
The best part is that they are super easy to install. Just remove the old window coverings and use a drill to place the mounting brackets into the top of the window frame. The SlumberShade locks in with a click and tracks need to be lined up in the middle of the frame. You can see the full installation video below, it really is that easy!
Now that we’ve had these installed for a few weeks, I love them even more. I love being able to sleep in on the weekends with the additional darkness and for Drew, SlumberShades have made a world of difference in his ability to sleep soundly during the day.
For workers on night shift or graves, these are by far the best blackout shades you can have in your home!
Interested in learning more about Comfortex SlumberShades and requesting a color swatch set? Use my custom link and let Comfortex know you read my review: http://info.comfortex.com/rocky-mountain-bliss .
Disclosure: I received a product sample from Comfortex to facilitate this review. All opinions and writing are my own.
Looking for other Police Wife Life tips? Check out my post on explaining how conceal carrying works.
Welcome to My Bliss
