My mom receives tons of cooking and baking magazines and catalogs each month. One of my favorites to look through is the King Arthur Flour one. Besides the delicious mixes and adorable kitchen accessories they feature some delicious sounding recipes. When it comes to holiday events their recipes do not disappoint. They have some great ones to help you get ready for St. Patrick’s Day like Irish Raisin Bread, Four Leaf Clover Rolls, Chocolate Stout Cake and St. Pat’s Pistachio Cookies. My favorite has to be the sourdough pretzel recipe which I thought was perfect accompaniment for all the beer drinking this weekend! Pretzel Ingredients ¾ cup lukewarm water 1 cup unfed sourdough starter, straight from the refrigerator 3 cups flour ¼ cup baker’s special dry milk or nonfat dry milk 1 tablespoon sugar 1 tablespoon butter 1 ½ teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons instant yeast Topping Ingredients 1 tablespoon sugar 2 tablespoons water pretzel salt 2 tablespoons melted butter Directions 1. Mix and knead the dough ingredients — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — to make a cohesive, fairly smooth dough. It should be slightly sticky; if it seems dry, knead in an additional tablespoon or two of water. 2. Cover the dough and let it rest for 45 minutes. It will rise minimally. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F. 3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased work surface, fold it over a few times to gently deflate it, then divide it into 12 pieces, each weighing about 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 ounces. 4. Roll each piece of dough into an 18" rope. Shape each rope into a pretzel. 5. Dissolve the malt in the water. Brush the pretzels with the solution, and sprinkle lightly with pretzel salt. 6. Bake the pretzels for 25 to 30 minutes, until they're a light golden brown. Note: This is correct; there's no need to let the shaped pretzels rise before baking. 7. Remove the pretzels from the oven, and brush with melted butter. And if you want a great step-by-step picture tutorial to go along with your directions you can check out King Arthur Flour’s blog post about making these delicious pretzels. Well I am off to go and chase down a leprechaun this weekend at the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach with my friends! What are you doing to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this weekend? Have an amazing weekend!! xoxo Megan You might also like…
Today is March 14th so that means it is 3.14 or Pi Day!! In high school the math honor society would have their annual fundraiser by selling slices of pie to celebrate this fun holiday. I don’t know how you could get much better than celebrating with pie. While you don’t have to be a math geek or know the first 100 digests of pi, you can still get creative in your Pi Day celebrations. Here are some great Pi Day ideas that you can use in celebrating today’s holiday. For the math geek (that’s me!) here is a fun Pi Day Sudoku that you can complete today. Just to forewarn you this Sudoku is a little different than the standard Sudoku as each row, column, and shaded block (or region) contains not the 1-9 digits but the first 12 digits of pi (3 1 4 1 5 9 2 6 5 3 5 8). So you will have some repeats and none of other numbers. To check to see how you did you can find the solution here. Have a Happy National Pi Day!! What is your favorite kind of pi(e)?
xoxo
Megan
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What better feeling could there be than to be “Lucky in Love?” With St. Patrick’s Day only 4 days away I thought that it would be fitting to intertwine that “lucky” feeling into a wedding day theme. I have found so much wedding day inspiration from the “lucky in love” and the traditional shamrock clover. You don’t need to be Irish to fall in love with this wedding theme.
You have so many options when it comes to incorporating the cover into your “Lucky in Love” theme. You can choose the clover color for your bridal party accessories or get a bit more creative by using the actual clover in your décor. Get a little crafty by purchasing a 4 leaf clover punch. You can make your own decorative toothpicks, punch the clover into your stationary, and my favorite make your own confetti. Have your homemade confetti on your tables and you can give a little pouch to each guest to toss when you and your groom make your exit. During the ceremony you can add delicate touches of clover with a clover ring pillow. The bride and groom can also take a little clover hunt and find two that they can put in their ring boxes wishing them good luck at the very start of their marriage. And to finish off the ceremony you can give all your guests tins of clover seeds to take home as their wedding favor, like these from Favors and Flowers. They can grow their own small patch of clovers to enjoy every year and maybe even bring the guest their own good luck in the future! Are you Lucky in Love?
xoxo
Megan
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When it comes to celebrating St. Patrick’s Day you can never truly go over the top. Across the country you can find St. Patrick’s Day festivals (that last longer than a day), stores going green with “lucky” charms that you can buy to wear, restaurants serving green and Irish inspired dishes, and races that strongly encourage the wearing of green. To get you ready for St. Patrick’s Day (it is this Sunday!!) I have put together a list of ten “lucky” St. Patrick’s Day crafts, foods and other ideas that will have you ready to start searching for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!
How are you getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day?
xoxo
Megan
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Last night the girls and I had another successful theme dinner. This month’s theme was South Africa and we had lots of fun finding recipes and getting creative with our dinner. We had Frikkadel (South African meatballs), Cape Malay Curried Corn Chowder, Sweetcorn Fritters (see below), Melktert (a milk tart) and some great wine called Goats Do Roam from South Africa. We also had some brie and crackers to round out our meal which was allowed as we are such huge lovers of anything cheese (see my post from out French themed dinner). The dish I made was the sweetcorn fritters. These were very delicious and only took about 5 minutes to prep and a few minutes on each side to cook. My kind of recipe! This might have been one of the best things that I have made so far for one of our girl’s dinners too and I will be making these again. Here is what you will need to make your own Sweetcorn Fritters:
Ingredients
- 1 can sweetcorn kernels (drained)
- 1.5 cups flour
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup milk
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 1 tbsp parsley
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- salt to taste
- oil to fry
First mix your flour, eggs, milk, cheese, parsley, baking powder and salt together. Next, fold in the sweetcorn kernels. Make sure the corn is drained of all excess water before adding it to your mix. Once that is done heat about 1/2-1 cup of oil on the stove to cook your fritters in. I used a large soup spoon to spoon my sweetcorn mixture into the pan, one spoonful per fritter. Cook each side until golden brown and have puffed up (about 2-3 minutes per side). You now have a great traditional South African dish ready to serve!
This week we all watched a little basketball while cooking and eating out meal since UVA’s last game was on. It provided some great entertainment for our evening while we were enjoying our South African creations.
Next month we will be taking a stab at making some dishes from Turkey. I will be sure to let you know how that goes! Any suggestions on a good Turkish recipe?
xoxo
Megan
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As with most things I pin on Pinterest they are totally out of season. So they get pinned and then by the time the holiday comes around I am filled to the brim with new ideas that I want to try. St. Patrick’s Day is no different. Last year I saw these adorable clover cupcakes and could not wait for March to get here to try these out! Here is what you will need to make these adorable shamrock cupcakes.
You will need
- Muffin tin
- 1 bag of marbles
- cupcake liners
- cupcake mix
- frosting
- green food coloring
- white Mentos candies
- black piping gel (or black icing)
- green candy (for stem)
Step One:
Take a regular size muffin tin and place cupcake liners into each cup. For each cup take three marbles and place each one between the cupcake liner and the tin. You should end up with somewhat of a "Y" shape when all 3 marbles are in place.
Step Two:
Prepare your batter per mix instructions and then add green food coloring until desired color is achieved.
Step 3:
Pipe batter, a spoon created too much of a mess, into each muffin cup until it is half filled. Bake the cupcake at 350 degrees for approximately 15 minutes. Use a tooth pick to test the center and if needed cook at additional 1 minute intervals until done. Remove from oven and let cool.
Step Four:
After cupcakes have cooled, carefully remove each cupcake from the tin. There will be some cupcake batter on the marbles but you can cut away and wash the marbles after. Carefully pull off any excess cupcake batter so that you have your shamrock shape.
Step Five:Time to decorate! If not already colored, add food coloring to dye your frosting a deep shade of green. Once you have your desired color, pipe the icing onto each cupcake following the "Y" outline. To finish decorating take 2 Mentos candies for eyes, black piping gel for the eyes and mouth and green candy for the shamrock stem. Eat and enjoy! And for those who are slightly obsessed with the McDonald’s Shamrock shakes you will want to check out this DIY shamrock shake recipe. Do you have a St. Patrick’s Day treat that you can’t wait to make this year? I am looking forward to enjoying some classic Yuengling beer post race. Make sure to check back next week for some more St. Patty's day food ideas! xoxo Megan You might also like...
Even with the foot of snow that I watched come down yesterday I am still in the springtime mood. It is already one full week into March so now is the perfect time to start getting ready for one of the “greenest” holidays of the year, St. Patrick’s Day. While I won’t be partaking in the usual St. Patty’s day festivities this year, since I am running in the Shamrock Half Marathon, I still have some great ideas to help you host an amazing St. Patrick’s Day party. Just make sure that you save some green to wear yourself so you don’t get pinched! When it comes to the party décor for a St. Patty’s Day party you just need to go green. Green table décor, green food, green drinks, green everything! And to give you décor a little contract make sure to use varying shades and patterns of the holiday color. Here are some great table décor ideas that is sure to inspire your inner Irish self. You can go with a simple tablescape like the one on the left by Martha Stewart Weddings or go all out like the one on the right by Tammy Mitchell Designs. One you get your table setting down have some fun with your decorations. Since napkins and utensils are a party essential no matter if you are serving finger foods or a sit down meal I found some great St. Patty’s day options for you. For those that don’t want to worry about clean up use disposable items like the wooden utensil set from Bloom Designs. And for those that are hosting a more elaborate party try this rustic Irish set from Better Homes & Gardens. I love the extra touch of adding a clover to the display! And for those that want to do a little crafting for their party. Take that heart stamp that you used from your Valentine’s Day Party Crafting, grab a green ink pad and get stamping! Make your own clovers with the same stamp on banners, placemats, place cards, labels and more! And for a little fun you can check out this video that was posted to promote the race I will be running in. Make sure you don’t have your own little leprechaun running around where you live!
What are you doing to celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year?
xoxo
Megan
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One thing that I have noticed recently when it comes to the wedding proposal is that this is no longer just a story being told post engagement, it now comes with pictures! Whether the soon-to-be bride has been hinting more about wanting pictures of her proposal, or the men are just getting smarter, getting a friend (or stranger) to document the proposal is not out of the norm. **And let me just preface this post with a tip for all the guys out there, your girl will love you forever if you get a picture of her reaction when you pull out that ring box.
When it comes to the proposal pictures you have to plan wisely. Here are some great tips to get the perfect proposal pictures. - You don’t want the future bride-to-be to wonder why a person with a camera has their lens glued to the two of you and standing 5 feet away. Plan out with the photographer where you want to propose and even got out to the site together to see where the best place to hide/take pictures will be.
- Create a schedule for your proposal plans for you and the photographer to follow. You don’t want to be arriving to your site at the same time as the photographer so plan ahead a little.
- Make plans to go out before or after your proposal. These pictures will be shared with so many friends and family members as well as be shown at the wedding so it will be nice if the two of you look presentable. Your bride-to-be will love that you got her to dress up a little without ruining the surprise.
Here are two great pictures from when my sorority sister Amanda got engaged. | Down on one knee, asking the question... | She said "yes"! Now wave to the photographer! |
Spring is just around the corner, though maybe not in Charlottesville where we are about to be hit with more snow tomorrow, but for others it is right on schedule. I am a huge fan of the spring season as I get to pull out my sun dresses that have been sitting, untouched, in my closet for all the upcoming spring time events. So for today’s post I have put together 10 of my favorite springtime events. Check them out below! 1. St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th) This year I will be celebrating by running the Shamrock Half-Marathon in Virginia Beach which is great because we get to celebrate with some post-race Yuengling! 2. Cheery Blossom Festival (March 20th – April 14th) Visit D.C. between March 20th and April 14th to take in the amazing blooms and take part in the festival activities. 3. Easter (March 31st) Instead of Easter eggs you can celebrate by making these adorable crepe paper surprise bunnies from Martha Stewart. 4. April Fools Day (April 1st) Got any joke up your sleeves? 5. Spring Bizarre Bazaar (April 5th-7th) This is the spring version of the Christmas craft show that I went to back in November. 6. Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K (April 13th) This race attracts over 40,000 praticipants and has bands all up and down the course to cheer you along. It is one of my favorite races to do every spring! 7. Kentucky Derby (May 4th) Horse races are all the rage to attend during the spring, especially for those preppy lovers, like myself. Though I am not near the Kentucky Derby there are the Foxfield Races in Charlottesville to go see on Saturday, April 27th. 8. Cinco De Mayo (May 5th) Time to pull out that margarita machine and whip up some festive drinks to celebrate! And if you want to get a little more creative try making these piñata cookies. 9. Mother’s Day (May 12th) Don’t forget your mom on this holiday!
10. Memorial Day (May 27th) For me this event marks the last event of spring and the first event of summer. It’s beach time for this girl!!
What is your favorite springtime holiday?
xoxo
Megan
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When it comes to most party themes, I always like to say the more the merrier. And in the case of this party theme, inspired by the one and only Dr. Seuss, there is no limit to the fun! Dr. Seuss is full of color, creativity and the impossible when it comes to his books so a Dr. Seuss themed party should be nothing less. In celebration of his birthday this Saturday you can create your own zany party inspired by the man that helped you learn to read.
Décor
This party can draw inspiration from one book or many. No matter which book or books you decide to base your theme off of you are safe with just using the main 3 primary colors of red, yellow, and blue. Use bold prints, like stripes and polka dots, throughout your décor designs and you will be ready to transport your guests to the magical world of Dr. Seuss.
Favors & CraftsWhat would a Dr.Seuss party be without any creative party experiences? You can set up a photo booth with Dr. Seuss books and bright colored props, have your guests make their own trufulla tree pens and pencils, or even have them frame a decorated page with their favorite Dr. Seuss quote on it. FoodJust like with the décor the sky is the limit on your creative party food. If you are just drawing inspiration from one book all your food can be themed accordingly. If not, get creative and have each book represented by one of your dishes. You can find some great Dr. Seuss themed party foods from my post earlier this week. Dr. Seuss is a man who has inspired and impacted so many lives over the years. His writing is one that will live on through the generations and I still love his books today. So even if you don’t have all day to throw a party to celebrate, take 5 minutes out of your day and reread one of your Dr. Seuss favorites. What other Dr.Seuss party ideas can you think of? xoxo Megan You might also like…
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