Slice of Pie Cookbooks & Entertaining: August 2014

If you missed my recent post about making a beautiful Elsa dress for my beautiful Phoebe ... check it out right here! I promised Phoebe a Frozen party this summer and she told me she had to be Elsa and would need the dress, so the dress came first!

For those of us who are blessed with adopted angels, we celebrate "Gotcha Day" ... so this year, we celebrated with a Frozen Party! I baked the cake that Miss Phoebe (aka Elsa) asked for ... blue with an Elsa on top!

This cake is made with the Duncan Hines Blue Velvet cake mix and I have to warn you that it is too, too sweet. I won't use it again. It was pretty, though. The icing is homemade cream cheese frosting and the sugar cookies are homemade!

The snowflake sugar cookies were made in the Wilton mold, using the recipe that comes with the pan. Wilton also makes a bottle of Royal icing that comes in a bottle made like an Elmer's glue bottle. I don't have a steady hand anymore, but kids don't know that! Every good grandma keeps sprinkles on hand ... sprinkles turn boring into fabulous!

Anna and Olaf came in the set of cake toppers with Elsa ... so eventually, they made their way to the cake, too!

Elsa's mama fixed the meal and we agreed to make it easy because it was Friday night ... after work and the first week of school! Dogs wrapped in bacon and topped with cheddar cheese ... baked beans the vintage way beginning with dried beans three days before (right, that wasn't easy!) and hash brown casserole that we only make when a crowd is coming!

We used Nicole's Pfaltzgraff Winter Frost dinnerware for the party! It is perfect for this Frozen theme!

Miss Phoebe had a fantastic time! Enjoyed everything about the party ...

I pretty much live my life planning my next adventure with this child! She is always happy and appreciative ... almost! We enjoy simple things ... and her attention span sometimes is too short to finish a project ... but we eventually get it done!

I'm sharing this post with some neat parties. Make sure you click through to enjoy the other posts!

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What's for Dinner Sunday!
Mix It Up Monday Masterpiece Monday

Homemaking Mondays

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The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Monday

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Simple Supper Tuesday
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Knick of Time for Knick of Time Tues Inspire Me Tuesday
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Thrifty Party

Home Sweet Home - Thursday

Full Plate Thursday-Miz Helen's Country Cottage
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Grace at Home - Thursday Simple and Sweet Fridays

Fabulously Creative Friday Show and Tell Friday

Pink Saturday

Saturday Sparks

The plums and grapes have been harvested, but the cool evenings this time of year often produce some new tender grape leaves and I love to use them in cooking. The earthy grassy flavor is a nice addition to roasted poultry and pork. A couple of overripe plums in the crisper prompted me to create! I stuffed my game hen with chopped plums, rosemary and chopped grape leaves. I placed a few sections of plum around the bird and tucked in some sprigs of rosemary and sprinkled on a little salt and pepper. I always roast my game hens at 375 degrees and the larger ones take a little over an hour to get fall off the bone done. That's the way we like them! No, I didn't use any other spices because I wanted the grape leaf and rosemary flavors to be dominant.

I added a side of steamed yellow squash and carrots with another sprinkle of salt and pepper. The roasting juices from the hen added a nice flavor drizzled over the vegetables. No butter needed!

I'll be sharing this post with a few parties, so make sure you click through, but first ... visit my home page to see my other posts!