OktoBEERfest 2014

OktoBEERfest! I guess we can officially say it's an annual tradition now that we have done it two years in a row.  In case you missed last year's recipe line-up and reviews, you can check them out here.  This year, we reused some (though I'll "re-review" them) and found some yummy new recipes as well!

We also combined the beer party with a little birthday party for our two year old (don't judge).  She wanted a Cinderella theme.  The combined theme then for the party was very autumn-y (beer and pumpkins)!  We had some chocolate kisses ("true love's kiss") and some candy corn pumpkins as well as the cake, Hershey kisses mice, and the amazing pumpkins my hubby carved as decorations.  

For a little fun the kiddos played a princess-y version of hot potato (Pass the Glass Slipper) and decorated crowns.  The crowns have been worn almost continuously for the past several days since the party, so they were clearly a hit.  

And now for the OktoBEERfest recipes and reviews.....

Pin recipes from my OktoBEERfest pin board here for any of the recipes that sound delicious to you!

The Appetizers

1. Cheddar and Beer Dipping Sauce - Beer used: Speakeasy Prohibition.  It's an amber ale.

The review: First off, this is a repeat recipe.  It's a solid, easy recipe that makes a yummy, cheesy, beer sauce that is great for dipping all manner of things.  This year we dipped sour dough bread bites and honey pretzel sticks.

2. Pimento Beer Cheese Pie Bites- Beer used: Einbecher mai-bock (a German dark lager)

The review: There is beer in both the filling and the dough for the pie bites.  These were DELICIOUS!  Some amount of work, yes, but not difficult, and it was something I could do in advance.  I made them the day before, put each tray in the freezer to set for about 10 minutes and then it was easy to throw them in a container in the fridge together for cooking the next day.  Could have easily just left them in the freezer in a bag too and cooked them frozen.  I know I will be making a larger recipe of this and freezing some so that I can just pop some in for a fun treat some days.  YUM!

Dinner

1. Bacon Beer Cheese Soup- Beer used: Deschutes Chainbreaker (White IPA, Portland, OR)

picture from theslowroasteditalian.com

The review: This is a recipe we recycled from last year as well.  It was good then, and it was good this year as well.  I pre-cooked the chicken and bacon earlier in the day, then simply threw the soup together on the stove when I was preparing/heating the appetizers and threw it in the crock pot for an hour or two until we served dinner.  Once again, I used about half the cayenne (still gave it a nice kick) and omitted the croutons and substituted almond milk for the half and half.  YUM!

2. Beer Braised Chicken Sliders- Beer used: Epic Brewing's Smoked Porter (Salt Lake City, UT)

picture from sheknows.com

The review: A new recipe we decided to try this year and it was a complete success.  We got nothing but compliments on the sliders.  The chicken is simmered in the beer and the BBQ sauce for the recipe also has the beer infused in it.  They were tender and flavorful and YUM!

3. Chicken, Pear, and Goat Cheese with Wheat Beer Vinaigrette- Beer used: Ballast Point's Wahoo (White Ale, San Diego)

picture from onceuponacuttingboard.com
(I cut up the pears into bite sized pieces instead...)

The review: Another reused recipe that we liked from last year.  Last year I omitted the chicken and goat cheese.  I did the same this year, but substituted in some gorgonzola cheese which the hubby said made it awesome and kicked it up a notch from last year's (already delicious salad).  Once again we used our favorite Bartlett pears (make sure you let them ripen up on your counter top a day or two in advance if they aren't yellow, so you get the true delicious juicy, sweet taste of pear in your salad).  Like last year, I toasted almonds instead.  I prefer them to the two kinds of nuts they suggest in the recipe.  The beer vinaigrette is superb.  Another big YUM!

4. Beer Mac and Cheese- beer used: Thunderweizen (an American wheat beer from the Lightning Brewing Company in San Diego)

picture from howsweeteats.com

The review: A "new" recipe, though I have made beer mac and cheese (not this particular recipe) before and I make other beer-less varieties of homemade mac and cheese all the time.  The girls love macaroni and cheese.  This was a big hit with the kiddos and adults alike.  Easy to throw together and could easily be done in a crockpot.  I only have one crockpot and it was being used for the soup, but a bigger crock pot is on my wish list, so then I will have two to work with... :)  Recipe says cheddar cheese.  I think I used a mix of monterey jack, cheddar, and very sharp cheddar.

Dessert

1. Spiced Cream Cheese Frosted Pumpkin Ale Cake- Beer used: Pun'kin Drublic (Imperial Pumpkin Ale-Coronado Brewing Company)

 

The review: As you can see from the recipe, it's supposed to be cupcakes, but I wanted to make our 2 year old a Cinderella pumpkin carriage cake, so I made two batches and cooked up two bundt cakes and when you put them together, it makes a nice pumpkin.  The cake and frosting were both delicious- a definite YUM!

2.  And last, but not at all least, is our very favorite recipe- Chocolate Cherry Stout Brownies - Beer used: My hubby's home-brewed chocolate cherry stout.

picture from napoleongrills.com

The review: As you see in the recipe, it calls for Guiness.  My hubby brews awesome beer and brewed up a delicious chocolate cherry stout a couple years ago that is perfect for this recipe.  Having never actually made them with Guiness, I can't truly say that our version with his chocolate cherry stout is better, but well, yeah, it is.  It just is.  These things are to die for.  Moist, rich, chocolately, with that nice bite of the chocolate cherry stout....a million YUMS!  And so easy!

Princess Party

My daughter turned 5 yesterday, and we had a Disney Princess themed birthday party for her over the weekend.  She picked the theme months and months ago, so I knew I would need to make it special to meet the expectations of her excitement.  BUT I am a mom on a budget and I've got 2 other little girls besides her at home and a baby on the way, so I also have to be realistic.  If you are looking for a party tips for a SUPER elegant princess party filled with perfection, you are at the wrong place.  If you are looking for fun ideas that when put together and with a little effort and creativity make your daughter's face light up, read on. As you will see decor is not my strong point for parties-- food and games are where I tend to focus.

Let's begin with food.  We had about 25 people or so (a mix of adults and kids)  and I chose foods that would take some time, certainly, to prepare and put together, but none of it was difficult.  My mom actually offered to do all the shopping for me, but I put together most of the food items myself, so this party would be very easy if you have another person or two helping put it all together.  Notice I said VERY EASY because it did not take me too long to do it myself and much of the prep work can be done a day or two in advance so you can break up the work and it feels like you are barely doing anything.

Snow White's apples: easy and healthy

Princess tea sandwiches: cucumber/avocado recipe here and turkey/apricot recipe here 

 

* I made the mistake of making the cucumber/avocado ones the day before instead of the turkey/apricot.  None of them were bad, but avocado stuff is always best the day of.  I went for simple and used Costco rolls, but you could go the extra mile and use sandwich bread and cut them into cute shapes.  

Princess Aurora's spinning wheels: (pinwheels using the filling for these sandwiches. 

Simply spread it on tortillas, roll them up and slice them, creating little "spinning wheels"

Olaf's carrot noses: so easy, so heathly

Queen Elsa's frozen skating rink: blue raspberry jello

As you can see, I did not get a good picture of this.  What I should have done was take a picture once it was cut, so one could see the blueberry jello instead of the camera flash reflecting against all the whiteness.  

*One large blue/raspberry jello box made as directed on the box, with fresh blueberries, chopped and added before gel stage.  The topping is 8 oz. sour cream mixed with 1/4 cup powdered sugar (you could also use whipped cream).  

You can't really see it because of the terrible quality of the picture, but I took two mini marshmallows, stuck a toothpick through them and plopped "Olaf" in the "ice", put another toothpick through one of the marshmallows for his arms, and cut a tiny piece of carrot to make a nose.  It didn't look amazing, but my daughter raved about Olaf on the jello, so my 5 seconds of extra effort (but not perfection) was noted and appreciated by her, my little birthday princess, and that's all I can ask for. 

Ariel's seashell pasta salad: recipe here

As you can see if you look at the recipe, I left out the lettuce (I made it the day before and didn't want it wilting and then forgot to add it just before the party) and chicken (not needed and brings down the costs).  I added olives because we like them and I had them.  SUPER easy, really yummy recipe. 

Cinderella's Fairy Godmother's Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo fruit wands

These were my favorite touch and were the favorite of everyone at the party.  Who doesn't love some delicious fruit especially when it's summer and it's hot outside?  

My mom cut up fresh pineapple and cantaloupe into bite-sized pieces so that saved me some time (can be done a day or two in advance) and I put these together the evening before.  Grapes and blueberries require no work but washing them, strawberries were easy to cut up and the watermelon stars on top (I used a cookie cutter) weren't difficult and I only did them on about half so they fit better on the tray. 

True Love's Kisses

The antidote for the poisoned apples and spinning wheels I served.... ;)

Moving on to the GAMES!

1) Rapunzel themed bean bag toss

Have the kids toss bean bags into a few different sized frying pans worth different amounts of points.  

2) Pin the Crown on the Princesses

My daughter came up with this game idea.  I'm sure others have, too, for a princess party, but I was impressed that she thought of it at age almost-5.  We could have found Disney princess pictures, but we chose the cheaper route using generic princesses pictures from a large Dollar Store coloring pad.  For a personal (not perfectionistic) touch, my daughter colored them herself and even gave her princesses names. 

We made crowns from colored construction paper and my daughters decorated them with princess stickers. We had two princesses so that we could have two prize winners for this game. 

Thank You cards from used game crowns

After the party, we took the crowns from the Pin the Crown on the Princesses game and used them to make thank you cards.  Perhaps my best idea ever was to make a rule that my daughter was not allowed to open and play with the presents until she had finished the thank you for the gift.  Great way to not procrastinate with the thank yous.  

3) Pass the Slipper (Hot Potato)

Pictures from this game were taken on someone else's camera, so I have no pictures, but it's the game of hot potato with princess music  and Cinderella's "glass" slipper in place of the hot potato. 

Other party fun...

Movable Magic Mirror "Photobooth"

 

A great way to capture pictures of who came to the party (kids and adults too!)

Not difficult to make (my daughter painted the flowers).  The hardest part was the foil (still not very difficult), but you could do it even easier with silver paint (I saw it done that way on Pinterest), but I wanted the mirror to be really silver and shiny.  

Friends and family, feel free to call me up if your kiddo wants a princess themed party, and you'd like to use this!

Disney Princess visit

My younger sister had a Belle costume from a show choir-style concert in high school that I borrowed to add some fun.  

I read the story of Beauty and the Beast and for a little added fun, we hid a few objects from the story around the room for them to find when we reached the part of the story where the item/character was introduced. 

candlestick (Lumiere)

Single red rose

tea pot (Mrs. Potts)

clock (Cogsworth)

I went simple on the cake and just picked up a store bought one and used Princess candles. Because we were attending a surprise 50th birthday party the evening before my daughter's party, I did a couple things more simply than I normally would.  Baking the cake is generally one of my favorite aspects and you can check out some of the fun ideas I was looking at for a princess party here,  here, and here.

Our little princess LOVED her party and I loved that it didn't stress me out at all and I still got to see that big smile on her face as she noted all the details we'd included to make it special and fun and perfect for a princess.