My Famous Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting made a recent appearance; much to the delight of my special Friends….

Tina’s Annual Hostess Appreciation Dinner ~ July 15, 2009

I held my annual and exclusive HOSTESS APPRECIATION DINNER this past Saturday, in my back yard. The sun even cooperated (whew!). We had a blast! 26 ladies were invited and most all were able to attend. Every year that I have this dinner I just feel so grateful to the lovely ladies that host workshops and most always end up becoming a dear friend. How lucky am I? This is my special way of saying “THANKS! I appreciate you and without you my Stampin’ Up! business would not be what it is today” and also, just to show how glad I am to have these great gals in my life. I learn so much from them and truly do cherish our friendship.

This year’s menu was fun to make and I think it’s safe to say, based on the feedback, truly delish! The chicken recipe was from an old Martha Stewart magazine I found; the potato salad was made using Watkins Potato Salad seasoning (I just followed the recipe on the bottle); the Asian Noodle Salad was from my fav: Jamie Oliver (luv him! His recipes seriously ROCK and even inspired me to garden this year!);

The radishes in our potato salad were the 1st vegetable to be picked and eaten from our garden this year. Yummy-licious!

…the corn salad recipe I found online; the scrumptious buttermilk biscuits are a long time family recipe; watermelons were bought at Baleman’s Farm Stand (seriously the bestest, juicest, sweetest watermelon!); and the ‘Death by Chocolate’ cupcakes…well, I suspect y’all really WANT that recipe, hey? It’s found on my all time favorite recipe website: Allrecipes. com. Here’s some of the other recipes:

Asian Noodle Salad

from Jamie Oliver

SALAD INGREDIENTS:
1 packages linguine noodles, cooked, rinsed, and cooled
1/2 to 1 head sliced Napa cabbage
1/2 to 1 head sliced purple cabbage
1/2 to 1 bag baby spinach
1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced thin
1 orange bell pepper, sliced thin (if available)
1 small bag bean sprouts (also called “mung bean sprouts”)
3 sliced scallions3 peeled, sliced cucumbers
LOTS of chopped cilantro—up to one bunch
1 can whole cashews, lightly toasted in skillet

DRESSING:
Juice of 1 lime
8 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sesame oil
6 tablespoons soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
2 cloves chopped garlic
2 hot peppers or jalapeños, chopped
More chopped cilantro—LOTS

Mix together salad ingredients. Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over salad. Mix with tongs or hands and serve on platter.*Dressing keeps up to three days before serving, WITHOUT cilantro.

(Easy on the Sesame oil – it’s STRONG. This salad makes a HUGE batch).

Oven Fried Chicken – Martha Stewart

(this chicken is really yummy and you’d never know it was baked and NOT fried. Truly delicious!)

SERVES 4

3 large eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons Tabasco sauce
1 medium onion, sliced 1/4-inch thick
2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup fine yellow cornmeal
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup olive oil, for brushing

Mix eggs, Tabasco, onion, and garlic in a large bowl or baking dish. Add chicken and toss well too coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Preheat oven to 450°F Place a rimmed baking sheet on center rack.
Whisk flour, cornmeal, salt, paprika, and cayenne in a medium bowl. Remove chicken from marinade and roll each piece in flour mixture, shaking off excess. Discard marinade.
Place chicken on preheated baking sheet, and bake for 20 minutes. Lightly brush top of each piece with oil and bake, brushing tops every 10 minutes until chicken is dark golden brown (30 – 40 minutes more).
Transfer chicken to a wire rack and allow to cool slightly. Serve.

(this chicken is great cold and even better the second day, I think…)

Thanks to Cindy for whippin’ up all the great flower bouquets. Also to Rhonda for making the lollipop centerpieces, with the daisy die and Big Shot machine – what a hit those were! I wish I had taken a photo! The Big Shot is so amazing, folks. Really.
I’m still on high since I got it from Santa this past Christmas. Love it lots.
Rhonda, thanks for catchin’ the idea for these ‘SWEET’ flowers!

I made lots of fun & cute door prizes and the make and takes feature new In Color inks and cardstock as well as new stamp sets: Kind & Caring Words (hostess level 3), Asian Artisty (hostess level 2); and Circle Circus. I’ll post the photos of the cards as soon as get them loaded on the computer. The ‘big’ door prize was a package of assorted In Color cardstock, a 6×6 sampler of Raspberry Lemonade DSP (designer series paper) and a package of the new In Color MARKERS! Yes, Virginia, Stampin’ Up! now has ‘In Color’ Markers! WOO HOO! Sooooo many fun new items in the new catty. And I’ve been privy to the upcoming Holiday Mini too and HOLEY MOLEY folks – hang on to yer hats! If you think the new catty was fan-freakin-tastic, just WAIT until you see the stuff coming out in the Holiday Mini (this fall). Let me put it to you this way: I had a ‘Christmas in July’ class scheduled for this month and, after seeing what’s on it’s way, I’m rescheduling it to September JUST so that I can demonstrate the new stamp sets and accessories. WOW WOW WOW! Stampin’ Up! has done it again and blown my mind! Our Christmas cards and gifts this year will be STUNNING, my stampin’ friends, STUNNING! And just wait until the kids in your life see what’s coming TOO! They are going to FLIP OUT, FREAK OUT and do cartwheels a mile a minute! Yessirebob – it’s all about the kids this summer/fall. Good times. Breath now. While you can. Buy sedatives. You may need them. (Kidding, of course). Ok. I’ve got to sign off for now. Lullabyland and dreams of stamps are calling me….