Drop In & Decorate

Back in 2002 one of my good food blogger friends, Lydia started a wonderful program called Drop in & Decorate. It’s a simple concept: bake some cookies, invite friends or family (or co-workers or neighbors) to drop by and help decorate, and donate your cookies to a local food pantry, emergency shelter, senior center, lunch program, or other nonprofit agencies meeting the basic human needs of people in your own communities.

This year if you’d like to host your own Drop In & Decorate® event, Pillsbury and Wilton would like to help.

Pillsbury has donated 50 VIP coupons, worth $3.00 each, off any Pillsbury product -- including sugar cookie mix and icing -- to be distributed, first come, first served, while supply lasts, to anyone who plans to host a Drop In & Decorate event (max. 5 coupons per person). And she iwll also include a Comfort Grip cookie cutter, donated by Wilton, to people who plan to host cookies-for-donation events.

There’s also a free downloadable guide with everything you need to know to host your own party, available on the Drop In & Decorate web site.

It’s a simple idea in a complicated world, and something anyone can do!  If you’d like more information, you can visit the web site or contact Lydia directly at lydiaATdropinanddecorateDOTorg.

Check out Lydia’s site for more details .

Photos courtesy of Drop In & Decorate and Lydia Walshin

Thanksgiving Day Preperations!

I am starting to feel a little guilty about not having helped you out a whole lot with your entertaining plans this year! I have been going full tilt the last week or so which is normal for most of us getting ready for Thanksgiving.

This is just a guide line of what I do to prepare:

1) Set my guest list: This year we have 13 people coming. Of that number I have 5 children.

2) Make a list of all the menu items I am going to be making:

Turkey
Dressing (stuffing)
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Cranberries
Cake

I have asked my guests to bring a dish of their choice. That wasy everyone gets to share in the meal!

3) Make a list of all the ingredients that I will need.

4) Go through my pantry and freezer to cross of the list what I already have.

5) The last list is of all the items I need to purchase. This list is broken down by store (Costco, Publix etc.)

Hope this helps in getting you organized this year!

For some really good recipes this year my friend Jerry over at Cooking...by the seat of my Pants! has done a post featuring some of his best Turkey Day recipes!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

First Monthly Potluck Dinner...huge success!

What a great night it was. Being surrounded by a large group of your friends, sharing food, wine, conversation and lots of fun. The children swam or played most of the night so it was really just us adults all gathered around a large table "breaking bread"!

We decided to give this a try. We have a huge circle of friends and feel very fortunate for this but it has seemed that in the last year or so that we are all losing touch with each other. None of us really wanted to invest all of the money, time and energy into a huge party that was sponsored by just one of us so this was a natural progression for us. We started the planning of this a month and a bit out but there was really nothing to it short of finding out who was available and what they would bring. All I had to do as hostess was have a couple of bottles of wine on hand, buy the paper products and clear a space for the food! It was so cool to be surrounded by all of these people for such a fun night...thanks to all of you for coming!!!

For this month's Potluck I choose and Italian theme for the ease of it.

The food was great we supplied the lasagna (recipe later this week!) and everyone else brought the rest.

We had a great Caesar Salad (no pictures)

Antipasti platter (yumm...no pictures)

Cannellini Bean salad with Tuna (this was delicious and will make it this week):


Bruschetta (gotta have bread)

Gazpacho (incredible!)

Ice Cream Dessert (where to start??? This was amazing! I am working on getting the recipe as they had a triathlon this weekend and were out of town!)

Smucker's Uncrustables. A necessity at any party where you have more than 2 children...This is the one thing they are guaranteed to eat. They are against everything I believe in food wise but are a great treat!!!

I think I have some takers for hosting this event next month. It really was so easy. Clean up was a breeze as everyone brought there own stuff and took it home. Please consider trying this if you have a group of friends that are as busy as we all are!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Can you help me?

I am having a party on Thursday and I have no idea at all what to serve for an alcoholic beverage. I have red and white wine but I like to have a drink as well. We just served Margarita's on Labor Day and I don't want one of those again yet! I was thinking something fruity with Vodka or Rum. I would also like to be able to make it ahead and have it in pitcher's to serve through out the party. Any ideas? I think last year I did Vodka with pineapple juice, orange juice and cranberry.

Let me know if you have anything better than that for me!

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
http://www.nofearentertaining.com/

Another crazy weekend!

I woke up yesterday just like every other morning, a little stiff, a little achy (we were in a serious car accident about 3 years ago and are still being treated so this is normal). Little did I know that within an hour I would hardly be able to move my head!!! I somehow ended up with a huge knot in my neck as have pain halfway down my back, through my chest and head!!! Not nearly as much fun as it sounds. Oh well...life still goes on and I still have things to do!

I am in the midst of preparing for my Partylite Candle party which is gong to be on Thursday night. I am pretty excited. I have a bunch of new recipes that I can't wait to try out. I can't wait to give you the recipes and have pictures to show you as well!

Partylite Party Menu

Wild Mushroom Dip
Spinach Veggie Sandwiches
Make Ahead Marinated Shrimp
Cream Cheese Lollipops
Brownies

I am kinda stumped on a drink to make. If anyone has any ideas that would help me greatly! I would like something that I can make a big batch of and have in pitchers to serve during the party. I should have about 15 or so people. Any ideas????

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Football is on.....

Have I mentioned how much I dislike football!!! Pretty sure you have the point by now. But seriously now once it starts that is all there is. Last night Tony TIVO'd a game so when I went to bed I got to here the lovely sound of the remote and TV "boinging" through the fast forward and pause etc. Then this morning we runaround like crazy people trying to get things done before a 1:00 kick off! Oh well maybe I should do a count down to super bowl?

Enough about that! I am having a Partylite candle party in October. I would never have them but for the fact that the girl who does the party is a ton of fun and of course I love their product. I will be figuring out food and drinks as it gets a bit closer. So stay tuned in!

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

What would salad be without the toppings?

Is anyone doing anything fun this weekend...maybe having a party and stuck for ideas on what to serve? It is Labor Day you know. That means 3 whole days off! How about inviting some friends over and doing something simple like Hamburgers on the grill? Maybe a choice of Hamburgers or Hot dogs? My husband is convinced that you can serve people just about anything as long as you have lots of toppings! About a year ago we were making some Black Beans and Rice. Pretty simple meal but we ended up inviting some of our friends over and we had about 10 people for a real simple dinner but everyone agreed it was all in the toppings! For toppings we had crumbled Mexican cheese, jalapenos, onions, hot sauce, sour cream, tomatoes, and avocado. It sure makes the meal. What would salad be without the toppings? A bowl full of lettuce!

I guess in all of my rambling what I am trying to say is be a little creative with your toppings. If you are serving Hamburgers try putting out some sliced avocado, BBQ sauce, different types of cheeses (blue cheese burgers are big right now), different types of mustard, tomatoes, maybe bell peppers sliced. Just try something different. Your guests will just really appreciate being invited and all the special attention to toppings will truly make the meal!

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
http://www.nofearentertaining.com/

P.S. My FREE monthly newsletter will be going out the first week of September. You don't want to miss it! Sign up now at http://www.nofearenertaining.com/

Am I in A Panic? No Way!

If you have been following my Blog you will know that I am in the midst of planning a party during the Labor Day weekend. I now have a guest list of over 30 people. Am I freaked out? Am I suffering from "fear of entertaining"? No Way!!! I love this. I follow the "7 Golden Rules of No Fear Entertaining". By following these rules I am able to save myself a lot of time, energy and money! You can get these FREE by going to my website at http://www.nofearentertaining.com/ and signing up for my FREE monthly newsletter (which I am currently working on and it is going to be GREAT) and automatically you will receive the "7 Golden Rules of No Fear Entertaining" as an added bonus!

Judy
http://www.nofearentertaining.com/

Deciding on a Menu

We have pretty much decided what we are going to serve for our Labor Day party. Now we have to figure out where to get the items from. I have found some really good online sources for some of our menu. I have put some of those links on my website at http://www.nofearentertaining.com/ on Our Favorite Links page. Check them out!