That’s what Pinterest is made of
Nothing says spring is here more than the beautiful colors of the azaleas in bloom around Shreveport-Bossier City. Not only are the flowers in bloom, so is my dear friend Kristen, who is expecting her first baby in June. She and her husband Chandler are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their little girl Ella Grace, and I for one can’t wait to hold that little nugget.
Before the big day arrives, however, there is a lot of business to take care of, and by that, I mean a baby shower. I was happy to help co-host a shower for Kristen and little Ella, and of course Pinterest helped along the way. I normally like to have a win and a fail each month, but fortunately, both attempts for the shower were big wins I am happy to pass along.
Jalapeño Cheddar Pull-Apart Bread I must come clean off the bat here, I broke my earlier advice and made not one but two things I didn’t test out before the big day. I was a lucky girl that it worked out. With this bread, I figured you couldn’t go wrong.
The recipe (which on Pinterest is called Pull-Apart Party Loaf) calls for a loaf of round bread, 1/2 cup chopped, cooked bacon, 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup chopped jalapeños, one teaspoon of dry ranch dressing mix and five or six slices of cheese cut into small pieces.
Using a serrated knife, cut the bread into a grid pattern, but don’t cut all the way through. Mix the remaining ingredients together thoroughly. Place the loaf of bread in the center of two pieces of foil that are laid out in the shape of a cross.
The recipe then calls for you to spoon the mix into the spaces of the bread, but unless you have a tiny little elf spoon and a big dose of patience, I recommend skipping the spoon. I used my fingers, which helped because I was able to spread out some of the bread squares that may have been a little tough to pull out otherwise.
Bake for 30 minutes in a 350-degree oven, and get ready to enjoy some yum.
This looked just like the picture from the pin (which I was more excited about than anything I think) and was really delicious. It presents well, and I got a lot of requests for the recipe.
The only problem I ran into is that it’s hard to remove from the loaf. I’m not sure I would make it for a group of strangers because it really takes two hands to get the squares out. For a group of friends it makes for a great appetizer, and is really easy.
Vanilla Brown Sugar Scrub Who doesn’t love to have soft, buttery skin? Well I suppose there’s someone out there who doesn’t, but I don’t know them.
As my fellow hosts and I tossed around ideas for a shower favor for the guests to take home with them, we decided on an exfoliating sugar scrub.
I volunteered to create the concoction.
This was really fun.
My mom helped me – we had a bit of a Lucy and Ethel moment in the kitchen as we worked out our system, but I think the end result was worth the comedic interlude.
I used a recipe from a pin that led me to www.wellnessmama.com. There were so many flavors and combinations to choose from. For the sake of trying to please the majority of the guests, I made the vanilla scented option with brown sugar.
The recipe calls for 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup almond oil (I used olive for the sake of attempting to be economical), 1/2 teaspoon vitamin E oil and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Those amounts make a small batch.
I made about four times that amount – there were 36 guests expected. It smelled good, looked great in the jars with ribbons and tags that said “From Kristen’s Shower to Yours,” and was fun to make.
There was a recipe for a Lemon Kitchen Scrub made with white sugar and lemon extract to keep next to your sink that I think might be my next project. It’s quite possible, however, that Kristen and Chandler’s little sugar will be here before that happens.
