Little Penelope Lane Party & Recipes

Saturday was the day! I hosted a Little Penelope Lane hair party. The long day of cooking and cleaning paid off with a good turn out of really fun girls! Poor Aaron was forced to find plans out of the house but after coming home and finding a lot of the banana bars left over for him I don't think he minded that much:-) Here are some pictures of the party...







This is Sarah, the creative girl herself! Check out her blog or join her facebook page to see more of her creations. Did you know that she is also a very talented photographer? Well, she is! Check out her photography blog (she did our last family pictures). Speaking of family photos, Sarah is doing a fund raiser right now to help her darling little girl that has Spina Bifida Myelomengocele and Hydrocephalus get her first bike that she can ride all by her self! Go to her photography blog to read more and find out how to schedule a time!


Some of you asked for the recipes of some of the dishes I had at the party so I put links and tips for the dishes below.



A- Ice-cream cone cupcakes. I used a box mix for them and didn't use a recipe but I found one that sound about right HERE. I filled them a little bit more so it would look like the ice-cream was dripping over. I also found that if you use the "Whipped" frosting it stays better on top. I frosted them then put some star sprinkles on them and a cherry on top. These little cupcakes are darling BUT you need to know that they are not easy to move . So, frost them where you want to serve them and don't wiggle the table because they will ALL fall over and you will get frustrated trying to fix them. I learned the hard way.

B- Frosted Banana bars. A huge hit! I think my husband fell in love with me all over again after trying these. Even people that don't really like bananas liked THESE. I stuck to the recipe for this one and didn't change anything. Oh, FYI- a "cube" of butter = one stick of butter (also learned the hard way).

C- White pizza with spinach and fresh tomatoes. I used THIS recipe but without the crawfish tails (yuck). I also went light on the garlic to be better for a crowd but if I were to make it again for my self I would put more garlic on it. I also added a sprinkle of spinach (frozen and then thawed) and some tomatoes from my garden on top. I didn't actually make the pizza dough. I just went to one of my favorite pizza places ( Cortinas ) and bought the dough ready to be baked. It was only $1.18 per pizza dough! They have an Italian market attached to the restaurant and have everything Italian you could need. That is where I bought my fresh mozzarella too. If I had a Tader Joes somewhat near by I probably would have picked up their hole wheat pizza dough but I live in a black hole for Trader Joes so Cortinas was a good option.

D- Black forest ham , brie, and raspberry preserve sandwich. I got the idea from watching a cooking show and changed it up a little.THIS is the original recipe. I used black forest ham (the recipe just says ham) and ciabatta bread instead of a baguette. I found using a baguette was just to "bready" and hard to eat. I also put the ham and brie on the ciabatta bread then covered it in tin foil and baked at 400 degrees for about 15 min (till the brie is all melty)then took it out and THEN spread the raspberry preserves on so that it didn't make the bread mushy. I also put the sandwich back in the oven for about 5 min to make the top crispy. This is a really easy sandwich and it turns out looking and tasting fancy. Also a crowd pleaser & Pregnant lady approved ;-)

E-Pesto Pizza. I was inspired by THIS blog post. I'm not vegan so I used regular fresh mozzarella cheese and the same pizza dough that I used in the White pizza. I make my own pesto from fresh basil, garlic, olive oil, pine nuts, salt, and Parmesan cheese. I put it all in the blender and add more of what ever to taste. You could probably use the recipe for the pesto that is on the blog post or just buy some at the store if you don't want to deal with making it your self. I do have to say though that home made pesto is always 10 times better then store bought. This pizza was one of my favorites of the night.

F- Spinach salad with glazed walnuts, fresh granny smith apples, shaved Parmesan cheese and a raspberry vinaigrette. I didn't use a recipe for this. I just bought a bag of baby spinach, chopped up two granny smith apples, used glazed walnuts bought from the store, put in some shaved Parmesan cheese that I used on the pizzas, and used a raspberry vinaigrette from the store (any brand would probably be fine. It's the raspberry part that is important.) I would have put some blue cheese crumbles in it but forgot to buy it so that is why I used the Parmesan. I think I liked it better.

Okay, that's it! Enjoy!