Goat Cheese and Ham Wrapped Asparagus

These Goat Cheese and Ham Wrapped Asparagus were a huge hit at Matilda's "Tea for 2" party.  And surprisingly it was the men who really gobbled these up!  They are a great finger food because they don't require a fork and are easy to pick up and eat while you socialize.

Serves 15-20
Ingredients:
2 lbs. fresh asparagus
1/2 lb. honey ham
8 oz. herb goat cheese
1/3 brick cream cheese, softened
30+ fresh chives 

Cut off the tough ends of the asparagus (approximately 1"- 2"). Cook asparagus.  Only cook for a few minutes in boiling water and then shock them in a large bowl of ice water.  You do not want to over-cook the asparagus because they will lose their beautiful green color.  You also still want them to have a good bite and not be flimsy.  I'd say, in this case, better to under-cook than over-cook.

Clean your fresh chives.  We picked these from our herb garden so they are super long.  You will need one chive per asparagus spear.

Combine your herb goat cheese and the 1/3 block cream cheese.  The cream cheese will help the goat cheese be easier to work with when spreading it on the pieces of ham.

Cut ham in half or thirds (we did thirds because our ham slices were very large).  Spread a very thin layer of goat cheese on each piece of ham.  Roll up asparagus in ham/goat cheese.  Tie with a chive to secure.  Place in a container to keep cool in the refrigerator.  Can be made a day in advance.

Remove from refrigerator just prior to serving.  Place on a serving tray.  I love using white because I think it makes the colors pop, but you can use whatever you'd like.

I would suggest discarding any un-eaten asparagus after the party if it has been sitting out for several hours.  These asparagus were eaten up SO quickly. I would recommend making more than you need and maybe bringing them out in two rounds so they don't spoil. 

Give this recipe a try - you're going to love it!

Summer Pasta Salad

I love a good pasta salad, don't you?  I've tried tons of different recipes and I don't know if I've ever met a pasta salad that I didn't really like.  For Matilda's "Tea for 2" party I wanted to do an updated version of a traditional classic.  This is my version of Summer Pasta Salad with fresh herbs, sun dried tomatoes, peas, black olives and asparagus.

Serves 15-20
Ingredients:
2 lbs. tri-color rotini pasta
1 cup zesty Italian dressing
1 cup Caesar dressing
1/2 jar of sun dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
10 fresh chives
Handful of fresh parsley
1/2 cup fresh basil
2 small cans sliced black olives
Half bag of frozen peas, thawed (run under hot water)
10 cooked asparagus spears, cut into 1" pieces

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Once cooking is complete, rinse thoroughly under cold water to remove starch and set aside.

While pasta is cooking, make your dressing for the pasta salad.  Combine both dressings, sun dried tomatoes (with some of the olive oil), and all the fresh herbs.  Place in a blender and puree until dressing comes together.  Feel free to add any additional fresh herbs that your family loves.

Pour dressing into a large mixing bowl.  Combine pasta, olives, peas, asparagus, and dressing until pasta is fully coated.  Place in refrigerator to cool.  Remove from refrigerator 1 hour prior to serving and stir.  Can be made up to two days ahead of time.

 Garnish with fresh parsley or any other herbs.  We just happen to have a lot of parsley in our garden this year so that's what I chose to use.  My Grandma Marge always taught us to never serve a dish without a garnish.  I think she would be proud.

This is a wonderful dish for entertaining because it can be made up to two days in advance and only continues to get better the longer it sits.  You can add any vegetables that are in season or that your family enjoys.  I think this would be amazing with some grilled zucchini or roasted bell peppers.  Just make the dressing and see what you happen to have on hand - you can't really go wrong!

Closer Than You Think

"...the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being." Genesis 2:7

Closer than you think
By Rev. William Dohle

It's been almost twenty years now. Twenty years since I left home. Twenty years since I lived closer than 450 miles away from my parents and siblings.

In that time I've moved to college, to seminary, and into multiple calls. I've lived in California, Colorado, Montana, and Minnesota. And now we're living in Illinois, the farthest east that I've ever lived for any extended period of time.

Distance is a funny thing too for, despite how connected we may feel with the internet and our cell phone services, we still miss feeling close to our family. There's nothing quite like meeting face to face with someone you love. No internet service can ever replace that experience.

Many people might say that God is some distance away from us. As a popular song by Bette Middler said years ago: "God is watching us from a distance."

But the Bible says, quite emphatically, NO! God isn't watching you from a distance! God is here! He's the one who formed you from the ground. He's the one who planted around you that which sustains you. He's the one who breathes into your nostrils the breath of life!

And this God, this crazy God who gets his hands dirty in the dust of this ground. This God doesn't just leave you alone. He never really returns to heaven. Instead this God breathes in you the breath of life each and every day.

Take a breath. Breathe in slowly. Let it out just as slow. That breath was given to you by God who breathes life in you . Like a divine CPR rescuer, our God is continually keeping us alive by his grace and love.

And still he does more. This God surrounds us with good green things. He provides for us animals to care for. A garden called earth to live in. And even helpers(spouses and children) who provide company for us so we are not alone.

Thank God for his continual, eternal, awesome presence among us that never leaves us, never lets go, and never lets any distance come between us in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Creator God, you formed us from the ground with your hands and have been keeping us alive by your breath. May we sense and know your presence among us that we may see that nothing can separate us from your love, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

{ Tea for 2 Birthday Party }

About a week ago we celebrated Miss Matilda's 2nd birthday with a "Tea for 2" party.  I got the idea for this party about six months ago.  Matilda loves playing with her tea set and I thought this would make for a lovely party theme outdoors.  We really lucked out with the most gorgeous day!  It was sunny, low 80's, very little humidity - perfect for an outdoor tea! 

 Matilda's Squinty Little Smile

Matilda had a great time at her party!  She ate lots, played with her balloons and bouncy balls, and had a lot of fun opening presents and eating cake.  She kept saying "Happy Day", "Happy Day"!!  She really understood this year that the party was all about her and she enjoyed every minute of it.

The party was inspired by the gorgeous Anna Griffin fabric that I recently purchased.  I just loved the yellows and pinks which made me instantly think of little Matilda.  I created her birthday dress from one of my own patterns that will be coming out later this year - the "I'm a little teapot dress".  You can read more about her birthday dress here.

We had about 35 close family and friends attend the party.  At age 2, the party is as much for the adults as it is the children so I made sure to have a mix of food and beverages for all ages.

I set up a little area for the kids.  I brought out the girls small table and covered the chairs with vintage pillowcases.  Then I draped some vintage linens over the top of the table (which I taped underneath so they wouldn't move around).  I also put out two large quilts and the girls upholstered sitting chair for an area to open presents and for the little babies to hang out.  We brought out lots of the girls stuffed animals and baby dolls to play with as well.

For the adults we brought out the furniture that is in our sunroom, but for some reason I didn't snap a picture of that area.  It was a settee and three sitting chairs.  We brought out some side tables to have areas to set down drinks as well as a few white Adirondack chairs.

The main tent is where we kept all the food and most of the beverages.  Luckily our yard is pretty shady with all the trees, but this just kept any extra sun from making the food too warm.  Thank goodness there were no bugs out this day either!

I served lots of tasty treats at Matilda's "Tea for 2" party.  I just love menu planning and cooking food for parties - so much fun!

Asparagus wrapped with herb goat cheese, ham, and tied with a fresh chive.

Summer Pasta Salad with homemade sun dried tomato dressing, olives, peas and asparagus.

Summer Berry Salad served in waffle cones.

Lemon Lavender Shortbread Tea Cookies

Tea Sandwiches - Chicken Walnut Salad, Cucumber with Chive Cream Cheese, and PB&J.

 Brownie Bites, Coconut Macaroons, Apricot and Raspberry Shortbread Cookies

 Lemon Cranberry Scones

 Palmiers (aka Elephant Ear Cookies)

Old Fashioned Store-bought Wafer Cookies

Beverages are a big part of our events, so we made sure to have plenty on hand.  We had iced tea (can't have a tea party without tea, right?), a variety of wine, sparkling lemonades, sodas, water, and my husband's home-brewed beer.

Governor's Mansion Summer Peach Tea Punch

The tea and beverages were served in canning jars.  Mason jars are my favorite drinking glass of choice - we had two different sizes and the small ones were just right for little hands.  I also tied the little ones with some pink tulle for added color.

Like I said above, when your kiddos are little, the parties are just as much for the parents as the little ones.  For each of the girls birthday bashes my husband has made a variety of beers for the adult guests.  This year was no exception.  The main theme beer was the "Peach Mango Tea" beer, but we also had several other varieties on tap.  He always makes these cute little labels for each beer......my favorite label was the "Pigtail Pale".  I didn't get to taste any of the beer this year, but maybe next year!

The long folding table was decorated with a basic tablecloth and then I layered some vintage linens on the top which included a small tablecloth and napkins.

I wrapped the silverware in napkins with some twine.  I used light pink, bright pink and yellow napkins.  The plates coordinated with the napkins and I put out additional forks in a canning jar.

I made a banner from doilies that I cut in half and stitched onto a pale pink ribbon (tutorial to come).  I also took some basic paper streamers and ruffled them with a gathering stitch on my sewing machine and I turned several of them into flowers as well.

In the picture above you can see the paper flowers.  I placed these in several different places as well as in two white bird cages that we used for decoration.

I made some fun, pretty headbands for the little girls to play with at the party.  Here are a couple of the cuties wearing them.........

And for the boys, I made these funny little man mustaches..........

Matilda waited very patiently to open her presents.  Actually she was a very patient little lady all day long.  I was very impressed, especially because it was a "no nap" day for her (which could be disastrous).

Big sister, Savannah, got in on the present action too, but did a very good job just "helping" rather than taking over.

We gave out simple party favors of side-walk chalk for the children that attended the party.

I printed this nice saying on our computer and then taped them to each little box of chalk.  Each box was tied with pink tulle.

In life you need these things.........

 Tea,

Chocolate,

And friends to share them with. 

Thanks for coming to my Tea for 2 party.

Love, Matilda Jane

And finally, the cake.  I bet you've never seen one like this before.......it's kind of a funny story.

At first Savannah told me that Matilda wanted a cake for her birthday, then she decided that she wanted cupcakes (mind you, this was NOT Savannah's party).  And finally she settled on the fact that Matilda wanted a cake with cupcakes on top.  It's all she could talk about.  I told her that it was Matilda's birthday so we would let her decide what she wanted.  Savannah said, "Matilda, do you want a cake with cupcakes on top?" and Matilda said "yeah!!!".  Savannah said, "See Mommy, that's what she wants!".

So, though I would have loved to do a little tea pot cake or something a little more elegant, sometimes you just have to make your children's dreams come true.  We purchased a large sheet cake with no writing on top.  Then I took the wrappers off of 18 cupcakes and placed them on top.  We sprinkled the top of the cake with thick, white sugar and fine, pink sugar.  Savannah loved helping me with this and was tickled pink to finally have a cake with cupcakes on top.

To be honest, it made for very easy serving.  We gave each of the kids a cupcake straight off the top of the cake and cut the rest of the cake for the adults.  I think Savannah may be on to something with this idea!

All and all we had a great time at Matilda's birthday party and couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day!  Good food, good drinks and great family and friends.  The girls were wiped out by the end of the day and tucked into bed by 6:00!!  

And again, Happy Birthday to my little baby girl!

I'll be sharing recipes and a few decorating ideas from the party over the next couple weeks, so stay tuned for some yummy recipes to come!