Stuffed Mushrooms

My girlfriend Farrah made these for a Progressive dinner we had at Christmas. I fell in love. These are perfect for a get together, a Super Bowl Party, or any time really. They are heaven! We made them for a get together with friends a few nights ago. They were a hit. For the numbers... there was about 20 people, and we made 48 mushrooms, so they go pretty far!

Ingredients: Package of Cream Cheese (I made mine with 2 packages)

Package of Sausage (Jimmy Dean works great!)

4 packages of Mushrooms (smaller, the better)

Step 1: Brown your sausage in a frying pan.

2. After the sausage is done, open your cream cheese. Cut it into small cubes to put into your sausage mixture.

3. So I wanted the sausage in littler pieces, so I put it in the Magic Bullet or you could use a chopper to make the pieces smaller. 

Add in a couple or so pieces of cream cheese at a time. Keep on mixing. It seems like forever, but it will eventually mix in, like the picture below. 

5. After it is mixed, I set the mushroom mixture to the side. 

6. Start to de-stem the mushrooms. I found the easiest way was to push the stem from the side. That seemed to make them come out a bit easier. Be careful not to crack the sides, like I did. :)

 

7. Find yourself a "particular" friend or husband, unless you are a particular one yourself, and start rubbing the dirt off the mushrooms. You're not supposed to wash mushrooms with water. It soaks up too much water. Thank you sweet Janeil Brucks!

8. Lay out the de-stemmed and cleaned mushrooms on a cookie sheet. We were able to get 48 mushrooms on a cookie sheet, so 6 to a row.

9. Go to town. Start filling the mushrooms. It makes it easier to use a knife and spoon. 

10. Bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes, or until they are juicy and more brown than they were before. 

Share with a friend, but save at least 2 or 3 for yourself. Enjoy! 

Pennant Birthday Party

We celebrated Hayden's Birthday in October when she turned 1. I love to throw a party, so it was fun for me to personalize and plan this for her, well let's be real, I guess it was for me. I planned this party around Pennants. I'm obsessed with pennants! I think they are so, so cute!!

I created the labels on Photoshop, as well. The cute Blackboard Poster was inspired by the Moulage Collection found here on Etsy. I found it through this cute website. This girl is a creative & talented chica!

So here's the spread below. 

On the MENU

Veggies & Ranch

Jube Jube Cookies, a family favorite

Fruit & dip

Cupcakes & Ice Cream

and of course, candy galore! (Rainbow licorice, butterfly gummies, bubble gum, Jube Jubes and homemade gumdrops)

Jube Jubes are a Canadian candy found here.

The homemade gumdrops were a bit interesting, but they were darling. The tutorial can be found here. This is a darling site! My good friend Kym said that they tasted like a candy from a Foreign country, so take that however you want to. :) They were good, just not as sweet as regular candy. 

*Photo Credit given to myself & Stephen found here.

Here is a Tutorial of how to make a Pennant. 

Materials:

• Fabric (I chose probably 10 or so coordinating fabrics)
• White Thread
• Bias Tape, Extra Wide Double Fold
• Rotary Cutter
• Iron
• Sewing Machine

It was pretty easy to do this. I am NOT a sewer and I could do it! Here's a VERY simplified version of this tutorial:

1. Cut out triangles.

you can either trace a pre-cut triangle or measure it with a Cutting Mat/Rotary Ruler too. My triangles were about 3" x 3" x 3". This part took the longest to cut out the triangles. I kept my fabric doubled, so I could cut out two at a time, which would be sewn together later. 

2. Put fabric right side to right side.

Match up your triangles, right sides together. Pin them or iron them, whatever you feel most comfortable with. Sew only the two sides together up until the point of the triangle. Don't sew the top.

3. Cut the tip of the triangle off. 

Make sure you don't cut on the thread, but this will make it easier to turn the fabric to it's right side. 

4. Turn your triangles back to their right side.

After you are done sewing all of your triangles, turn them outside to the right way. Someone once told me that if you use a chopstick to push the point out, it's helpful! They were right, it is! If the point isn't as sharp for you, keep pushing it out with the chopstick.

5. Iron your triangles flat.

6. Sew your triangles to your Bias tape.

Your bias tape is already folded, so all you have to do is slip your triangle in between the bias tape. I would pin along the way and ALWAYS make sure that it's equally under the tape on both sides. On a couple of my pennants, the triangles weren't sewed on all the way. 

7. Ta-da!! You have yourself a beautiful Pennant! Hang it & enjoy!

Now, if you would like a more detailed Tutorial, I found one here at Craftaholics Anonymous!