Get In My Belly. Recipes That Didn't Disappoint.

Hey folks!! 

So last time I gushed about all the handmade and personal touches that went into the baby shower that I hosted for my sister-in-law.  I still swoon over the pictures!  This post is dedicated to all the amazing recipes (and their creators) that were created. 

I'm telling you, do yourself a favor and find a reason (any reason) and make some or ALL of these!  You won't be sorry.

With the shower being at 2pm, I knew that I wanted to make some lighter snacky options that were both savory and sweet.  I scoured Pinterest and started pinning away.  The menu was narrowed down to three savory options, fresh fruit and dip and 2 desserts.  Along with the food, guests could choose between iced tea or punch. 

The savory dishes included:

Corn Muffin Thumbprints.  I followed Cristen's recipe to the letter and opted to top these thumbprints with Matt's homemade strawberry jam that he cans every year.  These little gals were delicious!  The honey butter and little bits of corn, woo! 

Fresh Fruit and Orange Creamsicle Dip.  Deliciousness abounds!  I'm a BIG lover of all things creamsicle and this was spot on.  For this recipe I did substitute fresh OJ for concentrate.  

The two other recipes... Blogger Fail.  No pictures.  Alas.  You'll just have to trust me and make them without the pictures.  I'm a trustworthy gal, promise.

This Pickle Wrap Dip tastes JUST LIKE those old school, painstakingly created Pickle Wraps.  My mom is a champion Pickle Wrap maker and finding a shortcut recipe was right up my alley!  I've made this dip several times and always add a splash or two of pickle juice just before stirring.  Extra pickle flavor never hurt nobody!  

At each table setting, I set a small paper cup of this Snack Mix.  I added garlic powder in lieu of the infused olive oil and also added some chili powder.  Initially, I was a little worried this might be more spicy than most of the group could take, but they all ponied up and loved it!

On to the desserts.  Oh, the desserts!

Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake and Mini Apple Tarts, oh my!  They were as delicious as they look.  The cake was epic!  Seriously.  I'm a sucker for the salted caramel phase that's going around and it paired great with vanilla ice cream.  I did end up doubling the chocolate frosting recipe.  Because well, it's frosting!  

The Mini Apple Tarts were a variation of this recipe.  I opted to use store bought pie crust and went with apple filling because I'd canned some last fall... that was delicious!  Is there any interest in having my write up all my adaptations and post this recipe?  Lemme know!

To wash down all these tasty treats, I served good ol' Lipton raspberry ice tea and punch. 

 

The punch was super-duper good, but I didn't follow the recipe to the letter.  Based on several of the reviews I decided to use raspberry sherbert instead of strawberry ice cream.  And I did float some limes and lemons!  It tasted great and obviously the color was spot on too!