Tuesday, May 22, 2007

THE PREP AND THE PARTY......

It is now Tuesday, and the party is several days past. Oh, and what a party it was! We were blessed to have such a wonderful day (warm and plenty of sunshine); as well as plenty of friends and family to come celebrate with us. Thought I would share a few photos of the prep and the party!



First off, for all of my mom's friends back in Minnesota, here are a few photos of her hard at work!! She was the official 'cracker' of the 30 dozen eggs we scrambled on Friday!!

She tried a few times to get 'fired' (you know, egg shells in with the yolks; cracking the egg into the shells etc..) but she couldn't get off that easy!!












She 'graduated' to the cutting of the bacon to top off the egg dish casserole. With 3 large casseroles, double deep in eggs, that was quite a bit of bacon!! I just kept her coffee cup full and she was happy!!

The egg dish was a huge hit at the Open House. I will share the recipe at the end of the post. It's been our Christmas morning egg dish as long as I can remember and is very delicious. Kirstin is still getting comments from her friends at school and work on how much they loved it!!












Ryan and Mallory were up early Saturday and put together trayfuls of yogurt/fruit parfaits. These were a HUGE hit and were totally gone by the end of the open house! They just layered strawberry and vanilla yogurts with Triple Berry Fruit (from Sam's club); bananas and my homemade granola. Yum.







Kirstin decided against using her school colors for our decorating theme, but went with a gerber daisy theme instead. It was very fun. My good friend from Minnesota brought her this fun cookie bouquet from 'Cookies by Design'. It was a great decoration for the serving table and was immediately gobbled up following the open house!!















We also 'imported' the cake from Minnesota from Retha and Sandy's Sweet Shop. It is by far and away the best cake I have ever had. I ordered extra, just because I needed to ensure leftovers!! Here is the small cake we had for display... It was my personal favorite. White cake with strawberry filling. (The sheet cakes were marble with chocolate cream filling). Once again, right after the open house we cut into this cake and it was gone in record time!! (And no, I will not share how many pieces I ate.....)











Just a few fun people shots:

























And finally, a group shot of her friends and cousins who came from out of state to celebrate with her. It is a FUN group and I love them all dearly...







Here is the recipe, as promised. Eggs don't photograph that well.. so I will just say that it basically looks like scrambled eggs.

Christmas Egg Dish
(Egg/cheese)



18 eggs
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. Half and Half
3 Tbsp. butter
1 10 1/2- ounce can cream of mushroom soup
6 ounce can mushrooms, drained (optional - I don't use)
5 ounces (about 1 1/4 cups) shredded Cheddar cheese
3 to 4 slices bacon, crisply fried and crumbled (I cheat and used the pre-cooked bacon)

1. Combine eggs and Half and Half. Beat.
2. Scramble lightly in butter in large skillet.
3. Put eggs in large, shallow casserole or pan.
4. Mix soup, mushrooms* and cheese. Pour over eggs.
5. Top with bacon.
6. Bake at 250 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes.
(This can be refrigerated before baking. If so, bake 1 1/2 hours.)


Sumo has a surprise for you in my next post, so stay tuned...


Until Next Time.....

6 comments:

Robin said...

A surprise in your next post???? I can't wait. I am glad to hear that you all had a great time. We didn't have parties like that in Kansas but they do them up here in Minnesota which you already know.

marit said...

It sounds like a great party! And I will have to try that egg dish.18 eggs???wow!

Sheri at The Loopy Ewe said...

It may LOOK like scrambled eggs, but it is SO much better tasting. Yum! (As someone who had a helping of those 30 dozen eggs last weekend...)

AR said...

Yum. The cakes and cookies look so good, and the egg dish sounds delish!

Congrats, Kirstin!

Shelley L. MacKenzie said...

Sounds like the open house was a hit! I just love that cookie boquet - how original and yummy looking!

monica said...

Sounds like it was a great party and fun was had by all. I will have to try the egg dish, but maybe cut it in half. Looking forward to Sumo's surprise