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Yes, that is a strange combination, but this weekend I was mostly busy prepping and planning for a friend’s baby shower, as well as catching up on season 5 of Weeds. Oh my gosh!! That show is ca-razy! Does anyone else watch it? We don’t have Showtime, but the season premiere is starting and I sure wish we did! I guess while we’re on the topic to tv shows, I’m also super excited about the start of ‘It’s Always Sunny’ in September. That show is pretty crazy funny too. Honestly, I don’t watch that much tv because it takes so much time and once I fall into our old, dilapidated couch I can’t seem to pry myself up. I’d rather not get stuck if I can help it, but every once in awhile it’s fun to get lost in a fictional story where the lives of the characters are much more crazy, twisted and down right funnier than mine. Read on, there’s lots of pasta salad and mini cupcakes to be made!  

When I first found out that my friend from school was having a baby shower I immediately wanted to help! I always enjoy making large batches of yummy food and enjoying it with friends. It wasn’t like your typical shower where about 20-something women get together and play random baby games like guessing the melted candy bar in the poopy diaper.  It was much more casual with family, friends and couples invited to socialize at her church and hang out.  Even though we were expecting about 70 people (yikes), it was going to be in the afternoon so snacky, appetizer items would suffice.

I decided to make a batch of refreshing pasta salad, along with mini cupcakes.  It turned out fairly easy, even though I wish I had an industrial kitchen!

The pasta salad was simple with a light vinaigrette dressing since I pretty much despise those creamy, mayo-laden salads with more mayo than pasta or veggies.  ick.  I won’t give particular measurements because I kind of winged it and you probably wouldn’t want a recipe this large anyways!  I’ll put the approx. measures in ( )

• elbow macaroni (4lbs)
• various colored bell peppers, chopped (6)
• cucumbers, chopped (3)
• feta cheese, crumbled (4 cups)
• 4 cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• large jar of marinated artichokes + the juice for the marinade
• white balsamic vinegar + olive oil
• salt, pepper, garlic powder, AP seasoning

That’s it!  Just throw everything together and let it soak and marinate overnight.  My kitchen was soooo HOT after this.  I had the burners going to boil all the pasta and the oven blasting for several batches of cupcakes.  It’s still pretty hot here in Vegas and in the 100s, so the house was a blazin’.

Now for the mini cupcakes, I took some help from Betty Crocker and yes, I used a box mix.  I don’t really mind them either, the dark chocolate mix is divine!  I did make my own frosting because I don’t like all the added ingredients in the store bought ones.  Cream cheese frosting is very very simple and very very good.

• 2 blocks of cream cheese (I used one light)
• 2 sticks of butta (oh yes)
• 3 cups of powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2-3/4 tsp of almond extract (I really like this flavor but it is optional)

Mix everything together until smooth and decorate!  I also added some blue food coloring until it was a light blue for her baby boy.

Buster the Basset always like to help in the kitchen just in case I drop anything 🙂  Usually I have to wake him up though.

I’m not the best decorator, but I was in a rush!

I adore anything mini!  Just for comparison . . .

The food was fab!  Everyone enjoyed the pasta salad and cupcakes.

I really liked the hummus selection too 🙂

One friend made chocolate covered pretzels with the date on them, very neat!

Guessing games!

Gifts!

The shower went really well and I liked how low-key it was.  There was a diaper raffle where if you bring in some diapers you get entered to win a gift card to a restaurant.  There were also some other guessing games like when the baby will arrive, how much it will weigh, etc.  Everyone had a nice time.

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After cleaning up and heading back home, Chris and I decided to go out to eat for once and made another low-key, but delicious selection with Al’s Garage.  It’s very informal and you can pick your seat when you walk in.  There are tv screens with sports all over the place and the walls are tagged with graffiti.  Fun!

Sometimes you just feel like a beer and a burger!  I ordered a blue moon and Chris got a deep, dark Guiness Stout.

For dinner you can build your own burger for $8.95 and sweet tater fries can be subbed for free, yum!

I got the ground chuck patty on whole wheat, with roasted peppers, mushrooms, onions and ziki sauce.  The patties are not freshly formed, but it was still delicious.  I just wish there would have been more ziki sauce.  I had 1/2 the burger with the bun and then the rest without the bun.

Then we decided to get dessert because they have deep-fried Twinkies, oh dear.  I can’t tell you the last time I’ve even had a Twinkie, but hey, got to try it fried at least one time!  I had 1/2 of it and it was actually pretty tasty, but rich.  Imagine that.

Once we got home, we had a marathon of Weeds watching and are on the edge of our seats for season 6!

Hope you had a nice weekend!  I honestly can’t believe where the summer has disappeared to.  Does anyone else know?  I managed to fit in a swimming sesh and body pump, but need to get back in gear . . . I’ve got a century coming up in October, eeek!

What’s your favorite TV Show?