And the Oscar goes to...

As I mentioned on Friday, I looove Oscar Sunday. It's like my Super Bowl. And this year I pulled out all the stops. (Well, all the stops I had the energy to pull.) My friend Ailsa came by, and she and Jared did their best to get on board with my enthusiasm. We had Oscar inspired food, and we even played Oscar Bingo (courtesy of How About Orange), which I highly recommend if you're trying to get people to sit through all 18 hours and 37 minutes of the Oscar telecast.

Ailsa started out our afternoon with some delicious elderflower champagne cocktails, which we figured covered the whole French contingent: Midnight in Paris, The Artist, and Hugo. I loved the combination of the St. Germain and mint in these cocktails. If you have a bottle of champagne leftover from a party, this would be a great way to jazz it up.

Then it was time to scarf down delicately eat a few traditional Southern Deviled Eggs, inspired by The Help. I don't know why deviled eggs get relegated to holidays and showers. They are entirely too delicious to only be eaten a few times a year.

For dinner we made Pioneer Woman's BBQ Comfort Meatballs (or Moneyballs... hey-o!) and they were everything PW promised they would be. Like little meatloaf balls of heaven. Make these for anything - Oscars, a potluck, Saturday snacktime. They'll be a hit. Unless you're a vegetarian.

For dessert... well, for dessert I really pulled out all the stops. I made Coconut Ice Cream with Caramel and Fudge Ribbons. I wanted to call it "Descending into Decadence" for the Descendants, but Jared rolled his eyes so many times at that name I figured I'd better drop it and let the coconut be homage enough. This was my own little concoction, so I was crossing everything I had that it would be good... and it was. Oh, holy hannah, it was good. Homemade caramel sauce, homemade hot fudge sauce, it was all worth it. The whole thing was dairy free, but it doesn't have to be. I'll be posting the recipe tomorrow so be sure to check back.

I hope you all enjoyed Oscar Sunday as much as I did! :-)

{made for dinner} recipe round-up

I've been too busy this week to keep up with my Google Reader (and even Pinterest - gasp!), so instead of Link Love I thought I'd recap a few of the recipes we've made lately. I found all of these on Pinterest, and am happy to report that they all turned out very well.

  • Avocado Pesto Pasta on Chef Chloe - Good dairy-free pasta recipes have been surprisingly hard to come by, so my taste buds perked up when I saw this unique take on a traditional pesto pasta. It's super easy to make, and the avocado makes it very smooth and creamy. I was worried the dish would end up tasting too much like avocado, but it's surprisingly subtle and is balanced very nicely by the basil. It does make the pasta pretty rich, though, so small servings are more than enough.
  • Pasta with Asparagus, Pancetta, and Pine Nuts on Cooking Light - This pasta is also very tasty, even without the parm (Jared added it to his... lucky guy). The pine nuts and pancetta cook while the water and pasta are boiling, making this a fairly quick weeknight dish. And you could easily substitute bacon for the pancetta.
  • Baked Turkey Teriyaki Meatballs on Tasty Kitchen - These are supposed to be little appetizers for a party, but we made them regular sized and served them over rice and steamed broccoli for dinner. I especially loved the teriyaki sauce, which could be used in a lot of different applications. I'd be interested to try these with ground pork, for a slightly less healthy but tastier alternative.
I hope you all have a great weekend! We're heading up to Seattle for the going away party of two very dear friends who are leaving the rainy Pacific Northwest for sunny California. I'll be very jealous of them until approximately next July. Oh, and I had a wonderful 30th birthday. Pics and a party recap coming soon! (While I'm still 30, I promise.) :-)