Pool Birthday Party – recipes & labels

Computer Boy turned 10 in January. When I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday this year he said “can i just have a regular party, not with a theme?” GAH! He decided to have his party at the local recreation center pool and water playground. My kids love to swim, so with 2 feet of snow on the ground we headed off to the pool.

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I kept it simple so it didn’t feel like a huge party theme. I used blue ombre waves in the decorating with beach ball colors for the rest.

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The centerpiece was the fondant cake. For the invitations I wrote all the party details on beach balls and delivered them to the school.

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My favorite part is coming up with the themed party food. It was around lunch so we started off with “sand”wiches. Get it??? HA!

Then “take a dip” with veggies and Crack Dip (seriously, this dip is AMAZING)

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And I made these beach ball sugar cookies!

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This party was different than most, because most of the party food was bought rather than made!  But there were so many easy foods out there to pick from!  I love the gummie floaty options, inner tubes and noodles…

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Goldfish was easy, but these tidepools did NOT turn out. I went to 3 different stores looking for blue jell-o with nothing, so I bught lime and added blue dye. It end up WAY to dar, and you can’t see the gummie fish at the bottom. But that didn’t stop the kids from eating them all!

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I kind of wish I had taken the time to cut the corners off one side of these sugar wafer “kickboards” but no one probably would have even noticed. And of COURSE we had to have lifesavers. I wanted white ones, but the birthday boy picked out the fruit flavered bag. He wins!

pool-party-water-juice-blue-lagoon

Since I called the water bottles “pool water” I couldn’t think of anything other than “blue lagoon” to call the blue kool-aid… boo, it’s the one label I’m still not 100% in love with. What would you have named it?

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And if anyone is interested here are the Pool Birthday Party Labels in PDF form!

parmesan risotto rice cooker recipe

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I LOVE risotto. I’ve been working on this recipe for a few years. But cooking it “correctly” on the stove is time comsuming and labor intensive! Totally worth it, but I have 5 kids, and dinner needs to be easy most days.

So I started using the rice cooker, I like how easy it is. I used to use short grain Japanese rice, thinking it would work oka… BUT I’ve learned that it’s best with risotto specific rice, my favorite is the arborio.

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parmesan risotto crock pot recipe
3 Tbsp butter
¼ C chopped onion
½ tsp minced garlic
1 C aborio rice (or other risotto rice)
1 2/3 C chicken broth
Salt and pepper
3 Tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese

Put 2 Tbsp butter, onion and garlic in the rice cooker. Turn the rice cooker to Cook. when the butter is melted “cook” an additional 2 mins. Add the arborio rice, stir and cook 10 mins, until the rice is mostly clear with a small white center in each grain.

Add broth, salt and pepper, close the lid and reset cooking time. When the machine is done let sit for 10 mins, then stir in the last 1 Tbsp of butter and parmesan. Serve right away, it will still taste good later, but get’s a bit sticky over time.

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I like to serve the risotto with Lemon herb baked salmon or pork tenderloins. I’ll have both of those recies up in the next few weeks!!!

Corn Bread

As much as we love soups we love cornbread too. When we were first married my husband was in charge of making it, so this is actually the recipe HE came up with after making it so many times for me.

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I like cornbread with all cream based soups and chowders! What do YOU like cornbread with? You can also stir in canned corn kernels if you like that, but our kids aren’t fans so we don’t.

cornbread-recipe

Corn bread
1 C corn meal
1 C flour
1/2 C sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 C milk
1 egg
1/4 C olive oil

Combine corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add milk, egg and oil, beat until smooth. Bake at 425 in 8 x 8 square pan (20-23 min), or 12 muffins (15-18 min). You can also double it and bake it in a 9×13- which is what we do for our family!

Serve your cornbread with honey butter while it’s warm with your favorite soup or chowder.

Cafe Rio Smothered Burrito Recipes

I have lived in Utah many times in my 33 moves. We lived in Provo for 2 years from 2005-2007 and have been here in Salt Lake for over 3 years this time. And I just, THIS YEAR tried Cafe Rio for the first time. It is AMAZING! Seriously I love it. And they have been expanding a ton, so a lot more of you will be able to experience it. But I like being able to make my own food, I like saving money… So I started searching for some copy cat recipes.

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I’ve made it a few times now, I’ve tried a few different recipes of each part of the burrito.  I’m still looking for the perfect Black Beans, this isn’t juicy enough, but my husband loved it!

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Cafe-Rio-recipe-knock-off-sweet-pork

Cafe-Rio-recipe-knock-off-black-beans

Cafe-Rio-recipe-knock-off-green-tamatillo-sauce

Cafe-Rio-recipe-knock-off-pico-de-gallo

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We place a large flour tortilla on the plate, and spread out a scoop of rice in the top third of the tortilla!

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Top with some pork

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beans…

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sauce…

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and Monterrey Jack Cheese.

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Fold down over the top, then fold in the sides and roll the burrito up!

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Then top with more green sauce and cheese. I like to serve it with chopped romaine topped with the Pico De Gallo and a side of rice! And there you have it- the Cafe Rio Smothered Burrito!