Insprired by Pinterest - Party by Pinterest

On Sunday I hosted a Stella & Dot Trunk show.  It was a fun afternoon of jewelry, girl time, laughing and yummy food and drink.  I'll have details about the jewelry in a later post.  My Stella & Dot stylist, Kristin Biggs, advised me to go for easy finger food to make jewelry shopping and styling easy.  I decided to do some searching on Pinterest for ideas.  All but one of the recipes I made were created based on Pinterest pinned recipes or ideas.

First I cooked my own roasted red peppers to use in antipasto kabobs (see below). I knew the fresh version would taste much better than the jar version I could get at the store.

Using those peppers, I made antipasta kabobs. They were delicious and everyone loved them.  An easy, no stress recipe, for those who don't like to cook.

Just assemble the items you are going to use in your kabobs.  My choices were olives (black and green, cherry tomatoes, pepperoni (regular and turkey), mini fresh mozzarella balls, salami, and cooked tortellini marinated in Italian dressing. Then I compiled the kabobs. The great thing is that you don't need any special cooking skills to create them and they don't have to be perfect.  You can use any combination of flavors that you like. Pick your own kabob ingredients. I even created some without olives because some folks don't like olives. I also created a few kabobs without the tortellini and substituted roasted red peppers and turkey pepperoni for the tortellini, salami and regular pepperoni. I decided not to marinate all of the items in Italian dressing. The flavors of the items are great already and I didn't think they needed the dressing.

The suggestion I found to use a melon baller to create the cucumber cups was genius!  It worked great. I created my own recipe for the filling.  It was a bit watery and I will definitely use different ingredients next time.

The cheesecake stuffed strawberries were the hit of the party. I used a melon baller to scoop out the strawberries and it worked just as well as the cukes.  The recipe suggested using a pastry bag and star tip to pipe in the filling. I couldn't be bothered with that so I just filled a zip lock bag, sealed it and cut off one of the corners. It worked like a charm.

I served champagne punch that was inspired by Pinterest as well. The recipe I found called for champagne and vodka, which I loved.  I used a mixed berry juice as the main flavor instead of pomegranate. There you have it, you too can throw a party using recipes found on Pinterest.  Everyone loved the food. I didn't have any leftovers and a good time was had by all.

This post is installment number two for Saw Pinned Conquered.  Be sure to check out all of the other posts on Amy's blog, At the Pink of Perfection.

Inspiration - The Hunger Games

This weekend marks the opening of the highly anticipated movie, The Hunger Games.  If you haven't read the books, I highly recommend all three. They are quick, easy reads and they're riveting. I couldn't put them down. What I love most about these books is that the female heroine, Katniss Everdeen is strong, tough and driven by her love of family, friendship and loyalty instead of (as many recent heroines) by a boy.  There is love in the story background but it is secondary. She's a great literary role model for young girls.  She's determined, loving, and honorable.

Many times I don't hold out much hope when a beloved book comes to the big screen. This time, I'm excited.  I am looking forward to seeing how the books have been translated for movie audiences. In honor of the movie, I thought I'd pull together some items inspired by Katniss' wardrobe.  All of these items could hold out through many seasons and trends. 

An anorak jacket is on trend this season. The leather gives it an edge and it's an item that could be worn for many years.  Braids are the hairstyle of choice for Katniss.  You can create your own version using clear elastics and bobby pins that match your own hair color.  Katniss is the "Girl On Fire" in a red dress during her introduction at the Capitol.  This red dress could take you to a great party.  A versatile backpack can store your laptop or your carry on items for the airplane. Cargo pants are perfect for a hike in the woods or around town on errands.  A zip pull over is the perfect work out top.  Black patent ballet flats are truly a classic piece of footwear.  I don't know what I ever did without a pair of lug sole boots.  They look cute with a skirt and I love them over jeans.  Three neutral shades from the China Glaze Hunger Games collection. Panem may be the future but the style can translate to today.

Will you be seeing The Hunger Games?