Saturday, December 14, 2013

Picture Perfect Christmas Card

Every holiday, I debate on whether I want to hire a photographer to take Ryann's pictures. This year, I decided I would take a go at capturing Ryann and all of her holiday spirit glory for our 2nd Annual Christmas card. All in all, I am pretty happy with the results. Thank goodness little miss prissy was willing to cooperate!
Ryann's Outfit: Persnickety Holiday 2013
All images © 2014 Ashley Chapman.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Fall-Inspired Chicken Walnut Salad

What you need:
2 lbs Chicken
10 oz Mixed Field greens
3/4 cup Dried cranberries  
4 oz Gorgonzola
1 Small Red onion
1 cup Chopped walnuts

What you do:
Sauté seasoned chicken on medium heat until thoroughly cooked.  Allow chicken to rest 5 minutes prior to cutting.



Add dried cranberries, Gorgonzola, thinly sliced red onion, chopped walnuts, and diced chicken to
the field greens. Dress with balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

Yields 3-4 large salads.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Balsamic Vinaigrette

This is our households go-to salad dressing. It pairs perfectly with a Fall-inspired Chicken Walnut Salad with Gorgonzola, Red Onion and Dried Cranberries or as a simple marinade for beef or chicken.


 What you need:
1 cup EVOO
1 cup Balsamic vinegar 
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp Non-parteil capers
1 small Garlic clove minced (or 1 Tbsp dried minced garlic)
Salt and pepper to taste 

Variations: Add a Tbsp of honey for sweeter dressing.

What you do:
Use a magic bullet or Vitamix to blend the ingredients for about 30 seconds or until dressing is smooth.

Note:
This is a very concentrated dressing and a little goes a long way. For a large salad, I would use approximately 2 Tbsp of dressing. Store extra dressing in a mason jar and refrigerate. 

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Ryann's "Breakfast at Tiffany's" Inspired 1st Birthday

Your Invited to Breakfast at Ryann's!
 
For Ryann's 1st Birthday we opted to go with a Breakfast at Tiffany's themed party. I started planning about a month out. Everything shown (minus the cake and cupcakes) was a DIY affair.
The invitations were simple - I printed them out on pearlescent paper, adorned the "R" with an adhesive crystal and mailed them out in tiffany blue envelopes.

 

The cake stand was a recycle from previous baby showers. Believe it or not, this as actually a disgusting brass chandelier from the 80's. Everything looks better with a little pink spray paint!



I found the high chair sans tray at an antique store in Clifton, Texas for $20. STEAL! I ordered a wood tray with hardware online and had the bubbly install it. I went with pink to match the chandelier cake stand and to go with the theme. In retrospect, I wish I would have gone with a more neutral color like gold, silver or antique white for future use.

The mini cake bunting was a breeze and was made with scraps leftover from the larger buntings. I just ran some tread through the small fabric triangles and ties them to wooden skewers. 


We set up a photo booth in the front room of the house. I though this would be a fun way to capture memories. With the invitees consisting of very young kids it was not a main attraction. Still, might be a cute idea for an older party.
For favors, I did ring pops in tiffany blue boxes to keep with the theme.