ITALIAN PASTA SALAD {Recipe}

This is the salad I served at the Little Man baby shower.  My sister made it for me and she left out the broccoli and cauliflower.  You can really use any ingredients you like and leave out any you don’t care for.

Recipe: Italian Pasta Salad

From the Kitchen of: Emily Nelson

Yield: One large salad

Ingredients:

• One pound tri-color vegetable rotini pasta (or any pasta you like), cooked and drained and cooled to room temp. You can run cold water over it until it is cool
• 1 cup cauliflower florets (small)(vegetables and cheese should be cut into small pieces...about 1/3 of a bite)
• 1 cup broccoli florets (small)
• 1 cup cucumber cubes (small)
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese cubes (small)
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese cubes (small) or slices of string cheese work also
• 1/2 c. chopped green onions
• 1/2 c. red, yellow, and/or orange BABY bell pepper slices
• 1/4 pound hard salami, sliced into strips (I like the Private Selections brand from the deli at Smith’s)
• 1 can artichoke hearts (in water)
• 1/2 small can sliced black olives
• 1 cup grape tomatoes (optional)
• I bottle Bernstein’s Cheese and Garlic salad dressing (I have seen this at Albertsons and also WalMart.  If you can’t find it you can use your favorite Italian dressing but this one makes the salad extra yummy)

Directions: Combine all ingredients with ½ bottle dressing. Use the other half to put on just before serving. Don’t worry if your pasta is stuck together. It will come apart once you put the dressing on. This salad is best when chilled, so make it ahead of time.

ITALIAN PASTA SALAD {Recipe}

This is the salad I served at the Little Man baby shower.  My sister made it for me and she left out the broccoli and cauliflower.  You can really use any ingredients you like and leave out any you don’t care for.

Recipe: Italian Pasta Salad

From the Kitchen of: Emily Nelson

Yield: One large salad

Ingredients:

• One pound tri-color vegetable rotini pasta (or any pasta you like), cooked and drained and cooled to room temp. You can run cold water over it until it is cool
• 1 cup cauliflower florets (small)(vegetables and cheese should be cut into small pieces...about 1/3 of a bite)
• 1 cup broccoli florets (small)
• 1 cup cucumber cubes (small)
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese cubes (small)
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese cubes (small) or slices of string cheese work also
• 1/2 c. chopped green onions
• 1/2 c. red, yellow, and/or orange BABY bell pepper slices
• 1/4 pound hard salami, sliced into strips (I like the Private Selections brand from the deli at Smith’s)
• 1 can artichoke hearts (in water)
• 1/2 small can sliced black olives
• 1 cup grape tomatoes (optional)
• I bottle Bernstein’s Cheese and Garlic salad dressing (I have seen this at Albertsons and also WalMart.  If you can’t find it you can use your favorite Italian dressing but this one makes the salad extra yummy)

Directions: Combine all ingredients with ½ bottle dressing. Use the other half to put on just before serving. Don’t worry if your pasta is stuck together. It will come apart once you put the dressing on. This salad is best when chilled, so make it ahead of time.

LITTLE MAN BABY SHOWER {Party}

Well, the shower went off without a hitch.  I will admit it was a TON of work for me….much more than I anticipated.  I was exhausted by the time the party started!  But I think all the guests had a nice time and enjoyed themselves and hopefully my sister was happy and felt loved. 

So, I am just going to post a ton of pictures from the shower.  I had some trouble taking some of the pictures due to the time of day and lighting in the room.  Hopefully you will still be able to see all the little details.  In the coming days I will post recipes for the food.  Enjoy!

How to make this printable HERE

I wanted to do something a little different with the cupcake toppers than I have seen before.  So instead of just scalloped circles I did scalloped squares and pinked circles, each in 3 different colors.  I love how they turned out! HERE is my tutorial on making cupcake topper graphics.

Cupcakes made by my sister Melinda.  We use an icing coupler to pipe the frosting because we could never find a big enough tip.  The coupler is the little white thing that makes it so you can switch out the tips on your pastry bag.  You have to find one without a little notch in it though.

CUPCAKES!! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Garland inspired by THIS party.

The onesies were made with heat transfer vinyl I cut on my Silhouette.

GARLAND VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

These hanging garlands spun around slowly all night.  Here you are seeing the back side of several of the circles.  I connected the shapes using clear fishing line and clear tape.

This was a fall colored wreath that I had spray painted white.  I added the ribbon and fabric rosettes to match my color scheme.  The twinkle lights gave a nice effect during the shower.

FOOD TABLE VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Vinyl mustaches on plastic cups.

Stamped paper plates…how to HERE.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa (Made by my sister Molly)

Homemade Chips (made by my sister Molly)

Italian BOWTIE Pasta Salad (Made by my sister Laura)

Cucumber Water (SUPER refreshing!)

Oreo Truffles

Pretzel “Cigars”

Bowtie Sugar Cookies (made with a homemade cookie cutter)

Triple Dipped Strawberries (made by my sister Maggi)

Baby Caleb all dressed up + the favors.

Chocolate mustache molds can be found at Bake It Pretty

Four of my cuties in disguise!

LITTLE MAN BABY SHOWER {Party}

Well, the shower went off without a hitch.  I will admit it was a TON of work for me….much more than I anticipated.  I was exhausted by the time the party started!  But I think all the guests had a nice time and enjoyed themselves and hopefully my sister was happy and felt loved. 

So, I am just going to post a ton of pictures from the shower.  I had some trouble taking some of the pictures due to the time of day and lighting in the room.  Hopefully you will still be able to see all the little details.  In the coming days I will post recipes for the food.  Enjoy!

How to make this printable HERE

I wanted to do something a little different with the cupcake toppers than I have seen before.  So instead of just scalloped circles I did scalloped squares and pinked circles, each in 3 different colors.  I love how they turned out! HERE is my tutorial on making cupcake topper graphics.

Cupcakes made by my sister Melinda.  We use an icing coupler to pipe the frosting because we could never find a big enough tip.  The coupler is the little white thing that makes it so you can switch out the tips on your pastry bag.  You have to find one without a little notch in it though.

CUPCAKES!! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Garland inspired by THIS party.

The onesies were made with heat transfer vinyl I cut on my Silhouette.

GARLAND VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

These hanging garlands spun around slowly all night.  Here you are seeing the back side of several of the circles.  I connected the shapes using clear fishing line and clear tape.

This was a fall colored wreath that I had spray painted white.  I added the ribbon and fabric rosettes to match my color scheme.  The twinkle lights gave a nice effect during the shower.

FOOD TABLE VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Vinyl mustaches on plastic cups.

Stamped paper plates…how to HERE.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa (Made by my sister Molly)

Homemade Chips (made by my sister Molly)

Italian BOWTIE Pasta Salad (Made by my sister Laura)

Cucumber Water (SUPER refreshing!)

Oreo Truffles

Pretzel “Cigars”

Bowtie Sugar Cookies (made with a homemade cookie cutter)

Triple Dipped Strawberries (made by my sister Maggi)

Baby Caleb all dressed up + the favors.

Chocolate mustache molds can be found at Bake It Pretty

Four of my cuties in disguise!