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True Blood Supper Party Crafts

With True Blood nearing its season finale, I thought a little Sookie Stackhouse Supper was in order. Since my Dexter party theme was based on the show’s dark horror vibe, I wanted to do something a little different for True Blood. Using the Bon Temps Cemetery and Sookie’s fairy world as inspiration, I created a setup that’s all about southern comfort.

Placecards + Grave Stands

My first order of business was making placecards and holders. For the cards, I created little 2×4.5″ photo collages that with illustrations to frame each character name. Each doodle contains icons representative of the characters, some icons are repeated (like the Tru Blood bottles for vampires) while some are specific to the character (such as the Piña Colada for Sookie).

The placecard holders are mini gravestones made from craft foam (for the top of the headstone) and 2x4x2″ wood blocks (for the base). For the detailing, I etched out RIP letters for each headstone top and painted both the tops and bases with different shades of gray, using a paper towel to get a nice texture going. After that I added some craft store artificial grass for another layer of texture, as well as a pop of color.

Party Tablescape

I found a great source for the Tru Blood beverage label (thanks to pixelworlds on deviantART) and slapped those babies onto some good ol’ Jones Soda bottles of the berry variety. To finish off the country spread, I included Mason jars and red checkered tablecloth.

A view of the scene once it got a little darker outside:

Dinner consisted of fried chicken on the grill (yup I said it!), grilled green beans, and mashed potatoes. To accompany a Southern-inspired dinner, what better dessert than a trifle! (For those unfamiliar with trifles, it’s a combo of cake, custard, whipped cream, jelly, fruit, and liquor. In other words, a very intimidating cake.)

Cheers to the vampires, fairies, and supernatural creatures alike!

Birthday Cake Blondie Cheesecake Recipe

I’m a fan of food mashups. Inspired by my love for brownie cheesecake (and cheesecake in general), I sought a recipe that swapped the brownies for blondies, particularly of the funfetti birthday cake variety. I didn’t find anything specific, so I took a stab at it by combining a couple recipes. The results: dangerously tasty.

Blondies

(one could make the cake batter from scratch, but for experimenting purposes I went ahead and used a good ol’ box mix)

1 box funfetti cake mix
1 beaten egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup milk

Cheesecake Filling

4 blocks cream cheese (32 oz.) at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
rainbow sprinkles

Directions

Mix together the blondie ingredients in a large bowl using a fork. The batter will be very dense, and that’s good. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners and drop a good heaping tablespoon of the blondie batter into each cup. Spread the batter as evenly as you can across the bottom.

Bake the blondies in an oven at 350˚F for 10 minutes. Let them cool down a little bit and move onto preparing the cheesecake filling.

Cream together the cream cheese and sugar with a hand mixer until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla. For extra flare, I threw in a little handful of sprinkles (about a tablespoon).

Drop spoonfulls of cheesecake filling on top of the blondies until the filling almost reaches the top. Once they’re baked and cooled, the cheesecakes will reduce in size, so I want to maximize my potential cheesecake area. Pop these bad boys back in the oven (still at 350˚) for another 15-20 minutes, until the cheesecake is just about set but still has a little jiggle. This recipe yields about 30 mini cheesecakes.

I have only recently discovered the pleasure of warm, fresh cheesecake…so I couldn’t help but break into these as soon as I could!

I wanted my cheesecake-to-blondie ratio to be almost equal, but you can reduce the amount of blondie batter for a thinner crust.

What kiddie dreams are made of.

Dexter Dinner Party

Sadly the days of Dexter on Showtime are drawing to a close. In order to give the show a proper send-off, I darkly dreamed up a “kill room” dinner party theme and got to work on some graphic placecards and holders, blood slide candy from Instructables, and of course, maniacally wrapping everything in plastic.

Placecard Design

The placecard holders are composed of craft foam balls cut in half, plastic wrap, acrylic paint, and 16 gauge black flexible wire. I also needed something to hold a little weight at the bottom of the foam, and through MacGyver techniques a friend and I discovered that a quarter or two would work swimmingly.

Blood Slide Candies

“What’s a Dexter party without blood slides?” one of my friends remarked earlier in the week, so the over-achiever in me had to try the blood slide candy recipe. I made a quick addition to the original recipe by adding a teaspoon of fruit extracts to the mixture after taking it off the stove and before spreading it out on a sheet pan. The slicing of the slides was definitely a trial and error process, but so glad they made it to the table.

Tablescape

The details include blood spattered Hydrangea, red goblets and napkins, and some vintage clear dinner plates that made me think of sterile surgeon’s trays.

After much hustle and bustle, the kill room was finally ready to be a stuff-your-face room.

Pulled Pork Pot Pie with Whiskey Crust Recipe

Fan of pot pies? Me too. Looking to make use of your BBQ leftovers and not sure how to use them all at once? Then this just might be the recipe for you! Over the past couple years, I’ve been crafting my traditional chicken pot pie, which is great for wintry months but too heavy for a summer meal. This recipe lends itself to practically any tasty leftover from the grill and could easily be made vegetarian by swapping out the meat for grilled veggies.

Whiskey Cheddar Pie Crust

Using a Martha Stewart recipe as a base for my pie crusts, I also added one good shot of Jameson to make the dough nice and flaky once it’s baked. The dough shouldn’t be too dry since that alcohol will evaporate while cooking in the oven, but not too sticky either (just right, Goldilocks). Add grated cheddar cheese to the dry ingredients before mixing with the wet, and you’ve got the start of one tasty pie crust.

There are a couple general rules always outlined in pie crust recipes: your crusts are happier when everything is super cold and you don’t over-handle it. Divide the dough in half and shape into two disks, which then get refrigerated for about an hour. This recipe will yield two 11″ rounds when rolled out, giving you plenty of extra dough to use for little decorations, if you fancy that kind of thing (I do!).

Pot Pie Filling

I like a little bit of everything in a bite, so I chose smoked pork shoulder, garlic mashed potatoes, corn and scallions as my core ingredients. Grilled chicken, brisket or other proteins can trade places with the pork.

I set this bad boy up in a 9.5″ casserole deep dish, so I made sure there was a solid two layers of every component (same as you’d layer a lasagna). I also rolled out the pie crusts a bit thicker than normal so that they would support all that craziness going on in the filling.

Cooking Time

In the oven at 400˚F the deep dish takes close to a full hour bake; I think it would be about 40-45 minutes if using a standard 9″ pie pan. After it’s cooled down a bit, it’s time to feast! At this point, feel free to dress with your favorite gravy/BBQ sauce/condiment. The more the merrier!

Summer tastes good.

Game of Thrones Party: A Dinner of Ice and Fire

I am one of the many fans of the Game of Thrones series on HBO, and to commemorate its 3rd season premiere, I threw together a themed dinner party for a few close friends. I love to make crafty things for special occasions and thought this was a fun opportunity to nerd out while awaiting one of my favorite shows to come back on air. Below is the process I went through and the end results.

Party Elements

Using a few of the house sigils, I created some toothpick flags and napkin rings. The designs for each are pretty simple; the napkin holders were 7.5×2″ rectangles and the toothpick flags were 4.5×1.5″ rectangles, which would be folded in half and secured with glue. For the mass army of other flags, I cut out different textures from magazine spreads that matched the color schemes of each house.

Dinnerware & Decorations

We had some turquoise glassware on hand from the 1960s, passed down from my great auntie (known to be a fabulous party hostess in her social circles). I chose a few different gold textures for the napkins, tablecloths, and placemats to make everything feel rich and royal.

A Feast Begins

Back in the kitchen, I feverishly prepped some of the dishes for the dinner. I love this really simple recipe for mini cheesecakes (using Girl Scout cookies of course). Also on the menu was bruschetta, roasted turkey, mashed taters, and some lovely corn we’re lucky enough to nab from my grandfather’s farm in Ohio.

A Westeros Family Meal

Finally everything came together, and I was super proud to see how cute everything turned out!

Stuffed with dinner, beer, and a lot of those tiny cheesecakes, we all sat comfortably like Kings on their Iron Thrones and welcomed the start of the premiere episode.

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