Are ya’ll about partied out on touring Christmas homes?? Wow, thanks for the great support in coming to the party and sharing your home links. It will take me DAYS to get around to visit all of you, but I’m going to try, really! I had a great time hosting and I hope you all got to visit lots of new people and find some fun new blogs in the process. Next year, I’ll plan way ahead and get myself a blog button!
Aren’t these the prettiest plates? On Monday, I met up with a couple of other Birmingham girls for lunch out at Nabeel’s in Homewood and a little browsing the stores too.
That’s Sandi, from Whistlestop Cafe Cooking on the left and Leigh, from Tales of Bloggeritaville on the right. I had met both these ladies before, but we sure had a great time at lunch, hanging out for the afternoon and talking blogging! I’m still amazed at how blogging has changed my world. We’re thinking about doing a BIG Birmingham blogger day after the first of the year, so stay tuned for that if you’re interested in meeting other bloggers here in town.
Last Thursday night was the Lovelady Christmas party (click to read more about the Lovelady Center) and me and my friend, Lynn really enjoyed sharing the season with the ten ladies at our table. We put our heads together and came up with a tablescape, menu, and giftbag items. It was a great evening and I think the ladies truly enjoyed it all. We used paper plates for the main course, along with chargers, a beautiful tablecloth that Lynn had on hand and my yardsale silverplate, her crystal goblets and dessert dishes.
I took the Linden Street hurricane lantern with the battery candles and it was a very pretty centerpiece.
Loved the scripture on these plates from Hobby Lobby and they seemed very fitting for this dinner.
Lynn and I got our table set and had a little breather before it all got started.
It was quite hectic in there with more than 300 ladies enjoying Christmas meals, but we all made it work. There were many churches represented here that night and we all had smiles on our faces. Our church had 2 tables.
Here’s Lynn back in the kitchen where we had a designated area for serving our meal. We had chicken and dressing, tossed cranberry salad, congealed cranberry salad, rolls and….
A wonderful white chocolate bread budding for dessert. They all seemed to really love this decadent dessert and it definitely IS decadent (you’ll see after you read the ingredients). After dessert, we handed out their giftbags, with some girly stuff inside…a pretty watch, chocolate and some bath and body products. They were all smiles so I think it was a hit! In case you need a couple of recipes for Christmas, I’ll share the white chocolate bread pudding (don’t pay attention to all the calories!) and cranberry congealed salad which my family has been making for years now. The cranberry salad is a must at our table every year!
Cranberry Congealed Salad1 can crushed pineapple
1 and 3/4 cup pineapple juice, plus 3/4 cup addit.
2 3-oz. Raspberry jello
1 can whole cranberry sauce
1 cup diced apples
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Grated peel of one orange
Drain crushed pineapple, reserving the juice and combine with canned pineapple juice (1 & 3/4 cups total) in saucepan. Bring to boil. Stir in gelatin until dissolved, break up cranberry sauce & add to geletin. Stir in 3/4 cup more pineapple juice. Chill until slightly thickened & then add other ingredients. Chill until firm.
White Chocolate Bread Pudding
4 cups heavy whipping cream
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup sugar
2 TBL vanilla
12 oz. pky. white chocolate chips
1 large loaf French bread
Icing:
12 oz. white chocolate chips
1 more cup whipping cream
Tear bread into small chunks, layer in 9×13 pan. Mix together 4 cups of cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla and 1 pkg. white chocolate chips. Pour over bread pieces. Let soak at least 30 minutes (I did mine overnight). Bake at 350* for 45 minutes. Top should be a little brown. Melt chips with cream in microwave, stirring and heating until melted. Pour over each serving as needed. Icing goes a long way, so you may not need the whole thing.
Hope you enjoy!
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What a fun time! Love the scripture paper plates and the idea of putting chargers under the paper plate to give the setting more substance.
What a fun event. Is this your neighborhood? I love the tablescape.
What a lovely party! Thanks for sharing where you got the paper plates. I’m off to Hobby Lobby!
Good morning Ms. Rhoda…What a fun event and your table looked very pretty…wonderful paper plates! Oh boy, another couple of your fabulous recipes…I LOVE bread pudding so this is a must try right away…Thanks, 😉 Bo
Hi Rhoda,
Table looks beautiful. I love those plates.
I’ve been thinking of making bread pudding. Your recipe looks good…I may try it!
Thanks for sharing,
Diane
This looks like it was a spectacular time.
The tablescape is amazing – I cannot believe those are paper plates.
Merry Christmas!
What a beautiful table! My mom made the Cranberry Congealed Salad last week for a party and poured it into silver paper muffin tins and they were so pretty and delish! Merry Christmas!
Morning, Rhoda! Oh, what a beautiful time you must have had! Loved your centerpiece and those dishes are beautiful. I didn’t see anything like that at my Hobby Lobby! Have a beautiful day!
Be a sweetie,
Shelia 😉
It’s so great how y’all created such a special day for these lucky ladies! The food looks yummy and I’m definitely going to try the bread pudding…after all, there’s no calories in any holiday food, right?
I’ve gained five pounds just from browsing…I love the looks of the goodies but that Cranberry Congealed salad will be the one I actually make lol! I’m looking forward to seeing your Pictures of the New Year after you’ve gone through your house with the magic wand and whisked all the lovely Holiday merriment back safely to the attic for another year!
hugs
Sandi
I’m about partied out! I think I’m up to #70 on your list and in the 40’s on Boo Mama. I’m trying to leave a comment for everyone, but I don’t know if I’m going to make it. :-)It’s going to take me all week to get to everyone!
Those paper plates are so cute (the other plates too)! All that food looks so delicious! I’m sure the ladies really appreciated all the effort you guys put into it.
Manuela
The pictures from the party (and the plates) were great. Looks like a great time for all.
The recipes do look fantastic, except I think I’ve already gained 15 lbs just looking at them. I think we will definitely try the cranberry for Christmas and then we shall see if I feel daring enough to make the other for Christmas without eating it all alone 😀
GM Rhoda…this all looked so pretty and I loved the fellowship dinner you had..how specail to meet some of you blog friends like that and go shopping..great post…hope you have a safe and blessed day…hugs and smiles Gloria
Hi Rhoda! Those recipes sure do look good. I had a question about the bread pudding. Do you not have to melt the choc. chips first when making the icing? I’ve never made bread pudding before so I wasn’t sure. The picture didn’t look like it had chunks in it. I really want to try this.
Hi Rhoda! I love the paper plates you found at Hobby Lobby. We don’t have any Hobby Lobbies around here, but I’ve visited them in different states and love them. Every so often I would e-mail Hobby Lobby headquarters in Oklahoma and ask if they have plans to open any stores near us. Well, I finally received a response that they are opening a store about 10 miles from me. Isn’t that great!
Also, I would like to try your cranberry jello, but I’m a bit confused. The recipe says “crushed” pineapple, but the picture is of chunks. Can you substitute the chunks then instead of the crushed?
Thank you.
Merry CHRISTmas!
Blessings,
Sher
Oh, Kelly, YES! you do melt the chocolate chips. I did it in the microwave. Add the chips and 1 cup cream in a dish in the microwave, heating & stirring until melted. I'll go back and add that!
Hi Rhoda,
The table looked great such pretty plates and paper to boot, love that recipe for the bread going to definitely try that one…thank you !!
Looking forward to visiting all the peeps that participated in your party after the holiday; something to look forward to 🙂
Merry Christmas,
Kathy 🙂
ps Your friend Lynn is such a pretty girl, love her hair !!!
I just love those paper paltes! I’m getting some for my family Christmas dinner. They are beautiful!!!
I’m new here! What a great blog you have 🙂
You both created a wonderful tablescape. I know that was alot of fun and very rewarding. The food looks scrumptious! I will be trying out those recipes! YUM!
Can’t wait for Bham Bloggers!