Mother’s Day Brunch

Last weekend I cooked a low-key brunch for my mom, boyfriend and brother.  It was a beautiful day and we were able to eat out on the back deck.  My brother almost fell backwards off the deck and kicked the whole table over, but we needed a little excitement to wake us up.

It wasn’t hard to decide what to cook since smittenkitchen.com had amazing looking dishes posted last week.  The menu I chose was:

Homemade Poptarts

Spring Asparagus and Pancetta Hash

Fruit salad (berries, melon, and banana)

Bellinis

Mom has a beautiful kitchen and I love being able to go over to her house and cook there.  Unlike my kitchen, she actually has counters, drawers and a DISHWASHER!

Motu helped by laying right in the middle of the kitchen floor.

The Poptarts were so much fun!  I love making little things that look special.  The dough was easy to work with and I took the suggestion from smittenkitchen to make the left over crust pieces into cinnamon sugar snacks (just sprinkle the leftover cinnamon sugar over the pieces of dough and bake until golden).  I don’t think I’ll ever throw scraps of dough away again.

I filled these with blueberry jam and cinnamon brown sugar.  They were so flaky and the perfect size treats to go with the rest of the meal.

Asparagus, potatoes, pancetta, and an onion.

The only thing that could make that better was a fried egg on top.

The party was small and tasteful, just like the poptarts.

Raising Dough

A few weeks ago, I helped my mom with a fundraiser for Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL).  It was an upscale affair at a home in the Gainesville Country Club, meaning I probably shouldn’t have been there.  It was great to meet the senator, but it was even greater that there was unlimited wine.  I sipped on a Sauvignon Blanc that was crisp and perfect with the cheese plate and sweets.

Mom asked me to be in charge of the sweets for the afternoon so the first things I decided to make were Coconut Macaroons from America’s Best Recipe.

I have made these a few times before and they always turn out beautiful looking and have great flavor.  There are three kinds of coconut in the recipe, unsweetened, sweetened, and creme of coconut. The cookies come together quickly and dipping in chocolate is optional but highly recommended.

I also made the Golden Lemon Almond cake from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes.  I am glad that I am starting to try more recipes from this book.  Her exact weights and temperatures for ingredients – plus her charts and graphs – have intimidated me for a while, but this cake turned out very fresh tasting with an incredible soft texture.

All in all, I think the event was a big success.  A lot of money was raised, and a lot of calories were consumed.  Still, I don’t know what was more sugar-coated, Senator Nelson’s talking points or my macaroons.