Baby Showers & Italian Pasta Salad

It's baby shower season in my life right now! It comes in waves, I think. Today was a baby shower for my dear friend Sarah who is having a baby boy named Nathaniel in August! I am so happy for her! Wish I had taken a picture today but I was so busy I forgot to! My friend Kristin and I threw the shower at Kristin's home. It was beautiful and we had TONS of food! Here's a breakdown of what we had:

• Tuna/egg salad sandwiches
• Crackers with cheese and salmon spread
• Fruit
• Italian Pasta Salad (see recipe below!)
• Sweet & Sour Meatballs (click for recipe!)
• Veggies w/ ranch dressing
• Strawberry/Poppy Seed Salad
  
• Cake
• Brownies
• Meringues

Quite a spread, don't you think? We had a blast. Our theme was "meal time" so we pretty much had the food covered! ;) Sarah got lots of very nice gifts and ones she can use for feeding her new baby very soon. Congrats Sarah!

Here's the recipe, which is an adaptation from my friend Carla! You can make this a thousand different ways with any and all ingredients you want. Just have fun with it! This isn't even a recipe, just a method. Here's what I did today:

Italian Pasta Salad

• 2 lbs pasta (I use the bowtie pasta)
• Lots of olive oil
• 1-2 jars prepared pesto - I used two but I like a lot of flavor, just use it to taste(or make your own if you're ambitious!)
• Lots of parmesan cheese - I bought a container of shaved parmesan cheese!
• Almonds - again, to taste - but you need it for the crunchy factor
• 1/2 jar of sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (I love the chewy, tangy flavor of these but if you don't, leave them out!)

Boil pasta according to the box directions, or until al dente. Drain. Pour olive oil liberally over pasta and stir to combine. Pour in the pesto and combine to your taste. Add parmesan cheese & almonds but reserve some for the top when you are finished. Add sun-dried tomatoes & combine. Before serving, drizzle some more olive oil to avoid dryness, then top with remaining parmesan & almonds. Serve warm, room temp or cold! Enjoy!

Foolproof Popovers

This is just an easy and quick alternative to buying dinner rolls. The first time I made these, they turned out super bland. Joel, my husband, was kind enough to tell me he liked them, but I'm no dummy - they tasted like nothing. So, I gave them another shot just recently and put a little twist on them. I added about 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. They were perfect! Enjoy!

Foolproof Popovers (from FoodNetwork.com)

Ingredients
3 tablespoons melted butter, divided
2 eggs
1 cup milk, warmed for 30 seconds in the microwave (should be lukewarm to warm)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 C parmesan cheese

Directions
Special equipment: muffin tin

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Using a pastry brush, coat 8 muffin cups with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter and put the tin in the oven for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the eggs in a blender until light yellow. Add the warmed milk and blend. Add the flour, salt and remaining melted butter, and blend until smooth. Pour the batter into the warmed muffin tin and return it to the oven to bake until golden, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve warm.