A Holiday Luncheon

Attic Gal Rachelle says:

I am the president of the young women's organization at my church, and I wanted to throw a holiday party to thank the other ladies who work on my board so hard to serve our girls. Finding an evening when everyone could come proved difficult, so I decided to have a weekday luncheon instead. All of us have little ones at home, so they were all invited to come and play together, (my little guy thought HE was having a party!) In all we had 6 ladies and 9 kidlets.

Since it was lunch, I decided to keep it light with a panini bar, and since we live in the sunniest place on earth, I decided to have it outside, even in the dead of winter (actually, things are their liveliest here in the dead of winter!)

Some colorful fruit

Tomato Basil Bisque. Souper easy, and souper good! Just regular old canned tomato soup, only instead of water, use half 'n half. Then squeeze in some pre-chopped basil that you find in a tube in the produce section. Salt and pepper, of course, and it tastes like a million bucks! Really. I like to use it for entertaining (and great for feeding crowds!) People are always asking for the recipe and are always more pleased to find that it isn't much of a recipe at all.

And of course the panini (I am kind of a panini addict, myself.) I did my two favorite - traditional fresh basil, tomato, prosciutto, and Parmesan, with EVOO and salt & pepper, of course,

and one I learned from Giada - EVOO, arugula, Gorgonzola, bosc pears, and honey. (Sounds weird, but I LOVE this sandwich!)

A trick I learned at the last baby shower I had where the kidlets were invited - Uncrustables, Capri Suns, and packs of pre-sliced apples keep the little guys perfectly happy with no work!

As a gift for my ladies, I made them each a fun scarf. (No, I don't knit or crochet, but made these super easily on a Knifty Knitter.)

They seemed to like them, but it was a bit hard to get excited when we were practically melting in 80 degree heat. I hope they get a chance to use them... someday.

I made the pretty labels with SU's super pretty decorative papers, stamps, ribbon, and my Big Shot!

While we were there, they also helped me make beaded watch bands in the value colors for all the girls. I didn't get a picture of them, but these are the matchboxes I made to put them in. I popped them out easily on my Big Shot! (Can you tell I love that thing?)

What a great luncheon with some wonderful people! Those ladies were worth all the effort! I don't know what I'd do without them!