Brave Party: Eats and Treats

This post is dedicated to all of the yummy food we served at bug's Brave party. I originally was planning to cook traditional Scottish foods, but decided that was too involved to undertake with an infant at home and tried to go with simple, rustic foods with a bit of Brave inspired flare. I also tried to serve all the food on silver platters and wooden cutting boards to stick with the rustic/royal theme. As I mentioned before, I don't have pictures of many things because of the circumstances at the party and I'll just fill in the details.

Appetizer Table

• Bread Dip (the green bowl sadly ended up on the table when I wasn't looking and crashed my careful plan for silver and wooden platters for all the food)
• "Bulls eye" fruit platter made from Alpine melon, blackberries, and strawberries
• Fresh grapes and cheese cubes (Sharp Cheddar, Monterrey Jack, and Tomato Basil Cheddar)
• Assorted crackers and fresh breads
• Wedge cheeses (Gouda, Swiss, Garlic and Herb goat cheese, Plain goat cheese) and kielbasa with assorted spreads (pepper jelly, spicy mustard, and corn relish)

I'm not sure how it happened, but I have no pictures at all of the main course. My menu included:

• Baked ham
• Chicken legs (marinade was based loosely on this recipe)
• Mashed sweet potatoes
• Buttered corn
• Baby carrots
• Fresh rolls
• Fresh salad with strawberries and apples
• Fruit skewers fashioned to look like arrows (melon cubes and strawberry arrowhead)

Again, we never got a photo of my dessert table which I obsessed over:-( In addition to the photos below, we also served raspberry thumbprint "spell cakes" and the "scottish sweet buns" (based on this recipe).

Brother bear cookies

Months ago I pinned a cute idea to make bear cookies, but then I stumbled upon the Wilton stackable teddy bear cookie cutters at Joann's and picked them up. I haven't done royal icing cookies in a long time, so I used the tutorial here to brush up on my skills. FYI - these cookies took FOREVER to make, it was a three night process!

Cotton Candy Wisps

I wanted to rent or buy a cotton candy machine to make wisps, but decided that would cost too much money so I just went to Hoffman's (a local extremely overpriced mini amusement park) and purchased two bags of the stuff.

Birthday Cake!

I was inspired by this cake I pinned at the beginning of my planning process. I purchased the figurines from the Disney Store online. I really wanted the sleek look of fondant, but hate how it doesn't taste good. Awhile ago I had pinned this recipe for a homemade marshmallow fondant and decided to try it out - it worked perfectly!