We recently threw a super hero baby shower for my beautiful sister. When I tell you she is gorgeous both inside and out, that is not just big sis talking!! I am blessed to have not one but two amazing sisters that I am proud to call my best friends too:-) This sister is almost 9 months pregnant with my nephew, Zackary. I am so excited to meet him, I almost can’t stand it (but I want him to stay in their as long as possible of course)!! She is doing the nursery in retro super hero, so we decided that would be a perfect theme for the baby shower.
For your sake, I will divide the baby shower into several posts because when I say that we went overboard on this shower, that is a gross understatement!! See this is going to be the first baby in the family and he is already spoiled!! Even before the baby shower, my sister had enough clothes for him to last the whole first year. I controlled myself until we found out it was a boy, but then it was ON!! I have been scouring sales racks every weekend and stocking up:-)
I will focus this post on the FOOD since that was what I was in charge of…I gave each dish a “Super Hero” themed name.
This is Batman’s Blue Bacon Dip! My Blue Cheese Bacon Dip is one of my sister’s favorite appetizers, so she requested this one. You just throw everything in the slow cooker on high for two hours. Stir and then top with chopped pecans (or nut of your choice).
I usually serve it with my homemade pita chips but since I was putting together soooooooooooo much food, I decided to take a short cut and serve with a variety of crackers and grapes.
- 8 ounce block of reduced fat cream cheese
- 4 ounces of reduced fat crumbled blue cheese
- 2-3 bulbs of garlic (pressed or grated)
- 2 tablespoons half and half
- 3 ounces of ready to serve real bacon bits
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- Place all ingredients, except the pecans, in a slow cooker and turn on high for 2- 2.5 hours or until all ingredients and melted and bubbling.
- Stir to combine and turn the slow cooker down to warm.
- Top with chopped pecans and keep warm until ready to serve.
Catwoman Claws! Bugles made great claws…found this one on pinterest. In fact I made a whole board dedicated to Super Hero Baby Shower. You should check it out there were so many cute ideas out there. I didn’t get to all of them. But our decorations and most of the food came from what’s on that board. The catwoman claws came from this pin.
Spider Bites! How cute are these? I cannot take credit for this idea. It came from the same place as the Catwoman Claws. But super easy and we made them the night before, so there was less to do day of the shower. If you make the ahead, just store in an air-tight container. All you do is smear some peanut butter on a ritz cracker and make a sandwich. Stick eight straight pretzel “legs” along the sides (4 on each side) and allow the peanut butter to hold them in place. Done but I will warn you that you will get peanut butter all over your hands. Lol.
Soooo I had to get some healthy stuff on the food table but in keeping with theme, we had Super Vision Sticks and Super Muscle Dip. The idea for the Super vision sticks came from the same place as the catwoman claws and spider bites. I just added a few more veggies and the dip. The carrots, celery, assorted bell peppers and zucchini were all cut into “stick” shape. I found the recipe for the dip here and tweaked it just a bit.
- 2 cups fat free greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
- ½ teaspoon dill weed
- 2 cloves fresh garlic (pressed or grated)
- 1 tablespoon montreal seasoning
- Mix everything together and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.
Green Goblin Guacamole!! This was actually just my Avocado Cilantro Salsa but I added a little more avocado than usual to make it “greener.” So simple and always a hit!!
Hero Croissants! These are just croissants filled with my santa fe chicken salad. This one is also a family favorite and was requested by my sisters. I also made wraps for those who preferred that option.
The inspiration for these nibbles came from Mrs. Paula Deen. Of course, her version is a little less healthy and I made some modifications based on our tastes.
- 1 pound cooked chicken (rotisserie, grilled, boiled, etc.)
- 8 ounce package of reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup greek yogurt
- 1 (4½-ounce) can chopped green chiles
- 1 cup (4-ounce) shredded pepper jack cheese
- 2 tablespoons salsa, plus salsa for dipping, optional
- ½ cup green onion tops, sliced
- 1 cup chopped fresh spinach
- 6 whole wheat tortillas or croissants
- In a large bowl mix cream cheese , greek yogurt, pepper jack cheese, salsa, and onion tops.
- Chop spinach in a food processor finely. Stir in spinach.
- Spread mixture evenly over the surface of each tortilla or fill a croissant and either roll up tortillas tightly or fold the croissant back together.
- Cut each tortilla and croissant in half.
- Skewer each wrap with a wooden toothpick.
- Chill at least an hour before serving
- Chicken salad can be made ahead of time and put on tortillas or croissants right before serving.
Mighty Melon Salad! This recipe came from Food 52 which I just LOVE…maybe one day I’ll be able to brag that one of my recipes made it on their site! Ah, wishful thinking… The recipe’s “non-super hero” name is Summer Melon Salad with Harissa, Feta and Mint. This recipe introduced me to a new ingredient, harissa! I had no idea what it was so I googled it. Straight from wikipedia, “Harissa is a Tunisian hot chili sauce whose main ingredients are piri piri, serrano peppers and other hot chili peppers and spices and herbs such as garlic paste, coriander seed, red chili powder, caraway as well as some vegetable or olive oil.” I thought, ohhh I will like this stuff, so I immediately went to amazon to purchase some. I knew that nobody around here would have any but my trusted buddy amazon would not fail me. Here is the harissa that I ordered.
- 1 cup cantaloupe cut into small cubes
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup seedless cucumbers, cut into half moons
- ½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
- ¼ cup fresh mint, leaves roughly chopped or torn
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon harissa (or to taste)
- 1 teaspoon honey
- Freshly squeezed lemon juice from one lemon
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Mix the cantaloupe, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, mint, and feta in a bowl.
- In a small bowl, whisk the extra-virgin olive oil with the harissa and honey.
- Drizzle the harissa-honey dressing over the salad, a little at a time, until the salad is covered.
- Season to taste with sea salt, a little freshly ground black pepper, and lemon juice. Toss to combine. The flavors will pop when you get the right amount of seasoning! This salad can be assembled in advance and chilled.
Robin’s Hatching Eggs!! Ok, how cute are these? I know right? But let me tell you that they are a PAIN IN THE BUTT! However in the end it was worth it because not only did my sis lovvvveeee them but so did the guests. Guess where I found this recipe? Yep, you guessed it, Pinterest! I followed this recipe to the tee and as you can see, their’s came out prettier than mine. Oh well;-) I tried to find a blue egg container to serve them in but all that I could find was yellow or pink. Soooo cute to serve them in the styrofoam egg container.
Ok finally, the last dish…Wonder Woman Salad!!! This one comes from Food 52 again, I know I am slightly addicted…but this Lemon-Dill Orzo Pasta Salad with Cucumbers, Olives & Feta might have been my favorite dish of the shower. I just love the flavors and they really come together quite nicely.
- 1 pound orzo pasta
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 medium shallot, grated
- 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
- 1 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
- 2 medium cucumbers, cut in half lengthwise, seeded and sliced
- 6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
- Cook the orzo in salted water according to package instructions to al dente. Drain and transfer to a large salad bowl.
- Meanwhile, make lemon-dill vinaigrette to dress the salad: combine lemon zest and juice, mustard, and grated shallot in a medium bowl. Whisk everything together with a few pinches of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Slowly add the olive oil while whisking, then stir in the chopped dill. Taste and adjust as needed.
- Pour the vinaigrette over the pasta and toss and then add the olives and cucumbers. Scatter the crumbled feta cheese over the top.
- Chill at least one hour before serving, but longer if possible so all the flavors come together.
- Can be made ahead of time and chilled.
- Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Whew!! I don’t know about you, but I am spent!!! Let’s end with only male that was invited to the baby shower (well except Zackary of course but my sis really couldn’t not bring him…ha…ha…lol). This cutie is my cousin’s little one. He is such a ham!!!
[…] that I put together for my sister’s super hero baby shower. If you missed it, you can find it here. Today I thought we could chat about the desserts and the decorations that we put together for the […]