Crab Cannelloni

I recently decided to try out a recipe by Giada de Laurentiis after watching an episode of hers where she made Crab and Ricotta Canneloni.  I am not one to make Canneloni often but I thought I would try this out since I happened to see a cab of crab meat at a recent Costco visit.  I think the results looked quite tasty.
Giada's Crab and Ricotta Cannelloni recipe

This is my sous chef helping me mix together the ingredients to stuff the cannelloni

Daddy/Daughter Play Dough Making

Since my husband and I are both teachers we need lots of activities to keep our little ones busy during the long summer days at home.  Today my husband decided to use a play dough recipe that he found on http://musingsfromasahm.com/2012/02/easy-homemade-playdough-recipe/.  I think the results were definitely worth it!

Our oldest is almost 2 1/2 so she still can't do too much but she was able to pick out the color of her play dough and help pour the ingredients in.  Here are a few pictures of the finished product and of her playing afterwards.

Night Circus Themed Book Club Party

While I was at home on maternity leave for my second child, I had a hard time reading a book.  Between watching my toddler run around and get into EVERYTHING and the constant feeding and holding of the newborn, I just had a hard time committing myself to anything for a while.  However... there was one book that I did manage to read and it was Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  It truly captured my imagination and I found a lot of inspiration from it.  As a result, I started my first ever book club and hosted a dinner at my house.  Below are pictures of some of the things that I did to stick with the theme of a black and white circus (with red splashes for the circus enthusiasts).

Cookies that I made using a cookie cutter from fancyflours.com

Posted from a previous blog post... here is how I make the cookies.  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/sugar-cookies-recipe/index.html  If you follow these directions, the dough is a little dry so I add in one extra tablespoon of milk.  For the icing recipe, I use this website: http://www.christmas-cookies.com/recipes/recipe288.powdered-sugar-icing-i.html    For this recipe, I put just a little more water and a little more vanilla extract (I actually use the french vanilla flavor). I do that just so I can spread it easier.

Candy jars accented with black and white ribbon.

Favor boxes (containing circus cookies and white chocolate covered oreos).  The tags are chalkboard tags with red tulle.