Smith Family Weblog

I thought I’d share a few more photos and recipes from the party preparations for Karyl’s 60th. We served a huge assortment of appetizers, thanks mostly to Bryan’s brother Jason. He made Italian chicken, meatballs and lahvosh, and Debbie contributed two fabulous dips as well.

For the main course, we slow roasted pork in apple cider and served it with pears in brandy cream sauce, which we adapted from this recipe. Laura whipped up the Smith family favorite, cream cheese potatoes, and also made this gorgeous salad with apples, goat cheese and walnuts. She was responsible for an amazing butternut squash pasta dish, too.

Debbie made a huge assortment of deserts, including toffee bars, almond tulles, candied pecans and white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.

She also made an amazing plum tart that had an almost cookie-like crust. We served pumpkin cheesecake with pecan praline as well.

Laura brought set up a candy bar that proved very popular with kids (of all ages…).

I know I mentioned this before, but I had such a wonderful time working with Laura, Jessica and Debbie–I can’t wait for another opportunity to do it again!

During our preparations for her party, we discovered that Karyl’s favorite dessert was Lemon Meringue Pie—a fact that surprised her children. They were left wondering, “What else don’t we know about her?”

Because my sister-in-law Debbie can’t even say “meringue” without grimacing, I had the pleasure of making this particular dessert (one of the almost seven we served). Fortunately, Debbie brought me a pre-made crust, because despite a thousand attempts, I simply cannot make pie crust from scratch. (I’m sorry, Gramma…)

One of the many benefits of cooking at Karyl’s is the endless supply of pans. At one point, we had approximately 46 9×13 inch pans in use, and I was still able to locate one more. I wasn’t able to find pie weights, though, so Karyl, when you find an open, yet full, bag of dry beans in your pantry, you’ll know why!