Friday Five: Allergy Safe Holiday Cookies

To be honest I used to be a bit uncomfortable with the idea of a cookie exchange. Swapping baked goods without a lot of detail on them (or the people made them) doesn't create the best picture in my head. Then I went to one. As a busy adult with work, shopping, holiday parties and general life errands  finding a weekend to bake dozens of cookies all of different varieties with quite difficult. Being able to combine cooking and socializing in one event is fantastic AND you can walk away with as many bake good varieties as you like!

With my own {and lots of others} food allergies I've been searching for a crowd pleaser for my upcoming Junior League cookie exchange. Here are 5 of the most delicious looking gluten and dairy free options!

Caramel Glazed Donuts from Against All Grain

Gingerbread Men from Deliciously Ella

Coconut Meringue Nests by Simply Gluten Free 

Gluten-Free Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies from Gluten Free on a Shoe String

The frosting has butter in it, but I found this Dairy-Free Recipe

Peppermint Chocolate Macaroons from Against All Grain

Jewel Toned Holidays

I'm definitely a self-proclaimed neutral girl. When I wanted to "add color" to my bedroom in my old apartment I added Black. In my new apartment I went with a deep navy blue. I was able to acquire a gorgeous navy blue, velvet sofa and arm chair. I've been adding color with deep red and purple accenting floral arrangements. I've learned to love the elegance that jewel tones bring to the neutral palate and I've been dreaming of these jewel toned table settings for the upcoming holiday's. Now to acquire an apartment with a dining room....

Draper James

I could not be more excited for the launch of one of my favorite lady's lifestyle website!!
Ms. Witherspoon launched Draper James earlier this month and I'm coveting everything. I can't wait to see the blog posts, I'm already planning a spring luncheon of my own.




The site has everything from skirts to stationery, but these items are at the top of me list!

Cocktail Napkins

Magnolia Cocktail Ring

Vanderbilt Tote

Summer Sailing!

This past weekend my co-chair and I hosted an afternoon of sailing with our Junior League committee. My co-chair and her husband provided the stunning boat and I made the snacks and drinks! Aside from the ferry and one fleet week party well over a decade ago, I'd never been sailing on the bay. Having grown up around water and boats, I don't know why it took me this long! With the America's Cup in town everyone seems to be catching the sailing bug.

The Skyline, through the sails as we pulled out of SFYC in Tiburon

I do actually enjoy cooking. Especially when a) dishes so easily come out like the picture (aka like they're 'supposed' to be....spoken like a true Type-A) and when I can cook for people!  When I offered to provide the delicacies for our sailing trip I turned to the internet and my fabulous, food savvy friend Emily for advice.  The boat ended up having a full kitchen, but she advised staying away from dairy for temperature control reasons and suggested an adaptation of her Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Dip with white beans instead of feta. I paired it with a tray of carrots, cucumbers, snow peas and broccoli, it was an absolute hit...literally every drop gone by the end of our voyage!

 

Along with that, I wanted a fruit dish. We already had the veggie platter, so a separate fruit plate seemed plain. I found this recipe for Peaches with Serrano Ham and Basil. This was perfect because my basil plant needed some usage! I used sweet vermouth instead of sherry vinegar and marinated overnight, I assembled about 20 the next morning in less than 30 mins! Delicious and EASY PEASY!

Last Friday, the Glitter Guide appeared in my inbox and had a mouthwatering  Goat Cheese and Fig Crostini.

This was definitely the hardest item to make. Not because of time, or prep or difficulty putting together, but because creating the perfect crostini is very hard....especially when you're making 2 other dishes at the same time. I went through 2 baguettes, burned to a crisp and finally the 3rd one came out a dark brown. Far from perfect, but it worked. The goat cheese was so easy to whip together! I added the honey to the mixture instead of drizzling on the top, this turned out to be great because I used the left overs as a dip! The fig and thyme sprigs complemented each other perfectly! These were the first to be gobbled up...primarily by the boys. and elegant recipe for

  With 2 main courses, I needed 1 'snack' type food. This was easy for me to pick: popcorn. One of my absolute favorites and so few people use it that it came as a nice surprise to our guests! I classed it up a bit with truffle oil, parmesean and fresh rosemary.

For beverages I kept it simple: the ever classic Pimm's Cup with a fresh cuke slice and a lemon!

Pimm's and Boat Shoes of course!

I'm happy to say it was everything I could have wanted! The day was gorgeous, the food was delicious and the company was perfect! Definitely one of my San Francisco-life highlights!