Show + Tell Tuesday {Kids Parties}

One of my favorite things to do is to plan parties.

For some people, throwing parties is stressful to them, but to me, it is therapeutic!

It gives me a chance to use my creativity (which I don't get to use all that much teaching math. Ha!)

I always jump at the chance to throw or host a party, whether it is a birthday party for my kids, a bridal or baby shower, holiday with family or a special get together with friends.

Today I am linking up with Andrea for Show & Tell Tuesday and today's topic is one of my VERY favorite topics...Kids parties!

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know I LOVE throwing birthday parties for my kids. 

Here are some of my favorite parties I have thrown for my kids.

Get ready for Party Overload :)

Let's start with parties I have thrown for Kate...

Ice Skating Party:

 Roller Skating Party:

 

Kate's Pizzeria Party

Here is the cake my mother in law made..


Kate's Nail Salon Party:

Kate's Pancakes & Pajamas Party:

 This party was very simple to throw!

Kevin made pancakes, the girls added their toppings & we did some crafts! 

Kate's Rainbow Art Party:

Kate's Cinderella Party:

Here are some of my favorite parties that I have thrown Claire....
Flamingo Pool Party:





Claire's Shabby Chic Tea Party:

  Claire's Mermaid Swim Party: 

  Claire's Tangled Party:

This party was magical.

I had a yellow braid going through our entire downstairs:

I had Rapunzel come to the party, Claire's reaction brought tears to my eyes. It was awesome! 

 Claire's Candy Shoppe Party:
 
  Claire's Cowgirl Party:
I LOVED this party.

    I must say, this is probably my favorite party I have thrown.



Here are parties I have thrown for Luke....

Luke's Nautical 1st Birthday Party

This party was so special. It was the LAST 1st birthday party I will have ever thrown.

When I was pregnant with Luke (and with the girls) we didn't find out if it was a boy or a girl.

I remember being 5 months pregnant and seeing nautical decorations at Target.

Since I was due in August and it would be a summer birthday, I decided right then & there if this  baby was a boy, he would have a Nautical/Sailboat first birthday party and I BOUGHT the party supplies (there is a peak into my crazy...buying party supplies for my unborn child's 1st birthday party not even knowing if it was a boy or a girl!)

I had so much fun with that party! 

Luke's Train Party- Choo Choo Luke is Two

 
Luke's Firetruck Party:
 

 Luke's Construction Party:





So those are just some of my favorites... To see all the other kid's parties I have thrown, click HERE for my Party Tab!

Instant Pot Rosemary Beef Stew

As many of you know, my Grammy is pretty special to me.
She is 105 years old....so amazing.
When she turned 103, she moved out of her house to a retirement home (yes, she lived on her own until she was 103!)
When she moved out of her house, she gave me all her old cookbooks and recipe cards.
Grammy loved to cook and whenever we would visit her, Grammy's Split Pea Soup was simmering on the stove. During our visits, she would always be whipping up something in the kitchen.
One of the recipes that I found in one of her cookbooks (from the 1940's!) is for Beef Stew.
This recipe calls for it to be cooked for hours on your stove top.
When I saw this recipe, I converted the recipe to a Slow Cooker recipe because a slow cooker is better than making on your stove. That is how I have been making it for the past 2 years. Until now.....enter the Instant Pot.
As you know, since I got my Instant Pot last Fall I am now on a mission to convert all my recipes to  Instant Pot recipes.

To say that I am obsessed with it is an understatement.

You can make this stew  in a slow cooker in 6-8 hours.

You can make this in an Instant Pot in less than an hour from start to finish.
And, the flavor is WAY better when you make it in the Instant Pot.
 Amazing.

Here is what you need:

2 - 2.5  lbs of beef stew meat
¼ cup flour
Salt and pepper

Bag of baby carrots
3-4 stalks of celery
1/2 medium onion, diced
3 yukon gold potatoes, diced
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 T minced garlic
1 can of beef broth
2 T Dijon mustard
2 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T soy sauce

3 T brown sugar 

1 tsp thyme
 1-2 sprigs of fresh rosemary or 1 Tbsp dried rosemary

 Directions:
These are the directions for the Instant Pot, I will put the Slow Cooker directions at the end of the post.

Place the stew meat in a gallon size ziplock bag, along with the 1/4 cup of flour, salt & pepper.
Shake the bag & make sure the meat is coated.

 Push the Saute button on your Instant pot. When it turns to "hot", add a splash of olive oil to the Instant pot and place the meat & diced onions in the Instant Pot and brown the meat for just 2-3 minutes.
Pour the can of beef broth into the instant pot & as you do make sure you "deglaze" the bottom of the Instant Pot and make sure nothing is stuck to the bottom of the pot.

Add the Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, minced garlic, mustard and thyme & then give it a stir.

Wash the potatoes & then chop into quarters/cubes. Chop the celery.

Add the carrots, celery and potatoes to the Instant Pot.

 Give all the ingredients in the pot a good stir & add the fresh rosemary on top (or if you are using dried rosemary, sprinkle that on top)

Then put the lid on your Instant Pot turn the knob to SEALING:

 Press the "meat/stew" button, or set the cooker to 30 minutes of high pressure.
 
After 30 minutes of high pressure, allow the cooker to naturally cool and release pressure after 15 minutes....here is what it looks like with the steam coming out...that will happen for a few minutes.

Once the pressure has released, open the steam valve then carefully open the lid.....smells SO good!

 Give the stew a stir and serve!
Check out how tender the meat is....it is fork tender...delicious!

  If you make this stew in the Slow Cooker, you can brown the meat & onions in a pan on the stove and then just add them to the Slow cooker and then add the broth, seasonings & vegetables.
Give it a big stir and cook on low for 6-7 hours.

There is so much flavor in this stew & it's so easy to make.

 There is just something about Beef Stew that is so comforting! The original recipe didn't call for Rosemary, but for the past few years, I have been adding fresh rosemary when I make this stew because I love the flavor of it.

Yum! I love this stew! And I love it even more when I can make it in my Instant Pot in less than an hour!

Have you gotten an Instant Pot yet?
If you haven't.....now is your chance....I am giving away a $100 Gift Card to AMAZON!

To enter, use the Rafflecopter below & leave a comment letting me know what you would buy the gift card.

Since I already have an Instant Pot I would probably buy some books for my Kindle!

Today's giveaway ends next Friday, March 10th.

Have a GREAT weekend! a Rafflecopter giveaway