Chocolate Chip M&M Blondies

For the dessert at the bridal shower, I decided to make something really super simple. I'm really just not a dessert kind of gal, and the simpler the dessert, the better in my opinion. So I made these delicious chocolate chip M&M blondies and served them with some mint chocolate chip ice cream. Not fancy by any means, and I probably could have selected something that would have matched the rest of the menu a little better, but in my opinion, the blondies were still delicious.

Chocolate Chip M&M Blondies (recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
1/3 cup mini M&Ms

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8x8 pan with cooking spray.
Whisk flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl. In another bowl, stir together the melted butter and brown sugar. Stir until smooth. Add in the egg and stir. Next, stir in the vanilla until smooth. Add the flour mixture and stir until the ingredients are combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and M&Ms. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 23-25 minutes.

Greek Orzo Pasta Salad

For Suzie's bridal shower, I made this Greek orzo pasta salad, a recipe I found through my beloved FoodGawker. The recipe can be found at My Baking Addiction. It was a really delicious, light pasta salad, a perfect lunch and summer salad.

Greek Orzo Pasta Salad (adapted from My Baking Addiction)]
For the Pasta Salad
one box of orzo
cucumber, diced
four Roma tomatoes, diced
one diced red onion
one diced red bell pepper
one diced green bell pepper
one package of crumbled reduced fat feta

For the dressing (these measurements are all to start, I actually ended up adding a little more dressing because it looked a little dry)
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup of red wine vinegar
1 heaping tsp of Dijon mustard
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
3/4 tsp dried oregano
3/4 tsp dried basil
salt and pepper

Boil orzo according to package directions. Combine vegetables, feta and orzo. In a small mixing bowl, combine ingredients for dressing and mix well. Pour over pasta salad mixture and chill for at least an hour.

Bridal Shower Menu

I hosted a bridal shower today for my friend Suzie who is getting married next month. As with most parties, it was delightful to me to have the opportunity to plan a menu. I decided to choose something simple, that would look nice but be easy to prepare. I chose to create an antipasti platter, roasted garlic hummus, Greek orzo pasta salad, and a fruit platter. There were M&M and chocolate chip blondies with ice cream for dessert. I was going to make the hummus myself but got too lazy. Oh well. I did make the pasta salad and the blondies.


The antipasti platter consisted of Genoa salami, hard salami, Wisconsin provolone, white cheddar, pepperoni, antipasti olives, roasted red peppers and marinated artichokes.

Look for coming entries with recipes for the pasta salad and the blondies.