This past weekend was spent in Iowa surrounded by family & friends and I couldn't have been happier about it. I was home to celebrate our good friend Jenny's wedding shower/bachelorette party, and my parents were kind enough (no surprise there) to let us use their house for the festivities. Before the party kicked off Saturday afternoon, my friend Angie & I embarked on a Super Target run in the morning with my mom (standard), then settled-in back at the house to watch the Iowa game with my folks.
Besides fall candles in almost every room of my parents' house (wonder where I get it!), another staple of fall in the Arp household are the bowls of candy corn + peanuts you'll find in the kitchen, living room & family room. If you have never tried this trusty little combo, it is a must do in the months of October & November. I don't love candy corn on its own, but paired with the peanuts it is a match made in sweet & salty heaven.
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| Game day snacks | Candy corn + peanuts |
Cozied up in my parents' family room, I felt so happy and at peace - being home during the fall is especially wonderful. I treasure those simple days spent doing a whole lot of nothing - football watching, laughing, laying around and dozing off on the couch as the smell of food in the oven & fall candles fill the air. Halftime of the Hawkeye game found me on the four-wheeler, zipping around my parents' land trying to capture the best shots of the gorgeous fall foliage that I could possibly get. Being out in the fresh country air & feeling free as a bird is like a mini-reset to the soul.
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| Foliage | Arp Compound |
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| Amazing... |
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| Pond at my parents' house | Can't wait to lace up for some hockey when this baby freezes over |
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| Country escape |
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| Foliage | Arp Compound |
The best part about the weekend was definitely getting to spend quality time with some of my oldest girlfriends and my parents at the same time. After an incredibly fun and perfectly executed shower & bachelorette party (props to Ms. Angie & all who helped), I woke Saturday morning to find my friends already relaxing in the living room having coffee with my mom. She is seriously the best - and all of my girlfriends reaffirmed that throughout the weekend. She & my dad are two of the most generous, fun & sweet people around and because of them, we had many unforgettable moments & created some epic memories this past weekend, all against a gorgeous backdrop of brightly colored leaves & sunshine...doesn't get much better than that!
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| Me | Dad | Mom | Love |
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| Ms. Jenny | Adorable bride-to-be |
For the shower portion of the party I made some delicious little crab meat wontons - you'll find my spin on the recipe below, using lighter ingredients but not skimping on flavor one bit!
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| Shower spread | Wontons bottom right |
Crab-Filled Bite Size Wontons
(adapted from Pillsbury.com)
Ingredients:
- 3 tubes reduced-fat crescent roll dough
- 2 8oz. pkgs of crab or crab-flavored seafood (the most common kind of pre-cooked packaged crabmeat you'll find at the store in the seafood isle)
- 1/4 cup olive oil mayo or reduced-fat mayo
- 1 8oz. block of reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
- 1 bunch of green onions, sliced thin and about 1" into the green (we used up 6 individual onion stalks)
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp salt
Directions:
Heat oven to 400°F. Spray two cookie sheets with cooking spray and set aside. Roll out the crescent dough onto the cookie sheets & separate at dotted edges so you have all the triangles laying flat. Using culinary scissors shred crab meat or chop it up on a cutting board and place into bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients to bowl and mix with crab meat until well incorporated. Transfer dollops of the crab mixture to the middle of each crescent triangle and bring points of the triangle to meet over the top of the crab meat - no need to cover crab meat all the way, in fact it should peek out on the sides. Bake wontons for 20 mins or until golden brown on top.
Perfect for a get together or for the Holiday party season coming up - these little babies were the first thing to be eaten up at the shower! Enjoy :)
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