Rehearsal Dinners, Weddings, and Pasta Salad

Well, my cousin's wedding is over. All went well. I was hoping to have some photos of the cake to post, but forgot to take the digital camera so when I get a few photos scanned in I'll try to post some here. The cake was gorgeous. My Aunt Sheryle did a fabulous job.

Dean's family did all the food prep for the rehearsal dinner. Sheryle asked me to put together this pasta salad. It's really yummy.

Pasta Salad

For the dressing combine:
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups Hellman's Mayo (must be Hellman's)
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar

Set aside.

For the salad combine:
16 ounces cooked, drained and cooled pasta
3 carrots, finely diced
1 small onion, finely diced
1 green pepper, finely chopped
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
10 ounces frozen peas
1 cup crumbled bacon
1 can black olives, sliced

Pour dressing over salad. Season with salt and pepper.

Just before serving, add 2 cups halved grape or cherry tomatoes.

Best if refrigerated overnight prior to serving.

Cream Cheese Wedding Mints

I spent the last couple days at my aunt Sheryle's house making mints for my cousin's upcoming wedding. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. It's technically a Christmas recipe, but we're using it as one of the mint options for the reception. The one thing that I learned is that these won't come out of the molds unless you dust the molds with edible glitter before pressing the candy into the mold.

1 (3 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon butter, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar
2 drops peppermint oil*
any food coloring paste or powder (I used powder - available at cake decorating shops)

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, and confectioner's sugar. Mix in peppermint oil. Color as desired with food coloring paste or powder, or leave white.
2. Roll mixture into small balls, then roll in granulated sugar.
3. Dust desired mold with edible glitter (available at cake decorating shops) and press ball into mold. Scrape excess and drop out of mold onto wax paper.
4. Allow to dry for about 2 hours, then freeze or refrigerate.

* You can substitute other flavors if you want. For instance, we did mint flavor for some, butter flavor for some, and cherry flavor for some.

Next week we'll be starting on the wedding cakes. Hopefully I'll post some pictures and some cool wedding cake tips.