Baked Potato Salad

This is one of my most commonly asked for recipes, my Baked Potato Salad! It is delicious and perfect for any group gathering or party (or even just Sunday dinner at home.)

 

INGREDIENTS:
1 medium bag of red potatoes (or 8+ regular potatoes)
2 tbsp. butter
1-16 oz container of sour cream
1 Ranch seasoning packet
1/2 red onion, diced
1 1/2- 2 cups cheese
10-12 strips (or more!!) bacon, cooked and diced
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil potatoes until soft, put still a little firm (like you would for regular potato salad)

 

2. Let potatoes cool a little, then cube. Put cubed potatoes into Crockpot or large pot on the stovetop. Its also helpful to spray the Crockpot with a cooking spray before you put the potatoes in, it will help for easier cleaning later.

 

 

 

3. Add all other ingredients and stir until mixed together. Be gentle to not mash the potatoes, and a wooden spoon is stronger and mixes better than plastic.

 

 

4. Allow to cook on low for about an hour or so to melt the cheese and let the flavors blend together.

 

5. Serve and Enjoy!

 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar 1st Birthday Party

I did a super fun Very Hungry Catterpillar Party for my daughter's 1st Birthday! I loved everything about it, it was so much fun for me (and hopefully for her too!) My last few posts are how-to's for different things from the party. This post will be shorter, just refer to the other posts for more information.

Here are the tables. I loved them and all the centerpieces have cute photos of my birthday girl eating whatever the Hungry Caterpillar ate. Check out this post for how I made the centerpieces:
 http://berriesofwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-very-hungry-caterpillar-party.html

 I also had these candy caterpillars on the tables too. They are similar to the candy lei's you would make for a graduation or something too, but in a caterpillar shape instead of a necklace. Check out this post for how-to make the candy lei:
http://berriesofwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-very-hungry-caterpillar-party.html

This was my condiment, napkin, and paper plates table. I also had this cute paper plate caterpillar decoration here, but you can put him anywhere or use him as a fun centerpiece too. I also had a fill-a-bowl full of all the fruit the caterpillar eats and  some of my food and plasticware on this table too. Here is a link for how-to make the paper plate caterpillar :
http://berriesofwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-very-hungry-caterpillar-party.html

 

 

 

My food table! This was the most fun part because I did all the food that the caterpillar eats in the book. Check out a break-down of all my cute food here http://berriesofwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-very-hungry-caterpillar-party-food.html

 

And more about the cute candy table is here:http://berriesofwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-very-hungry-caterpillar-party-food.html 

 

 

 

 

 

 My how-to for the lollipop holder box is here:

http://berriesofwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/07/lollipop-display-box.html

 

 

I made all my banners myself with the Cricut paper cutter, and for the most part I just used the cartridges that came with it. Follow this link for simple instructions for all my banners:

http://berriesofwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-very-hungry-caterpillar-party.html

 

 

 

I loved this big caterpillar floormat under the highchair!

 

 

 "One Sunday morning the sun came up, and POP out of the egg came a tiny, very hungry caterpillar"

 

 

 I used this giant sun balloon to represent the sun that is in the Eric Carle books, specifically at the beginning of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. And I used a butterfly piñata to represent the butterfly that the caterpillar turns into. I also had butterfly nets for the kids to play with too.

 

 

I also had a 'craft' table for the kids too. It was full of The Very Hungry Caterpillar printable pages to color, boxes of crayon,  Very Hungry Caterpillar stickers, erasers, pencils, etc. (I found 7-piece pencil bag and stationary kits form the dollar section at Target). I found the free printable from http://thesweetersideofmommyhood.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/wordy-wednesday-the-very-hungry-caterpillar/

 

 

 

I also had plenty of sidewalk chalk and bubbles for the kids to play with.

 

 

 

 

My cakes are from sprinlebellecakes.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Party Food

The food for my Very Hungry Caterpillar themed party was super fun! I just did all the food that the caterpillar ate in the book by Eric Carle, and added a fun twist to it.

 

On Monday he ate through one apple,

 

On Tuesday he ate through two pears,

 On Wednesday he ate through three plums,

On Thursday he ate through four strawberries,

On Friday he ate through five oranges,

 

 

On Saturday he ate through one piece of chocolate cake,

(I got my cakes from http://sprinklebellecakes.com/ in Utah. She is amazing and does all my cakes)

Apple and Caterpillar SMASH CAKE!!!!

 

 

 

One ice cream cone,

(I displayed the cones on my treat table, and then I didn't forget about the ice cream in freezer when it was time for cake and ice cream. I always forget about the ice cream!)

 

One pickle,

 

One slice of Swiss cheese,

(I included some cheddar cheese slices for the kids too)

 

One slice of salami,

(I also included turkey slices, rolls, and butterfly shaped crackers to enjoy with the salami and cheese. I loved the butterfly crackers (get it!?) with my caterpillar theme)

 

One lollipop,

(Lollipop display box how-to is here

http://berriesofwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/07/lollipop-display-box.html )

 

 

One piece of cherry pie,

 

One sausage,

(I made hot dogs, bratwursts, and lil' smokies in sauce to represent sausage. My lil' smokies recipe is a couple packages of lil' smokies, a jar of grape jelly, and a bottle of chili sauce. Throw it all in a crockpot, heat till warm)

 I loved this sun balloon because of the big sun in the Eric Carle books.

 

 

One cupcake,

(you can find my cupcake topper how-to here

 http://berriesofwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-very-hungry-caterpillar-party.html )

 

and one slice of watermelon,

 

On Sunday he ate through one nice green leaf,

(I made a nice, delicious salad for the leaf)

 

Drinks, condiments, fruit bowl, etc....

 

 

This cute bowl is called a fill-a-bowl. You can fill the side with whatever you want. I used runts and chewy lemonhead friends in the fruits/colors that the caterpillar eats and created the fun sides of the bowl. I filled the bowl with all the fruits the caterpillar eats too. The caterpillar on top is a kids travel pillow that I got from TJ Maxx for $7. For easy directions on how-to make the cute paper plate caterpillar go here http://berriesofwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-very-hungry-caterpillar-party.html.

 

HUNGRY CATERPILLAR TREAT TABLE

 

 I did a candy to represent each fruit that the caterpillar eats. Plum was hard to find a (desirable) candy, so I used purple huckleberry taffy.

 Pear jelly belly

 Of course, my beautiful cakes were on my treat table

 

 SMASH CAKE!!!

Orange slice candy

 Green apple jolly rangers. And I love the '1' candle inside the jar too (this was for my daughter's first birthday party).

 

 Strawberry sour straws

 Sour watermelons

 Watermelon jolly rangers, sour worms (or caterpillars), and I used gummy worms (or caterpillars) too.

 

And my cupcakes, lollipops, cherry pie, and ice cream cones were also on my treat table.

 

Every item was labeled with a card explaining the day of the week and the food eaten that day. I got the cards as a free download from http://www.polkadotsandpuppies.com/2011/04/grants-1st-birthday-party.html. Of course, a couple copies of the book were on my table too. I was so happy with how everything turned out, and the food was so fun to do and was over half the cuteness and the décor of the whole party too.

Cakes: Sprinklebelle Cakes http://sprinklebellecakes.com/

 

Card download: Polka Dots and Puppies http://www.polkadotsandpuppies.com/2011/04/grants-1st-birthday-party.html



 

Photography: Jaime, PB&J Photos by Jamie (the good photos, my personal camera is terrible!) https://www.facebook.com/PbjPhotosByJaime