One of the things I look forward to each year is our annual summer party. Life is busy. We hear that all the time, but it is so true. Throw a career, husband, and some kids in the mix and your once social life becomes nonexistent. Can I get an amen! So we throw the summer party to have some of our closest friends over to eat good food, drink, and catch up on life.
This was the 4th year we have thrown our summer party, and this is the first year that I haven’t been stressed about it. Want to know my secret? Focus on what’s important. The food and the guests. That is just what I did this year and I would consider this summer party the best one yet. It was simple, but wonderful.
I planned a simple tablescape with items I already had on hand and cut flowers from our hydrangea bushes to create the centerpiece. Super easy!
In previous years I have went above and beyond. I’m talking balloon garlands, games, specialty cocktail, decorated cookies that took me WAY TOO LONG. But this year, not so much.
Side note, how beautiful our these hydrangea’s? I cannot believe my hydrangea’s came back this year. I am basically a professional gardener now. Just kidding. No where near close. But I am so happy that they came back!
Look at my manly hubby taking care of the food like a boss. He made pulled pork, baked macaroni and cheese, and a caprese salad. The food was seriously so good, that I ate the left overs for two straight days.😋
I will say that my hubby and I make a pretty good team in the kitchen. He cooks, I bake. 👨🍳👩🏻🍳 Speaking of baking, I got a lot of questions about the gluten-free lemon mousse cheesecakes I made for the party, so I am sharing the recipe. I was actually inspired by two recipes I found on Pinterest for the mousse and combined them. The crust was something I whipped together hoping it would taste good, and it did!
Gluten Free Lemon Mouse Cheesecake Recipe
I made enough crust for 12 – 4 oz. mason jars. To make the crust, I poured 1.5 cups of the graham style crumbs into a small bowl, added 1/4 cup of sugar, then poured 1/2 of a stick of melted butter into the bowl and mixed until well combined. CLICK HERE for details on the gluten-free graham style crumbs. I will warn you, that the gluten-free graham style crumbs is expensive. The least expensive place I have found it is on Amazon.
Then I took a heaping spoonful of the crust and pressed it down into the bottom and about a half-inch up the sides. I put the jars on a cookie sheet and put them in the refrigerator while I prepped the mousse.
THIS RECIPE is what I used to make the lemon mousse. However, the recipe called for store-bought lemon curd, which I didn’t have, so I made it from scratch. If you plan to buy store-bought you don’t need the other recipe. If you want to make the lemon curd from scratch then follow THIS RECIPE. You’ll want to make the lemon curd before you start making the mousse. You’ll only need 1 cup of lemon curd, so if you opt to make the lemon curd from scratch you’ll have a some left over.
Note: I omitted the yellow food coloring from the mousse recipe.
Once the lemon mousse was ready, I put it in a piping bag and piped it into the jars.
I used a star tip to pipe a dollop of whipped cream on top, then garnished them with blueberries and fresh mint from our garden. That’s it!
With the leftover lemon curd, I made a lemon tart. I mean, you can never have too many lemon-y treats. Amirite? 🍋
For the kids I made homemade cherry ice cream. It was seriously AHHH-MAZZ-ING! The kids LOVED it!
I found the recipe on Pinterest. It was so yummy that I plan to make it again very soon. 🍒 CLICK HERE for the cherry ice cream recipe.
I was able to snap a couple photos from our bedroom window before everyone noticed me. 😊
When I tried to take a picture up close, I told everyone to act normal. This is what I got. 😂
Then this one. ❤
And that my friends, is how we throw a summer party! All the twinkle lights was the cherry on top of a perfect night with great friends.
Well, that’s it for this post. I hope you enjoyed it. If you want the details on our deck makeover you can CLICK HERE for part l and HERE for part ll. The DIY privacy screens are in part l and the DIY outdoor table is in part II.
And that’s a wrap! Until next time friends. Xo
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