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Hello! I'm Suzannah, a serious DIYer and mom of two little ones. Follow along with my DIY fixer upper house renovations, sewing and crafty projects, real food recipes, and de-stressing goals.
I believe you can love your home just the way it is, AND have the power to design and make big changes to make it better.
I'm also the author of DIY Wardrobe Makeovers!

An amazing birthday and backyard late summer party!

I'm feeling so happy and grateful as I reflect on my wonderful birthday last Sunday. I don't usually do much for my birthday, normally just dinner with my parents and husband, and not many gifts. (Last year was an exception--a lovely party thrown by my dear party planner friend!) But this year I wanted to spend time with family, mine and my husband's, and so a week before my birthday we decided to throw this little backyard party at my parents' place.

So, enjoying every last bit of summer - this gorgeous weather, amazing garden harvests, our CSA box,  and eating outdoors - I had an amazing birthday dinner! And almost everything was über fresh, from within only a few miles!

What we ended up with was a pretty random, but all amazing!!, bunch of food. (This was probably the first party we've thrown since I started eating meat again and eating a Paleo-inspired diet as opposed to a raw vegan one, and it was exciting to share some recipes with family. Like the honey mustard chicken drumsticks from The Paleo Slow Cooker cookbook--literally, honey, mustard, coconut oil, salt, and chicken in the slow cooker for a few hours, and they're amaaaaaazing.)

Menu

Appetizers

Bacon-wrapped dates
Shrimp and cocktail sauce
Yellow watermelon!

Main Course

Green bean salad
My mother-in-law's fancy cole slaw
Slow cooker chicken drumsticks with mother-in-law's homemade BBQ sauce
Slow cooker honey mustard chicken drumsticks

On the Grill

Zucchini and onions
Sliders from local grassfed cows - with tomatoes and sauteed red onions

Dessert

Paleo (grain and dairy free) Boston Cream Pie

Everything was SO, SO GOOD!!

I tried to sneak in some pictures...

Yellow watermelon! One of the more exotic treasures in our CSA boxes this summer.

My mother-in-law's delicious kitchen sink coleslaw--it has jicama, pumkin seeds, cranberries... all kinds of good stuff.

My pretty plate. So full!

And I got to blow out a candle.

This cake was seriously one of the most amazing ones I've ever made. (And I made a lot of cakes in my pre-raw vegan days.) Got this recipe from one of my favorite podcasters, and I'm so glad I found it right before my birthday! I'd never had Boston Cream Pie before, but I'm pretty sure this is the best one there is! ;) It's grain- and gluten-free and Paleo friendly--I made it from almond flour which I also made--as shown in this tutorial!

Hooray for backyard parties in the late summer. Family, food, and time to relax. Makes me love my birthday even more!

4 comments

  1. Looks like one fun (and delicious!) birthday party! Happy belated!

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  2. Looks like a delicious meal! We eat GAPS style, which is very similar to Paleo, just includes more fermented foods. Real locally-grown food tastes the best!

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  3. Oh my goodness, YUM...and happy late birthday. :)

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  4. So fun! Happy (belated) birthday and I LOVE your vintage plates!

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