girls night + the easiest dessert recipe evuuur

So, it's 1 week + 1 day until we say goodbye to Charlotte. I decided to throw a girls night with my best Charlotte girl friends. All of the girls knew at least one of the others..but a lot were meeting for the first time. I must say, I have some seriously impressive friends, that I am going to miss a TON.

Rachel - Architect in training [like me] + has her own business
Deb + Lynne + Alicia - All are new [and amazing] mom's and all are working as well!
Kelsey + Kath - Both in school to become Registered Dietitians and both have fun and addicting food blogs that I adore
Rosarae - Interior designer, starting her own business + teacher
Noelle - In sales, for a ridiculously sweet furniture company, Knoll + she's trying to start her own jewelry business
Anna - singer/songwriter, keeps the architecture firm I used to work for alive!!

Okay...on to the night! I told all the girls I was going to put together a really yummy + healthy salad bar. For some extra fun I asked them all to bring their favorite plate from home. Why? Well, why not! You know you have a favorite plate! Also, I had them bring their favorite salad dressing + wine. I also had an art project set up for them. It was without.a.doubt. one of my favorite nights in Charlotte.

The art project! For the past 4 years I've had my closest family and friends paint me a small 4"x5" canvas. I have them up on our wall in a grid pattern. I love having a little piece of everyone that I'm close with...and it has become a good conversation piece! =)



These are all the paintings I had before girls night


food time - chips + dip from Trader Joes - I am going to miss that store


Lynne's baby boy- Liam - 9wks old


Anna, Rachel, Kath


Deb, Lynne, Alicia, Noelle


all of the wines + salad dressings


Anna, Rachel, Kath playing with paint!


chicken + shrimp


tons of veg


ota.bar ingredients on a salad!! almonds + pepitas [pumpkin seeds]


Rachel starting things off


Rosarae + Noelle + their sweet bowl/plate


Anna, Rachel, Kath [I have at least 3 photos of you 3, standing/sitting in this exact order..what is up with this?? haha]


nom.nom.nom.




Rachel's bowl


Kath, ready to chow down


Alicia, Lynne + Kelsey


so pretty, Lynne!!


about to get my grub on


me!


some of the cool plates/bowls


Liam snoozed a lot of the time


I told Kelsey to arrange these chocolates however she wanted...I thought this was pretty intricate!


I grilled dessert...it was soooooooo simple + delicious!!! [recipe below]


we topped the dessert with vanilla bean icecream + the dark chocolate squares


Deb's 6wk old son, Bryson! He looks like daddy =)


Deb and Bryce!! Soooo cute [both of them!]


Liam loved painting, hehe


Look at what these awesome ladies gave me at the end of the night!! Soooo impressed!! Love my new artwork =) =)


Grilled Peach Marinade: [with 2 ota.ingredients]

4 peaches - cut in half and take out pit - you want to use slightly soft peaches
1/4c. balsamic vinegar
1T melted coconut oil
2T honey

-whisk all ingredients together
-add peach halves to large plastic bag
-add mixture to bag and shake around
-use right away or leave in fridge for 30min-4hrs

-preheat grill to med-high
-grill appx. 3-4min on each side

Top with vanilla icecream!! Can use marinade for grilling other fruit too fruit. I have also cooked the peaches in my cast iron pan, which worked perfectly.

I left the pineapple plain, but grilled for the same amount of time.

Stay tuned for more posts!

Niiiiight,
Ashley

4 comments:

kel-C said...

lovely eeeeeexcellent BEAUTIFUL blog post!! Superb people pictures!!!!!!

Emily said...

That does sound like a delicious dessert! And the babies? Adorable!!!!

Beth @ Kitchen Minions said...

That looks soo tasty! We'll have to try it, good luck on your drive to Denver! Keep us posted on when you'll be selling ota.bars here, can't wait to try them!

KathEats said...

And it was a wonderful party!! I needed to study that roster BEFORE the evening!! Lol.

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