June 29, 2014
Easy Homemade Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Most of us like chocolate and peanut butter, a.k.a = Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. What I don't like is, 1. the lack of actual chocolate in the candy bar, and 2. the processed in our processed foods.
One of my girls came to me the other day, asking if we could make our own peanut butter cups. I thought this would be a great project for them, and while we were in the process of making this, I thought that maybe a lot of other people would enjoy making these easy desserts with their own children this Summer. So here we go:
What You'll Need:
A good quality Chocolate for melting. approx 4 cups.
an all natural peanut butter, 1 cup
confection sugar. approx 2 cups
small cupcake papers.
Mix the peanut butter and confection sugar until crumbly. Place in fridge for about 30 minutes.
Remove peanut butter mixture from fridge, and begin to roll into small balls.
You'll want to make sure you are rolling the balls small enough so that they will fit into the small papers. Place formed balls back into the fridge.
Place chocolate pieces into a double boiler, and stir often. If you burn the chocolate, you will need to start over.
Once chocolate is melted, remove from heat. I find it slightly easier to place my melted chocolate into a pastry bag, although it is very hot, you may need a glove if you go this route. If not, you can always just spoon the melted chocolate into each cupcake paper.
If you choose to use the pastry bag, be sure to have someone else pour the mixture in while you pinch the bottom, so nothing leaks out!
Begin to slowly pour the melted chocolate into the paper cups. Be sure to only fill the cups 1/4 full. The melted chocolate will raise once you place the peanut butter balls in. You can then go back, and add more chocolate to cover the peanut butter balls.
I found this process much easier by filling the papers with the first round of chocolate, having one daughter, place the peanut butter balls into each cup, and having the other daughter covering each cup with the remaining chocolate.
Place into fridge for at least 1 hour.
Once cooled, enjoy!
May 10, 2014
Mac & Cheese to Die For!
I used to always pull out that blue box when my family asked for Mac & Cheese for dinner. After each and every time, one of my girls would inevitably say after dinner that their stomache hurt. Which got me thinking as to what exactly was inside that blue box.
After some research, I found out that the NY Times had done an entire article on those blue boxes that are made in the USA. Did you know that the UK actually has different labels for those boxes we buy, with not 1, but 2 warning labels on them?
Warning labels like:
"This product may have adverse effect on activity and attention in children."
and this one:
"GMO Declaration, Made from genetically modified wheat (May contain GMO)"
So in an effort to eat healthier, I began my quest on making the most delicious and tasty mac and cheese dish from scratch. With that said, here's the recipe that has been such a huge hit in our house, that I am now making this dish once a week.
Mac & Cheese
1 - 1lb package pasta of your choice
1 - 1/2 lb package of cooked bacon
1/2 cup chopped chives
1 cup shredded Gouda Cheese
1 cup shredded Havarti Cheese
2 Cups shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
2 TBSP Cream Cheese
1/2 - 3/4 Cup Milk
2 TBSP Butter
1 tsp flour to thicken
Salt & pepper to taste
Cut raw bacon into bite size pieces, cook in pan until crispy. Drain and set aside. In another pan, cook pasta until done, drain and set aside. Use pasta pan to melt butter, stir in milk, and flour to thicken. Slowly add your shredded cheeses one at a time, stirring continually until each one is melted and smooth. Add cream cheese. Stir until smooth.
Add your cooked pasta, and mix until thoroughly coated. Add cooked bacon. Transfer to a baking dish, add a dash more milk, top with additional shredded cheese if desired, cover and bake for 10 - 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
Once you serve each plate, top with chives, and serve.
Once you realize just how easy this dish is to make from scratch, you'll never want to buy the blue box again!
April 09, 2014
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March 12, 2014
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March 10, 2014
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March 09, 2014
Easy Peanut Butter & Jelly Donuts!
I am a lover of the Food Network Channel. I love shows like Diners Drive-ins & Dives and "The best thing I ever Made" Well the other day, as I was flipping through the channels while I had all of ten minutes to myself, I caught the show "The Best Thing I ever Ate" came on.
It. Was. The. Sweets. Episode!
Yes, I have a sweet tooth. I felt compelled to watch the show in its entirety. It was my duty.
That was when I saw this...
Peanut Butter & Jelly Donuts!
Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches are one of those foods that I often forget just how good they really are, that is, until I bite into one, and I am magically transported to a simpler time. A time were my biggest worry was who I was going to sit with at the lunch table.
So after some thinking, I came up with my own little version that was incredibly easy to make.
In a deep frying pan, heat oil on low. Open a package of Grands Biscuits. Yes, You read that correctly, grands biscuits! The trick is to cook these slowly, if you do this too quickly, you'll end up with a crunchy outside, and a still raw center.
Once fried, and completely cooled, the next step is to get some jelly into the center of your donuts. I used a pastry bag with a long tip and gently squeezed roughly 2 tablespoons of jelly into each one.
Now for the peanut butter glaze. I made mine a little on the thicker side, so there would be a descent amount of peanut butter on the top. This glaze will harden when it sets, provided you make it on the thinner side.
Here's what you'll need:
3 TBSP of Peanut butter, crunchy or creamy, your preference.
(4 TBSP if you want it thicker)
1 cup of Powdered Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
6 TBSP milk ( I used Whole Milk)
Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl, (large enough to dip the tops of each donut.) until smooth. Dip your donuts into the peanut butter mixture, and enjoy!
Warning: These are incredibly delicious, and super easy to make.... Don't say I didn't warn you when you're making them on a weekly basis!
February 13, 2014
Super 16 Party.... On A Budget!
So the secret is finally out of the bag! My daughters recently turned 16, and for about the last 6 months I have been planning a super Sweet 16 for them. I can't believe it, that we actually pulled it off, without either of them knowing!
For the last 6 months, they honestly thought they were helping to do things for a friends wedding! We had a budget, and I knew that the budget HAD to be stuck to! I knew that I wanted it to be elegant, and look expensive, just not have that expensive price tag!
After we found a place to hold the venue, (at a discounted rate of course) I had to order invitations. Invitations can get pricey. So I stalked the Groupon site for weeks, until they had a Vistaprint deal. I scored $70.00 worth of product for just $17.00. I also knew that I would need response cards, and just by luck I found 100 response cards on clearance at my local iParty store for just $1.57 a package, down from $4.99 a package.
Next, I wanted a jaw dropping centerpiece...
Of course, I was obsessed with finding ideas on Pinterest. Looking to rent centerpieces, like these that we made would have completely blown the budget. So I began to try and hunt down ostrich feathers. I ran into 1 big problem. Each feather would have cost around $2.50 each! I needed like 300 feathers! I began researching these feathers everywhere, when I found a lot of 300 purple feathers on Ebay! cost, just $62.00 granted they were not the 20 inch feathers I was originally looking for, these were just 10 inches in length. however, when you realize that the tops would still be large, I figured they would work just fine, and as you can see they did! The vases we used are called Eiffel Tower vases and are approx. 24 inches tall. These can be found at just about every craft store. My problem, was they were $10 a piece. So I made multiple trips to my local AC Moore, and uses a 40% off coupon for each one. cost just $6.00 each! We also managed to drop in 2 LED lights into each vase on strings to light the base of them up!
Because buffet dinners are cheaper than sit down meals, we planned on buffet style. This way I could also enlist some family and friends help with making some dishes!
Because the tables would look a little bare to me, and it was indeed a birthday party, I wanted the tables to have that finished look. Normal favor boxes are always so small, and I wanted a "Wow" favor, that looked like gifts. The problem with that was, I knew these would probably take a good chunk out of my budget. 4 inch squared craft boxes would cost me approx. 79¢ for each box. Times that by 100, and now you're talking about $80 just for the boxes! That's not even including the candy for the inside! So I would have to research again online. That's when I cam across a fabulous online store called Bags and Bows online. I would need to purchase 100 boxes, which was fine, seeing as that's exactly how many I needed, but instead of paying $80 I paid just $15.95! That's another savings of $64.
All the candy I purchased, I waited until drug stores had cash back deals, like CVS for instance had buy $30 of candy, receive $10 back in ExtraCare Bucks. I also didn't want to just tie a simple Thank You on the boxes. Instead, I found some beautiful online quotes that I would print out on sticker paper, and apply them to the inside lid of each box. (People could not stop talking about these!)
With the favor boxes being 4 inches, they really made the tables look beautiful:
Small White paper doilies acted like place settings, and everyone's silverware were wrapped in a napkin to complete the look.
I managed to work out a few deals with local artists, like trading computer work for a 3 tiered cake.
And am doing more computer work in exchange for the entertainment!
Which the girls got their chance to work the DJ booth! I'm a huge fan of the Barter system, especially when budgets are involved!
While everyone was waiting for the girls to arrive, I wanted to keep people busy, so after spending about 2 weeks thinking of what to put out, I decided on a cheese and fruit table:
Cutting celery and carrots, and standing them up in a small triffle bowl added another dimension to the table.
By placing all the cheeses at different heights adding depth to the table, it looked more expensive than it really was. All the strawberries and cantaloupes were casually placed on the table itself, instead of on trays, I saved money buying and cutting the cheese myself, even though I had 11 different cheeses!
I also didn't want people having to ask what kind of cheese was there, so I printed out the names of the cheeses, and glued them to wooden coffee sticks for each mound of cheese, really creating a finished look.
Another easy idea that everyone loved were the dinner tags at the buffet table. I printed out these and used an edging craft tool that I had to create the decorative edging, and glued them to a colored card stock paper. With so many people dealing with allergies these days, I listed the ingredients that was in each dish. Making it easier for everyone. (Not to mention, avoiding anyone having an allergic reaction!)
The card box was a favorite of mine. I used left over Christmas boxes, lined them with black fabric and decorated accordingly!
Although it was a tremendous amount of work, and research, considering the hundreds of dollars that I saved, it was well worth it all!
January 05, 2014
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