My Halloween Sweets

I was asked to bring something for the annual Halloween festivities at my cousin's home. A great house filled with over 50 mommies, daddies and munchkins - I knew it had to be something all ages would love! Last year I made Brownie Ghosts which were a huge hit! This year I need to kick it up a notch. I searched and searched online and found a yummy, not too complicated treat! Peanut Butter Eyes!!!! I found the recipe n RecipeZaar.com -> http://www.recipezaar.com/Halloween-Eyeball-Cookies-143344
Here's the recipe with some of my adaptations...

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened - I used Smart Balance
1 1/2 cups peanut butter - I used reduced fat!
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
18 ounces white dipping chocolate - 3 boxes
1/2 cup mini chocolate chip
blue food coloring

Directions

1. Cream the butter and peanut butter together.
2. Beat in the vanilla and sugar.
3. Chill for 1/2 hour.
4. Roll into small balls, chill on wax paper for another 1/2 hour.
5. In a microwave, melt the white dipping chocolate.
6. Using two spoons dip the eyeballs into the white chocolate.
7. Let cool on waxed paper until firm. Chilling will speed up the process.
8. Pour a drop or two of blue food coloring into the remaining melted chocolate.
9. Make a round iris on the eyeball, and immediately press a miniature chocolate chip in the center for a pupil, doing 5 at at time.
10. For the bloodshot effect, dip the tiny end of a toothpick in red food colouring and squiggle the lines from the pupil outward, but not quite to the edges of the ball.
11. These are quite tasty--considering how creepy they are.

Note: White dipping chocolate is also known as white bark.

One of my biggest lessons learned is to keep the cooled - whether in the fridge or on the counter if it is cool enough. I set my eyes on display and many of them go mushy - still super yummy, but messier than needed.

For whatever reason I never took a picture of the final product. The last picture was taken as we were adding the pupils. I put them on the tree cupcake holders, that held 24 eyes per tree. They looked great and the reaction I got from the party was fantastic!

Daddy's Home!

"Daddy's home!" may be my munchkin's favorite words to hear! I just love the excitement she has when we notice his truck heading down the street from our front window! She is beside herself with excitement!

PS - I LOVE when her daddy is home too! ;-)

Peanut Butter Inventory!

I'm a Grocery Game junkie! I've saved well into the thousands in the last 15 months! Anyway, I found this shelf of my pantry quite amusing...do you think I need more peanut butter?? Also, it may be hard to see, but there are 3 canisters of oatmeal in the back! I think I need to start checking my inventory and maybe make a few batches of peanut butter oatmeal cookies!! Yum Yum! Ha Ha!

Goldfish Made with Smiles! =)

Ok, so this made me stop and smile! The other day as I was opening a new bag of Goldfish, my latest fitness kick convinced me to look at the label and ingredients, (I try to be a health nut whenever possible!) Much to my surprise I came across the greatest 1st ingredient of any package of my pantry! According to the Goldfish Cheddar bag, the little fishies are, "Made with SMILES and... " What? Smiles? How great is that!? You know that the 1st ingredient is the ingredient of largest quantity in the item! So, I wonder, if you eat food made with lots of smiles, will you instantly have a smile on your face? I sure did! And, I bet you do too! :-) Go ahead, go find that bag of Goldfish and check it out!

The Smell of My Birthday!

I'm from Long Island, NY and now call South Florida home. There are certainly things from NY that I miss. One of the most difficult to adjust to is the lack of seasons. Or should I say profound seasons. Yes, in Florida we do experience "winter," it's just a bit different than the winters in NY. The heat lessens, as does the humidity. People dress as if it's 20 degrees out, when the weatherman frightens the viewers with a chance of high 50s at night. It's a but amusing. Anyway, the season I miss the very most is autumn. I miss the leaves changing. I miss the leaves falling. And, most importantly, I miss the smell of the leaves. It's a smell that is so reminiscent of my childhood and my birthday. I have a birthday this month, and with just one whiff of an autumn leaf I know my birthday is approaching. One of my greatest friends knows that and sent me the most wonderful birthday goody - a box of autumn - full of leaves, pine cones and more! Now I know my birthday is soon!