Halloween food

We had a fun little Halloween get together and this was some of the food, banana mummies, pumpkin oranges, ghost lollipops, chocolate drizzled pretzels, cupcakes, etc.  Simple and fun!

And I had way too much fun doing snack for preschool, bats, pumpkins, and mummies.

Chocolate Butterflies and YW Temple "Tea" Party

I saw this pinned on Pinterest  and thought it was genius.  So when my MiaMaids decided to have a little "tea" party up by the temple I thought it was a good opportunity to try it out.

My version is not as intricate, but I was able to do them quickly and they turned out really pretty.  The girls like them too.  I made little sandwiches with flower and butterfly cookie cutters and strawberry cream cheese.  We had fruit and cookies and pink lemonade. It was really fun.

I love these girls!  We chatted and planned and enjoyed the view of the temple.

And it was a great view for watching the sunset.

Construction/Dump Truck 2 year old Birthday

 For my little man's birthday I did a construction/dump truck theme.  First I made him a birthday shirt.  I cut out the image of a truck on a piece of cardstock, then set it on the shirt while I sprayed fabric spray paint on and around it.  It was super easy, but I think it was perfect for the look I wanted.

 For his cake I just did a chocolate circle cake with chocolate frosting.  Then I used crushed oreos and Heath bits as dirt and some little toy construction trucks on top.  I really love the way it turned out.

Since he is turning two I didn't throw a huge, full blown party, but we did have a couple friends come over for a playdate.  I set out some of Thayne's favorite snacks and fun themed names for them.  They had some sticker sheets they could do, but mostly just played in the dirt. :)

St. Patrick's Day Truffles

Truffles!  So yummy!  

These are so easy and so good.  All they are is a box of mint chocolate cookies crushed and mixed with a package of cream cheese.  Roll them into balls and put them in the freezer.  Once they are frozen, dip them in melted chocolate and refreeze.  Then drizzle with green chocolate and keep in the refrigerator.  Enjoy!

Young Women's

 The new 2013 theme for the youth is from D&C 87:8 "Stand ye in holy places and be not moved."  I've had a chance to put together a few things for the young women using the theme.  And it's been really fun.

 I made these bookmarks so that every girl could have one at the beginning of the year before we had it memorized so we could recite it each week.

 We've been putting together New Beginnings which has been both stressful and fun (as is most YW stuff).   I got to do a little announcement to put on facebook.  The image on the bottom left is from here.  The rest was generated by me.

 I got to help with generating ideas, making poms for decorations, and setting things up. 

I also got to put together this handout to give them that night.  I even wrote the poem.

It turned out great and set the scene for the topics and spirit of the event.

Hot Chocolate

After seeing all the cute pins on pinterest of hot chocolate bars I really wanted to do one, but I didn't have time to do an all out fancy, intense one so I threw this one together for a little get together with a few friends.  Maybe someday I will do a big one.  The hot chocolate was to die for.  And of course I got the recipe off pinterest, Best Hot Chocolate Ever - seriously so good.  I also made this super good, super fast, super easy fudge Five Minute Fudge. Yum yum.  Good times with good friends.  I meant to get a picture of all of us but forgot- next time!

Halloween Oreo Truffle Pops

For a Halloween Party we were asked to bring a Halloween dessert so we made these ghost, pumpkin and monster oreo truffle pops.  They were a quite a bit of work, but so cute and so tasty.  You mix one package of cookies with one package of cream cheese and make them into balls and put a stick in them.  Then put them in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes. Then dip them.  For the pumpkins we dipped them in melted butterscotch chips, for the ghosts it was melted white chocolate chips and the monsters were double dipped, once in the milk chocolate and then once in melted mint chips.  Then put them in the fridge for 20-30 minutes and then use remaining melted chips to make faces, leaves, whatever.  We doubled the amount (so we did two packages of oreos worth) and got about 50 yield.

"Sushi"

My husband loves sushi.  However, it is about the last thing I would ever want to eat.  So for Father's Day my kids and I made him this dessert sushi. I found the idea on Pinterest, gotta love Pinterest!  It is made from rice krispy treats, swedish fish, and fruit by the foot.  Super easy, clever and yummy.

Graduation Cap Cupcakes

 Do you love my graduation cap cupcakes as much as I do?  I got to bring a dessert to my sons Preschool Graduation Party and this is what I came up with.

 Bake regular cupcakes and then cut off the tops.

 Flip them all over.

 You'll have a bunch of cupcake tops you can save for trifle later. :)

 Frost the side facing up.

 Place chocolate graham cracker squares on the frosting.

 Dab a dot of frosting on the center top of the graham crackers.

 Cut some small strings of pull apart licorice.

 Put M&Ms on the top of the dab of frosting and make a small line of frosting from the M&M to the side of the cracker.

 Put the licorice on the small line of frosting.

 Ta Da!

 Graduation hat cupcakes!

Dominion Cake

I've never been good at doing cool cakes, but they are fun to try anyway. Someday I would like to take a class learn how to do it right. For now, I just pretend. :)

My husband and I play games all the time! We love them. Lately our favorite is Dominion (highly recommend it). So for his Bday cake I made a Dominion cake. I just made a regular cake and frosted it with regular frosting. Then I made fondant and made Dominion cards out of it. I used food coloring to 'paint' them. They are far from perfect, but we all enjoyed the uniqueness of his cake.

Pumpkin Roll

Yesterday we made one of my favorite festive treats - Pumpkin Roll! It is also a very nostalgic food for me. My mom always made it during the holidays and I have fond memories of those times.

Yummmm!

Here is the recipe:

Beat 3 eggs on high speed of mixer for 5 minutes. Gradually beat in 1 cup of sugar. Stir in 2/3 cup pumpkin and 1 Tbsp lemon juice. Stir together 3/4 cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, and 1/2 tsp salt. Fold into pumpkin, spread in greased, floured pan. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Turn out onto towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Roll towel and cake together, cool. Filling: 1 cup powdered sugar, 6 oz. cream cheese, 4 Tbsp butter or margarine, 1/2 tsp vanilla. Beat smooth, spread over cool cake. Roll, wrap in tin foil and chill.