Friday Favorites – Week 249 – With Holiday Party Food

holiday party food

Happy New Year! Welcome to our first Friday Favorites party of 2015!  While you’re here this week, be sure to take a look at this awesome giveaway for an Epson Printable Ribbon Kit.  This machine can not only help you create fun crafts and party favors, but it also works with regular label maker tape for all your organizing purposes!  And if you’re really in to organizing, take a look at my round up of Printable Blog Planners for 2015! Yay!

Now on to this week’s party!  Today we have some yummy holiday party foods. (They could also double as football party food, if you’re planning for that!)

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Sweet & Salty Popcorn Bark + G.H. Cretors Popcorn

GH Cretors Sampler Pack

From popcorn balls and snack mix, to a simple bowl of popcorn, G.H. Creators popcorn is a must have item for holiday snacking!  If you’ve never tried their popcorn, I highly recommend it.  I absolutely LOVE their Just the Cheese Popcorn.  It’s amazing!  And I recently tried their Simply Salted variety, and I found it just as yummy.   Made in old fashioned copper kettles, G.H. Cretors popcorn always comes out perfectly fluffy!

Today I have a great recipe, featuring G.H. Cretors Simply Salted Popcorn: Sweet & Salty Popcorn Bar. Check it out! [Read more…]

Saltine Cracker Toffee from Tanya at My Fruitful Home

I can’t believe Christmas is this week, and I’ve barely had time to post any of my Christmas content.  Thank goodness we have guest bloggers!  Today Tanya from  My Fruitful Home is here to a share simple and delicious treat, Saltine Cracker Toffee.

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Who doesn’t love toffee? My favorite candy bar is the Heath bar. I love that toffee and chocolate combination. When I found a simple recipe for Saltine Cracker Toffee I was thrilled! It is so easy, but tastes like you spent a lot of time on it. There are only four ingredients. The recipe follows.

 cracker toffee

Ingredients:

* 40 saltine crackers

* 1 cup (2 sticks) butter

* 1 cup light brown sugar

* 2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips or 1, 12 ounce bag

Directions:

 Preheat oven to 400 F

1 Line cookie sheet with saltine crackers in a single layer.

2 In a saucepan combine sugar, butter. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes.

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3 Pour over crackers right away and spread to cover completely.

cracker toffee

4 Bake at 400 F for 5 to 6 minutes.

cracker toffee

5 Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over top of crackers and leave for five minutes.

cracker toffee

6 Spread melted chocolate and let cool completely.

7 Break into pieces

Tanya is from the blog My Fruitful Home where she blogs about recipes, home, crafts, and living the abundant life with a chronic illness.

Every Day Recipes with Quaker: Mini Meatloaf Cups

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and Quaker. All opinions are mine alone. #CollectiveBias #LoveMyCereal #QuakerUp

Every Day Recipes with Quaker

How many of you enjoy a bowl of Quaker Cereal for breakfast?  Me too!  And I also love using cereals in recipes!  Typically I enjoy using cereal for party mixes and dessert recipe.  But it can also be used as a substitute for bread crumbs in a number of recipes, which can help you to make the most of your pantry items and save you a trip to the store.  Today I’m sharing a great example of that using Quaker Life Cereal. [Read more…]

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars with Nestle Toll House Delightfulls

Disclosure: Thanks to Nestle Toll House for sponsoring today’s recipe post. The opinions expressed here are my own.


Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

Today we’re doing holiday baking with a new “secret ingredient.”  The secret ingredient, which I’m about to reveal to you is Nestle Toll House DelightFulls. As I was shopping for baking ingredient last week, I found these little jewels and just had to try them out!  Imagine your favorite baking chips, then imagine them a little bigger and with a special surprise inside! [Read more…]

Molasses Cookies and SPLENDA® 365 SWEET SWAPS™

Disclosure: This post is part of the SPLENDA® 365 SWEET SWAPS™ Blogger Program by McNeil Nutritionals, LLC and The Motherhood, who sent me products and compensated me for my time. Opinions, experiences and photos shared here are my own, and I hope you enjoy them.

Molasses Cookie Stack

Every year I look forward to holiday baking. I usually have a list of the tried and true recipes I want to make, as well as a few new ones. Of course, I never get around to making all of them, but it’s fun thinking about it just the same. And when I do bake, I always have more than we will ever eat at our house.  No worries! For me, it just means it’s a great opportunity for gift giving and sharing.  But not everyone can eat sweets.  Have you ever given cookies or candy to someone, only to find out that they can’t eat sweet due to diabetes or other dietary restrictions?  I’ve done this a couple of times!   It’s embarrassing for you, and the even worse, the giftee is tempted to break their diet!

Enter Splenda!  A lot of people know Splenda as a no calorie sweetener for things like coffee and cereal, but what you may not  know is that Splenda actually has products especially for baking.  Their product line includes: [Read more…]

Texas Pete® Red Velvet Cones and Helping Feeding America with a Tweet or Share

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Texas Pete for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

We use hot sauce almost daily at our house.  The guys love eating a little Texas Pete Hot Sauce with sandwich meat, cheese, and crackers, and I love using it to add a little spice to my cooking.

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Ordinarily I use it to add flavor to chicken and other meats we’re baking or grilling, and I also enjoy using it for dips, appetizers, and casseroles.  Since my boys love hot sauce so much, I’ve been looking for new Texas Pete Hot Sauce recipes, and I’ve been most intrigued by a certain dessert recipe that I found.

“Dessert?” you ask.  Yes, you read it right.  Dessert!

In particular, I am referring to this recipe.  Take a look.

 


Texas Pete® Red Velvet Cones

 

YIELD: 48 cake cones

PORTION: 1 cake cone

INGREDIENTS:

Cake Batter

5 cups All purpose flour

3 cups Granulated sugar

1 Tbsp Baking soda

2 tsp Salt, fine

2 tsp Cocoa powder

3 cups Vegetable oil

2 cups Buttermilk, room temperature

4 Large eggs, room temperature

3 Tbsp Red food coloring

2 Tbsp Texas Pete® Original Hot Sauce

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

48 Ice cream cones, small, flat bottomed

Cream cheese Icing

36 oz. Cream cheese, softened, whipped

1 stick Unsalted butter, softened, whipped

2 cups Powdered sugar

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

2 tsp Texas Pete® Hotter Hot Sauce

Piping bag with small decorative tip

Shaker, Powdered sugar, for garnish

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. In another large bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, Texas Pete® Hot Sauce and vanilla.

3. Using a standing mixer, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and a smooth batter is formed.

4. Carefully spoon the batter into the ice cream cones filling them 2/3 of the way up to give them room for rising in the oven. Arrange the cones on a parchment-lined sheet tray standing up and place them into the oven to bake at 350 degrees for approximately 15-20 minutes or until they have fully risen and a tooth pick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

5. Remove the cakes from the oven and let cool completely.

6. While the cakes are in the oven, prepare the spicy cream cheese frosting.

7. Place the softened cream cheese and the softened butter into a medium size mixing bowl and whisk together until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and continue to whisk until the mixture is smooth. Add the vanilla extract and the Texas Pete® Hotter Hot Sauce and whisk one more minute. You may add more powdered sugar or Texas Pete® Hotter Hot Sauce so that the icing is to your liking.

8. Place the spicy cream cheese frosting into a piping bag with a small decorative tip.

9. Using the tip of the piping bag, carefully puncture a small hole into the center of the top of the red velvet cake and pipe approximately 2-3 tablespoons of the spice cream cheese into the center of the cake allowing some of the cream cheese to come out of the top for decoration. Continue until all the red velvet cake cones are filled. Use any extra cream cheese icing to frost the tops of the cones.

10. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

Doesn’t that sound great?  As someone who likes a little spice and also loves dessert, I am very intrigued by this combination!

If you want to try this recipe to, you can find Texas Pete Hot Sauce in your local grocery store.  Look for it with the condiments and sauces.

Tweet & Share to Help Feeding America:

Right now Texas Pete is doing their part to help Feeding America.  If you share my post on your social media using the hashtag #TexasPete, they will donate $1 to Feeding America. (And if you do tweet or share, please leave a comment here letting us know you did, for tracking purposes.)

And you can also share your own blog posts, featuring Texas Pete Hot Sauce.  Just share them on your social media using the hashtag #TexasPete, and you’ll help donate $1 to Feeding America.

What do you like to make with Texas Pete® hot sauce?

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Guest Post: Chocolate Pie with White Chocolate Peppermint Mousse from Elizabeth at Balm to my Soul

Today I’m excited to bring you another holiday guest post.  This one comes to us from Elizabeth of Balm to My Soul, and she is sharing her Chocolate Pie with White Chocolate Peppermint Mousse.  It looks and sounds so delicious!  Take a look! [Read more…]

Friday Favorites – Week 245 – With Christmas Treats

friday favorites

Happy Thanksgiving! And thank you for taking time out from your busy schedule to link up today.

While you’re here, please check out my current giveaways.  I’ve a $50 Target Gift Card (Plus Mega Bloks & General Mills cereals)JBL Portable Speakers, a 2 Name a Star Kits.

I also invite you to check out gift items in my Etsy shop!  I have a lot of affordable gift ideas, including necklaces, Christmas Ornaments, and keychains.  Custom orders welcome!  I’m also offering 10% off right now with coupon code: GIVETHANKS.

Now on to today’s features…this week we have a round of Christmas treats. Hope you enjoy! [Read more…]

Guest Post: Five-grain Pumpkin Spice Muffins from Christine at If I Had Anything to Say

Today we have another holiday guest post. This one is from I’m Christine.  She blogs over at If I Had Anything to Say.  Today she is sharing her Five-grain Pumpkin Spice Muffins. They sound delicious!  Check it out!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Hi! I’m Christine, and I blog over at If I Had Anything to Say . I’m a mom of six who enjoys cooking, reading, writing, shopping, home improvement projects and chocolate—not necessarily in that order. I like to say that I blog my life, so over in my little corner of the web you’ll find recipes, great reads, family topics and other fun. One of my kids has been living with Type 1 Diabetes for almost 13 years, so sometimes I blog about real life with diabetes too.

Today I’m sharing with you a recipe of my own. The holidays are great for sweets and treats, so sometimes it’s great to enjoy something a little healthier that doesn’t skimp on holiday appeal or taste. We enjoy these muffins for breakfast, and they’d be a great breakfast for your Thanksgiving morning!

5-grain Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Five-grain Pumpkin Spice Muffins

(Makes 12 muffins)

1 cup Bob’s Red Mill 5 Grain Cereal Mix

1 cup flour

3 T. brown sugar

½ t. Baking powder

1 t. baking soda

¼ t. salt

1 ½ t. cinnamon

½ t. nutmeg

½ t. ginger

¼ t. cloves

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 large egg

½ c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a regular muffin tin with paper liners, or spray with cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients and whisk to combine; set aside. In a

small bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, egg and buttermilk. Pour pumpkin mixture all at once into dry ingredients; stir until flour is completely incorporated, but do not over-mix.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin, filling cups ¾ full. Bake muffins 18-20 minutes or until the tops spring back when touched lightly with a finger. Cool muffins on a rack for 5 minutes; remove from tin and cool completely.

Five-grain Pumpkin Spice Muffins