Chocolate treats galore!!!!!!!!

This year I had the most wonderful opportunity to become our church's MOPs coordinator. I don't think I really knew what I was getting into, except that it would be a fun way to use my spiritual gifts. I have been amazingly blessed with a wonderful steering team that just blew my socks off with their creativity and faithfulness. Our discussion group leaders and mentor mom's each went above and beyond the call of duty planning playdates and bringing treats of encouragement to each of their tables. I have also been amazed at the sense of community that has developed out of this year's group of ladies. There is so much love and respect that pours out of the moms that belong to this MOPS group. I can't wait to start planning for next year!

But, one of my jobs as coordinator was to have an appreciation dessert night for the ladies who serve. I really wanted to make it special because these ladies deserve so much and my budget wasn't that big, so I decided to go with the chocolate fountain route. I have hosted several of these parties with my friend Steph and they have always been the biggest hit. (I won't lie. . . the idea came to me in the shower. . . does that happen to anyone else, or am I just crazy?)

To go with the chocolate fountain, I had jars of skewered marshmallows, strawberries, and pineapple; rice krispy treats, twinkies, cheesecake bites, palmiers, bananas, pretzel rods, graham crackers, brown butter chocolate chip cookies, and Boston Cream whoopie pies. I also had cream puffs to put out, but completely forgot about them until the next day. . . oops!

Instead of using a table cloth on my long, rectangular table, I bought a roll of matching wrapping paper and used it as a table runner.

I also made raspberry sherbert punch (raspberry sherbert + 7up), which made the perfect color of pink to match the party!

We had so much fun! Thanks to all of my MOPS momma's for making my first year as coordinator so much fun! Thanks to all of the ladies involved in leadership. . . You guys ROCK!!!!

Create a Cupcake

Allergies. Go. Away. Don't come back another day! (Please? with strawberries and cream. . .) The weather here has been a bit breezy (I don't want to say windy, because my sister in Wyoming will chime in and tell me otherwise!). And, I have to agree. . . it's been kind of beachy! But, since I am not at the beach, all it tends to do here is blow all those lovely pollens around, making me a bit on the foggy side. Oh well. Life goes on, right.

Last night we, along with some good friends, went out for 31 cent scoop night (we live within walking distance to one Fresno BR and that's awesome. They have a new flavor that is simply wonderful. . . . fire station #31. It is bright red and flavored with crunched up red hots!!! WOW! was it yummy (thanks to my sister who recommended it to me!). Did you venture out to get some ice cream last night? I hope so. It was well worth the slightly long lines for ice cream that cheap (we didn't have to wait longer than 20 minutes . . . I think).

Here are some cards I recently made with one of my new stamp sets. . . Create a cupcake and it's matching punch (both are Stampin' Up products). Most of my ideas come from other people's cards.

{Cupcakes}

are seriously the perfect gift. They are yummy, inexpensive, and you can do just about anything with them. Last week, I hosted a dessert appreciation for the ladies that serve in MOPs. I had so much fun, but more on that later. I needed to come up with a nice, yet inexpensive gift that showed how much I appreciated their hard work and love towards the mommies that come to our MOPS meetings (they really do work hard!). I had seen this idea a couple months back on several blogs. . . mostly regarding wedding favors. . . and just couldn't get the idea out of my head.

For these cupcakes, I went with a box of devils food cake mix, marshmallow filling made pink with Wilton coloring gel, and a basic chocolate butter cream frosting. They were amazing.

Here's a quick tutorial. . . and I mean quick. . .

Step 1: Bake cupcakes according to box directions (or make them from scratch. . . you pick how much work you put into them).

Step 2: Cut cupcakes in half.

Step 3: Place bottom in jar.

Step 4: Spoon desired amount of filling onto cupcake half.

Step 5: Cover with top of cupcake.

Step 6: Using a piping bag, pipe frosting over cupcake.

Step 6: (optional) sprinkle sprinkles over the top (that sounded redundant didn't it?). I used Nestle Toll House spring mini morsels (they were yellow and pink. . . the exact pink of my filling to be exact.)

Step 7: Screw on lid of jar and decorate as you want.

Super easy? Completely! I used the half pint jars by Kerr and found them at my local grocery store. I wrapped them with a pink ribbon with a bottle cap charm attached to each one (I'll let you know how I did those on a later post. . . I promise!).

On another note, I hope you all had a great celebration of Resurrection Day! My weekend was filled with activity and fun. In fact, it was so busy, we forgot to dye the Easter eggs. . . okay, we didn't forget, they are hard boiled. . . we just ran out of time. . . More on that later! You'll have to check back tomorrow. I have LOTS to show you!

brave?

I got brave today. I linked one my my posts to Skip to my lou's Made by you Monday. I am excited. . . it worked. I may start doing this more. Go check it out!

On another note, I hope you are having a great Monday. This week is kind of crazy but it's gonna be a fun one! I can't wait to show you the things I am working on to say thanks to all the wonderful women who serve on our MOPS team! So excited.

Have a great day!

my new best friend. . .

is my iphone. Seriously! It keeps my awake (sometimes) in the middle of the night with countless games of Solitaire and Words with Friends. But more recently, it has been a saver of dinner. I am a planner, but on occasion I need a dinner idea and quick. . . like when I am at the store. This app has given me inspiration on meal planning days and when I am at the store pondering what we are going to have for dinner that very night.

I use allrecipes.com a lot. It is a great collection or recipes from just about everywhere. It is full of awesomely rated recipes as well as great hints and ideas that make recipes better. Plus, it's free. . . I am a liker of free things.

It lays everything out so easily. For instance, a few weeks ago, I was at the store in need of inspiration. So I opened the app and clicked Main Dish, pasta, and ready any time. It brought up a good number of recipes and I quickly scanned one that pleased my eyes in hopes to please my family's bellies. Right then and there, I had a recipe, ingredients, and there was no stress to get dinner on the table. Actually, there was an incredible rush of excitement (okay, I am weird, I know. . .).

The first recipe I made was linguine with peppers and sausage. . . mmm. . . it was so good, I am making it again tomorrow night! And then, this last week I made slow cooker chicken tortilla soup, which the was another huge success!

Have you used this app?

What do you think of it?

What has been your favorite recipe so far?

Have a great weekend!

Peanut Butter & Snickers {Cookies!}

Lately, my life seems to revolving around lists. . . I have lists of house cleaning goals, project goals, daily goals, dinners, grocery, and now the MOPS appreciation dessert to-do list. But despite ALL that I need to be working on, Ethan and I took some time to make some much needed homemade cookies. . . and let me just say. . . these cookies ROCK!!!! Ethan and I both had a hard time saving any for daddy, today and usually Ethan just helps and just wants to eat the chocolate chips. . . Not this time! Even Jon is super excited to try these out (we'll see if there's any left before he gets home!).

Last week, Michelle - the Brown Eyed Baker posted this recipe and I knew I had to make them. . . Soon! Doesn't the combination of Peanut Butter, chocolate, caramel, and nougat just sound great together? (I promise you. . . it's amazing!). Thankfully, I baked up 16 nice round cookies and threw the rest of the dough in a freezer bag, labeled it, and threw it in the freezer where it would be safe. . . for now.

Peanut Butter Snickers Cookies

adapted from browneyedbaker.com

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

1 tbs milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup chopped Snickers Bars (I used 4 of the big ones)

3/4 cup chocolate chips (I used semi sweet and just through a few handfuls in.

Directions:

:: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line with parchment paper or your favorite Silpat.

:: Whisk together your dry ingredients and set aside.

:: Cream together butter and peanut butter until nice and fluffy. Add both sugars and beat until smooth. Then add the egg, milk, and vanilla mixing after each addition.

:: Add the flour mixture and beat until you no longer see the flour. Stir in chopped snickers and chocolate chips.

:: Use your cookie scoop and scoop out nicely round balls of dough onto cookie sheet. Bake for 10-11 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes before putting on a rack to finish cooling.

Don't these cookies look amazing? These were so good, I called my sister and told her to make them. . . and she just happened to have a box of Snickers (yes, I said box. . . as in the kind you buy at Sams Club or Costco) laying around and she had some yummy peanut butter.

Go ahead. . . try not to make them. . . they are THAT good!

A new look. . .

So, I needed a change, so I changed the look of the blog. Hope you like it.

Have a great day and thanks for taking the time to read my blog!