Party Perfect

Superbowl is right around the corner. Regardless of whether or not you care about the outcome, the game is a time for feasting on comfort food of all sorts and gathering with friends that you may not have seen in a while due to hibernating from the cold. This year instead of bringing the same old dish to your Superbowl party of choice why not try something a little different like these two delicious takes on potato skins.

First up is the ever trendy mini version. Miniature versions of everything are becoming a huge trend in food right now. I for one am a big proponent of this trend since it allows you to try a little bit of everything without stuffing yourself. And they are just so darn cute!

Rachel Ray's Sinfully Stuffed Potato Skins are a super easy miniature of a twice baked potato. I made these for a Halloween party and they went over great.

You start by brushing red potatoes with olive oil and baking them until tender. Once they are ready, take them out of the oven, cut them in half and remove the centers with a melon baller.

When removing the middles be careful to leave enough on the sides and bottoms to allow the skin to hold up. If you accidentally remove too much you can just sort of spackle the hole back with some of the removed center (as you can see I had to do on a couple of these).

Next, mix the centers together with the cheese and sour cream and then stuff the potato skins with the mixture. Bake until golden and viola tasty little bit sized morsels of potatoey goodness!

If the guests at your party are big eaters you can go with the opposite end of spectrum with these bbq stuffed potato skins.

(photo by Food Network)

I made the these grilled bbq potato skins from The Food Network's super cute couple Pat and Gina Neely a couple of years ago for a Superbowl party and they were sooo good. Beware though, they are also sooo filling. I made them a tiny bit healthier by using pulled chicken and omitting the sour cream. To save a little time you can pick up already mixed pulled bbq from the grocery store or let your favorite bbq joint do the work for you and pick some up to go.

Happy feasting!

Dazzling Dessert

This time of year always brings with it great excuses for dinner parties such as New Year's, Valentine's and all of the awards shows. With that in mind I thought I would share this recipe for chocolate "mousse" since it is super easy, delicious and looks like a million bucks. The recipe came from Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade Desserts cookbook, you can find the recipe here , but I adapted it slightly to make it a little healthier. Trust me it's so good you won't even miss the extra fat I promise. Instead of using Handi-Snacks pudding cups and regular Cool Whip, I use chocolate fudge sugar-free, fat-free Jello pudding mix and fat-free Cool Whip. Just prepare the pudding as directed, let it set, then fold in the tub of cool whip until mixed thoroughly. Spoon the mixture into martini glasses and top with a few raspberries. It's as easy as that. Decadent, delicious and dazzling in 15 mins. Your guests are sure to be impressed.

Cookies for Santa

Each year on Christmas Eve kids from one to 92 spend the day making cookies. Whether they be for Santa, family or just your own personal enjoyment, nothing says Christmas like homemade cookies fresh from the oven.

When it comes to cookies one of my favorites has always been Oreos, so when I saw this recipe featured on Cupcakes and Cashmere I had to try it out. You know what they say, once you go homemade you'll never go back.

 As always, I went to start the recipe and forgot to leave out the butter so that it was room temperature. A quick and easy tip I have learned is that if you forget this step, as I do, cut the required amount of butter into small cubes and let it sit out. In about 15mins you'll have room temp butter.

 I easily scooped out uniform cookies using a tablespoon. Leave each tablespoon a little rounded on the top. Once you have a pan full, press each scoop out with your fingers to about the size of a silver dollar.

 MMMMM!

 The finished product. They seemed time consuming at first but they were actually really quick and well worth the little bit of extra effort. They are the perfect blend of sweet and salty. Trust me Santa will thank you! :)

Holiday Treats

This week at work we celebrated a coworker's birthday by bringing in an array of desserts. I decided it had been a while since I had made a jello cake and since it is one of my favorite desserts I made one as my contribution. While I was making it I realized it would be the perfect dessert to bring to a 4th of July BBQ. I made the one above (sorry for the terrible picture I forgot to take a pic before hand and realized after it had been released to the masses) using strawberry jello and strawberries. I have never tried any other variations but I am sure any red or blue flavors of jello would work. To make it a little more festive on top you could alternate rows of strawberries and blueberries for the red white and blue look.

Whatever combination of the recipe you decide to make, it is super quick and easy. All you have to do is bake a white cake according to the directions on the box. Once the cake is done poke holes all over the cake in rows about 1/2 inch to an inch apart. I use a wooden kabob skewer to make the holes since I always have those on hand for last minute appetizers and they are super cheap for a bag full of them. Most grocery stores sell them in the kitchen utensils aisle. Anything that is larger around then a toothpick and smaller around then a pencil will work fine though. Next dissolve one small box of jello mix in one cup of hot water. The water doesn't have to be boiling but needs to be hot enough to dissolve the mix. Once dissolved, add one cup of cold water to it and pour the mixture all over the cake. Set the cake on a hot pad in the refrigerator to chill. Just before serving frost it with one tub of cool whip (I use the fat free kind) and top it with the fruit of your choice. So simple and everyone will love it. It is the perfect summer cake since it is not a heavy cake and the jello makes it super moist.

Another tasty treat that was brought in was the peanut butter bar above. I have never made these before but I since they were deeeeeelicous I had to get the recipe. I am a huge fan of anything with peanut butter and chocolate but my favorite has always been the Reese's Peanut Butter Egg. Well let me tell you this blows the peanut butter egg out of the water. The best part is that the recipe looks super easy. And thanks to my coworker it's yours :)

24 oz jar creamy Jiff peanut butter
½ cup butter
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
Box of powdered sugar, which is 3 ½ cups

Mix ingredients above together and spread into a greased cookie sheet. For the topping use:
1 bag chocolate chips
½ cup butter

Melt on low heat until smooth. Poor on top.Let sit overnight in the refrigerator. These are best served cold.

Have any holiday favorites? Leave them in the comments below.

Hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July holiday!

Semi-Homemade Sunday

Goblet Libbey, Plate Pottery Barn Outlet

This past Sunday I felt like a bit of a splurge for breakfast instead of my usual egg whites or cereal. I had picked up this Granola Pancake and Waffle Mix from Williams-Sonoma at Plaza Frontenac and decided to give it a try. The mix is all-natural and has toasted oats and almonds in it. While I normally try to make my weekend recipes from scratch I was feeling a little on the lazy side so chose to use this pre-made mix. The waffle recipe is super quick and easy and calls for only three extra ingredients: butter, eggs, and milk. I made them a wee bit healthier by using egg whites and substituted vanilla almond milk for regular milk to help enhance the almonds already in the mix. I knew I was in for a treat after I tasted the batter. To me it had just the right amount of sweet and spiciness to it and almost tasted like it already had syrup in it. However, I have a huge sweet tooth so for me the sweeter the better, so if you are not big on sweets you may find the sweetness overwhelming for a waffle recipe. I could have eaten the whole batch just like that but since eating large amounts of raw egg whites is never a good idea I settled for the finished product instead. The batter was a little on the runny side so I added a few large pinches of extra mix to it. Not sure if this was due to the use of egg whites and almond milk or not but it's something to keep in mind if you want to give them a try. The waffles turned out great they were soft, not too dry and delicious. I topped mine with Trader Joe's 100% Real Maple Syrup (which if you haven't tried it you need to run out and get it immediately! It tastes so much better then the high fructose corn syrup laden store brands and it is a lot cheaper then other real maple syrup brands. Definitely delicious!). The waffles would also be excellent topped with berries and granola too for a healthier alternative. And to make my breakfast at home feel a little more like brunch at a quaint little cafe I had a glass of milk in a nice goblet. It's just too bad it was entirely too hot out to eat it al fresco on the deck.