easter fun

so as the saying goes, its better late than never.. right?
well easter was a couple weeks ago but i realized i never blogged about the goodies i made, and we all know that's a must! i know i told y'all about the spinach dip i made but let's get down to the...

good stuff.

i'm all about the good stuff. i'm talking the chocolatey, salty, chewy good stuff!

lets start with these tasty pretzel chocolate treats...

these are addicting. i'm warning you. :) and even worse, they are so easy. two baaad combinations. 

you can just add in different colors of chocolates and m&ms and boom! you can serve with any holiday party or theme! great, right? i used green white and black for st.patricks day and these bright cheery colors for easter. so here we go..

line cookie sheet with pretzels  i used square pretzels

drop wilton candy melts on each pretzel  you can find these in the baking aisle at party city, or even walmart.. they come in any color imaginable - yellow green purple blue pink and so on

place in oven for 30 seconds - 2 min  this really depends on your oven but keep a close eye on the goodies. you just want chocolate to melt just a wee bit

squish m&ms on each candy melt  ok not really squish but as soon as pan comes out of oven, put m&ms on each melt - this needs to be done quickly before chocolate hardens (grab extra hands if you have 'em)

wait till chocolate cools & enjoy  need them now? pop them in the freezer

see? so. easy. 

next up.. tweet tweet treats {say that ten times.}

i must say, i took this idea from my absolute favorite blogger love from the oven. shes so wise & creative with her sweets.

i mean, who doesn't think of twitter when they see these cute blue peeps?

to make these peep pops, i just stuck a black straw (only because i wanted the stick to be black - but cake pop sticks work great) into a blue peep and since the sides are white from pulling them apart i dump a few blue sprinkles in that empty spot and violá! and the signs are made with washi tape. :)

now for the fun part - decorating the eggs. i wanted to do something super fun but just went with the standard decorating box and called it a day. 

{maybe next year} 

i also whipped up some strawberry cupcakes as treats for my parents.

well y'all how was your easter? any sweet treats you want to share?

XO

march snow day!

well folks, we have a snow day.
march 25th & we have seven inches of snow on the ground.. welcome to the midwest.

i'm not a winter gal {i'd rather be living down south} but if its gonna snow, i want it to snow. i'm talking inches. not the drizzle stuff. i like the so-thick-and-fluffy-you-can-throw-snowballs-kind. ya know, the kind we woke up to this morning. my only problem is that its march 25th. yep, almost april. what the heck!? where is spring? where are the bright cheery flowers? where is the sun? & the kids riding their bikes around the neighborhood?
i want that & i want it now. {quite demanding eh}

seriously though, where is spring?
let me tell you, i am ready.

so what does one do to get in a better mood? WE BAKE.

for st.patricks day this year, i made a variety of green treats: mini cupcakes, cake balls, pretzel mint
m&ms. and i must say, they were all mighty good! a big thank you to christi at love from the oven for
these amazingly delicious recipes and ideas. they have now become my staple treats for each holiday.
cause ya know what? you can just add in different food coloring to go along with each holiday.

brilliant i tell ya!

ok. ready? set? lets bake.


green velvet cake {original by bakerella}

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 oz green food coloring

preheat your oven to 350 & grease your cake pan. {whatever you decide to make - mini cupcakes, round cakes, whoopie pies, regular cupcakes, etc} 

lightly stir eggs in medium bowl with whisk. add in remaining liquid ingredients. whisk until blended and sit aside. place all dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and stir together well. add in the food coloring {yes the entire bottle} to the wet ingredients. yep thought that part was kinda fun!

pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high until well combined. it will be green green GREEN! so pretty huh? now pour into your desired pans and bake! the mini cupcakes took about 10-12 minutes, and the 8" round cake about 22 minutes. as for the frosting, i used store bought. i dumped some in a bag for easy decorating & then added shamrock sprinkles i found at party city for a little added jazz. ta da, you're good to go. now share & enjoy.

want to make cake balls? its so simple.

make sure your green velvet cake is cooled. i actually made it the night before and just stuck the cake in the fridge till it was cake pop makin' time! :) cut the cake up with a fork or pop it in the food processor - both are pretty quick. then add in a couple spoonfuls of frosting, again, i went with store bought, and mix together. now start shaping the cake balls. you can use a spoon if you wish, but your hands will do the trick!

now melt your chocolate. i used green and white milton chocolate disks. i just stuck mine in the microwave on medium power for 30 minute intervals. this could vary - so keep an eye on it. now just pop one cake ball at a time in the melted chocolate and get it all smothered up! i find using two spoons to do this is the best! :) for these cake balls, i covered most in white chocolate and a few in green. and for a finishing touch, i added shamrock sprinkles!

trust me, you can't just eat one. they're sooooo gooood!
oh!  remember how i went to the thrift store and bought a really cool wine rack? well it was spray painted black this weekend - woohoo. i'll post about it later the week. :) until next time y'all.. XO