Valentine treat

Just a quick little treat to pack into the DH's lunchbox.  I picked up a small bag of valentine colored  M&M's and used up some left over pretzels, white chocolate, chocolate chips to make a pretzel candy treat.  Love the colors and the sweet and salty together.

It goes together in a blink.  Spread the pretzels out on a wax paper lined cookie sheet, melt the white chocolate and drizzle it over the pretzels.  While the white chocolate is still warm, liberally sprinkle the top with the candy and chocolate chips.  (I had valentine sprinkles but I forgot to add them to the mix.  I think they would add a little more sparkle to the treat.  I'll remember them for the next batch.)  Wait till the white chocolate is cool and everything is set, then break it apart in to manageable chunks.  I keep it in a small plastic container.

The weekend is shaping up to be quite full, I hope I can fit some creative time in.  I hope you have a great weekend and I'll talk to you again soon.

Last Day and a Count Down

Well, it's the last day of December, the last day of 2011 and the last day of my personal creative challenge.  This year has been an exciting time of creative projects and working out of my comfort zone.  Reflecting on the past year and all the projects I was able to work on and complete, I decided I would do a top ten post to end the year.  So here are some of my favorites and some of the most visited posts of this year...

No. 10

The gifts and packages I made for my mom & sister's and niece's

 annual birthday tea.

No. 9

A brunch I catered for some friends.  We had so much fun that day.

No. 8

A set of cards I made for a special Aunt. They actually got put in the mail to her (I won't tell you when)

No. 7

A card I did for a challenge. I still like this orange and blue combination.

No. 6

 Pinky and Dotty the owls, I found the instructions on the internet and wound up making several to give away.

No. 5

December's Valentine Bear.

No. 4

A card I made for a challenge that honors the famous NM question.

No. 3

Another challenge card that earned a spot in the top 10 on the Heart 2 Heart challenge blog.

No. 2

Polka dot love! This was for another challenge and actually won the top honor for the month.  As a result I got to be the guest designer on the Heart 2 Heart challenge blog.  It was quite a thrill!

 

And finally, the No. 1 
post for 2011, it was the most visited and I actually won something!

 
Well, there you have it!  My creative highlights of 2011.  I already have big plans for 2012, I hope you do too.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you come back often.  Have a safe, healthy and happy new year.  I'll talk to you again soon.


**Edit** Joined the link to top ten @ Someday Crafts.

Yum... lunch time

This is day 21 of my personal creative challenge

I've been working in the kitchen on sweet stuff all day and needed a little something to cut through the sweet.  I made this quick pasta salad with linguini, zucchini, carrots, scallions, avocado and a home-made balsamic vinaigrette, topped off with a sprinkling of over crisped turkey bacon.  It was delish!  I've also been experimenting with truffles.

I thought they would be easy but my filling is not cooperating.  They do taste decadent though.  I'm using cheesecake as the filling and then dip/rolling that in semisweet chocolate.  Two of our favorite flavors in this house.

I'm going to keep working at it.  I wonder if I roll the chessecake ball in something before trying to roll it in the warm chocolate if that would help?  Any suggestions?  Leave me a comment and thanks for stopping by today.  I'll talk to you again soon.

The heat is on...

We're not in triple digit heat right now but it is still hot enough that the "swamp cooler" is having a difficult time keeping up.  We had a group dinner to go to last night and I really wanted something with ice cream but even with ice and a cooler it was not going to make the trip across town

sooo....

 meet Dreamsicle and Neapolitan and they really tasted like their frozen friends without the ice cream headache:)

They were easy to make with a few added ingredients to a basic white cake, cake mix.  So I had my ice cream and cake too!

I hope you are staying cool and enjoying the summertime.  I'll talk to you again soon.

Happy Father's day!

I did a little baking for Father's day.  Unfortunately I couldn't deliver today so dad, if your checking in, they are on their way along with a few other little gifts.

I hope all those special dad's had a great day today.  We love and appreciate you.  I'll talk to you again soon.

Playing in the kitchen

Woke up this morning and felt like cooking.  It all started with the cranberry scones for breakfast. Yum.

Then I was planning on something chicken for dinner so I marinated some and then broiled it around lunch time.  It looked so good I decided I needed a little of it for my salad.  I chopped up the rest for a delish chunky chicken salad for dinner.

I was feeling the need for something a little sweet so...

I started with some simple chocolate cookies and added ice cream and a few sprinkles and mini chocolate chips.

Mini ice cream sandwiches.  Perfect for a little evening sweet to end the day.  Well, dishes are done and I have a sewing project to get finished so I'll talk to you again soon.

Going Green

A green birthday that is...
My sweet husband's birthday is this month, today in fact.  So in honor of the month and because green is one of his favorite colors, I made cupcakes, chocolate chip pistachio. From scratch even.  Something I like to do but rarely have the time.

I found these cute cupcake papers in the $1 bin at Michaels.

Cupcakes baked and cooled. (slight green tinge is good)

Cupcakes in profile.

On to the White chocolate frosting.

Lots of butter (shhh, don't tell) I never said these were lo-cal did I?

Tinted a pale green then swirled on.

Little custom topper.  Too much fun! Verdict:  Yum.  What shall I bake next? It's spring break so there is no telling what I'll come up with.  Stay tuned.  I'll talk to you again soon.