Phyllo Cups with Cream Cheese and Red Pepper Jelly

6 sheets phyllo pastry dough

2 tbsp butter melted

Heat oven to 350

Brush 1 phyllo sheet with melted butter, top with second phyllo sheet and brush top layer with butter as well.

Cut  into 24, 2" squares. Stack 2 squares on an angle to make it 4 sheets thick.

Press stacked squares into a mini muffin tin, to form a "cup" shape. 

Bake 20 minutes, until brown.

Filling

1 pkg cream cheese

3 tbsp sour cream (optional)

red pepper jelly

Option 1: Cut cream cheese into tiny cubes, place one cube in each phyllo cup and top with a little Red Pepper Jelly.

Option 2: Whip cream cheese with 3 tbsp sour cream until smooth. Spoon a little of the filling into each phyllo cup and top with Red Pepper Jelly

Enjoy!

I chose to whip the cream cheese with the sour cream, they were delicious and a huuuge hit

Cocktail Party

I have two very exciting things to share! First one...I'm going to be updating the look of my blog pretty soon! In exchange for planning her Birthday a friend of mine, April,  is going to design a blog banner and a couple buttons for me. Very very excited to see how it all turns out, and so far having a blast doing research for her party. Check out her site HERE!

Exciting piece of news #2....Cocktail Party was awesome! It went smoothly and I think its safe to say everyone had fun. We had A LOT of laughs! Great girls night in for sure! Soo...here it is!

Food Table

This was the main food table, very simple but everyone seemed to love it! So easy to do too, which is always great. 

Starting from the left we had "Sweet & Salty Kettle Popped Popcorn" put into paper cones. I just used scrapbooking paper to make those and found a template online HERE, at another party blog the Hostess with the Mostess! (be sure to look around her site too, she has some pretty cool stuff). 

Next to the popcorn is the Veggie Shots. I had those shot glasses from our wedding a couple years ago, we had a signature shot and decided we would keep a few of the glasses just in case. Glad we did! We purchases them on kijiji originally for fairly cheap. Those "risers" are just empty boxes I kept just for this occasion and wrapped up with matching wrapping paper, just to add a little something to the table.

The label templates I purchased on Etsy for $2, it was my very first Etsy purchase! And I know they will be used many many times! I used them twice on this party alone.

On the next "riser" is the Rocky Road Parfaits I posted the recipe for. Cute and Easy.

In the middle was the Cream Cheese and Red Pepper Jelly Phyllo Cups. They were the fan favorite snack! 

A Must for your next party!

To the far right was the Chocolate Mint Cupcakes With Mint Buttercream. Someone actually thought I ordered them from a bakery!!! I couldn't believe it, the comment made my night for sure. Just below the cupcakes are my favorite Ginger Cookies.

As for the decor on the table...in total it probably cost me less than $10. 

Then I set up a "Bar" area on the kitchen hutch. Again the labels template I purchased on Etsy came in handy for making labels for the Spritzers. Printed them on Scrapbook paper, cut a little slit for ribbon and made a tag. 

Passionate Peach Mango and Sexy Strawberry Kiwi Spritzers for mix or those DD's and Pregnant Ladies. =)  The sexy names because it was a Sexy Girl Party.

I already had these wine glasses, bought them a couple years ago 16 in a box for $20. Steal!! They always come in handy. I also had those drink markers already but I think they were about $9 and you get 12 different Colors. Everyone had their own color so there were no drink mix ups! 

I provided one drink for everyone at the cocktail party Champagne Punch. It was very tasty and long gone by the end of the night.

I forgot to take a picture of the centerpiece I had in the living room where the Sexy Girl Party took place. It was 2 martini glasses with pink jelly beans in the bottom holding up tea lights. Then I had a black feather boa wrapped around the bottom. I had a couple dishes of jelly beans and a veggie tray in the living room as well, for people to pick at during the party. 

All in all it was a success, I had a great time and I hope that everyone that attended did as well. And Thank-You to all the great ladies that attended! xo

Rocky Road Parfait

Today is the day of the Cocktail Party!! So far I've got lots done, so I decided to take a quick lunch break and share this recipe for one of the treats we will be enjoying tonight. 

I found this recipe at Walmart one day, with the Jell-O Pudding, just before Kraft Hockeyville Started. Its called the "post-game celebration" Rocky Road Parfait. Anyway super easy and really cost effective treat for dessert or for a party. 

For the party tonight, I did them in those small disposable wine glasses you can find at the Dollarstore 6 for $1.

Cute little individual size

Rocky Road Parfait

2 c cold milk

1 pkg Instant Chocolate Pudding

1/2 c thawed Cool Whip

Dry Roasted Peanuts, Chopped

Mini Marshmallows

Beat Pudding mix and milk with whisk. Spoon 3/4 c into another bowl, stir in cool whip until blended. Put in the fridge for 5 minutes.

Spoon remaining pudding into the parfait glasses or other dish.

Top with Cool Whip Mixture, refridgerate again for 5 minutes.

Top with peanuts and marshmallows and serve.

Time to get back to setting and cleaning up! Charlee also has a Birthday Party to attend today, Busy  Busy Saturday! Stayed tuned for the entire cocktail party post!

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes with Mint Butter Cream

Oh yes...you read it right! Chocolate Mint Cupcakes! So the other day Bestie J tags me in this random picture of a cupcake on FB. I was confused but she's preggers so I assumed it was a hint for her latest craving. (haha) So I went on the hunt for a recipe, looked at a few different ones online here and there. Guess where I found this one? Good ole faithful Martha Stewart Cupcakes! It is officially my new favorite chocolate cupcake recipe, if you want them plain chocolate simply leave out the mint extract! They were a huge hit with the family last night, so fingers crossed the ladies will enjoy them too. 

Here are the ones I made for tomorrow nights Cocktail Party!

Topped with York Peppermint Patties

Just use your favorite chocolate cake recipe and add about a tsp of peppermint extract to the batter before spooning into a lined baking pan.

When my cupcakes came out of the oven looking like this I was SO excited!

So once your cupcakes are all cooked and cooled you can eat them as is, or do like I did and pipe Wilton's Buttercream on them using a large star tip. I added about 1/4 tsp of peppermint extract and tinted my icing "mint" green. 

Using a knife dipped in HOT water I carefully cut each Peppermint Pattie into 1/4's and stuck it into the side of the icing. Yummmm!

Cookie Pops

I've been wanting to attempt "Cake Pops" for awhile now so I've been looking up different ideas, different recipes and finally on the weekend I picked up the rest of the stuff I needed to make them.(check back for that post)

Then in one of my brainstorming sessions I remembered that I made a giant batch of cookie dough and froze some....COOKIE POPS! People make those, right? They would be super cute for the cocktail party if they worked, and would be cute for my daughters baton twirling class as a little treat. Get the true kid opinion!

Before they were decorated!

Add some chocolate ...

Finished Product, Wrapped up with a Ribbon.

Now to get back to making paper cones, and labels for the weekend! Busy Busy!!

Homemade Marshmallows!

Hello Again!

So I've been wanting to try this recipe for awhile! Last night I had nothing to blog about and nothing to do, so I took out the recipe and my mixer and went to town. If your good at multitasking this is a very easy and quick recipe, it turned out great. 

With that being said I'm not one to sit and eat marshmallows so I would only make these again if I was using them in another recipe, or for a treat for the kids. I would suggest trying dipping them in chocolate, or adding a fruity extract instead of vanilla that would make them more appealing. 

My other tip is to be VERY quick when your putting them in the pan have a spatula or icing spreader ready to smooth them out. Mine turned out all funky on the top because I wasn't quick enough, so I added colored sugar to make it look a little bit better. So...here it is!

Marshmallow Recipe

1/2 c Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla (or other extract if you prefer)

1 tsp corn syrup 

1/3 c water

2 packs of unflavored gelatin (2 tbsp)

1/3 c water

1 egg white

icing sugar for dusting

Prepare your 8x8 pan, line with parchment paper and dust with icing sugar.

Combine sugar, vanilla, corn syrup, 1/3 c water  in small saucepan, Stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring and boil until it reaches 240 on a candy thermometer, about 8 minutes. 

In a heat proof bowl dissolve gelatin in 1/3 c water.

In your mixer bowl, whip one egg white until it forms soft peaks.

( right now you should have 2 bowls and 1 pot all with differnt steps, see what I meant about the multi tasking)

Once the sugar reaches temp, pour into the gelatin and water mixture and stir. Allow to cool for 3-4 minutes. With your mixer running, pour into egg white in a slow steady stream.

Whip until stiff peaks form and then QUICKLY pour into parchment lined dish and spread with a spatula to flatten. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Cut into squares. To store use an airtight container with parchment between layers of the marshmallows.

What it should look like before pouring into your pan.

I added a little purple food coloring to mine just for kicks. They should be smooth on top if you pour them quick, i waited too long and they started to set up. Oops!

Now you can use your marshmallows on hot chocolate, in Rice Krispie squares or Smores! If you do try this recipe please post a comment and let me know how they turned out and what you plan to use them for.

Sugar Cookie Recipe

As promised here is the sugar cookie recipe!

Sugar Cookies

 1 c sugar 

1 c icing sugar

1 c Butter 

(not margarine or you'll end up fighting with it...believe me)

1 c vegetable oil

2 eggs 

1 tsp bk soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp vanilla (or lemon extra is yummy too)

4 c + 1 tbsp  AP Flour

1 tsp salt

Whip sugars, eggs, oil and butter together. Add dry ingredients. Mix until incorporated. 

Roll out on floured surface, and cut with favorite cookie cutter.

 Bake for 10 minutes @ 350 

Traditionally Decorated with Royal Icing but you can use  any other kind you have left over and it will taste just as good.

Royal Icing Recipe (with egg whites)

2 egg whites

2 tsp lemon juice

3 c icing sugar

beat egg whites, add lemon juice and icing sugar.

 

Happy St Patty's Day!

Well lets face it, it would be silly if I didn't make cupcakes for St Patrick's Day! I wasn't really in the mood to make fondant this week, so I went for the taste factor instead of the looks this time.

I used a mix....BUT! recently I found this set of recipes that were "doctored" cake mixes! So today I made French Vanilla Dream Cupcakes! So easy, and doesn't taste exactly like a mix. So here's the recipe...

Dream Cupcakes Recipe 

1 yellow or French Vanilla Cake mix (I used betty crocker)

1 pkg powdered DREAM whip topping

4 eggs

1 c water

Mix it all together, bake according to directions on the box.

So easy, and believe me...they are delicious. The only thing you have to be sure of is that the cake mix is one that would make a 2 layer cake. The regular Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines mixes are. If your using a different brand, it will say on the box.

So while they were cooking and cooling, I started digging in my recipe drawer for an icing idea or recipe...ended up using good ole faithful "Martha Stewart Cupcakes" (awesome shower gift for someone, thank you Gale!)  Keeping with the occasion I used the St Patrick's Day recipe for icing...."Bailey's Irish Cream Icing" mmmmmm, so here it is...

Bailey's Irish Cream Icing (halved)

3/4 c unsalted butter

2 c icing sugar

1 1/2 tbsp Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Whip all ingredients together until smooth. I added Wilton "Kelly Green" gel paste food coloring to make it green for my cupcakes.

Then I piped the icing onto the cupcakes! Done! I made mini cupcakes because my husband (and most of my friends) is on a diet. They are more likely to eat them, if they are bite size. Plus they are a good size for a treat for my 3 year old. 

Finished Product

Yesterday I made fought with some sugar cookies...They were suppose to be shamrocks, but it wasn't working and I was fed up with them...so they became stars. Today because I only made mini cupcakes half a batch of icing was more than enough to do 2 dozen. So...the sugar cookies now have icing too!

Happy St Patrick's Day All!

Backtrackin....80's Party

We had this party in September 2010 for Bestie J's Birthday. This was a tough one, I had a lot of help from Mom, my MIL and of course A. I was only born in 87 so I had verrryy limited ideas on what a party in the 80's would be, to me 80's was neon colors and bad music...I had a lot to learn. We did a lot of research and this is what we came up with...

Pacman was huge in the 80's and I love cup cakes!

Nintendo controller...This is the first cake I ever piped

I apologize for the pictures, I didn't anticipate blogging about these parties. I'll be more careful with my photography with my future parties, promise!

Cheesy Photo-Op, painted this sign and hung it with a solid color bed sheet.

Some way back treats, of course we hit up The Freak Lunch Box for some of these

These neon cut-outs were all over, and very hard on the eyes.

Life size pacman wall, cut out of recycled cardboard and painted.

Trip down memory lane! Remember these things?

Thats right! That is a NKOTB "chandelier"...Made by A! Fashioned out of NKOTB collectors cards I found in a box of my old stuff at my parents house.

 

Tetris Door, just construction paper squares strategically placed

 We asked everyone to dress in 80's wear, and we weren't disappointed! We had exercise chicks and Michael Jackson, it was a good laugh. Luckily for us girls, I still had my Crimper from when I was young. So we slapped on as much blush and crazy eye shadow as we could manage and went to town fluffing our hair. Here is the final product...

Me and my besties in full 80's wear. In case you haven't noticed, 80's attire is back in full force! So we were able to buy all of our costumes brand new! Mainly at Walmart and Ardene's

Happy Birthday J!

Gearin up for a Cocktail Party

So in 2 weeks Ill be throwing my first cocktail party...Girls Night In! So I've been keeping my eye out for new "party props", recipes and table ideas. I love when I can find things on sale, cheap and that I can reuse for something else. I love recipes that look complicated, but are really super easy and look fancy..but really who doesn't?

I did the invites online its all close friends so I can keep in touch with everyone pretty easily. Im trying to keep the decor to a minimum to let the little things shine. Although Im still in search of a center piece.

So far my menu consists of  Kraft Rocky Road Parfaits, Filo Pastry Cups with Cheese and Red Pepper Jelly, finger appies, veggie shots and popcorn cones. Along with some pink lemonade and Champagne Punch. Its still a work in progress Buuuut I know it will all come together. Ill keep ya posted on the menu finds and hopefully post all the recipes and pictures. For now here is the recipe for the Champagne Punch!

Champagne Punch

1 thinly sliced peach

1 c fresh raspberries

1 c blueberries

1/4 c lemon juice

1/3 c Simple syrup

1 bottle of champagne or sparkling wine

combine all in a large pitcher or punch bowl.

 Cocktail Party Purchases...

$2 Each! And will be used in my daughters room makeover after!

$5 They are birthday candle holders for a cake! or cupcakes! How cute!

Just a pitcher, but i was pretty excited about this ..$6

$3 at Winners

Big Girl Room!

My task for this week/month  is to redo my daughters room. Its pretty much been the same since we did it for her nursery, with the addition of A LOT of Disney Princess things, when she switched to her toddler bed. But this is the big change over! and a big step for momma!

Finally after 3 1/2 years was able to go through all her clothes, and I mean ALL, and donate most of it. Went from 12 diaper boxes, a big rubbermaid, and 2 small under the bed containers down to 1 rubbermaid and 2 under the bed containers. I was able to donate 3 blue bags to charity and gave a giant box and a blue bag to a friend with a little girl just younger than Charlee. IT FELT SO GOOD!! Then we took down all the pictures, wall decals and scrubbed all the walls! Charlee dusted while I scrubbed. Got rid of her Disney Princess Toy box and got her one of those cube organizers, which we both love!

My clean slate!



Now that the boring stuff is over with I can finally move on to the fun stuff within the next week! Started yesterday by organizing toys into rubbermaid drawers, a great and cost effective tool in organizing a kids room. You can get them in all different colors and sizes.

Just printed pictures off the net and glued them to a black background, keeps thing organized and in one place! Art supplies in the top drawer, LPS collection in the middle and puzzles in the bottom!

Today I started refinishing a side table MY Dad made when he was in highschool, pretty much an antique! (haha he wouldnt appreciate that) Its going to go in Charlee's room as a bedside table. I'll paint it to match her headboard and dresser, antique black.



Phase 1



Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

So for Sunday Dinner we had the neighbors over and I decided to get really ambitious and make some "fancy" cupcakes! Martha Stewart's Lemon Meringue! I've also been dieing to use my filling tip, it was the perfect opportunity. They were awesome, and looked pretty too.

I cheated on this recipe and bought the package of Sherrifs Lemon Pie Filling. The one you make on the stove with the egg yolks and butter, the one I could just eat straight out of the pot while its still hot...MMM. I haven't perfected making my own Lemon filling, but one day I will. Until then, Sherrifs has done a great job filling (HA!) in.

Here is the recipe for the "meringue" on top. This icing is the taste equivalent to the boiled icing my mom used to make when I was a kid, I love it. It is probably my favorite Icing, and it might be because its one of the few icings I can eat as much as I want of. Being lactose intolerant BUTTER cream and CHOCOLATE icings aren't exactly ideal.

Martha Stewart's 7 Minute Frosting

(half of original recipe, and there was more than enough for a dozen cupcakes)

3/4 c + 1tbsp Sugar

1/3 c Water

1 tbsp corn syrup

3 egg whites (save from lemon pie filling)

Combine 3/4 c sugar and water in a small pot and boil without stirring until it reaches 230 on a candy thermometer

Meanwhile whisk egg whites on medium-high until soft peaks form. With mixer running add 1 tbsp sugar. As soon as the sugar reaches 230 degrees, with mixer on medium pour syrup down the side of the bowl in a slow steady steam. Raise speed to high and whisk until icing is completely cool and stiff (but not dry) peaks form. (est 7 minutes) USE IMMEDIATLEY

Happy Baking!

Cupcakes Filled with Lemon Pie Filling

Added the 7 minute icing 



The Finished Product I used a small kitchen torch to give them color and that awesome meringue taste



Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Charlee and I just finished making, and testing, this new Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. My husband's cousin sent it to me this week to try...I love it! So I thought I'd share it.

2 cups Flour
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt

--Combine in bowl and set aside

3/4 cup melted margarine

1 cup Brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar

--Cream and add..

1 tbsp Vanilla
1 egg
1 egg yolk

---add dry ingredients, mix and add..

2 cups chocolate chips


 Drop cookies by 1/4 cupfuls and bake 15-17 mins at 325 degrees

 ENJOY!!!

Giant delicious cookies

Yumm

Backyardigans Birthday Party

This was my favorite party! It was my daughters 3rd Birthday party, Backyardigans! A lot of work went into this party, "A" and I made a huge papermache tree, everything was bigger than life! She was so excited when she saw all the decorations, it made all the work worth those smiles.

Very Happy Birthday Girl!

Sign I made out of survey sticks

Pin the Tie on Pablo game

Giant paper mache tree







Giant Pinwheel







Clouds and butterflies

Favors for the parents

Treats for the parents

Treats for the kiddies

For the food I did Ham and Cheese wraps and Peanut Butter and Jelly wraps. I also did veggies skewers with a dip, got the idea from the nick jr. website.  I made my own edible arrangement for the center of the table with watermelon, strawberries grapes and apple slices. For drinks we had juice boxes and pink lemonade.

The mini toy and candy buffet for the kids favors



The Cupcakes