Holiday Food Archives - Page 6 of 6

Fruity Ghost Halloween Treats

September 25, 2014 by Danielle

*I was provided free product for this post. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.

My family loves fruit, to the point we have to ration it at times. I know fruit is healthy, but if my kids want to eat a pound of strawberries every meal, that’s a bit overkill. And we LOVE Driscoll’s berries! They’re so fresh and flavorful, just perfect! And Driscoll’s wanted to share these super fun Fruity Ghost Halloween Treats with y’all!

How fun are these?! One thing I love about them is how super easy they are to whip up. Plus, the kids enjoy making them, too! I want to get some green melting chocolate, too, to make little Frankensteins, or how about black for bats?! See, so many fun ideas with Driscoll’s Berries! Fun, delicious, and more healthy….win win!

Supplies

Driscoll’s Strawberries
Cute straws or craft sticks
Broom fibers (craft stores)
Ribbon
Melting chocolate
Writing frosting
Candy eyes (my store was out, so I used writing frosting)

Directions

Wash your berries well, then get them COMPLETELY dry. Even a tiny bit of water can ruin the melted chocolate! Melt your chocolate as per package instructions, then smoothly dip the berries in. Place flat on plate for chocolate to harden back up.
Wrap your broom fibers around the straw/stick and tie with a ribbon. Stick the ‘non-broom’ end into the top of the berries
Use your writing frosting to draw a mouth (and eyes, if you can’t find the candies) then place the candy eyes on.
Enjoy sharing these at your next party, or even must a fun family after-school treat!

You can even put them onto a straw stacked up, to be a cute (and tasty) drink accent!

Here’s a pic of the adorable ones Driscoll’s made!

Simple and Delish Marshmallow Fudge

September 19, 2014 by Danielle

You know those grandma’s who are just so dang good at cooking, you always expect to be happily stuffed when visiting their home? My Grandma is that way, and always has been! One of the many things she excels at making is this Simple & Delish Marshmallow Fudge!

When she flew in to visit us recently for a big family event, she took the time to show me how she easily whips up this tasty Marshmallow Fudge….then we all drooled by the tray waiting for it to firm up so we could devour it! It was gone So. Dang. Fast! Naturally, I just had to make some more….darn it, right? 😉

*Note: you can use more or less chocolate chips to adjust the richness as you’d like

Ingredients

About 40 oz. Chocolate Chips, mixture of semi-sweet and milk chocolate
1 pt. Marshmallow Cream (see this super simple recipe here)
2 tsp. Vanilla
5 cups Granulated Sugar
2 sticks Butter
1 tall can Evaporated Milk
Dash of Salt
Butter for greasing
Toppings of Choice: marshmallows, walnuts, etc.

Directions

Butter a large cookie sheet (be sure it has an edge). Set aside.
In a tall pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the milk, sugar and salt and stir well. Bring to a steady boil and, stirring frequently to avoid burning, boil about 15-20 minutes. *a tip from Grandma: when stirring, don’t scrape the stuff along the top edges….it adds to the fudge somehow* To tell if it’s ready, drop about a tbsp. full of the stuff into a tiny bowl of cold water. Roll it in your fingertips, and if it makes a nice ball it’s done. If not, continue boiling.
In a mixing bowl, put your chocolate chips, marshmallow cream and vanilla. Pour the hot mixture over top and mix on high until it’s all creamy. Pour into the buttered cookie sheet and allow to cool. We like to leave it overnight (covered in foil) so it sets up entirely….if we can resist eating it that long!

Chocolate Mint Brownies with Pudding

July 25, 2014 by Danielle

About time I posted a holiday dessert for our Christmas in July week, right?! Better late than never, I hope. These Chocolate Mint Brownies with Pudding are worth waiting for, though…so creamy, with the perfect blend of chocolate and mint flavor. Yumm-o!

I got the inspiration for this from Beyond Frosting’s Chocolate Peppermint Lasagna. I mean WOW…that looks absolutely sinful! I wasn’t quite in the mood for that, but it did get me craving some chocolate plus mint. Of course, my mind went straight to Chocolate Mint Brownies (told ya, I have a brownie problem)! I’m so glad, though, because they turned out delish!

Note: Make sure you make the brownies in a DEEP baking dish, so you have room for the yummy layers on top.

Ingredients

Brownies (prepared in 9×13 pan), cooled – I used this awesome recipe, excluding the milky ways
1 small package Instant Chocolate Pudding
Milk (as called for on the pudding instructions)
8 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
2 cups Powdered Sugar
1/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
8 oz. Whipped Topping, thawed
1/4 tsp. Peppermint Extract
1 cup Andes Peppermint Chips OR Andes Mint Chips
1 cup Hot Fudge Sauce

Directions

Prepare the pudding as per the box directions, allowing to set in fridge for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar, heavy cream, whipped topping and peppermint extract in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Gently stir in your Andes chips of choice.
On the brownies, spread the chocolate pudding in a nice layer, followed by the cream cheese on top. Drizzle the hot fudge over the top, slice the brownies and serve. Store any extras in the refrigerator.

I really love recipes that taste amazing, but are super easy to prepare. That means this is a winner in my book!

Phineas and Ferb Christmas in July

July 14, 2014 by Danielle

Merry Christmas! Okay, so it’s the middle of July…but I’m so excited to kick off our Christmas in July fun! The next two weeks will be filled with holiday gifts, decor and other wonderful ideas! To kick it off, let’s start with our Phineas and Ferb Christmas in July!

This episode is a 2-part one, and after Danville has been dubbed ‘naughty’ because of Dr. D’s machine, Phineas and Ferb must save Christmas! Fun, laughter and lots of holiday joy to be had by all!

Season 2, Episode 21: Phineas & Ferb Christmas Vacation

Write letters to Santa. Need some inspiration? Here’s some help!
Use playdough or clay to build a snowman. Don’t forget the hat and ‘carrot’ nose!
Make your own Santa hat!
Get creative and draw names for a ‘Secret Santa’ exchange. Make it special and budget-friendly by making it yourself!
Enjoy some fig (or other flavor) pudding as a ‘holiday’ treat!
Decorate your playroom, bedroom or entire house for ‘Christmas’! Garlands, streamers, popcorn & dried fruit strung garlands, sparkly lights….have fun, make it bright!
A star is definitely a part of the holidays, so here’s a fun idea to make your own!
Christmastime is often filled with holiday cookies….here’s a bunch of recipes you can try out!
Feel like practicing your wrapping? Go for it! Even better, DECORATE and DESIGN your own wrapping paper!

Don’t miss the rest of our Christmas in July, on the blog for the next two weeks!!!

Pumpkin Dessert Cake

May 5, 2014 by Danielle

While I was away at SNAP! Conference last weekend, Hubby was amazing watching over the kids. With 4 little ones, though, it’s not easy! Luckily, our sweet neighbor took Wonder Woman to and from school each day, so that was one less thing he had to stress about with all the rug-rats. As a ‘thank you’ to our neighbor, we made a delicious treat to take over: Pumpkin Dessert Cake!

If you remember a LONG time ago when I shared Hubby’s absolute favorite thing, Pumpkin Dessert, this is very similar….but with some changes. That version is much like pumpkin pie, with a very thick and creamy center. We wanted it to be a bit more cake-like, with some fun textures and flavor mixtures in it. This Pumpkin Dessert Cake does NOT disappoint…so creamy-yet-crumbly, full of flavor, and totally satisfying!

Makes TWO 9×13 Cakes

Ingredients

3 Yellow Cake Mixes
1 1/2 – 2 lbs. Butter, softened slightly (more or less based on your preference)
1 can Libby’s Pumpkin (large can, and make sure it’s just Pumpkin, not Pumpkin Pie)
2 12-oz. cans Evaporated Milk
2 cups Sugar
6 large Eggs
1 tsp. Salt
4 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Spray TWO 13×9 baking pans, set aside.
Use a fork, pastry blender or potato masher to ‘smoosh’ the Butter and Cake Mixes until crumbly but mixed. Press 1/4 of the mixture onto the bottom of each baking pan (so you’ll use 1/2 the mixture). Bake for 5-10 minutes, or until barely starting to brown.
Combine the remaining ingredients in a separate large bowl until smooth and creamy. Pour over the crusts. Sprinkle the remaining crumble cake mixture over the top of each pan.
Bake for about 30-45 minutes, or until the middle is no longer jiggly.
Allow to cool, then serve warm or cool/cold. Top with whipped topping, if desired!

Egg Monsters

April 29, 2013 by Danielle

My kids love scrambled eggs, but refuse to eat hard boiled eggs. Why, you may ask? Honestly…I have no idea. Seriously, to me it makes absolutely no sense, but whatever. So I wanted to find a way to get them to enjoy eating hard boiled eggs (other than colored ones at Easter)….these Egg Monsters were just the ticket, and a super fun breakfast idea for Halloween!

I was flipping through a book and saw all these cute food creations, and came across a frankenstein egg. So cute! I decided to make my eggs look like monsters…and the kids LOVED IT!

You can really get creative with this, just using what you have around the pantry and base it on what your kids’ tastes are. You could even color them for some more unique monsters….but I’m not a huge fan of dying eggs.

Here’s what I did for this time:

Hard boil some eggs.
Add eyes: I used cut olives.
Add a mouth: cut a slit in the eggs, possibly adding a tongue such as tiny celery sticks or green peppers. (my boys say monsters have green tongues, not pink like us….okay!)
Is the monster bald or hairy? Ours was hairy, with bacon bits sprinkled up top.

Now you could add tons more, this was just a basic fun thing for us to quickly do for snack. AND THEY ATE IT!!!!