super bowl sunday 2013

Hope you enjoyed your Super Bowl Sunday! I spent Super Bowl Sunday with some friends. This year I made my bacon-cheese-date appetizers and tried out Corona Cupcakes for dessert.

First I made the bacon-cheese-date things, due to multiple requests- they're a crowd favorite! They're so easy to make. I just filled dried, pitted dates with a smidge of light creamy swiss cheese, and wrapped the dates in half a slice of turkey bacon. Then I stuck them in the oven on a foil-lined cookie sheet for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. They're also pretty low-cal, too :) about 40 calories per piece give or take, depending on which brand ingredients you use.

Then I baked the Corona Cupcakes, which I found on Lauren Conrad's blog here, but the original recipe can be found Erica's Sweet Tooth here. And...I cheated on the cake mix. I used a box vanilla cake instead of making it from scratch!!! I did, however, make the citrus cream cheese frosting from scratch. So in my mind that cancels out the pre-made cake mix. The cupcakes actually turned out pretty good - there is just a hint of corona and lime in the sweet, confectionery goodness.

How was your Super Bowl Sunday? Did you make any fun treats?

xo-ally

sweets & snacks - recipes for 4th of july

With barbecues and parties celebrating our lovely Independence Day coming up this week, I am seeing USA-themed everything, everywhere. I was perusing the web for Fourth of July recipes, and here are some I found!

Red, White, and Blue Cupcakes from One Ordinary Day

These are super cute, and the colored cake make it so much fun!

Nutella Berry Crunch Crackers from LaurenConrad.com

Nutella? Yes, please! This post on laurenconrad.com has a few other 4th of July snack ideas too!

Pretzel Rods from Martha Stewart

I think I'm going to try these! Looks like a good mix of salty and sweet.

Happy almost-Fourth-of-July!

xo-ally

recipes for memorial day weekend

I can't believe it is almost Memorial Day. 2012 is just flying by! I'm going up to the lake for a friend's bachelorette party this weekend, and since I'm leaving soon I don't have time to cook something (but that's just an excuse for not being much of a mastered chef). If you are going to some barbecues or other parties this weekend, here are some tasty recipes I found 'round the web that would be easy to whip up!

These Lemon Bars from Smitten Kitchen look amazing. I've been getting into lemon lately! Normally, if I had to choose between chocolate and lemon, it would be no question that chocolate would win. Now lemon is coming into the picture more...anyways, I think these sound great!

Smitten Kitchen also made apple pie cookies. What a creative idea! Another great dessert for barbecue-style or buffet-style parties. Or to keep at home and not share because they'd be so good. I wouldn't tell anyone. ;)

This grilled pineapple from Skinnytaste sounds delightful. I love pineapple even by itself because it's so sweet. This recipe adds honey, cinnamon, and lime juice to the pinapple to make it extra sweet! Bonus: Only 51 calories.

Finally! A non-dessert on this list! This grilled corn guacamole from The Pioneer Woman sounds delicious. It is a unique way to switch up regular guacamole. This would be a hit at any party this weekend!

Well, I'm writing this in the morning before breakfast. And now I feel like eating guacamole and lemon bars instead of eggs. Great.

xo

$200 Brownies

Last weekend I made the $200 brownies found on Tasty Kitchen! They were delicious and super easy to make.

All you need is brownie mix, oil, an egg (or however many the mix calls for), and Symphony bars.

The recipe calls for two boxes of brownie mix and three Symphony bars, but I only had one box of brownie mix on hand. The brownies weren't as thick, and I only needed two Symphony bars to layer across my 9x9in pan.

When they were ready, I took them out of the oven to cool, ran upstairs for less than 5 minutes, and when I came back down my family had already gotten into them!

I was going to take a picture of a tray of perfectly cut up brownies, but this is what I was stuck with.

Overall, they were yummy treats and I'm sure I'll make them again!

xo