Superbowl Sunday

What I learned today...

is that I shouldn't try to decorate things when I'm not in the mood/haven't had much sleep.  We were heading to our friend, Jeff's yesterday for the Superbowl, and I had wanted to make cute football themed desserts.  I found a recipe for peanut butter balls and thought I could turn them into footballs.  Good idea, in theory, at least.  They were not turning out quite football shaped and I couldn't get the white chocolate to pipe on correctly.  I gave up. 

The good news was that the boys at the party loved them, no matter what they looked like.  I think Andy and Jerry were personally responsible for housing most of them!

I also wanted to make another bite size snack that wasn't too fussy but would be delicious none the less.  I found a recipe over at The Pioneer Woman for Graham Cracker Cookie Bars.  I happen to have all of the ingredients necessary and although they were a little sloppy to make, they were my favorite of the night. 

Despite my lack of decorating skills yesterday, and my  lack of sleep the night before, I had a great time at Jeff's and am glad for such good friends!

Caramel Candy Brownies and another loaf of bread!

Are you sick of the bread yet?

I'm certainly not...its delicious! 

Friends of ours came for dinner tonight with their daughter, Everly.  When Matt and I were engaged, Maureen and Andy bought us The Bride and Groom First and Forever Cookbook.  Whenever they come, I try to use some recipes out of it to show them how much I love it.  Everything I've made from this book has been fantastic.   I decided on the following menu...

Appetizer:

Brie with Apricot Topping (from the Year of Slowcooking blog)

Main Course:

Stuffed Chicken Parmesan (from the cookbook)

Fetucine Alfredo

Broccoli with sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts (from the cookbook)

Sun-dried tomato and mozzarella bread

Dessert:

Caramel Candy Brownies (from the bookbook)

Leftover Peanut Brownies (from my snow day on Wednesday!)

With some help from my parents, who are in from out of town, and Matt, dinner came together perfectly.  That doesn't always happen for me when I try to make dinner.  Something usually is undercooked or burnt or simply doesn't turn out the way I had hoped.  I was lucky this time!

As you can tell, I'm still on my bread machine kick...

For once, the loaf looked different from the outside!

How good do those sun-dried tomatoes look?

The inside was moist and savory.  The bits of tomato were a nice addition.

The caramel candy brownies were a recipe I've been wanting to try from the cookbook I mentioned earlier.  The basic brownie recipe was different from other brownies I had made in the past, but came out pretty good.  The authors of the cookbook said that you could use caramel candies or chopped up snickers.  Who can resist a snickers?  I certainly can't.

The desserts were a perfect ending to a fantastic meal and time with good friends.   Thanks, Maureen, Andy and Everly.  We hope you had a good time and can come again soon!

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Snow Day #4

Another snow day today.  The amount of snow that is out front is almost unfathomable.  Unfortunately, Matt had to go to work today, so I'm alone.  I have been wanting to try this recipe out of my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book.  These cupcakes are a basic chocolate cupcake recipe with the centers of the cupcakes scooped out.  I made the homemade salted caramel from the book.  I've always been intimidated to make caramel at home, but this was effortless!  Then, they were topped with decadent chocolate icing.  To top it off, I sprinkled them with sea salt.  This cupcake, although very messy to eat, is simply scrumptious.  The consummate combination of salty and sweet.

without the icing

the cupcake with its inspiration...the snow!

an aerial shot