Fouth of July treats!

Happy Fourth of July Folks!!!!

Wahoo Independence day! The greatest mid-summer excuse to not go to work and throw a big BBQ bash!!

I bet you're dying to know what I'm doing! <--I'm just THAT interesting

Well, wonder no more!

My honey and I have been invited to a bash at our neighbors place.

These are neighbors we have only met once, and though I'm sure we made a fine (PSH, AWESOME!)  impression, it is in my nature to go overboard in attempting to better that impression.

SO, I went to super target this morning...an hour and $70 later, I came out with

-Meatballs

-Frozen mixed berries

-Hawaiian bread rolls

-Fresh strawberries

-BBQ sauce

-White chocolate

-Pink Moscato champagne

-A Korean BBQ slow cooker sauce

-Blue sprinkles

-Diet sprite

-Wax paper

-Frozen raspberry lemonade concentrate

Then I threw it all in a crock pot and waited 2 hours.

JUST KIDDING!

BUT....in less than 2 hours you can do all of these fun and easy party platters!

Start here:

Meatballs. Crock pot. 2 sauces. Plop them in and let them work.

Now, while that's working, take your bread rolls, squish them flatter (cuz they're big suckers!)

Mix oil, melted butter, parsley and garlic powder into a bowl.

Slice each roll in half and spread your sauce

Bake at 350 until they're crispy.

I only made one package of the rolls into garlic rolls. I left the remainder plain so that people can choose.

These rolls are going to serve as buns for your meatballs.

BAM- instant meatball sliders!!!

Next, melt your white chocolate in the microwave. It only took a minute for me.

Setup a little conveyor belt

Strawberries>Melted white chocolate>Blue sprinkles>Cookie sheet covered in wax paper

Dip your strawberries in the chocolate and then the sprinkles. Careful to leave some of the white chocolate showing. 

Yummmm

CRAP- Now I have leftover chocolate AND sprinkles!

At this point, I begin frantically searching my house for something that I can dip into these spare ingredients.

SCORE!

POPCORN.

This idea is genius and freaking DELISH

pop a bag of popcorn, while it's still hot, mix in your sprinkles and melted chocolate.





THAT's some good stuff!

NEXT we're going to made the pink champagne punch!!...But I haven't made it yet, so that'll be posted later!

Have fun today! Be SAFE!

<3S

Minnie Mouse Low-Cal Cupcakes?

Kids only turn one once...

Well- you only turn every age once, but that's neither here nor there

So, when my girlfriend told me that she was having a birthday party for her beautiful little girl, I was eager to contribute!

In search of savings, she found these cute little minnie mouse invitations on sale at the store and sent them out...

Now- Minnie mouse has become the theme, even though that was never the plan...

Her main request? Try and make the cupcakes "healthy"

Which is impossible, but it is possible to lower the calorie content.

This post is filled with CRAZY cool baking tips that may change your life!

They changed mine...

A few days before the party, I started the fondant bows

You want to roll out some pink fondant

((I'm a HUGE Marshmallow Fondant (MMF) fan!

1 pack of little marshmallows, melted

1/2 bag of powdered sugar

Lots of elbow grease and crisco))

Using a pizza cutter and a bakers mat, I cut 3 inch strips of pink fondant

Using an old make up brush and some water (it works as glue on fondant) I brush the tips and the center of the strip

Fold the moist ends into the center

Use a very small strip of pink fondant to cover the ends and wrap around the center.

ALSO- buy yourself some mini oreos.

HERE IS WHERE I BLOW YOUR MIND...

Wanna go Low-Cal with cupcakes?

Grab a box of cake mix

and ONE CAN of diet soda...

ANY flavor of diet soda will suffice. GET CREATIVE!

Drop the two ingredients into your mixer, turn it on, walk away

SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DIET SODA AND CAKE MIX ARE REALLY THE ONLY INGREDIENTS?!

Yes. And it will come out moist, fluffy, DELICIOUS

LIVE CHANGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Add Diet orange soda to yellow cake for creamcicle cupcakes

Add diet rootbeer for rootbeer float cupcakes

Add diet sprite for completely normal tasting cupcakes

NO EGGS

NO MILK

NO BUTTER

NO OIL

This moment just happened....savor it.

Okay- moving on...

Want to get no-mess even sized cupcakes everytime?

Pour your batter into a large ziplock

cut a corner

squeeeeeze away...

That was LIFE CHANGER number two!!

Pipe on your icing...

I live in Florida...

Add a mixture of cornstarch and milk to your icing recipe to make a

high humidity

icing.

It'll hold up in our lovely weather

Add vanilla AND almond extract to taste heaven

Using a straw and some old purple fondant, I cut out a thousand little dots to make polka dots on the cupcakes and used mini oreos as the minnie ears

HOW CUTE!

ENJOY!!!!

There's another look at the finished little guys...such a delicious, lower calorie HIT!

Absolutely AHHH-MAZING pizza dip!

I love pizza, as we established earlier.

EVERYONE loves pizza!

One thing everyone DOESN'T love??

...Contributing to parties and tailgates.

We all love to be invited to super bowl parties...or any parties

But unless you're the token 22-year old single guy, you can't just show up with a bag of chips.

Well, you can, but why would you want to?!

This recipe-God only knows where I found it at originally- has been PERFECTED to deliciousless

It's AWARD winning!!

I gave it an award for being awesome...

BTW- there's no completed photo because I forgot to take one, but it's not pretty anyway.

Ingredients?

• A ton motz cheese
• 2 thingeys of cream cheese
• A container of parmesan
• A pack of pepperoni
• A large can of tomato sauce
• 2 fun flavored jars of pasta sauce. I think I used a garlic flavor...
• Bell pepper
• Large onion
• Fresh garlic (don't cheat!)
• French bread
• Olive oil
• Butter
• Parsley
• Oregano
• S/P
 

 

1. Pour all of your sauces into the crock pot
2. Chop up all of the other ingredients
3. Drop em on in
4. Wait 3 hours...

Wanna know a secret?!
Don't be caught crying over chopped onions!!
Place lit candles around your cutting board while chopping the onions
It'll oxadize the air and stop the crying!
Still crying? Suck it up!
Stick your face in the freezer ( <---Also true.)

Bored while waiting on the crock pot?

Let's kill some time!

Take your french bread loaves

Slice em up into a billion cute little dipable circles

Melt a stick of butter

Mince a few cloves of garlic

Chop up some parsley

Mix together with 1/4c olive oil

Spread generously over the bread slices and bake at 350*

YUM!!!

Delicious little garlic bread dippers for the future-dip

Ahhh. The three hours are over!

Everything has cooked and melted into itself...

NOW it's time to cheese...

Yes- the ENTIRE container of parmesan

Chop up the cream cheese

Drop the cubes in slowly

Mix it up after every 5 or so cubes

Pour in 2 bags of shredded cheese

SH'BAAM! Once everything is melted...AMAZING pizza dip!!

This recipe will feed a medium-sized country, so adjust accordingly...

ENJOY!

Not your Grandma's FATTY meatballs!

Yummm...meatballs!

Everyone loves a good juicy (meat)ball (<-----haaahahah I couldn't resist!)

But- seriously people! It's 2012- and with the US getting fatter all the time...

Grandma's greasy, fatty meatballs are NOT cool!

SO- here's a perfect yumylicious HEALTHYLICIOUS

way to make those juicy balls. (<--- I did it again!)

1.  STEP ONE- Put on your sexy apron and pour yourself a glass of wine! (Mom, if you're reading...take a tylenol too!)

   



Now- Gather some supplies- I don't believe in limiting your portions.

EYE BALL IT!

Ground turkey

S&P (or ADOBO if you're like me)

4 cloves of garlic (MINCE it!)

Red pepper (I went powdered)

Bread crumbs (Get whole grain if you can)

Parmesan OR low fat grated topping

Egg

Oregeno

Parsley

Pack of dry onion dip mix

 Toss them in your mixer and mix until it's a thick, not too wet, lump

Grease a pan and start rollin!

I used extra light EVOO on the pan...just enough to coat the bottom.

My boyfriend loves pesto sauce and it's much healthier than alfredo

I use VEGGIE pasta. It's my new favorite because I hate veggies!

Pizzalicious! NO guilt!

Who doesn't LOVE pizza?!

I DOOOO!!

So, how do the health conscious eat pizza?!

I'll tell you!!

• Start with a whole wheat crust! I buy it for $4 at Publix
• Grab a bag or Turkey Pepperoni (it really tastes similar!)
• Stock up on low fat (Don't go Fat Free...it doesn't melt) cheese
• Add your favorite veggies!
• Mince some garlic
• Toss on some oregano, parsley, reduced fat parm, crushed red pepper
• Bake at 450 for 20 minutes

Voila!

Delishhh looking, right?! Absolutely, 100% GUILT FREE!


Looooove it!

French fries...GUILTLESS!?

One of my biggest problems in life is that I just LOVE junk food!

I'm in great shape. HOW in the world do I avoid getting fat with my junk cravings?!

I starve myself.

JUST KIDDING!  I find ways to alter my favorite foods into healthy ones.

My boyfriend LOVES when I made french fries. What he doesn't realize is that they're extremely healthy. Baked. Red potatoes. No grease. Low salt.

I like to over cook them because I prefer them to be crispy. BUT let's talk about this EASY recipe!

FIRST- you slice up red potatoes and soak them in ICE water. Why, you ask? Ice water sucks out a lot of the starch from the potato. Therefore, the potato will be less carby and more crispy.

After waiting 20 minuts or longer, drain the potatoes and dry them. I use simple paper towels.

Next, I take a tupperware and drop a small amount of olive oil along with garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and some salt. Drop in the potatoes and cover. SHAKE!!! Then spred them onto a baking sheet with foil (for easy clean up) sprayed with Baker's Joy.

Bake at 475 for 30 minutes.

Voila!

You'll NEVER crave real fries again!

WANNA GET CRAZY?!

At the last minute, throw on some lowfat cheese and turkey bacon bits!!

Outback Steakhouse, EAT YOUR HEART OUT!

We just made extremely healthy cheese fries!

Love you!! Enjoy!

-S