Ambrosia

Tis the season of grilling, picnics and potlucks. And with all of those parties to attend, I'm always looking for a refreshing summer salad that can be made quickly. I've never met a fruit salad I don't like, especially if it involves whipped cream and mini marshmallows. And this one has fruit, so you know, it's healthy-ish...right? Right.

When I was younger, I was that kid loading my plate up with pistachio salad - you know what I'm talking about. The fluffy green mystery salad that most people are probably scared of? Love it. And  not much has changed! There's just something comforting and homey about sweet salads with whipped cream and mini marshmallows, don't you think? And don't even get me started on snickers apple salad. Be still my clogging arteries.

Fluffy Peanut Butter Fudge

So, I'm actually not a huge fan of fudge. I'm not quite sure why, I think it might be a texture thing. I don't really like how dense and sugary it is. It just seems like a tiny brick waiting to attack my insides with an overwhelming amount of sugar. If I want a junk food fix, I'll take ice cream topped with peanut butter sauce any day, you can keep your fudge. That WAS the case anyway, until I tasted my mother-in-law's peanut butter fudge. Life changing.

I first tried it when my husband and I were dating and went to visit his family in Pennsylvania. My (then future) mother-in-law whipped out this pan of delicious-smelling peanut butter fudge and when I took that first bite, I was instantly hooked. It was light, fluffy, and it involved one of my very favorite foods - peanut butter. And you can never go wrong with peanut butter. 

 

 

It was then that I knew I had to marry into this family and get this recipe. At our wedding, my mother-in-law even made several batches of fudge for our guests, and I could hear people talking about it all through dinner. It's really that good.

Aside from being one of the world's perfect foods,this peanut butter fudge is also no-bake, and involves 6 ingredients and only 3 steps. Easy. Give it to neighbors as a gift, bring it to a Christmas party, or just eat the whole batch yourself. No judgement here. 

INGREDIENTS:

STEPS:

ONE: in a pot on medium heat, mix the sugar, butter, and evaporated milk together and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
TWO: add the remaining ingredients and stir well until completely combined.
THREE: pour into a greased 9x15 pan and let cool (approximately 1 hour).



What you get is a pan full of fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth peanut butter fudge that is light as air (which is pretty dangerous because you don't realize how many you're eating.)



You can't eat just one little square. You might just want to cut the pan into 2 big pieces and call it a day.

Looking for another great fudge recipe? Check out my Snowy Road Fudge. It's a twist on rocky road, and it's oh-so-good.

Check out our Link Party Page to see where we link up each week!

DIY Monster Pudding Jars (Halloween Craft)

Do you ever get random craft ideas that pop into your head at the strangest times? There will be times that I'm about to fall asleep or dropping my daughter off at school, and an idea will just come to me that I have to make. These monster pudding jars were one of those projects.

As I was zoned out running the other day, and all the sudden I got idea to transform baby food jars into monsters. I have no idea how the thought came to me, but I knew that these needed to happen. I texted my SIL, who by now is used to my random crafting sprees, and asked her to save any small baby food jars that she had. The next day, these cute little monster pudding jars were born.

With Halloween coming up, these cute little monster jars make great spooky snacks for kids. How fun would it be to slip one of these into your child's lunchbox for school?

SUPPLIES: small baby food jars, vanilla pudding, glue gun and glue, food coloring or icing coloring, spray paint, large googly eyes, individually wrapped Rollo candy, fabric scraps, scrap vinyl, medical tape, floral wire.

Preparing Your Jars:

ONE: first, take the tops off your baby food jars and clean out any food.
TWO: boil some water, then place the jars in a pan and fill with the hot water. Let sit for 5 minutes.
THREE: dump out the hot water and carefully peel your labels off.
FOUR: you can use nail polish remover or Goo Gone to remove any remaining glue.

Prepare Your Pudding:

ONE: prepare your pudding and let cool if needed. I like to use Wilton gel colors to get a richer color for my pudding, but you can use food coloring too.
TWO: place your pudding in separate bowls if you're making several colors. Use a toothpick to add a small amount of gel coloring to your pudding (it doesn't take much!)
THREE: mix until the coloring is fully incorporated.

Use your glue gun to glue 2 large googly eyes to the front of each of your jars, then take your lids outside and give them a good coat of spray paint. Fill each container with your desired shade of colored pudding.

Now, let's make some cute characters!

Frankenstein

ONE: use a cup to trace a circle out of a piece of black fabric.
TWO: to give Franky's hair a more jagged look, I used pinking shears to cut around the edges.
THREE: cut a long rectangle of vinyl or tape for Franky's eyebrow.
FOUR: before screwing on the lid, cut a small piece of saran wrap and place it on the jar, then put the fabric and lid on top. This will seal everything properly and keep it fresh.

FIVE: finally, hot glue 2 Rollos to either side of the lid for Franky's characteristic bolts.

Mummy

ONE:  take a roll of medical tape and tear off a few pieces.
TWO: I cut each piece of tape in half because it was a little too thick. Wrap around your mummy until you're happy with the result.
THREE: add the spray painted lid, and you're done!

Pumpkin

 

ONE: construction of the pumpkin is similar to Frankenstein in that you'll need to cut a piece of circular fabric. I left mine without the pinked edges this time. Make sure to add a small piece of saran wrap before you put the fabric over the opening!

TWO: hot glue a Rollo candy to the top of the lid, then add a few coils of floral wire around the edges to look like vines.

 

How's that for a fun Halloween snack?

My daughter loved the Frankenstein pudding jar (probably because she also got 2 Rollo candies out of it :)

Looking for more? Check out some other fun Halloween treats we've made in the past!

Monster Teeth Treat Bags (+ free printable)                       Skeleton Bones (+ free printable)

Check out our Link Party Page to see where we link up each week!

9 Spook-tacular Halloween Treat Ideas

Cinnamon Cider Candied Apples

Zombie Boogers via Paper & Parcel

Gingerbread Skeleton Cookies via Spoonful

Brain Cupcakes via Martha Stewart

Cupcakes with Bat Toppers via Luulla

Skeleton Cupcakes via Women's Day

Ghostly Meringues via By Wilma

Witch Finger Cookies via House & Home

Witch Broom Pretzel Snacks via Mom Trends

FOOD: Peanut Butter Sundae Topping

When we lived in Memphis, we had a family tradition of going to Baskin Robbins almost every week. Haley would always get the brightest, most colorful ice cream they had (which consisted of mysterious flavors in bright green, blue and purple) and Pat and I would share a Reese's Cup sundae. Our favorite part of that sundae was the warm, rich peanut butter sauce that they would layer in the sundae. We always got extra because we couldn't get enough of the stuff. If they sold it by itself, I'd gladly eat a bowl of peanut butter sauce.

Now that we live in Pittsburgh, sadly there isn't a Baskin Robins near us to satisfy our peanut butter sauce cravings, so I decided that I needed to make my own! This recipe isn't the exact same as the one from Baskin Robbins, but it's still pretty darn good. Now that it's summer, I will be keeping a big jar of this stuff on hand to drizzle on my ice cream cones (or just eat by the bowlful :)

Peanut Butter Sundae Topping:
(Adapted from this recipe.)

INGREDIENTS: 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup Karo syrup, 2 tablespoons butter, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter.

INSTRUCTIONS: Combine all of the ingredients above in a saucepan except for the peanut butter. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until all ingredients are combined. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter. Let cool completely and store in refrigerator.

Makes 1 1/2 cups.

Happy summer!

Check out our Link Party Page to see where we link up each week!

FOOD: Almond Cream Cheese Roses

This ridiculously simple recipe is one that my mom used to make for us growing up.  We literally devoured every single candy within minutes of it being made.  I put a little twist on this by hand molding roses out of the candy dough.  These are small enough to not be sinful, but big enough to count as a whole dessert. 

I think these would be perfect to serve after a meal on a spring Sunday afternoon with fresh flowers adorning the table and the birds chirping outside.  Sounds divine, doesn't it?  I ate some last night after making these while yelling at Abby Lee Miller (Dance Moms) on my TV, covered in powdered sugar and cream cheese while my animals were trying to scale my sweatpants to get the cream cheese off my sweatshirt.  Not quite as peaceful and serene as the picture I painted up there, but I still enjoyed my treat nonetheless!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 ounces cream cheese (do not use light cream cheese!!)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Food coloring

1 -  Put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer.  I had mine on a medium setting and still ended up with powdered sugar all over the kitchen.  It will seem as if there is not enough cream cheese, but trust me, there is.  Just keep beating it until it turns into little chunks like the last photo above.

2 - Knead the chunks together until you get it consistently doughy.

3 - Split your dough 1/3 and 2/3.  You will need more pink than green.  Add one drop of food coloring to each batch.  Beat with your electric mixer until color is speckled throughout the dough.  Then, knead until color is consistent throughout.

4 - Take a small piece of dough and roll into a ball, squish into a circle using your palm and thumb.  Wrap the circle around itself to make a tube.  Make another circle and wrap that around the first tube on the side with the seam.  Repeat this over and over until your rose is the size you desire.  If your dough is too sticky for this step (sticking at all to your hands) put the dough in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.  It will harden slightly and take away the stickiness.

5 - Make your leaves using the same roll and squish technique and shape with your fingers.  Use your fingernail to make the impressions of veins in the leaves.  Attach the leaves to the rose by smoothing the dough together with your finger tips.

 6 - Present and enjoy!

If you are not a fan of almond.. you can replace the 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract with mint extract or any other flavoring your prefer.  Also, make sure to keep these refrigerated because of the cream cheese.  They will turn into a gooey mess if you don't! 

If you don't have time to make the rose, use a silicone candy mold to get a cute, easy shape.  I took the leftover dough I had and made a bunch of little leaves with a mold to bring to work.  It still looks great, but cuts the time in half. 

    Check out our link party page to see where we link up each week!