1st Annual Cookie Exchange

Ever since we moved in the house we said we should have a cookie party because our kitchen island was so big. Well, I opted not to have an all day cooking extravaganza, but to have a cookie exchange where everyone brought cookies they made prior.

 

I have been a bad Christmas blogger and haven't even shown you our fabulous Christmas tree. I love everything about it. Yes, it is that big. I think it's 12 or 14 ft. Yes, it was free so don't go thinking I spent a million dollars on it. We had to string new lights on it, but it was worth it! I love my color scheme of lime green and red with hints of white and other colors. I also still LOVE my homemade tree skirt David and I made a few years ago. I have an issue with stockings. I do not like the ones I have and I look every year for new ones sometimes buying a different set after Christmas. I think I just need to have my mom make them or spend a little more and get long lasting ones.  Anyways, back to the party.

It was a team effort by David, my mom and I to get this party pulled together, but it turned out so great. We set our dining room table up as a display for all the cookies/goodies. I created some height with wrapped present boxes. Of course, my mom made the focal point wreath! Our elf also made his appearance that night.

I had prizes for the best tasting, most creative and most festive cookie.

Decorations.

We hung some ornaments from our top railing and have some garland up there as well. I'll take outside light pictures soon.

I had everyone bake 6 dozen cookies. 1 dozen was to be displayed and eaten by everyone that night. The other 5 dozen were to be packaged in groups of 6 for ease of sharing/taking home. Look at all the wonderful packaging that everyone brought! I was so impressed.

I also had place cards with numbers to go with the cookies so we could easily vote for our favorites. I (as in my mom) made #4, Dark Chocolate chewy gingerbread cookies.

More yummy goodness

We ended up having 16 sets of cookies! We had 3 people not be able to make it, but they still brought over cookies. That is dedication! My mom made # 12- Pecan Mexican Wedding Cookies.

Full table!

I started to take small group pictures of all the guests.

Then decided to go for a group shot.

Since I wasn't in the group shot and Meredith came later we took our own pic. Love that I have so many great neighbors and friends to come celebrate.

Here you can see our food island table (well the aftermath). I made this awesome salad (you really must make it), crock pot meatballs, cheese and crackers, guacamole and chips, mini hotdog & spanikopia (thanks Sams Club). I was trying to keep things light since we were desserting all night, but I went a little overboard. I just like food too much. We drew numbers and lined up in a circle to go around the goodie table to gather our cookies. We did this because with 16 people and 10 sets of each kind of cookie, some of the favorites would be gone faster and it was luck of the draw. It worked out really well and we kept going round and round. Everyone went home with 5 dozen cookies! All the paper goods I used were found via pinterest here. Thanks to all who came and I hope to do it again next year.

Food Friday & Friday Letters: M & M Cake Mix Cookie Bars

Dear week, I am super busy all the time at work so the days go by fast, which is a good thing. I am glad the weekend is already here. Dear Max, your doing so well with responding to what we ask you. If we tell you to close the door behind your daddy (who never closes doors) you run over and shut it.  You can also ask for a cracker now by saying "ca  GA"  It is adorable.  Dear horrible news stories, I hate that there are so many tragedies going on right now. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Boston and West, TX.  Dear bank account, I wish you would grow faster so we can start some renovations. Our list keeps growing with what we want to do to the house (inside and outside). Dear pinterest party, I am excited for a girls night and hopefully to get some things accomplished. If only I had time to plan out my project and supplies. Guess that's what tonight is for.

My sister told me I had to make these cookie bars and she was right. They were SO easy to make (as in less than 5 minutes) and they taste amazing! I found this recipe via Parent Pretty.

Ingredients:

1 Box yellow cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)

1 Small box instant vanilla pudding
1/4 Cup water
3/4 Cup vegetable oil
2 Eggs
1 Cup chocolate chips. I used 1 cup full size m & m's. Mini ones would work too.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

Combine cake mix, pudding mix, water, vegetable oil, eggs, and M&M's in large bowl.

Pour the batter (it'll be thick) into a greased 10x13 baking dish sprayed with nonstick spray.

Bake your bars for 20-30 mins (I think I did 25). It may look sort of raw in the middle but if the edges are just golden and starting to get crispy, it's probably done. 

I made these for Davids birthday and they were gone very quickly!

I'm going to make them for my pinterest party since that's where we originally found them! Thanks to my sister for sharing.

Food Friday & Friday Letters

Dear New Job, I am really enjoying you so far. I have had to adopt the learn as I go method as inevitably something comes up that I do not know how to do, but it's turned out OK.  It's fun to hear people talk about houses all day every day.  Dear Weather, Thank you for cooperating for another beautiful weekend ahead. 70's. It can't get any better than that.  Dear Ribapalooza, I have self titled this weekends event.  We are having ribs (as we usually do) for David and his Dad's birthday celebration.  I can't wait.  It's been too long. Dear May 3rd, We're excited that we've booked a trip up to NY to see family and attend Jen's baby shower.  We are just hoping that the kids behave themselves as it's just the girls and the babes!

Food Friday:
I have tried a lot of new recipes the past few months, but I have yet to post any here. I like to have them on the blog because it's so easy for me to look things up when planing my grocery shopping.  I have a bunch of recipes on pinterest, but it's SO hard to find after I pin them (they need to have a search box within your boards).  I swear I have posted this recipe before, but I can not find it anywhere so maybe I didn't.

No Bake Energy Bites, adapted from Smashed Peas and Carrots
Makes 18-20
Ingredients-
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)
1/3 cup honey
1 cup crushed cheerios (she used coconut flakes instead)
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla

Mix everything in a mixing bowl

I used crushed cheerios as to help the bonding together of the ingredients as I don't love coconut flakes.

Refrigerate for about an half hour until the batter is workable. Roll them into balls and you can store them for about a week in the refrigerator.

She lists great variations that you can do if you don't like something or want to spruce things up a bit. So check them out. I love these and they don't take much effort at all.

Dessert Crescent Rolls and Fun Pinterest Ideas

I told you I have been craving desserts lately so after dinner on Sunday I decided to make these based on a recipe I found on pinterest.

Dessert Crescent Rolls
1 package of crescent rolls
Peanut butter
Chocolate or choc. chips
Nutella (optional)

Unroll your crescent rolls and spread a thin layer of peanut butter down. The recipe calls for nutella, but they were all out at walmart (I've never even tried it before). Place chocolate chips or a mini chocolate bar inside.

Roll them up and bake for 8-10 minutes on 350.

We had strawberries so I decided to add them to the dish and they were the perfect combination.

This was so fast and easy, you must give it a try. 

My sister also tried a pinterest idea that I wanted to share. 

 

Here is her final product. Michelle says she'd buy the kitchenaid mixer just for this purpose alone lol. 

She made this black bean and corn salad to put it in. Looks fantastic!

Here is a random picture of my sweet little baby (for now) relaxing on the couch this weekend. She doesn't fully realize there will be another little baby around the house soon. I think I should play some crying baby noises to familiarize her. David was napping the other day and I did play a crying baby from youtube to see if he'd wake up and sure enough after about 3 seconds he got up, that was a fun test.

Pumpkin Rice Crispy Treats

Since it is Halloween I thought I'd post a festive, semi-easy recipe for you to make. David and I made it for my work Halloween contest for festive food.
Pumpkin Rice Crispy Treats from  Home Stories A to Z.

Ingredients-
1 box Rice Krispie Cereal
1- 10 oz bag marshmellows
Butter
Red, Yellow and Green Food Coloring
Frosting
Tootsie Rolls
Chocolate Cookies for Dirt

Directions-
Follow the instructions on the box for regular rice krispy treats.

When your marshmallows are nice and melty add red and yellow purchased or homemade food coloring until you reach a pumpkin orange color.

 We were afraid of ours turning red so we left it this orange. When you make them go for a way brighter orange. Ours turned out a bit too pastel and didn't differ much from the regular rice crispy color.

 After you stir the cereal into the marshmallow mixture, rub some butter on the palms of your hands (we used spray Pam as well) and roll the mixture quickly into balls. I placed more butter on my hands between rolling each ball. Place a tootsie roll in the center of each pumpkin and garnish with frosting leaves. We mixed regular frosting with the green food coloring and used our leaves tip to make them.

 We placed our pumpkins on a bed of crushed chocolate cookies just for fun and presentation.

Happy Halloween!

Update from the costume front at work:

We went as the 3 Marketeers (get it, like 3 musketeers) since we all work in marketing.

  Unfortunately, we did not win the most creative contest (we got robbed if you ask me!). I also did not win 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the food competition (not happy about that!).

NY Friends and Family

While I was home in NY we got to spend time with family (sorry no pics) and I helped my mom get ready for the appetizer party. I made bruschetta, guacamole and helped make these amazing Carmel Peanut Butter Bars. Sorry about the ghetto paper picture of the recipe, but I'm too lazy to type it out today. They were the hit of the party.

We put peanuts on half since Michelle wouldn't let us put them on the whole thing.

Mmmm so many layers of deliciousness.

This is my cousin Jessie's little one. Delilah is going to be the flower girl in my other cousin Christie's wedding this weekend.

Isn't she adorable!

She didn't waste any time making friends with the neighbor boy, they are holding hands!

After the family left, we had some friends over from high school. We haven't seen them in a while and it was great catching up. From left to right- Michelle, Kristin, Me, Melanie, Kacy and Lily in the front. Kristin is pregnant with her 3rd baby and due in July.

Here is the rest of Kristin's gang. It was great seeing everyone!