10 Game Day Snacks

The Super Bowl is just a few days away. 

Hubs and I decided to throw a last minute Super Bowl get together.  

Since we only have a few more days to plan, I started looking for things to make immediately.  

I put together a list of things that are either tried and true or looked perfect for the big game.  

Buffalo Chicken Kabobs from A Night Owl Blog

Nieman Marcus Dip from Simply Made with Love

Crock Pot Bourban Little Smokies from Tammilee Tips

Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza Puffs from Plain Chicken

Artichoke Dip from Simply Made with Love

Buffalo Wing  Hummus from Skinny Mom

Twisted Pretzel Bites from Six Sisters Stuff

Cheesy Spinach and Bacon Dip from Simply Made with Love

Buffalo Chicken Nachos from The Girl Who Ate Everything 

Sweet Potato Pulled Pork Sliders from Lauren's Latest

What is on your menu for the big game?  

Rolled Sugar Cookies- Party Favors

A few months ago I volunteered to make favors for one of my best friend's bridal showers.  I've made lots of favors in the past, but thanks to Pinterest, I have wanted to try something new, rolled sugar cookies.  I've attempted these a few times in the past but have completely failed.  This time I was determined.  First, I searched for a well reviews cookie recipe.  Second, I did the same for an icing recipe.  I found both over at All Recipes.com. 

Results: These cookies were a success! They rolled out easily, kept their shape and were pretty darn tasty.  The icing was the cherry on top!  I will be using this recipe again and again and have a feeling this is just the start these cookie favors! There are a lot of recommended changes to the recipe in the reviews section.  I kept everything the same and it was good, just the way it was.  For the icing, I had to add a little extra milk to thin it out to the consistency that worked for me.  

The best rolled sugar cookies

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup butter, softened 1 cup white sugar 2 eggs 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

You have scaled this recipe's ingredients to yield a new amount (30). The directions below still refer to the original recipe yield (60).

1.	In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3.	Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely. SUGAR COOKIE ICING: INGREDIENTS: 1 cup confectioners' sugar 2 teaspoons milk 2 teaspoons light corn syrup 1/4 teaspoon almond extract assorted food coloring DIRECTIONS: 1. In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup. 2. Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush.

Sprinkled with Love Shower

A friend of mine was having her third child and I offered to throw her a small shower at work in celebration of baby #3.  I'm personally not a huge fan of second or third showers, especially if it's the same gender.  But, I love the idea of a sprinkle.  Something small to celebrate the baby and mom with family and close friends.  There have been tons of ideas on Pinterest, which is what I used when planning the shower.  It was a shower for just over 10 people and we went with the sprinkle theme.  

Sprinkled with Love Banner made using the cricut

The food.  We did just desserts since it was an early afternoon event.  There was brownies (with sprinkles of course), ice cream with a varitey of toppings, sprinkle covered marshmallows, mini cupcakes and chocolate covered pretzels.  

 Drinks.  Soda and punch were served. 

 Cupcake toppers I made.  

 Brownies using the new Pampered Chef brownie pan, love it!

Marshmallow pops.  Marshmallows dipped in melted pink candy coating pieces, then dipped in sprinkles.  I stuck leftover pink straws cut in half in the top.  

 I made mini diaper cakes as centerpieces.  

Gender Reveal Party

As soon as we found out we were pregnant, I knew I wanted to throw a gender reveal party.  I had seen so many cute ideas on Pinterest and thought it would be the perfect way to share with close friends and family what Baby Herring would be.  I started planning the party at about 14 weeks.  I used my time off for spring break to get most of the decorations done, most of which involved my Cricut.  I tried to use as many things as possible from my craft room to create things for the reveal.  Luckily I had a wreath, yarn, ribbon and tons of blue and pink paper.  I planned a small menu since the party was at 3 in the afternoon on a Sunday.  We served lemonade, water, sangria and little sandwiches, pasta salad, spinach dip and fruit.  It ended up being the perfect amount of food.  For the reveal we used an empty box we found at Office Depot and 8 balloons.  Since we already had found out what Baby Herring was 2 days before the party, we knew what color to buy and fill the box with.  As soon as everyone arrived for the party, we revealed outside in our front yard.  My parents and best friend were ready to rip the box open if they had to wait any longer.   Hubs cut the tape and I helped the balloons out of the box.  We let some into the air and taped the others to the box for pictures.  We had such a wonderful time at the party and can't wait to show Avery the pictures of when all her aunts and uncles found out she was a girl!

P.S. Most of our family and friends thought she would be a he! 

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Cookie Exchange Party

On December 4th, I hosted my first annual cookie exchange.  I love baking (as you can probably tell) and hosting parties. This year has been one for the record books for our family and I wanted to get all my friends together to personally thank them for all of their love and support this year.  I figured this was the perfect way to do it.  I had about 14 friends at the exchange and my moms (mine and my best friends). I sent out an evite about a month before the event and spent the rest of the time planning away.  Since this was my first one, I did lots of research (and called my mom) to figure out how these things work.  I asked all of the guests to bring 4 dozen cookies.  One dozen was on a plate to share and then the three dozen were packaged in groups of 6 to swap.  This worked out perfectly for the group.  We all ended up with more cookies than we knew what to do with.  

I set up my dining room as the tasting room. I bought chargers to put all of the cookies on and set a few sweets around the table.  I used our bar for drinks (sangria, flavored water, wine and shirley temples- for the pregnant friends).  As everyone arrived, they placed their cookies on the table.  Then they brought the swap packages to the TV room, where I had a card table set up for the packages.  In the hallway, I had another table with a few snacks and appetizers.  I didn't want to serve anything to heavy because of all of the sweets we were about to consume.  I served brie bites, chips and salsa, cheese and crackers, veggies and dip and an apple pie dip-that is always a favorite.  

After eating for a bit, I called all the girls into the dining room to start the tasting.  We numbered all of the cookies.  Then, I gave everyone a ballot to vote for the best tasting, most unique, most attractive and best packaging.  Everyone walked around the table and tasted while thinking about their favorites.  After that was done, my mom tallied all of the votes.  We gathered in the living room to hear the results and I passed out little gifts to the winners.  I also got all of the girls reusable christmas tote bags to put all of their cookies in.  I also had all of the girls email me their cookie recipes.  I created a recipe book that I placed in their bags to take home.  I've already used the recipe book to make two of the cookies! 

Then the swap began....Everyone picked numbers.  As their number was called, they went to the table and picked the cookie they wanted.  Simple as that.  We didn't stop until all of the cookies were gone.  I had such a great time.  I know a few friends are already planning their packaging and cookies for next year.  I can't wait for my 2nd annual cookie exchange!