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Preparing for Halloween Celebrations with a Fun Candy Blondie Recipe

Oct 212013

As part of a sponsored post for Collective Bias® I made this blondie recipe and other treats for Halloween. All words and thoughts are my own.

Halloween is almost here, and that means it’s time to start getting ready for Halloween celebrations! I love hosting, whether it’s for a crowd or just a fun night in with our immediate family members. Putting together a spooky (or a fun-spooky, with a toddler) table filled with candy, delicious sweets, and refreshing drinks is something I look forward to doing each year.

Blondie Recipe Using M&Ms and Snickers from Mars Variety Packs #shop #SpookyCelebration

Every year I always buy a couple big bags of candy, usually the Mars Variety packs. My husband’s favorite candy bar is Snickers, I love Peanut M&Ms, and we both like Twix and Plain M&Ms so this particular mix is a good choice for us. Continue reading »

Pumpkin Spice-Filled Molasses Cookie Cups

Halloween, Holidays, Recipes 36 Responses »

Oct 182013

Thank you to Global Influence for sponsoring this post and to Hershey’s for providing product samples so that I could create this molasses cookie recipe for you. All words and thoughts are my own.

One of my favorite parts of any holiday is having an excuse to bake. I really don’t need an excuse, of course; I bake on a pretty regular basis. But when it comes to holiday treats, you tend to go the extra step and make them a little more special than at other times.

Christmas is an obvious time of year to get a little fancy with your cooking, but I have to admit that Halloween has always been the one other holiday where I tend to go all-out. Growing up we had a party at my grandparents’ house each Halloween, and my Gram would bake for two days straight to prep. There were frosted chocolate brownies with jack-o’-lantern faces drawn on, sugar cookies with Halloween-themed words piped on, apple cider, dishes full of Hershey’s candy, and then the icing on the cake: homemade chocolate and vanilla doughnuts fried fresh as you waited.

Molasses Cookie Recipe: Pumpkin Spice-Filled Molasses Cookie Cups #HersheysHalloween

Bread Dipping Oil Recipe

Recipes 6 Responses »

Oct 082013

This dipping oil recipe was inspired by products received from Pompeian and Smiley360. All words and thoughts are my own.

It may sound funny, but I threw my first serious dinner party when I was in high school. I set the table nicely with linens, candles, and a centerpiece and served up four courses – appetizers, salad, entree, and dessert – to five of my closets friends. It was a lot of fun – even considering the fact that the guys ended up playing swords with the crunchy rosemary bread sticks and then attempted to light them using the candles.

Gotta love teenage boys.

Being a hostess has always come naturally for me, and even when I’m only “entertaining” my own family, I like to try and make our meals as nice as possible. Yes, we do take out now and then, and sometimes dinner comes out of the freezer. But if I can carve the extra time out of the day, I like to add little extras whenever I can.

Bread Dipping Oil Recipe

One “extra” that I like to serve is bread with dipping oil. Bread has always been a highlight of a meal for me; I’m sure it goes back to baking bread in the kitchen with my Gram while I was growing up. But after the first time my bread was paired with dipping oil and herbs at a restaurant one night, I’ve made it as a pre-dinner nosh a few times per year. Continue reading »

Mango Bundt Cake with Pineapple Glaze

Recipes 21 Responses »

Oct 032013

Thank you to The Motherhood and the National Mango Board for providing the products and compensation needed to give my family a mangover and try a mango cake recipe.

It’s kind of weird. While I love experimenting in the kitchen with all kinds of vegetables and proteins, it seems like I haven’t done much with fruit. It’s not because we don’t like fruit – we love it, actually. But we tend to gravitate towards strawberries, oranges, apples, and other more traditional, eat-it-like-it-is fruits.

Recently, though, I had the chance to attend a virtual briefing by the National Mango Board. They shared the ins and outs of all-things mango. We learned about the different varieties, how to tell when a mango is ripe, how to store them – even tips on how to cut.

How to Cut a Mango

Mango Recipes & Tips: How to Cut a Mango & Mango Bundt Cake with Pineapple Glaze

The cutting tips are something I really appreciated. I have eaten mango before, but I mostly just hacked it up with a knife. Let me share my new-found tips with you. Continue reading »

Classic Fish and Chips with Gorton’s #WickedGoodSeafood

Recipes No Responses »

Oct 012013

Thank you to Gorton’s for providing a product pack that let us serve up classic fish and chips.

Growing up in Maine I had the good fortune to be exposed to lots of seafood. Much of it was fresh off the boat – literally. You’d watch the fishermen unload their boats behind the restaurant and a few minutes later it would arrive on your plate. And if you’re talking lobster, you could even go and choose the exact one you wanted.

It’s a little harder to get that fresh seafood here in Kentucky. So when we’re craving something from the sea, we usually turn to Gorton’s. They’ve been providing quality fish to homes all across the US and Canada since 1849. The little tag “Trust the Gorton’s Fisherman” is easy to do when you’re talking about a company that’s been around for over 160 years.

Gorton’s now has everything from fish sticks to grilled salmon to shrimp scampi. There isn’t a single product they offer that I’ve tried that I haven’t liked. I have yet to try the tilapia fish sticks, but they’re definitely next on my list.

Gorton's Seafood Halloween Fish Stick Graveyard #WickedGoodSeafood

Their seafood products are great served as-is, but if you like to get a little fancy, you can use them as a base in a variety of recipes. One of the recipes that caught my eye was for the Halloween Fish Stick Graveyard. This would be so fun for dinner on Halloween night – and it has ingredients my daughter will actually eat. Continue reading »

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