FOOTBALL BROWNIES

My son Joshua wanted a football party for his birthday, so I had to put these brownies on here that I made for his Kindergarten class. Not only did Joshua want a football party, but an AUBURN football party - WAR EAGLE!

Football season is almost here. Some of you might enjoy making these for your tailgate outings or for your little ones that love some brownies. It is so easy.

All you need is a brownie mix, a football cookie cutter and some icing.

Since this was my first time to use a cookie cutter on brownies, I found the easiest way to be lining the sheet pan with aluminum foil (let the foil hang over on the ends for easy pick up).

After the brownies bake, all you do is let the pan cool.

The baked brownie mix comes right out of the pan while you lift the aluminum foil up from the ends. Now the football cookie cutter can be used.

After cutting out all the footballs, there is lots of extra brownie pieces to eat on yourself - yummy! Now, you decorate the footballs with icing. How easy is that!

WAR EAGLE!

Choco-Hoto-Pots

My friend Kate saw this recipe on Oprah a few years ago and has been making these choco-hot-pots at her house ever since. She so graciously let me come in her house and take pictures while she made them so I could show it to you all! Thank you Kate!! They are super easy and super delicious. Perfect for dinner parties!

You will need: 3 tbs flour, 2 eggs, 3/4 c sugar, 3/4 c semi-sweet chocolate chips, and 1 stick of unsalted butter

You can use ramekins or any type of even-safe mug or bowl. This recipe makes 4 servings.

1. Place a baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Butter your ramekins and set aside.

2. Melt the butter and chocolate chips in in a microwave safe bowl for about 1 minute or until all the chocolate is melted.

3. Stir then set aside to cool.

4. Combine eggs, flour, and sugar.

5. Pour the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture.

6. Stir.

7. Fill ramekins about 3/4 of the way.

8. Add chocolate chips on top just for fun!

9. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the tops are shiny and cracked.

This is what they will look like after they've cooled a while. If the middle sinks in, it's perfect. They will be a little crunchy on top and gooey inside.

Add cool whip, ice cream, or drizzle some syrup on top.

Here is my daughter Caley (on the left), Kate, and her daughter Lucy Kate. You can tell they enjoyed every bite.

A special Thank You to Kate for letting me come in and take pictures of the whole process. I hope everyone gets a chance to try these!!

Butterfinger Cake

This wonderful recipe is from our Aunt Carolyn and it is amazing!

Ingredients:

1 Devil's Food Cake Mix (mix like regular)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 bottle caramel topping (syrup)

1 regular Cool Whip

8 pack of little butterfingers (crushed)

Bake the Devil's Food cake as called for. As the cake bakes, crush the butterfingers.

While hot, punch holes in the cake and pour the sweetened condensed milk and caramel over the top of the cake.

Let the cake cool, then frost with Cool Whip and sprinkle butterfingers on top. Keep in refrigerator or eat now. Delicious!

Chocolate Caramel Pretzels Sticks

First things first. The winner of the Wal-mart gift card is......Julie Y. #4
Congratulations!!


I found these on Heather Bailey's blog and thought I would give it a try because they looked so yummy! I learned a lot considering this was my first time. Seriously, how hard can dipping pretzels in chocolate and caramel be, right? Well, I was wrong. It was much easier the second go around. I will definitely have to share my mistakes as I give you the instructions. Trust me, these are sooo good! It's worth a try.

Ingredients:

pack of caramel candy

pack of semi-sweet chocolate morsels

large pretzel sticks

First, you will need to unwrap the individual pieces of caramel candy. Place them in a microwaveable bowl. Heat then stir every 15 seconds until melted smoothly.
Use a tall glass or some kind of cylinder that the caramel can be poured into. This way the pretzels can be covered with as much caramel as possible.

Tip: If the caramel is still a bit thick or clumpy you may want to reheat. If the consistency is runnier, it will be a ton easier. The first time I dipped a pretzel stick in the caramel and pulled it out, way too much of the caramel was on the pretzel. You have to let some of the caramel slide off the stick until there is a good coat on there but not too much. Also, let the caramel firm a little while you are holding the pretzel stick before you lay it down. This helps so that the caramel won't easily run off when it sits for a while.
You need to use a non-stick spray on your wax paper before you lay your caramel pretzels down. I use to think that nothing would stick to wax paper...wrong. Caramel does.
Let these sit out long enough to get firm.

Next, you'll need to melt your chocolate in the microwave in the same manner as the caramels. Pour your chocolate in another tall glass and dip just like you did before.

Drizzle with some chopped nuts. Leave them sitting out until firm. Then...enjoy!

These would be great wrapped up as gifts for any occasion!

BACK TO SCHOOL GIVEAWAY

The 2009 School year is now here! And because we have so many wonderful teachers in our family, this post is dedicated to them and all the other teachers out there beginning the new school year. Maybe this will help you guys out:)

Who doesn't like a small gift every once in awhile? And who better deserves one than your child's teacher. Have you ever wondered, "what would a teacher like to get from a student on the first day of school?" Well, we sent out a little survey to some teachers we know to get their opinions and this is what they came up with.

These were the top 5 things:

1. Gift card or cash money - so the teacher can get exactly what THEY want and not what we THINK they want

2. Snacks - pretzels, drinks, peanut butter crackers, granola bars, nuts, chocolate, gum or any other snack food

3. Stationery - anything with their name or initial on it, note cards, thank you notes and post-it notes

4. Pens - pretty or cute pens, many others said, "EXPO"markers or permanent markers

5. Hand sanitizer

It was learned in this survey that teachers not only love small things for themselves, but can always use school supplies for their classrooms. They have to pay for so many things our of their own pockets. So, all we have to do as parents is grab a pack of Post-it notes or something else at Wal-Mart to send to school with our child. Even once a month and it doesn't have to cost much.

Our mom has said when we make cookies or some kind of dessert at home to get a small Ziploc bag and put a small portion in there and send to the teacher. This can only help your child, right? What a great idea and what a kind and easy way to remember a teacher.

Because we love teachers so much:

Our BACK TO SCHOOL GIVEAWAY is a $50 Wal-Mart gift card!

Maybe this can get a teacher a small basket full of goodies for the first day of school, and still have plenty left over for some things for yourself! You choose how to spend it!

Leave us your name and an e-mail address to reach you before Tuesday night (Aug 4th) at 10:00pm. Only one comment per person and the winner will be randomly selected and announced Wednesday morning in our next post. GOOD LUCK!

Oh, one more thing. One sweet (former) teacher was kind of enough to let us know what NOT to get a teacher. We thought this was funny, so we had to put it on here. Have you ever bought any of these things for a teacher? Ha!

#1 teacher mugs - especially the ones with hot cocoa

Christmas tree ornaments

stuffed animals

Chocolate with mystery nougat

Have a wonderful week!

This contest has ended. Winner will be posted August 5, 2009.

See you back in a few weeks!

First of all, a big thank you to all of you that continue to follow us on our blog. Your encouraging comments certainly make us smile!! This has turned out to be a a busy month for both of us so we have decided to not post again until early August. Check back then for our next giveaway as well! Thanks so much and we'll be back soon!

Ice Cold Lemonade

There's nothing like a tall glass of ice cold lemonade during a hot summer day! My absolute favorite is served at Toomer's Corner in Auburn, AL. During football season it's hard to pass up a trip to the corner for some lemonade. I found a couple of recipes online and tweaked them a little to come up with this recipe. It really does taste a lot like the kind served there. It's pretty strong and will absolutely withstand the ice and keep the flavor. Here it goes.

You will need a lemon juicer of some kind. I used a hand held device but if you don't have the tools just squeeze it out with your hands using a fork.


You need to cut the lemons in half then squeeze the juice out into a measuring cup.

You will need about 2 cups of lemon juice.

Strain the juice while you pour it into your pitcher just to make sure to keep the seeds out.

Then, add about 1 1/2 cups of sugar.

Stir well.

Add 4 cups of water and about 1 1/2 cups of ice. Stir again and you're done!! Oh....so good!!

I couldn't resist.

SURPRISE PLAY DOUGH

If you have been looking for a recipe for play dough for your classroom or even your kids at home, this one is spectacular!

Ingredients:
flour
salt
cream of tartar (spice aisle of grocery store)
water
oil (vegetable or canola)
imitation vanilla flavoring
food coloring
waxed paper

Combine in saucepan: 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup salt, 1 teaspoon cream of tarter

Add 1 cup of water and 1 Tablespoon of oil

Whisk until smooth

Cook over medium heat until play dough is nearly set (stirring with a wood spoon occasionally and 'flipping' play dough over so it doesn't stick). Then, add 1 Tablespoon of imitation vanilla flavoring.


Stir until vanilla is blended


Remove and cool on waxed paper

Knead the play dough until smooth and form into a ball (or a few balls if you've tripled the recipe) and press down with your thumb to make an indention. Place 2-3 drops of food coloring into the indention and "close up the gap" so that you can't tell what color the play dough ball has inside.

Give kids the play dough and instruct them to knead the play dough to see what color they get.

The colored play dough balls

**This is the best play dough recipe I've ever found. The vanilla flavoring seems to improve the texture and adds a nice scent as well ! **

***Store play dough in Ziploc bag or air tight container.***

A huge "THANK YOU" to my friend Scarlett who told me about this recipe and was kind enough to take pictures! I love this recipe and cannot wait to let my kids play with this yummy smelling play dough.