peanut butter eyeball truffles

Peanut butter eyeballs!

• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 12 ounces white chocolate, chopped
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 2 drops blue food coloring
• 1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• red food coloring (optional)
• 
  Beat the peanut butter and butter with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in the sugar and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll chilled dough into small, eyeball-sized balls and place on 2 baking sheets lined with wax paper. Refrigerate for another 30 minutes.

Melt the white chocolate and shortening in a microwave-safe glass or ceramic bowl in 30-second intervals, stirring after each melting, for 1 to 3 minutes (depending on your microwave). Do not overheat or chocolate will scorch. Dip each eyeball into the white chocolate and transfer to the waxed paper until the chocolate has set. You can chill them in the refrigerator.
Melt some blue candy melts (bought at a craft store, in the baking section). Fill a icing bag with the blue and pipe on a blob...which will form the:"iris" of the eye. Press a mini chocolate chip in the center for a "pupil."
For an extra spooky bloodshot eyeballs take a toothpick dipped in red food coloring and make squiggly lines on the eye. I also did this with colored white chocolate- it worked better with the food coloring.


Creepy in a cute way!

Creepy Cupcakes

Spiderweb cupcakes....

This was a bit time consuming....but aren't all cute things? I made the webs the night before I made the cupcakes. I used this template and directions to make the webs. The directions say to do it on a cookie sheet- but cookie sheet was a little to wide. Soooo, I used a plate instead. Much better:)




I stored the webs in a Tupperware container in the refrigerator.


For the cupcakes.... I used this recipe and added 2 tsp of cinnamon. Delicious!

Ganache:
I used this recipe ... It was my first time making ganache..it was pretty easy.
Dip the cupcakes in upside down...
It's pretty messy- this is after the first dip. I dipped them twice.
Put the web on top when they're almost dry...SO CUTE!

Lasagna

Another good recipe from Allrecipes.com.... Linda's Lasagna

It's a bit time consuming, because you make your own sauce...but totally worth it:)

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 12 ounces cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• 9 lasagna noodles
• 1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook beef until brown. Drain. In another skillet over medium heat, cook onion until translucent. Combine beef and onion in a large saucepan with tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, water, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper and sugar. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 1 hour.
2. While sauce is simmering, blend cottage cheese, Parmesan and egg until smooth. Set aside.
3. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
5. Spread 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover sauce with 3 noodles. Cover noodles with one-third of remaining sauce. Top with half the mozzarella. Place another layer of noodles and one of sauce over the mozzarella; top that with the cottage cheese mixture. Top with remaining 3 noodles and remaining sauce.
6. Bake in preheated oven 30 minutes. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella on top and bake 15 minutes more, until golden and bubbly.

DIY- cracker jacks

I made this recipie tonight. It tastes EXACTLY like cracker Jacks...only better, b/c it's fresh!

Ingredients

• 7 quarts plain popped popcorn
• 2 cups dry roasted peanuts (optional)
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup margarine
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Place the popped popcorn into two shallow greased baking pans. You may use roasting pans, jelly roll pans, or disposable roasting pans. Add the peanuts to the popped corn if using. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, margarine and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 5 minutes while stirring constantly.
3. Remove from the heat, and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. The mixture will be light and foamy. Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pans, and stir to coat. Don't worry too much at this point about getting all of the corn coated.
4. Bake for 1 hour, removing the pans, and giving them each a good stir every 15 minutes. Line the counter top with waxed paper. Dump the corn out onto the waxed paper and separate the pieces. Allow to cool completely, then store in airtight containers or resealable bags.

I used Organics Popcorn- 2 bags
Mixing the ingredients together- I used Smart Balance "margarine"
Let it boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly
The color/texture will change when you add the vanilla and baking soda.

Don't worry if all the popcorn isn't covered. Put the popcorn in the oven @ 250...stir every 10 minutes.
After an hour of stirring...it will look like this. Let it cool completely before putting it in a bowl:)

MMMMMM!!!!

Blog award

I won 2 blog awards this week! SO EXCITING!!

The first one is from Maryanne @ Scrappy Gifts...kinda love her blog!!!

Rule for the award:
1.Post who it was that gave you the award.
2.List 10 things that you like.
3.Give this award to 10 other blogs and let them know with a comment!

10 Things I Like:

1. My wonderful husband
   
2. My wonderful family
   
3. Friends
4. My dog, Gracie Bear
   
5. Fall weather
   
6. Fires in the fireplace
   
7. Cupcakes
8. baking
9. Playing Basketball or Volleyball
10. Blogging

10 Happy Blogs:

1. Sweet November
2. Oopsey Daisy
3. Young and Crafty
4. These Creative Juices
5. Craft-O-Maniac
6. Joy is at home
7. The Speckled Dog
8. Making Memories...One fun thing after another
9. Pittypat Paperie
10. Crafting in the Closet

$1 baby bag

I'm not sure how you feel about it, but I think spending $5 on a bag is silly. I'd much rather spend an extra $5 on a gift, than on a bag- but maybe that's just me?

Hobby Lobby sells their bags for a whopping $1 (go ahead, celebrate)!! They come in many colors... I usually start there, and then add something to the bag.

This is a bag that I made for my friend's baby, Annabelle:
I cut the shoes out using my Silhouette (baby_shoe_C00408_18816) , BUT you could easily cut these out with scissors and hole punch, too.

Here is the template:

Baby Shoes

I would use scalloped scissors, instead of making all those little cuts.

Booing @ The Workplace

I'm starting the "booing" tradition this year at work. I made a few signs, and thought I would share.. So excited!!!

I made a directions page, the poem/sign to attach to the gift, and a sign for those who chose to opt out of the activity. I have these in Word files, if you want them- just email me (katsulak@gmail.com).

Booing


Boo Letter

no booing


Here is what I'm giving:

Happy Booing!!