Smores Brownie Bites

I love making treats that look decadent, but are no trouble at all to create!  These little beauties are SUPER easy to make, and you probably have all the supplies in your house already (and if you don’t, you can easily pick them up at your nearby grocery store).  The best part about this recipe, is that you can mix and match items that you currently have on hand to make something delicious AND pretty! 

Bill of Materials:

Brownies

Marshmallow Fluff

Graham Crackers

Chocolate Sauce

Start with Brownies – seems a bit simple, but seriously, you can make small ones (I used a mini cupcake pan and made them using my favorite boxed recipe).  But, you can also make large brownies, cut out brownies, heck, even buy them (I won’t tell!).  But you will need brownies!

After the brownies are cool, dollop some marshmallow fluff on top of each one.

Drizzle your chocolate sauce (any ol’ kind will do! – I used a Ghridelli chocolate sauce, it’s what I had on hand at the time!).   Then, top it off with some crushed graham crackers – or crushed teddy grahams, or Nutella wafers… you get the idea.

Yum!

Chocolate Chip. Oatmeal, PB2 Scones

Do you ever open up your kitchen pantry and decide that you wanted to bake something?  The other night around 10:30 pm I had the urge to bake!  On the hunt for something yummy, I went on my favorite website to find something to bake (pinterest) and found a delicious looking scone recipe from MlovesM but changed it up a little bit- with some Chocolate PB2!!

Never heard of PB2?  Check out their website.  It's a fabulous product that is a healthier form of peanut butter- less calories and less fat!  MlovesM's recipe calls for 1/2 cup peanut butter, so I used half a cup of Chocolate PB2 instead (quarter of the calories and a tenth of the fat) and they are delicious!

Once cooled, I wrapped each scone in plastic wrap and brought one to work with me for breakfast this week!  These scones were a great treat!      

   

Free Trip - Cincinnati, OH!

I participated in this summer's CREATING REALLY AWESOME FREE TRIPS on C.R.A.F.T.!  

Last year, I shared a free trip to Dayton, OH.  

This year, I shared an adventure to Cincinnati, OH!

Big cities are always fun places to visit, but it seems like they are always so expensive!  Cincinnati (the Queen City) is a big city (third largest in Ohio) and located, right across the river from KY and has a LOT to do for free (or at a low cost). 

Findlay Market:  Tucked in the downtown area of Cincinnati is a little gem of delicious food and tons of people watching!  The Findlay Market has everything from ice cream shops, jewelry boutiques, pet stores, produce, crafts, and coffee shops.  The market is open T-F 9am -6pm, Sat 8am -6pm, Sun 10am -4pm.  Tours are available for new (and veteran shoppers) every last Saturday of the month at 10 am.

Carew Tower Observation Deck:  Carew tower is a 49 story building with an observation deck that has, in my opinion, the BEST view of the city by far!  This view is open the public M-Th 9am -5pm, F 9am -6pm, Sat & Sun 10am -7pm for a small price!  Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children and certainly a worthwhile trip if in the downtown Cincinnati area!

21C Museum:  Free and open 24/7/365 (how many places do you know like that!?) this museum is a hotel fully set up with a spa and bar, however you don’t need to be a guest of the hotel to see the contemporary art that is all over the walls and floor (literally) of the museum.  The exhibits are open to the public and are changing all the time.  This is a great place to stop by and see something totally new!   

 Fountain Square:  This square is the CENTER of everything in Cincinnati!  Located in the center of the business district, the square is between great restaurants  stores like Saks and Tiffany's and awesome museums, like 21C, right around the corner.  Fountain square has free WiFi and TONS of free entertainment, from music to trivia, there is always something to see and do!

Cincinnati Art Museum:  one of the oldest in the United States, the Cincinnati Art museum is located near the top of Mt. Adams.  The museum is open T - Sun 11 am - 5pm (closed Mondays and major holidays).  Admission to the main museum and special exhibitions are free, but there is a fee to park.   

Cincinnati Public Library:  this library houses one of the finest collections of books among public libraries nationwide!  It also includes a gift shop and coffee shop!   The library is open M - W 9am -9pm, Th - Sat 9am -6pm and Sun 1pm -5pm. 

Cincinnati Museum at Union Terminal:  One of the last great train stations built, this museum is still used as part of the Amtrak system.  The museum exhibits are not free, however on Saturdays and Sundays (1pm, 2pm, and 3pm) there is a free 45 minute tour that explains the history behind the building and the mosaic artwork in the rotunda. 

Come visit me in Cincinnati!!!

Happy New Year!

I am back from a LOOOONG break trying to get my life back in order from a BIG move!  

Buying a house is a HUGE event in one’s life, and if you've ever bought a house, or had to move all of your earthly possessions from one place to another, you KNOW what I’m talking about!

I want to take a few minutes (or posts) to bring ya’ll up to speed as to what has been going on!  I have had a LOT of really cool events and parties go on in the last couple months that I want to share how I organized for them and how they went!  (That is the point of this blog in case you were curious!)

Let’s recap the LAST event in my townhouse apartment – New Year’s Eve 2012!

Due to most of the items in the apartment being packed up, NYE was a very low key event (meaning, the Mr. Fix-it Fiance, and his Awesome Accountant sister were the only attendants!) and all of these pictures were taken with my phone, not my trusty camera!

The food and drink was VERY simple!  Pink Champagne, because you can't have a NYE party without Champange, accented with Champange cupcakes, with Pink Champange frosting! 

I set out the cupcakes as a "DIY cupcake bar" so that we each could decide exactly HOW MUCH icing we wanted on a cup cake.  This is a great idea, because not only is it fun to frost a cupcake to one's liking, but also those who don't like icing, don't have to eat it!  I LOVE win/win ideas!

I was told that eating doughnuts on New Year's is a tradition, and that they bring luck!  Since we hadn't heard any final details about the closing of our house, I thought we could use ALL the good luck we could get.  I used doughnut holes instead of full doughnuts... 

  

This is the spread of my last event in my townhouse apartment!  I am SO excited to share with you all of the new events that have gone on since New Year's Eve!

One last picture of my yummy cupcake!  

Tips for an Office Christmas Party!

Office Christmas Parties are a great way to celebrate the holidays and to build employee morale.  I think a good ol’ fashioned pot luck is a great way for employees to participate in the celebration even if they are not “planning” the event.  Here are a few tips to help you pick out what to bring to your office’s Christmas party:

1.  Transportation – The first thing you want to think about when picking out a recipe to share with your fellow employees is how you are going to get it to the office.  If you drive to work, your options are a LOT different than if you walk, bike, or take a train!

If you drive:  the possibilities are almost endless depending on the type of containers you own and the type of driver you are!

If you take a train:  pick a recipe that is easily picked up and sat down, (stay away from things like chili, soup, gravy- anything liquid can slosh around and perhaps make a big mess!)

If you bike or walk:  stick with a recipe that you can fit in your bag (yummy rolls, or desserts like cookies and brownies would be perfect!). 

2.  Temperature- Next, think about the temperature that the items needs to be eaten, or if it needs to be baked/cooked before eating.  If the food needs to be either hot or cold, you need a way to keep it warm or a refrigerator/cooler to keep it cool.  Make sure you ALWAYS look up the proper temperature for foods, you wouldn’t want to be the cause of a breakout of a food borne illness!

A room temperature food is ALWAYS easiest!!

3.  Ingredients-  People have allergies, and I’m sure even though you “know” your fellow employees, they might have food allergies that you don’t know about, or if you do know about an allergy and you want to let someone know about the ingredients in your recipe without calling them out here is a tip:

Create a tent card to place near your dish or platter that says a message about an ingredient, such as “contains nuts” or “gluten free”.  That way there is no question to anyone as to what is in your dish!

4.  Presentation- (Of course, I would touch on this subject, after all it is a party planning BLOG!)  When eating other people’s prepared food, presentation is about 90% of the reason someone decides to put a piece on their plate. 

Let’s be real, if you have two platters of cookies, one is on a paper plate and the cookies look good but were just thrown onto the plate, and on the other seasonal platter, the cookies are nicely formed and placed on the plate as if someone cared, which platter would you eat from? 

It’s all in the presentation (and it doesn’t have to be an EXPENSIVE platter, and there are plenty of ways on Pinterest to turn a paper plate into a very darling Christmas cookie platter!)

Don’t be in a contest with your fellow employees on the “prettiest” casserole, just use your head and put a little effort into it!  (Read here on how to turn “good into great”)