holiday — MomStart

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls Recipe

December 22, 2011 By Momstart 89 Comments

By Summer:

This was ALWAYS my favorite Christmas recipe. And you know what, it still is! YUM! My favorite thing is to eat them frozen. My mom use to freeze them to hide them from me, but I knew where they were and would sneak them. Because of this I grow up loving them best frozen.

Mix peanut butter, ½ cup butter, sugar, and vanilla

Form nickel-sized balls

Spear with a toothpick

After freezing the balls melt some chocolate and dip them

Put back in freezer

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls Recipe:

Ingredients:

1½ cups peanut butter
16 ounces powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup butter, divided
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Line a baking sheet with wax paper and place in the freezer.

2. Mix peanut butter, ½ cup butter, sugar, and vanilla. Remove frozen sheet. With hands form nickel-sized balls. Mixture will be stiff. Place balls on sheet and spear with a toothpick.

3. Once sheet is full place sheet back into the freezer and allow balls freeze while slowly melting together chocolate and ½ cup butter in a double boiler.

4. Remove balls from freezer and coat in chocolate as desired (I do a full dip though some like to do a ½ or ¾ dip) and replace onto waxed cookie sheet.

5. Freeze or refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer to allow chocolate to firm.

6. For storage, keep refrigerated.

About Summer:

Summer is very active in our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living while cooking up a storm

Filed Under: recipe, Tasty Treats Tagged With: holiday, holiday recipe, Peanut Butter Balls Recipe, recipe, Tasty Treat Thursday

Holiday Recipe: A Cinnamon Spiked Eggnog

November 26, 2011 By Momstart 9 Comments

I would recommend making your own eggnog if we had success with it. Quite a few years ago, my husband made his own home made eggnog from scratch. It was AWFUL, he even colored it blue because at the time he was really into using food coloring, so he colored everything he made. Who am I kidding he still loves to play with the food coloring. Anyway, our homemade eggnog was a disaster. So, this year, I’m just recommending you create a special treat with simplicity. Just BUY the Eggnog. Ok!

Spiked Eggnog Recipe:

(this recipe is from Angostura Bitters Facebook page.

4oz Chilled Eggnog
1 1/2 oz Angostura 7 year Rum
1/4 oz Angostura aromatic bitters
1/4 oz Chilled Heavy Whipping Cream
1 Barspoon Simple Syrup

Directions:

Chill all ingredients
In a mixing tin, combine ingredients without ice and shake to fluff the liquids
Add ice and shake briefly (about 3 seconds)
Strain into a stemmed glass
If desired grate cinnamon over the cocktail

As a Mizkan Ambassador this is a compensated post.

Filed Under: recipe Tagged With: agnostura, cocktail, holiday, holiday recipe, mizkan, recipe

What’s Your Holiday Tray Include? Ours is an Olive Tray

November 24, 2011 By Momstart 2 Comments

It’s Thanksgiving day and we celebrated with some friends this year. We were asked to bring something that our family loves to eat and that was EASY. We all love olives. I like green ones and the rest of them like black olives.

The holidays pose the perfect opportunity to hold a small gathering with close friends, but oftentimes we avoid hosting even a small party with the fear of having to spend hours planning. I never spend hours planning and still love hosting events. So, this year, try holding a low-key cocktail and appetizer party with a few family members or friends! Make it as simple or as complicated as you like.

I like to just have appetizers then I can make all kinds of dishes. I love to cook. When doing that it’s important to look for appetizers that won’t overstuff your guests. Try creating a variety of simple, delicious and health-focused appetizer trays.

Here are a few ideas!

For the first idea, select a variety of sliced meats; you have several options with Hormel® Natural Choice® meats, like cracked black pepper deli turkey, hard salami, and honey deli ham. Pick out unique cheeses to include; some favorites include brie, Camembert, and Gouda. Add in fancy Peloponnese® olives that will go well with the cheeses you choose, as well as include crackers and apples and you’ve got a well-rounded tray.

Veggies are always a great snack tray idea. Create a veggie assortment with broccoli, squash, carrots, cauliflower, celery, and others that you can serve with dip or hummus. This is a good, health-conscious, middle mini course to serve.

Finally, there are several different things you can do. Preparing bruschetta ahead of time is quick and easy and won’t take you away from the action of the party! Try a bruschetta with tomato and basil recipe that has a prep time of 15 minutes or less.

This is part of the Hormel Family Blogger program, this post enters me into a contest to win a prize.

Filed Under: Announcement Tagged With: Christmas, entertaining, holiday, holiday tray, olives, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving entertaining

From Apps To Games To Groceries Safeway Has Your Holiday Covered

November 17, 2011 By Momstart 545 Comments

I was spoiled at our old house with home delivery by Safeway. We lived about 20 minutes from the grocery store and I hated to drive that far with two babies. They would always fall asleep on the way home and then that would just mess up my day. So (yes I know 20 minutes is nothing compared to some people) we indulged in Safeway’s home delivery. Now that the kids are older and Safeway is barely 5 minutes away I juts can’t justify the home delivery but it’s SOOOOO tempting, especially during the holiday season.

Not only can you indulge in home delivery but you can also from the comfort of your couch, visit Safeway.com/Holiday to review recipes, entertaining ideas, wine pairings and other helpful tips. I love a good glass of wine. Play a fun game on their Facebook page, the Facebook LOL Turkey Game. Make the turkey laugh to be entered for a chance to win a $100 Safeway gift card!

Then build your list of favorites and come back to see what other inspirations you want to create for your family. Safeway has created inspirational ideas, recipes, saving tips and tools to make the holidays easier for you and me and I’m all about making things simple. Complication makes me grumpy!

Of course if you have to leave the comfort of your home you can always use your phone. While you’re on the go, use your phone to visit Safeway.com and dive into all of those Holiday Hints that dole out servings of much needed inspiration in my case to make Thanksgiving special, or make the most of your Thanksgiving leftovers with the array of Leftover Makeover recipes. I hate letting food go to waste and it’s always fun to see new leftover recipes that I haven’t thought of. I use the same one every year.

I’m a windows phone kind of girl, but if you’re an iPhone user then download the Safeway Chef Assistant app featuring the Safeway exclusive 2-Hour Turkey Recipe™. The app guides you through step-by-step instructions on how to prep a simply delicious turkey in 2 hours or less. You can also use the app while shopping for your ingredients and cooking tools or as a timer to remind you of important time and temp checks.