Red, White and Blue Fruit Skewers

My amazing friend came over the night before the fourth to help me decorate the cookies. She brought along the dish she wanted to bring out to the party so we could prep them. She wanted to make Red, White and Blue Fruit Skewers. I've sen them on several different sites but I'll link to my favorite Skinnytaste.

For the skewers:

• 14 oz angel foods cake, cut about 1-inch cubes
• 72-84 medium strawberries (about 3.5 lbs) stems removed
• 1 pint blueberries
• 24 to 28 skewers

Thread 3 strawberries and 2 cubes of cake onto each skewer, alternating between strawberries and cake. Finish each skewers with 3 blueberries. Place finished skewers on a platter and refrigerate until ready to eat.

 Alexis Notes: We did a pattern of all 3 fruit together.

 I know I'm late save for next year .. lol

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Sparkling Wine Spritzer

And of course we need a drink for our party! I made this spritzer for my mom's surprise party so I thought it would be great to do for our 4th of July party!  WELL our turn out for the party was a bit small but that left more for me and my bestie to have. 

What you Need:

2 Bottles Chardonnay (I used Middle Sister Bubbly Sweet White Wine)

3 Cups of Sprite (more or less, depending on your taste)

Fresh raspberries & black berries

I thought perfect for a red, white and blue colored themed drink. Empty all the ingredients into the container and you're done! And later on you have a fruit to eat that has soaked up the wine!

Enjoy!!

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Firecracker Cupcakes

And for a cupcake for our 4th of July Party I found on Oh Nut's Firecracker Cupcakes. I took her cupcake and made it my own, I'm a use what you have on hand type of girl .. lol.

What you Need:

Marshmallow

Red Melts

Black Licorice

Frosted Cupcakes

Sprinkles (blue or red, white and blue)

Melt your red melts in the microwave (mine takes 1 min 30 secs - check after 1 min). Once melted (be-careful not to burn) dip your marshmallow into the melts. I used my candy melts spoon to get the marshmallow out. I placed onto parchment paper to dry. I had on hand black licorice (you can use black licorice wheel also). I cut my licorice into 4 pieces and then cut one end to look like a firework exploding! I took a plastic tooth pick to make a whole in the marshmallow and then pushed the licorice into the hole. I placed in the fridge to harden up.

I did a small amount of frosting on the cupcake and rolled in blue sprinkles. I then placed more white frosting on top of that. I then placed a marshmallow firework on top. I wanted a red, white and then blue look with the layers. 

LESSON LEARNED: Washington was having a crazy HOT day we hit around 98+ degree's we are use to high 70's. SO by the time I got to the party my cupcakes were melted ... LOL. Next year if it's this hot I'll skip the cupcakes.

Enjoy!!

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Patriotic Mini Fruit Tarts

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July. We enjoyed with some great friends and watched everyone light up their hard earned money .. lol. This year was low key with a lot of people canceling out the day of and days before. It actually turned out better and the kids and the adults had a blast.

I made a few things but with the unusual HIGH 96+ temps my cupcakes melted by the time I got to the party! But hey everything tasted good .. lol

First thing made, which really could be made for any party not just the fourth is Patriotic Mini Fruit Tarts. I made them a little bit my own and loved them, I actually had to walk away not to eat the whole tray!

What you Need:

• 1 pkg. (14.1 oz.) ready-to-use refrigerated pie crusts (2 crusts)
• 1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
• 1 cup cold milk
• 1/2 cup thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping 
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries 

Directions:

• Heat oven to 450ºF.
• Spray 24 mini muffin pan cups lightly with cooking spray. 
• Cut each pie crust into 12 wedges. Press 1 wedge up and around inside of each prepared cup to form shell, pressing edges of dough together as necessary to completely cover bottom and side of cup. Bake 10 to 12 min. or until golden brown; cool slightly. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
• Meanwhile, beat pudding mix and milk in medium bowl with whisk 2 min. Stir in COOL WHIP; spoon into resealable plastic bag. Refrigerate until pie crusts are cooled.
• Cut off one bottom corner of filling bag; use to fill pie crusts. Top with berries just before serving.

ALEXIS NOTES: Instead of using pie crust and turning on oven in the HOT weather I picked up pre-backed phyllo dough cups (for less the $2 you get 15 cups). I've used them before with the Mini Chocolate Chip Cannoli Cups. I also used Blackberries and Raspberries. I used my pipping bag instead of ziplock bag.

Enjoy!!

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Recap of the 4th of July Food

We did our annual fourth of July party this year and I had to make some yummy treats.  I had my die hards show up this year, but sadly most of our friends were away or could not make it.  I was left with a ton of food, which my dear friend took over to the neighbor's party to share.  I keep telling myself I need to not do so much, but I can't seem to help myself .. lol.

So a quick round up of some food I made, for our small get together ... lol (small doesn't even cover it compared to past year .. yes I'm working on getting over it ...hehe).

RED, WHITE & BLUE WHOOPIE PIES:

Red White and Blue Whoopie Pies found on Ambrosia Baking (I also made a 2nd batch that I took to the staff / volunteers at The Boys and Girls Club).  I got so many compliments on these cookies from them!

Ingredients

For the Whoopie Pies

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk, shaken
red and blue food coloring (I used Wilton gel colors)

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners, and set aside. 

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.  

In the bowl of a standard electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, about three minutes.  Add the brown sugar, beating until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract.  Add the flour mixture, alternating with the buttermilk, ending with the flour mixture, making sure to beat after each addition (I just did 1/2 of the flour mixture, followed by all of the buttermilk, and then the remaining half of the flour mixture).  Beat only until just combined.

Evenly divide the cookie batter into two bowls.  Add red food coloring to one bowl, and blue food coloring to the other bowl.  Mix the food coloring into the cookie batter until it is evenly mixed and the cookie batter reaches the desired shade of color.  

While the cookies are baking and cooling, prepare the cream cheese frosting. In the bowl of a standard electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.  Add the powdered sugar and the vanilla extract, and beat on high speed (start on low speed first and then increase the speed, otherwise you'll have a mess of sugar all over your kitchen!) until the frosting comes together and is completely smooth.  

To assemble the whoopie pies, simply spread a little cream cheese frosting onto the bottom side of a cookie, and top it with a cookie of the opposite color.  I decided to pipe the frosting onto the cookies with a large open star tip, but spreading the frosting on is totally fine as well.  If the cream cheese frosting seems a bit too runny to spread, simply let it sit in the fridge for a few minutes to firm up.  Once all the whoopie pies have been assembled, store them in the fridge until ready to serve, and allow them to sit at room temperature for a few minutes before eating. 

ALEXIS NOTE: I found when I did the second batch I didn't do the drop method I pipped them as circles to keep their form.  These came out a lot nicer and I had a uniformed size.  I took my circle cutter traced it onto wax paper and then pipped the dough in the circles.

FLAG CUPCAKES:

Red, White and Blue Flag cupcakes found on Reena Treats.  I loved how this turned out!  I used my basic moist white cake recipe (click for recipe) and my sturdy buttercream frosting recipe (click for recipe) using AmeriColor food coloring in Royal Blue Soft Gel and Super Red to tint the frosting.

ALEXIS NOTE: I frosted 10 white cupcakes, 10 red cupcakes and 4 blue cupcakes.  On the blue I added some white stars I had (sprinkles in several colors in the shape of a star, I picked the white ones out).

BALD EAGLE BROWNIES:

Bald Eagle Brownies found on Hoopla Palooza.  These were perfect since my parents have a mom and dad set of bald eagle's that live in their tree with their babies.

Brownie Pop Silicone Mold (Found mine at Michael's)

Box Brownie Mix

White Wilton Melts

Orange Mini Starburst

Wilton Candy Eye's

I use a box brownie instead of scratch to help things go faster for me.  I wish I would have planned this a head of time and would have bought the set from Amazon got 2 silicone molds for almost the price I paid for one.  I was able to get 16 brownie's out of the one box mix.  I put mine in the fridge to cool them and make them ready to go in the melted Candy Melts.  I dipped the brownie's and took my knife to make look the the melt was feathers.  Before the melt dried I added 2 eyes and the mini starburst that was cut in half to look like the beak.  I kept mine in the fridge until it was time to pack my car to head to the lake.

WATERMELON RICE KRISPY TREATS:

Watermelon Rice Crispy Treats found on Gingerly Made. I did this even though it's not a red, white and blue themed but it fit the time of year.

Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons Butter, divided
1 bag (10 oz) Marshmallows, divided
6 cups Rice Krispies, divided
Red & Green Food Coloring
Chocolate Chips

Spread out a sheet of wax paper on your counter and set the side of a spring form pan on top. You won't need the bottom portion of the spring form pan. Over at the stove, slowly melt 1.5 tablespoons butter & half the bag of marshmallows. Add 15 drops green food coloring. Combine with 3 cups rice krispies.

Spoon the green rice krispies into your spring form pan in a circle. It almost looks like a wreath. I used an additional sheet of wax paper to help me mold the rice krispies in place with out it sticking to my hands. Wash your saucepan and repeat with the other half of the ingredients except this time you'll be making red rice krispies.

Before pouring your red rice krispies into the pan, add some chocolate chips to the bottom. Fill with red krispies. (And try not to drip any excess marshmallow mixture on your "rind" like I did.) Add more chocolate chips on top. You'll have to press these in a bit. Refrigerate. When cooled and hardened, remove and cut into slices.

ALEXIS NOTE: I kept the bottom in my spring pan to hold it on our travels.  I put the chocolate chips on the top of the red once it was patted down into the mold.

There you have it, a few simple recipes that went with our theme (yes I know I'm a nut about themes).

Hope you all had a safe 4th of July

Fireworks and Boom ... Firecracker Cakelette & Flag Pretzels

On to the second day of fireworks, well at least for recipes here!  I have found some super cute things I couldn't pass up making.  You know me I just can't help myself with a theme and a party I just go all out.  I'm trying to keep this one from my usual overboard status so I promise just 2 more things to come ... lol I'm trying!

First off I found these Fourth of July Firecracker Cakelettes on She Knows.  How hard could this be ... lol. I know I always am trying new things.  I started with a White Cake Mix (I created a post of just this recipe so I don't clog up this post - click link for the recipe). 

What you Need:

Cake Mix (Split into 3 bowls - Mix one red, one blue and one leave white)

Wilton Icing Colors (I used Royal Blue & Red Red No taste)

Circle Cutters

Knife

Frosting (I used my sturdy buttercream) / Piping Bag

Pop Rocks

Licorice String

Bake cakes as directed, allow them to cool and remove from pans.  Using a round cookie cutter, cut circles from each of the baked cakes (I think the one I used was a 2-inch).  Using a serrated knife, carefully trim off the browned, baked bottoms of each cake circle.  Using a jumbo straw or plastic tube (one-half or three-quarters-inch in diameter), remove the centers of the cake circles. Be sure to save the red and blue centers to use as plugs for later. Put a portion of the red cake plugs back into the bottoms of the red cake circles. Pipe a line of frosting around the centers of the red and white cake circles. Stack the white cakes on top of the red cakes and the blue cakes on top of the white cakes. Add Pop Rocks down the hollow centers of the stacked cakes. Put a portion of the blue cake plugs back into the tops, covering the center filled with Pop Rocks.  Cut licorice rope pieces approximately 1-1/2 inches long and insert them into the centers of the blue cakes.  (put pop rocks in no more then 4 hours before they will be ate.

Next on my list is some fun and Easy Flag Pretzels I found on Passion for Savings.  I actually had everything here on hand.

Ingredients

• 1 Bag Pretzel Rods
• 24 oz. Almond Bark
• 2 Tbsp. Shortening
• Food Coloring
• White Sprinkles

Instructions

Melt the Almond Bark with 2 Tbsp. Shortening
Dip the Pretzel Rods in White Almond Bark
Divide remaining Almond Bark in half and add Red and Blue Food Coloring (I used Blue Melts & Red Gel instead easier)
Dip ⅓ of the White Chocolate Pretzels back in Blue Chocolate
Add White Sprinkles before drying
Drizzle Red Chocolate over the remaining white section to create stripes (I used Wilton Red Gel instead of Chocolate).

These are so simple to make and you can put it in clear bags and tie with a ribbon and had them out if you want. 

Simple and Easy to make and can really make your 4th party a real hit!

My little helper loved them, hope you do to!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Party Invites ... 4th of July Invites Done!

We usually don't do anything big for the 4th.  We do go to my parents waterfront house and watch everyone blow off their money.  We go early let the kids swim, have a BBQ and enjoy who ever shows up.  You know me and love a good theme so why not send out cute 4th invites.  I found this really cute FREE Printable on American Felt and Craft's Blog.  

What you need:

Card Stock

Scissors

Envelope

Printer

I copied her free printout and put in a word document using a text box (with no fill and no lines). I put the words on top of the the photo I copied.  Super simple and easy to do.  I printed on white card stock, took my scissors and cut it out.  I picked up these blue envelopes at Walmart for $3 and I'm ready to go.  I may even get crafty and print labels!

And just wait you know there will be themed food to come!!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Happy 4th of July! Goodies done, Lake here I come!

Well I'm heading up to my parents lake front to enjoy the sun and of course the fireworks!  It's going to be fun this year, the last few years it has been very low key.  This year will be too but we have some great friends coming to hang out too!  I'm so excited to enjoy the day with friends.


I whipped up a few items to share!  First off was some simple jello shots in a star shape, I used the recipe from my post here.

Next was to make firecracker cookies I saw on Pinterest (click on the title for the recipe, sorry it wouldn't let me copy and paste for her site).

And last was some red velvet cake pops.  I made Paula Deens red velvet cake mix from the food network.  I then put the mix in my cake pop pan and bam it was ready to go!  I melted some almond bark dipped the cake pops in and sprinkled with blue sprinkles.  Next time I'll use Wilton Melts they just work better and are smoother finish.

Happy 4th of July everyone hope you have a wonderful day with family and friends and lots of laughter!

4th of July Surprise in the Mail!

I love to do something special for my bosses and their kids for the holidays.  I thought it would be fun to put together a box of goodies for the 4th of July.  I saw a version on Sometimes Creative's Blog of a box of goodies and ran with it.

I hit up the dollar store for some of the items and Target for the other.  It is very easy to put together you could mail it or heck you could even leave it on your friends doorstep for a nice surprise.

I picked up a box from USPS (if hand delivering you could use a normal box)

Fun Items:

Flag

Blue & Red Candy Items

(Pop Rocks, Hot Tamales, Redvines ... etc)

Snap Pop Fireworks

Pop Fireworks

Silly String

Garland with Red, White and Blue Stars

Add some fun flair with a Blue and Red Pen to the inside of the box for a nice pop of color and surprise when you open the box.

Happy Early 4th of July!  Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!  Since the 4th lands on a Wednesday this year it's going to be a weird week work 2 days then off one and then back to work.  Sadly no sleep for this girl.

It’s a Weekend Wrap (BBQ, Birthday, 4th & lot’s of friends)

We had such a fun packed weekend with little sleep or down time but so much fun!

We had time to hang at my Tuesday Dinner Friend April’s house.  The boys were able to run, slip & slide, roast hot dogs & even some s’mores.

I even had a chance to put my feet up.  It’s the tour of the feet … lol.  In the grass, roasting hotdogs and even making S’mores.  Fun times and smelling like a bonfire the next day is the best .

4th of July started out with lot’s of fun .  We went to Mud Mountain Damn which we never have gone to.  It was fun they have a wading pool and a play center for the kids.  My friend picked the perfect spot to have her daughter’s 2nd birthday.  Even being in the booney’s it is a great place to visit in the PNW.

Then we hit a 4th of July party at my friend from high school.  We had a mini high school reunion you see 5 of us together. A few of them I have seen in 15 years how fun!  The kids had so much fun, they were able to go swimming, play whiffle ball (Which Cole rocked at) and even got to light a few fireworks .

Then we ended our 4th of July at my parents house waterfront to enjoy the fireworks.  Just my style let everyone else spend thousands of dollars and I’ll sit back and watch .  We had a BBQ and mom brought down some hot cocoa for the boys and coffee for me … YUM!

Sunday church had a potato salad cook off.  I made this World’s Best Potato Salad (yes that is the name) and it was super yummy.  Sadly I did rush it the morning of so it didn’t set up correctly so I didn’t win the cook off which of course peeved me off … lol.  Next time I’ll make it the night before (and NOT be lazy … well I was).

Yeah all I can say it’s Wednesday and the feels good but my neighbors are still trying to blow up the neighborhood so I bet I won’t get much sleep this week … UGH.  For the love of Pete I work early fireworks after 11p AFTER the 4th of July is annoying.  OH Crap I’ve turned into my mother … UGH