Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Ginger Snaps

Ginger Snaps

3/4 c butter-flavor shortening
1 c brown sugar
1/4 c molasses
1 egg
2 c flour
1/4 t salt
2 t soda
1 t cinnamon
1 t cloves
1 t ginger

Cream shortening and sugar; add molasses and egg. Beat well. In a separate bowl, blend dry ingredients. Add to creamed mixture and beat together. Roll dough into balls and freeze for at least one hour. Preheat oven to 350. Roll dough balls in sugar and bake 9-10 minutes. When cool, keep in an airtight container.

These cookies are the only cookies I know of that actually get better the next day.

Friday, September 19, 2014

Sticky Finger Chicken

It was a sad day when we found out that the Wingers Restaurant near by us closed. Their sticky fingers were amazing and something that everyone in my family enjoyed. We knew it was something we couldn't live without, so we set out to recreate them and I think we came pretty darn close if I do say so myself. Try it and you'll see what I'm talking about.

 Sticky Finger Chicken





8-10 frozen breaded chicken breasts tenderloins (I like to buy the big bag at costco or sam's club.)
6 Tbl. Frank's Hot Sauce 
4 Tbl. water
1c. brown sugar
½ c. honey

Chicken:
 Bake the chicken according to package directions. I usually put them in a jelly roll pan.

Sauce:
While the chicken is baking, heat the hot sauce, water, honey and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, until the sugar is dissolved.

5 minutes before the chicken is done, pour the sauce over the chicken and bake for the remaining time.
ENJOY!!!
We serve this with ranch and blue cheese dressing.
Serves 4-5 people.







Thursday, February 16, 2012

Valentine {Love Factor} Party

My friend Erin and I finally got our act together and planned a Valentine Party. I don't know how long we have been talking about having a party but it was way too long. The theme of our party was {Love Factor}. We planned to have a bunch of games where couples would compete against each other to see who could score the highest on the love factor scale. It was a combination of Minute to Win it, Fear Factor, Survivor and Trivia. It was a blast! We also asked everyone to wear a team shirt and we gave a box of Valentine Chocolate to the winner. We had some great shirts!

The Invite. A little bit of grunge with lots of Valentine love. Which kind of set the theme for decorations. 


I had a vision of Newspaper as our tablecloth with frilly decorations and I'll have to admit, I wasn't sure that it was going to work. We finally just bit the bullet and did it and loved the way it looked. It was a perfect mix of the grunge and frills.




We taped about 100 balloons to the ceiling and realized shortly thereafter that we needed more. I think we ended up with close to 175 and it still didn't fill the room but we were up till 12:30 the night before hanging balloons and I had had enough (not to mention it was a total pain in the butt taking all the tape off the ceiling yesterday). But the effect was awesome!  


We had everyone bring an appetizer which we served at the island and then after all the games, we had a chocolate fountain (seen in the background). The guys weren't too hip on the chocolate after the game we made them compete in, so there were lots of treats for the ladies.



I gathered wedding pictures from each of the couples that came and hung them in the family room for all to enjoy (I think I spray painted every frame in my house to hang on this wall and bought a few more as well). I added some fun digital art that I made and voila a great decoration! It was so fun to see everyones pictures and see the changes in everyone.




Chocolat Fountain table.



Erin and I had made official {LOVE FACTOR}shirts for us to wear since we would not be competing (as the hosts) and would be the "judges" for the evening.



Our t-shirt contest winners. Mixed tape love songs.


Some other great shirts.


More


More


and still more.


Games

We had a love thermometer (which I forgot to take a picture of) that we used to keep track of points and as the couple scored points they would more up on the love factor scale. We all started at icy cold and moved up through chilly, mild, lukewarm, hot, smokin', and finally our winners were hot and spicy.

We started the games with Valentine trivia questions which everyone answered as we ate appetizers. Then we had them divide into 4 teams of 3 couples each to compete in a variety of minute to win it games. We had one or two people compete from each team in the different games and then the winning team would get a point for each of the couples. We even made buffs for them to wear depending on their team color. 

First game, "Hanky Panky" Each contestant had to pull out every tissue in the box of tissues using only one hand. First one to get them all out was the winner.
Second, "Dragon Tails".  We gave each contestant 2 rolls of streamers which they had to unwind starting in the middle.
Third, didn't work so well, but it was fun to watch. One teammate had 2 lint rollers and the other teammate had to throw ping pong balls and try to get one to stick on the lint rollers. It quickly became whoever could catch it first between the rollers would win.
Forth, each team was given 20 m&m's and had to toss them into the mouth of their other teammate. Whichever team caught the most scored the points.

We then moved into the girls against girls and guys against guys part of the game. 

Girls: We bought a jar of cherries with stems and each girl picked one and had to put the stem in her mouth and tie it into a knot. Once the knot was tied and we all saw it, they moved to the floor where there was a pile of puzzle pieces. I had glued each wedding picture onto mat board and cut it into 9 pieces. The girls had to find their pieces and put the puzzle together. First one done moved up on the love factor scale.



Guys: The guys game was probably the highlight of the evening, at least for those of us who were not competing in it. This was where the fear came into play. We had covered food items in chocolate and just like fear factor, they had to eat everything on their plate to move onto the next round where we had another plate full of chocolate covered goodies.  Some of the things we covered included a giant marshmallow, gummy worms, ritz crackers, black licorice, meatballs, pork rinds, string cheese, pickles, and sauerkraut. We also included a cupcake stuffed with ketchup. Needless to say, only 4 of the guys finished their plates and many backed away as soon as they found out that it wan't all yummy treats.



The second plate



The guys gearing up for the second round.


This was hilarious!!!




Choking it down.


Our winner, Jared (although we gave points to whoever finished the plate).




We then finished off the contest with body part twister. We would spin it twice and one person would have to place the first body part onto the other body part on their spouse. (Make sense?) So for example if the two spins were palm and knee, then the guy would put his palm to her knee. Couples got out as they couldn't keep their positions any longer. The winner again moved up on the love factor scale and coincidentally the winners of twister were actually the winners of the entire night.



The Moore's...Our Hot and Spicy Love Factor winners!


And of course what is a game without prizes. Everyone went home with something. Last places...box of chocolate from the 1spot at target. 5 middle couples...love games (bought at the grocery store, nothing naughty). Our second place winners got a gift card to red mango and our first place winner got a gift card to zuppa's. The "be mine" heart was the prize for the t-shirts.

We had such a great time planning and having the party. It was so worth all the work and effort because  all who attended had a blast. Can't wait to plan the next big event.


Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Free St. Patrick's Day Downloadable Art

I just made this cute St. Patricks Day Art. Since I'm not one for Leprechans, rainbows and beer, I wanted something decorative but not cheesy. I think this will do.


They are both formatted to print an 11x14 size picture. If you'd like to see more of my work, check out my etsy shop. Emmie Cakes

Monday, September 12, 2011

Back to School lunch with the girls

Well now that the kids are back in school I have a little more time for "me". I decided that since I hadn't done anything with my friends all summer that I would throw a "back to school" lunch. We had such a wonderful time just hanging out and talking. If I didn't have to put so much into my parties (I love it) I would have one every week. Here are some pictures. I realized that I am not very good at taking pictures of the actual party and my guests. I need to work on that.


My kids had a blast helping me with my table cloth (butcher paper).



I  found this great downloadable subway art here. I think this is what really got me excited to have the party. It is so cute!
I also realized this time I didn't take pictures of the food :( We had delicious chicken florentine pasta, a fresh caprese salad, and a few other amazing little diddy's that I found via pinterest (my new favorite hobby).

(click for recipe)

(Click for recipe)


And lets not forget this deliciousness!
Apple Nachos, YUMMY!

Thinkin' I might need to make this a tradition!

First Day of School 2011

Unbelievable...Summer is over all ready. Where did the time go? Not only is summer over, but my little girl is in eighth grade now. Talk about time flying. It just goes faster as I get older.
Here's Maggie, first day of eighth grade. She loves babysitting, cooking/baking, hanging out with Lindz and Brookelle, Texting (but who doesn't?), Down East clothes and Toms (she bought two pairs with her own money after I had already bought her a new pair). Such an amazing girl! She always does what she is asked and helps out so much around the house (unless it involves cleaning her own room) and isn't she cute!




Dane and Emma...talk about energy! If we could harness it, we could easily power our house plus probably some of the neighbors as well. Gotta love it though! Dane started sixth grade this year. He loves Legos, Harry Potter, Legos, riding scooters with "the bald eagles" (the scooter club he made up with the neighbors and preston), Legos, SpongeBob, Legos and did I mention Legos? He is great with the younger kids and loves to take care of baby Sawyer. His hair has grown out quite a bit over the past year (much to my disapproval) but we made a deal that he could grow it until he turned 12 and then it's gone (can't wait, it drives me crazy).

Emma is our sweet and sassy little girl. She started 2nd grade and loves school. She's been in gymnastics for a year now and will compete on the team this fall. She has a love hate relationship with it, but has a natural talent I will fight "this" battle. She's good! She too, loves baby Sawyer (who doesn't?), loves to be in the water and pretend she is a mermaid and has become obsessed with sharks (this came from the movie soul surfer), not only is she obsessed with sharks, but loves the gore and excitement of a good shark attack (Can't wait to watch shark week with her). She turns eight soon and will be getting baptized. We are all excited for that to take place.



Then there is my baby(not really since Sawyer is the baby, but he was for so long, I can't let go). Off to Kindergarten this year. He is such a sweetie and I have a very soft place in my heart for this kid. He can do no wrong in my eyes (maybe it's because he has my eyes). Preston loves everything Dane loves including Legos (did I already mention how much my boys love Legos?). he also loves the Wii which we've had to control a little bit. It gets a little out of hand on those days he is home with me and I have a lot of things to get done. He had a great start at kindergarten already knowing most of the stuff they will be learning this year (He's a smartie!). I'm excited for him because he loves it, but I kinda miss having him around all the time. Good thing I have one more;). Isn't he handsome, watch out girls. Speaking of girls, he informed me that if you really want to get the girls, then you wear your backpack over one shoulder. How can they not love him?

It's nice to be back in the routine of school. We are busy and trying to keep up with everything but it's so fun to watch these kids learn and grow. I am one lucky Mom!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

My little mermaids

So my little Emma has been obsessed with an Australian TV show called "H2O". The girls in the show turn into mermaids whenever they touch water and they all have special water powers. So one day last week Emma told me that she needed a mermaid tail...not just a dress up mermaid tail (I could have easily bought one from the Disney store) but a real mermaid tail that she could swim with. So we rushed off to JoAnne and found some swimwear fabric and I went home and made up a mermaid tail. When I finished, she told me I also had to make one for her cousin Jaynie. They both wore them to Cowabunga the next day and everyone loved their tails and wanted to know where they got them. I may have just stumbled onto my next business venture (like I need anything else to do these days). Without further ado, here are my little mermaids.