Irish Cream Cake Bites

These treats will brighten your "dreary, rainy, Monday-tired from the time change" day. I have been thinking about a St. Patrick's Day dessert to make with the bottle of Irish cream sitting in the fridge. I also have zero motivation to go to the grocery store, Irish Cream Cake Bites were born and I never left the house or turned the oven on! I have a terrible history with Cakes Pops, they always end up disastrous for me, luckily I had this random box of Nilla Wafers sitting around with nothing to do! 

I wasn't sure if it would work but it did and they are so good. Feel free to play around with the measurements , I was winging it and had good luck. 

Here's what I used:

1 box of Nilla Wafers

1 cup confectioners sugar 

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 

4 oz cream cheese 

1 tsp vanilla

1/2- 1 cup Irish Cream Liquor 

Chocolate for melting

Sprinkles

In a food processor, crush the wafers until they are tiny crumbs. Pulse in sugar and cocoa until combined. Add cream cheese until incorporated. With the processor on high, drizzle in the liquor until it forms a ball. You want it be pretty dense so it holds together. I didn't measure this, I'm sorry. You'll know if it's right. If by chance to add to much liquid you can use more confectioners sugar to tighten it up. 

Use a melon baller or small scoop and form mixture into balls. I made approximately 40. Set them in the freezer for 20 minutes or so and start melting the chocolate. 

Using a skewer, dip them one at a time in chocolate. Use another skewer to help drop them on a parchment lined tray. I used baking melts and white chocolate chips because it was what I had. 

Once you get a few done, decorate with sprinkles before the chocolate sets. 

I had one casualty, it was my taste test and it was good. 

Now let them set at room temp or if you're in a rush, you can chill them. That's it, you're done. Yummy, boozy treats!

2016 the year of the jalapeño

It's not really the year of the jalapeño, it just so happened that the first things I cooked on New Year's Day featured it. 

Julia needed to bring a dish to a party and decided on Jalapeño Popper dip. There's hundreds of recipes out there and mine is no different really. I like it much better with fresh jalapeños rather than jarred. 

6 fresh jalapeño peppers, seeded and diced

16 oz softened cream cheese

1 cup mayo

1/2 cup grated Parmesan 

A splash of salsa verde or a can of green chiles

1,tsp garlic powder

1tsp ground pepper 

1 1/2 cups shredded Jack and/or cheddar

1 cup panko

1 tbs butter

First I lightly toast panko with butter and set aside. Mix remaining ingredients with a potato masher until combined. Spread into a large enough dish so that it's not very deep and sprinkle on panko. You want a lot of brown, toasty surface. A pie plate works great for this. 

I don't have a picture of the finished product but you will bake this at 400 for approximately 30 minutes until golden and bubbly. Serve with tortilla chips.

Next up was a snack for us at home for later in the day, a recipe from buzzfeed for slow cooker chicken jalapeño taquitos.  http://lecremedelacrumb.com/2014/09/slow-cooker-jalapeno-popper-chicken-taquitos.html

It was pretty good! 

I will switch it up next time by eliminating the water in the slow cooker and using salsa verde or tomatillos. It was just too much liquid. All in all it was very tasty. 

The new year started on a good note and there was even enough time to squeeze in a few embroidery projects while binge watching Son's of Anarchy. The two things couldn't be more extreme! 

Balance, it's all about balance. 

Happy New Year!

the ever-evolving lunchbag

A year ago, I bought my Singer Futura for the sole purpose of doing monogrammed things. What a pain! First of all, I don't have a laptop so it involves dragging my sewing machine and all of its parts into the living room atop a shakey card table. Second of all...well, that's it but it's a huge pain. Everytime I tried it out, I ended up SO frustrated that the Futura almost went out the window so I didn't try again until recently. Now, I have the hang of it and it's kinda fun! I still wish I had a laptop but at least I have it working.
I am now offering monogramming on my oilcloth items, check out these custom bags that are also insulated-



Thanks for all of the nice comments about Julia's Halloween costume! She even got a mention on Craftzine.com blog
woohoo!

I love Halloween!

How cute is this? I'm not sure how exactly we came up with the idea but we always get a good one in mid-summer. So, how come if we get the idea in the summer, I am sewing the darn thing as we are walking out the door to a party?? I didn't actually sew much; a simple skirt, half apron, rickrack on a t-shirt and lace on socks. The bonnet was a purchase from a wonderful seamstress at GrandmasGirl on Etsy. I could have never made it even half as nice as Julianne did...this woman can sew!
I tied some fake grapes in a basket and we threw in some raisins just in case no one could figure out who she was supposed to be. As if!

We already have next year's costume planned but it's a secret.

Oh my!

What happened to my baby? She's growing up, that's what...I guess. I'm dealing.

Last night was a birthday party for one of her friends. This friend (not pictured) is a cancer survivor and her parents have the means to celebrate BIG every year for her birthday so you can only imagine how big her sweet 16 was!

It was at a fancy country club and all the girls were asked to dress in pink to party. I have never seen so many little pink dresses in one place ever, it was like pepto club.

While the girls were partying it up, the bumble and I actually went out. Without kids. Just 2 of us. Like adults.

We went to the theater and saw "Late Nite Catechism". I laughed so hard that my face hurt and my throat was sore. If it comes to your local theater, GO! Even if you aren't Catholic, you will laugh your ass off, I promise.
Other than that I have been trying to get some Halloween stuff made for the old Etsy shop.

I really have some catching up to do on your blogs, I feel like I've been gone for a while...
have a great week!

Half-assed winner

Me: Julia, quick, pick a number 1-13
Julia: (dressed in game uniform shown here) Um, one.

Congratulations to Sarah http://thehouseofkrom.blogspot.com/
She was comment number 1 and therefore wins the half-assed bag contest! I have your address on file already and will mail it out on Tuesday.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by!
Happy Memorial Day.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's day to all you moms!



To those of you that aren't moms...go find a mom and give her a hug.

I am off to church where we will have the May Crowning, celebrating the Mother of all Mothers.


Julia and the other communicants get to wear their dresses again and crown The Blessed Mother while singing my favorite church song, "Ave Maria".
*weep*
Have a great day ladies!

Easter Recap

Thanks for all of the nice comments about Winston. This week will be much easier at work, I think. I don't really cope with loss all that well.

We had a nice Easter here although it was much smaller group than our usual holiday dinners. I gave my mom the day off from cooking and she was actually happy and relaxed as opposed to her less than happy and relaxed self of late.

Honestly, I was so stressed out last week, the last thing I wanted to do was plan a menu, shop and cook all weekend but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. I really hate to come here and complain about how busy and stressed I am but I really thought I was going to snap.

My etsy shop is bare, I have a big order I am finishing, I had a work party to plan, another party to attend, kids birthday parties, Holy week at church, Easter dinner, plus all of the normal daily stuff. I really thought I was going to lose it. Thankfully I had this little girl around:

Not only does she like to help...she's really good at a lot of things. She made this eggplant rollatini from start to finish (I made the sauce and fried the eggplant) with a 2 minute lesson and minimal supervision. It was delish and she is still so proud of herself. My camera shy 12 year old made a pie all by herself and the teenager...well she didn't ask for any rides this weekend. David (aka my Bumble) was also an enormous help by letting me boss him atound more than I usually do.

This boy loves to hide and get into places! We were looking for him and found him in "the wine cellar" (it's actually a cold closet in the basement). How funny is he?

ya know...

...how when you turn on the vacuum, you always think you hear the phone ringing? Well, as soon as I step on the presser foot of my sewing machine I swear I hear one of my kids yelling "MA" from the other room. That's just cruel, isn't it?
Anyway, I went for my nerve test (which was NOT fun for the record!)and Dr. Neuro says there's definite "ulnar neuropathy" and I should have surgery. I am going to think about it for a while and make a decision within 6 months. The good news is my carpal tunnel is not severe enough for surgery so I will only be fitted for a night brace.
We went to our friend's annual Easter Egg Hunt yesterday. It was COLD, WINDY and not very spring-like at all, but a good time nonetheless!

Today we are celebrating Palm Sunday, St. Patrick's Day and St. Joseph's Day...that's a lot of holiness!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had an enjoyable New Year's Eve. Ours was low key as usual...just the way we like it. I have never liked New Year's Eve much. I think it's too much pressure to have a great time if you go out, I have a problem with "forced fun" and besides that I have had too many miserable New Year's Eves in my younger days.
Anyway, we had a fabulous dinner with the kids and the parents. We lingered at the table with some very nice wine and good dessert a bit longer than usual. It was very nice and THEN we went upstairs to our house and things got crazy. We began our family's first annual "New Year's Eve Wii Sports Tournament". Here's what I look like on Wii, my name is Mad Martha.

The tournament was planned by my husband with winner's and loser's brackets, teams, points, it was Little ESPN here. I am sad to report that Mad Martha sucks at Wii Sports and came in dead last. Oh well.
Happy New Year everyone!

business

Bad business!

This is the worst company I have ever ordered from online, and I shop online alot. I was drawn in by their oilcloth that I haven't seen anywhere else and these retro ice bags. They looked like a decent place, they have a good sounding name, everything felt OK. On 11/11/07 I placed a $60.00 order and paid through PayPal, they took my money immediately and then NOTHING. No confirmation email, no shipping email, backorder email, no "drop dead sucker, we took your money and ran" email, nothing. I called and emailed their bogus customer service daily and never spoke to a live person. My account showed that it was processing until 11/27/07 and then it switched to "shipped". I felt relieved for a second until I saw that there was no tracking number. I continued to call and email with no luck. Now I have filed a claim through PayPal. We will wait and see what happens. UGH,I just wanted my damn oilcloth!
In keeping with the business theme:
I was trying to tidy up around the tree (ha ha ha ha ha)and I found this

Julia means business! This just cracked me up for some reason.

More business...
My brand new machine is going back to the store today because it has decided to stop winding bobbins. Unbelievable! They had better give me a loaner or I will be back ranting about JoAnn Fabric's (or whomever it is that sells machines in the store)next.
Happy New Year's Eve Eve.