Birthday Cake Bark...

AKA...Holy Crap I'm going to gain 1,000 lbs. if I keep going on Pinterest...

Dear Pinterest:

Seriously, you have remove the food and drink section.  Seriously.  I'm not kidding. In the last week I've found way too many things that are way too easy to make AND more importantly, I've made two of them. Neither of which is low calorie for the record. FYI. Just saying.

So today's lovely delectable is Birthday Cake Bark, made honor of my sister Mary who turned 30 this weekend, not that she got to have any considering she lives in Texas and I live in Illinois.  Details always get me.

So here's what you need:

1/2 bag Dark Chocolate Chips.
1 bag White Chocolate Chips
3 T. of boxed cake mix (dry mix straight from the box)
Sprinkles, which to my surprise are called Jimmys.  Who knew, not me.

 Start by microwaving in one minute increments the Dark Chocolate chips until just melted.

Once melted pour onto a silpat mat or parchment paper and stick into the fridge until just hardened.  Now I know in the last post I extolled the virtues of room temperate drying, but in this case we are going to add another layer of hotish chocolate so you need to make sure that you have a good base.

Once cooled, melt your white chocolate in one minute increments until just melted and then add three heaping scoops of your cake batter.  No need to measure exactly, it's a taste thing so if you want to use two or four go crazy and adjust. Mix well and then spread on top of the dark chocolate making sure that you go just to the edges to completely cover the dark chocolate.

Then take a generous handful of sprinkles and scatter them along the white chocolate.

Let the chocolate set up and then break into serving size pieces.

Enjoy!

No Bake Truffles!

As I was perusing Pinterest for some fabulous ideas that I would never execute I came across a recipe for no bake truffles that seemed too easy not to try.  Here is the link to the original blog http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2011/04/no-bake-vanilla-cake-batter-chocolate-truffles.html

So without further ado here we go:

You need:

1 cup vanilla cake mix

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 t. vanilla

7 oz semi-sweet chocolate 

Add the first three ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until mixed completely.  When your done it should look like the picture below

Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Form into balls and then back into the fridge for 30 more minutes.  I made larger truffles, think two bites vs. one bite, and got 14 out of the recipe, I think you easily get around 20 out of this recipe.

Microwave the chocolate in one minute increments until melted and then spoon/dunk/cover/paint the truffles with the chocolate.  I know I used semi-sweet, I'm sure that dark would work well too, but think that white or milk would probably be too sweet.

Allow to air dry on a silpat mat or waxed paper.  Now I know a lot of places you will see people suggest that you chill them in the fridge to hurry up the cooling/hardening process, I don't do that because I find that the chocolates sweat when you serve them after the chilling.  I know it takes longer to harden this way, but for me for a presentation stand point, it's worth the time.

I brought them to the office today and they are gone.  But I get to bring home the empty box so that I can refill it. 

Shoes tell a story

Because deep in his soul The Boy is a Corcoran he finds comfort in the familiar.  That explains why for the past 18 months I've bought the same pair of shoes in three different sizes.  Given the opportunity to choose a new color or style The Boy has declined and gone for the green converse low tops.  Where the other parent in his life suggests a change, I recognize the need for consistency, after all I owned four pairs of black Bass penny loafers in high school.

What I didn't understand as a child that I do now as a parent is the mess that is created by multiple pairs of the same shoe.  I've on more than one occasion gone to throw away the too small shoes only to sit there and think "am I sure this is the pair that should be tossed?"  At which point I am distracted by something shiny and before you know it another pair of green shoes has shown up to confuse me even more.

So one morning as The Boy slept, I lined up all the shoes and did what had to be done.  I took the picture and threw the too small pairs in the closet for next fall when we buy the fourth pair...