Oreo Snowmen Balls

By Lisa VanWilliams

These are fun to make for Christmas with kids or without them and since they are stuffed with Oreos they taste great too! You can decorate them any way you prefer, and use any kinds of candy you like best. Mini Reese's cups on mini Oreos would work for hats, or nonpareils, or you could use mini M&M's for mouths. Lace licorice for scarves or candy corns for mouths. They would look cute on a cupcake too. You don't even have to make snowman if you don't want to, you could roll them in sprinkles or chocolate chips.

Ingredients:
package of Oreos
package of cream cheese
mini round chocolates
mini marshmallows
1/2 cup of chocolate semi sweet morsels
1 cup white chocolate morsels
4 orange Tootsie Rolls
candy eyeballs
1/4 cup mini chocolate morsels
sprinkles

Directions:
Melt 1/2 cup chocolate morsels in double boiler. Dip the mini marshmallow in chocolate and stick them on top of chocolate. Put them in fridge to harden.

Dump the bag of Oreo's in a plastic storage bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Pour the crumbs into a bowl and mix in pack of cream cheese. Once mixed together, make your heads into whatever shape you prefer - round, oblong, oval, etc.  Put them in fridge while you work on next steps.

Unroll the tootsie roll and start rolling it in between your hands warming it up. Pretend you are making a play dough snake and stretch it a little until you can cut it into three sections.  Then make baby carrots by rolling them with your palms and taper one end. Then cross them with your knife and make little imprints so that it looks like ridges on a carrot. Make as many as you will need.

Start melting the white chocolate in the double boiler. I used Nestle Toll House White Premier Morsels but it was not easy to work with. Next time I would probably use the white wafers from Michael's or AC Moore. They are smoother and easier to re-heat as you go.

Dip the Oreo balls into the melted white chocolate with two forks, drip off excess, and put on wax paper to decorate.  Stick in the nose, press on the hat, add your eyes, eyebrows, and last the mouth.  Put them in the fridge to harden as soon as you get them all done. Enjoy!

Stromboli Bites In Puffed Pastry

By Lisa VanWilliams

This is a zesty puffed pastry filled with cheese, sliced deli meat, hot peppers, and olives but you could use any combination of your preference. For example, if you prefer black olives instead of green ones, or if you prefer a mild peppers instead of a hot ones.  This is a fairly quick appie to throw together and a definite crowd pleaser. These would also work well around the holidays for samplers before a big meal. 

Stromboli is believed to have originated in Sicily and was brought to America by Italian immigrants in the early to mid 1900's. 

Ingredients:
puffed pastry sheets
slices of ham, American, Swiss, salami, pepperoni
jalapeno's
sliced green olives
1 egg & tablespoon of water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet with wax paper. Take out frozen puffed pastry sheets to let them defrost and soften.  When you unroll the pastry, you should have 4 sections, you want to cut each section into 4 pieces.  Stretch them out a little into a bigger square, then fill the square and seal it up.

Once you have them all stuffed, take egg yolk, add water, stir, and brush egg mixture over tops of pastry.

Cook in oven at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until they turn a golden brown.  Cool them a few minutes and serve. Enjoy!

Cowboy Bark Toffee

By Lisa VanWilliams

This is a great holiday gift or treat you can make at home that everyone will love to snack on. This is our copycat version of the Trader Joes Cowboy bark except we prefer milk chocolate instead of dark.  Did you ever buy a bag of pretzels and somehow half the bag gets smashed? This is great way to use up those crumbs or any other snacks in the pantry so they don't get stale. 

Pecans, peanuts, toffee

Ingredients:
half a bag of pretzels
3 Oreo cookies crumbled
1/4 cup of chopped peanuts
1/4 cup chopped of pecans
1 cup tollhouse chocolate morsels
1/4 cup English toffee pieces
1 stick butter melted
1/2 cup sugar melted
1/2 teaspoon corn syrup

Directions:
Line baking sheet with wax paper.  Melt down the butter, sugar, corn syrup (290 degrees max), you can eye ball it too just don't burn it and keep stirring it for like 10 mins. Pour the hot sugar butter onto the pan and immediately pour morsels down and spread. Then add all the other crumbled ingredients and be sure to press down and stay in the perimeter of the sugar so it sticks together. 

Put in the freezer to harden together for 20 mins or so and then break it apart and store in air tight container.  Enjoy!

Jungle Fresh Frozen Chocolate Bananas

By Lisa VanWilliams

If you like bananas you need to try these delicious chocolate dipped treats and the best is that are only 4 Weight Watcher points (if you follow that program). My kids love them too. They are all-natural, fresh-frozen, real banana halves or bites dipped in super-thick milk chocolate.  These are made by Diana's Bananas and the company started out at booth in the 80's at The Taste of Chicago. Once people got a taste of these, they took off and starting selling to local supermarkets.  They get the bananas out of Ecuador and flash freeze them at the peak of ripeness. 

We have also tried Dole Banana Dippers and we have to say we prefer Diana's in comparison.  We found Diana's Bananas at Aldi's for $3.49 for a box of 5. They can also be found at some of these stores throughout Connecticut: Aldi, Stop & Shop, Whole Foods, Big Y,  and Balducci's.
Check out their website to view other products or find a retailer location in your state here: http://www.dianasbananas.com/store-locator/

Seasonal Eco-Friendly Diapers

By Lisa VanWilliams

If you have a little one in diapers, check out these cute winter diaper prints sold by the Honest Company.  Jessica Alba co-founded this company in 2011, after the birth of her own children, to provide non-toxic household products.  She simply wanted clean, safe, effective, products that were affordable and beautifully designed but she could not find them. 

Not only do they offer eco-friendly products, they are socially responsible as well. They make donations to families in need, and they also recently donated $20,000 to support the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) conservation efforts just to mention a few. 

You can find these products at distributors like Whole Foods, Costco, Target, BuyBuy Baby, and Nordstrom. You can order them on their website as well where you can find tons of other great products:
https://www.honest.com/baby/honest-diapers

Check out the winter prints they offer on diapers:


 

 

 

Apple, Fig, Walnut & Mascarpone Tartlets

By Lisa VanWilliams

These dainty bite-sized puff pastries would be a great ending to any meal. They are great around the holidays as well so you can nibble and sample other goodies without filling up on one heavy item.  They are lite and delicious and you could even add a dollop of whipped topping or a teaspoon of vanilla ice cream dropped right on top.  The best part is these only take a few minutes to whip together. 

You can find the puffed pastry sheets in the frozen section at the grocery store, thaw the amount you want to use and refreeze the rest.  You can fill these will anything ! Strawberries, chocolate, you could even pre-bake the pastries and then add in banana or chocolate pudding with some whipped cream on top.  Bite-sized madness of your choice. 

Ingredients:
puffed pastry sheets
1 apple peeled and cubed
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup orange juice
handful of chopped walnuts
few drops of vanilla
sprinkle of cinnamon
few pieces of fig on top
mascarpone

Directions:
Simmer apples in butter for a few minutes then add in orange juice.  Then add in vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar, & walnuts. Take a cupcake pan and spray with non-stick spray. Cut little 1 inch by 1 inch rectangle/squares out of pastry and stretch them out to cover half way up sides of tin.  Fill them with a teaspoon full of apple, a 1/2 teaspoon full of mascarpone, then add a few pieces of fig on top.

Bake in oven 15 mins until they start to turn a golden brown. Enjoy!

Call Santa or Receive Letter From North Pole

By Lisa VanWilliams



We made our first call to Santa last week and the kids just cant get enough of this. You go straight to his voicemail since he is so busy making toys. It's a great message to listen to with your kids and you can even leave Santa a message to let him know what you want - but only for good boys and girls! (long distance rates apply)

To call and hear a message from Santa, or to call him and leave a message please call: 1-951-262-3062 

If you would prefer your children to get a letter from Santa you can do that as well. It must be mailed out by Dec 15th to ensure you get your letter back before Christmas.  The Post Office will mail your letter to the Anchorage Alaska Postmaster, and they will mail it back to you with an official North Pole postmark.  For specific instructions on how it works, please visit:
http://www.wfsb.com/story/27467918/keep-your-childs-holiday-spirit-alive-with-letter-from-santa