New Years Eve Party Ideas

Fo and I are really excited that our friends, Gary and Alexis, are coming to visit us this weekend!

Forrest and Gary have celebrated New Years together since (at least) 2002.
I came into the picture 5 years ago and the three of us have celebrated the arrival of the new year each year since then.
Two years ago Forrest and I met Alexis for the first time on New Years Eve and the four of us toasted to 2010 and 2011 together.

So...it is only appropriate that they come to visit to celebrate the arrival of 2012 with us in NC! We are also excited that our friends Ava & Robin (who live just down the road since we moved) will be joining in the fun as well.

This is also our first little get together at the Cory house...so there has been a lot to do! We finally have arranged the guest bedroom, moved boxes we don't plan on unpacking to the attic, tidied up the room above the garage, and organized our bathroom cabinets. Whew. Oh...and Forrest vaccuumed the upstairs (sawweeeet!) Forrest got a desk and set up his office, so I was able to use my old desk to set up my grad-school crafting work-space. We have also made several trips to Home Depot and Lowes picking up odds and ends to get the house all settled.

But as you all know...I have mostly been thinking about the food!
I have been drooling over ideas on Pinterest since this morning and I think I have finally come up with a little finger-food menu. I keep wanting to add more things to the menu...but so far this is what I'm thinking:

So I want to make Antipasto Kabobs...
 

Source: thehungryhousewife.com via Megan on Pinterest

Cheese Tortellini Skewers w/ Pesto Dip

Source: opiefoto.com via Megan on Pinterest

Baked Lasagna Bites

Source: tablespoon.com via Megan on Pinterest

Mini Pizza Rolls

Source: penniesonaplatter.com via Megan on Pinterest

Caprese Salad Bites

Source: terristable.blogspot.com via Megan on Pinterest

I kind of want to lay it out on chalkboard contact paper like this...

Source: rock-ur-party.tablespoon.com via Megan on Pinterest

And for dessert I want to do a Hot Chocolate Bar w/ marshmallows, caramel & pirouettes

Source: fetefanatic.blogspot.com via Megan on Pinterest

And Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip...

Source: addapinch.com via Megan on Pinterest

I want to make something like this and put it at the front door

Source: blogs.babble.com via Megan on Pinterest

and I want to wear something sparkly, glittery, or with sequins...

Source: cocokelley.blogspot.com via Megan on Pinterest

What are your News Years plans?

White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies

White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies

These are Foco's favorite cookies. I have been hanging with my family since Tuesday and he had to drive up from business down in South Carolina this week, so I was baking these when he walked in the door last night around 11pm. I found this recipe over at The Brown Eyed Baker. I didn't need to modify too much, but I didn't have quite 1 1/2 cup macadamia nuts, so I just used all that I had.

What you'll need:

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 unsalted butter (melt and set aside to cool)

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1tbsp Vanilla Extract

1 1/2 cups chopped macadamia nuts

2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. 

1. Mix flour, salt and baking soda with a whisk in a medium bowl, and set aside.

2. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool.

3. Measure out the brown sugar and sugar and add it to the mixing bowl.

4. While you wait for the butter to cool a little more, chop the nuts and measure out the chocolate chips and set them next to your mixer.

5. Add the butter to the sugar and mix at medium until well combined. Add in the egg and beat it with the mixer.

6. Now add in the yolk and mix.

7. Add in the vanilla and mix.

8. It should look like this. Get yourself a lil rubber spatula.

9. Pour in the nuts and chocolate chips and mix with the spatula.

10. Scoop out the dough using an ice cream scoop and place them on the baking sheets (about 1 dozen per sheet).

11. Bake at 325 for about 10 to 12 minutes or until they start to brown just a bit.

12. Place them on a cooling rack until they are cool enough to store away in Tupperware.

 

Serve with milk. Yields about 30 medium cookies. 

This recipe has been quite a hit. My family has been munching on them all day! I hope you enjoy!

Tutorial: Circle Scarf for Beginners

I found a super cute circle scarf at Ross' a few weeks ago. And I love it. Some days at work I hate to have the ends of a scarf dangling in my way, so this new-fangled thing affords me my favorite accessory without the hassle.

I have been really itching to make one...so of course...as you well know...I don't really do anything in small proportions...so...I decided to make 6.

And they turned out really, really, really awesome! Now...I have sewn 7 times. Once to make a pillow with my mom...and the 6 scarves I made today. That's it. So this really is for beginners.

(one of) the finished product(s).

First I went over to JoAnn's Fabrics and looked for a soft, yet easy-to-sew fabric. I stumbled upon a 60% Off Sale on flannel fabrics. They were so soft, came in really cute colors and patterns, and looked pretty easy to sew. I was wearing my circle scarf at the store, so we figured I would need about 1 and 7/8ths yards of fabric to get the required length.

Then I cut the fabric in half on the fold from the bolt of fabric so I could make 2 scarves for each cut of the fabric I purchased. Which if you are penny savvy like I am...each cut was ~$6.00 (w/tax) making each scarf only ~$3.00. cha-ching.

Then I folded the fabric in half, inside-out, and pinned the edges to keep the fabric still when I started to sew.

I folded and pinned all of the scarves first

then I picked out some thread

and then I set up the sewing machine

 You will need to sew along the edge that you have pinned. Once you have done that, turn the fabric so that it is right-side-out. Then you will need to take the two circular ends of the scarf and hold them together with your fingers so that the inside of the fabric faces up and sew around the circle until you can't really move the fabric to sew any more. Hand stitch the last little bit using a needle and thread.

 

Now please excuse my embarrassing modeling...but here is how it works. 

see...it's a circle...

put it around your neck so that the seam is down (and the hand sewn part is facing your neck)

creepily twist the fabric and put it over your heard

this is what it looks like

here is the other fabric

from the side. you can tame it just a bit to make it a little smaller.

the two final products.

This is a really easy way to make your own accessory. For about $3.00 a scarf, and a little sewing machine work, you can have a beautiful winter scarf.

PS tomorrow is Christmas Eve!!!!

I'm linking this up over here with this Pretty Clever idea.

Peanut Butter Cups

Peanut Butter +  Chocolate = my favorite.

I was looking around for some holiday recipes to make and stumbled upon this Homemade Peanut Butter Cup recipe over at The Brown Eyed Baker. We used to make those Peanut Butter Balls when I was a kid, and I thought this might be a fun way to change it up.

 

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

adapted from The Brown Eyed Baker

1 cup Creamy Peanut Butter

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup light brown sugar sugar

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

4 cups milk chocolate chips

1/4 cup Crisco (vegetable shortening)

1. Line muffin tins and place parchment paper on a baking sheet. 

 

2. Heat a medium sauce pan to medium-low heat and combine the peanut butter, butter, and brown sugar until everything has melted and begins to bubble lightly.

3. Remove the mixture from heat, and add in the powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time until smooth. Set it aside to cool and move on to the chocolate.

  4. In a glass microwaveable bowl, add 2 cups of the chocolate chips and 1/8 cup of the Crisco. Heat in the microwave at about 10 sec increments, stopping to stir until most of the chocolate has melted. Keep stirring until the mixture is smooth. Spoon out chocolate into each of the muffin cups. Put the muffin tray into the refrigerator for about 30 mins.

 
5.  Put a little confectioners sugar on your hands, and then roll the peanut butter into small balls. These are actually a little too big. Put this pan into the fridge and let the peanut butter balls cool for about 30 mins as well.

6. Remove the peanut butter balls and the muffin pan from the fridge. Flatten out the peanut butter balls a bit and place one into each of the muffin cups.

7. Repeat step 4 to melt the last 2 cups of the chocolate chips (with the Crisco). Then top each muffin cup with the melted chocolate. Return to the fridge for 30 more minutes.

Once the top layer of chocolate cools, you can store them at room temperature. They are amazing!

Tomorrow be looking for 2 posts: Circle Scarves & Peppermint Meringues!