Now we are already at Monday morning with no couch and no weekend left. Bummer.

The good news is that we got to share these tasty treats with the Sunday night dinner crew that came over for a pizza party last night. We made 4 or 5 different kinds of pizzas to go with roasted cauliflower, salad and cocoa krispie treats.

If you need a fast, sugar loaded dessert and you are trying to skip the basic chocolate chip cookie – make these.

Cocoa Rice Krispie Treats

• 2 T. butter
• 1 bag of little marshmallows
• 1 box of Cocoa Rice Krispies

1. Melt the butter in your pan and add bag of marshmallows.
2. Cook on med-low until marshmallows are melted.
3. Add box of cereal to pan once it has been removed from heat.
4. Combine marshmallows and cereal and pour (spoon) into a greased 9×13.
5. Cut and serve fresh!

No little hands could resist.

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It doesn’t stop me from thinking about what I need to make and buy for friends and family. It was hard to believe myself when I announced we only had 1 more Wed. spinning class before Christmas.

So it’s not to early to think about your neighbors, family friends and even complete strangers who you may want to share a delicious treat with.

Now it the time to go to the store and pick up these 2 ingredients. Yes, only 2.

1. chocolate chips

2. half and half

That’s it.

Then follow these simple steps to make little balls of heaven.

The original recipe calls for regular whipping cream but I used half and half to cut a few calories and fat (but, don’t get me wrong, these are not light!). They are rich and delicious!

Chocolate Truffles

• 1 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips or milk chocolate if you prefer.
• 1 c. half and half

1. Place chocolate chips and cream in a sauce pan.
2. Heat until chocolate starts to melt.
3. Stir together while chocolate melts into half and half.
4. Pour ganache into another container an allow to cool.
5. Chill in the fridge until you are able to scoop and form small balls with ganache.
6. Rolls balls in your hands to firm and then in the toppings to coat
7. Store in a cool place or in the fridge!

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Adam + Kara’s Appetizer: Refried Bean Dip. I get the recipe from Adam – it was a great starter.

Melissa’s Salad with tons of crunch and fall flavor.

My overcooked healthy enchiladas that should have been better than they were.

Slow cooker garlic-jalepeno black beans with brown rice.

Erika’s fabulous fondue tasting plate!

Everyone needs more fondue in their life.

Chocolate Carmel Fondue

• 1 bag of milk chocolate chips
• 1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 pint of whipping cream
• 1 few big spoonfuls of caramel

1. Mix cream with chocolate chips and heat on low until chocolate melts.
2. Keep stirring so chocolate doesn’t burn.
3. Just before serving, stir in a few big spoonfuls of caramel.
4. Enjoy dipping away!

I am excited to make this again soon! It’s such a fun dessert- good call Erika!

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There were a record of 9 babies under the age of 10 months! It was so much fun to watch them interact, parallel play and see their different stages. I loved meeting and chatting with all of the moms there too!

Anna was happy watching the other kids around her…

But she really loved when Lindsey was making fun faces…

Uh-Oh!

For the lunch I brought a fall salad and a little dessert. Tamara made the best pea soup that I will post the recipe for! I can’t wait to make it next week!

Pumpkin Spiced Cream Cheese Tarts

I adapted this recipe from Pampered Chef and I changed it to make it lower in fat. These may taste like Paula Deen’s recipe, but they are not!  There are tons of variations you could do with this idea for a simple dessert for a holiday party!

• 1 package of yellow cake mix
• 1/2 can of plain pumpkin
• 1 egg or 2 egg whites
• 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

• 1 block of 1/3 less fat cream cheese
• 1/2 tub of fat free coolwhip
• 1/2 c. powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix cake mix, spice, pumpkin, and egg together – mixture will be thicker than cake.
3. Spray a mini muffin tin and place a spoonful of dough in each cup.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
5. When muffins come out of the oven, flour your tart shaper and press it into each muffin cup to make a tart.
6. When tarts are cool, fill them with frosting (made by mixing cream cheese, coolwhip and sugar together).
7. Sprinkle with spice and serve!

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Peanut Butter Ice Cream Pie. It was so good! I could have eaten the whole pie! For a get together or a party – make this. It is so much easier than your guests will think and it tastes as good as it looks! This is a recipe I adapted from Cooking Light.

Peanut Butter Pie

• 1 pint fat free vanilla ice cream/yogurt
• 1 c. natural pb
• 1 package of chocolate pb candy (Reese’s)
• 1 graham cracker crust

1. Thaw the ice cream until it is soft enough to stir.
2. Mix the pb into the melty ice cream
3. Pour ice cream into graham cracker crust.
4. Top with crushed candy
5. Refreeze until firm.
6. Serve and Enjoy!

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Mouthwatering Macaroons

• 2 C Dried Coconut (unsweetened)
• 1/2 C Almond Flour
• 1/4 C Coconut Oil
• 1/4 C Maple Syrup
• 1 T Mexican Vanilla
• Pinch Sea Salt

Mix all ingredients together. Dehydrate for about 6 hours in small balls. ENJOY!

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Cookie part:

• 2 pouches of sugar cookie mix, such as Betty Crocker
• 3 egg whites
• 1/2 c. water – maybe this was a little too much because they were more cakey than cookie
• 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce

Bake until you think they are done at 350. You can’t go by the directions because you changed all of the ingredients.

Topping:

• 1 block light cream cheese
• 1 box of vanilla sugar free pudding mix – mixed with 3/4 skim milk
• 1 tub of fat free cool whip

Mix the pudding with milk then beat in the cream cheese. Once this mixture is creamy, add in the cool whip.

Directions:

1. Prepare and bake the cookie bars.
2. Prepare the topping.
3. Add topping to the cooled bars.
4. Top with fresh fruit!

Regular blogging will continue tomorrow with our Father’s Day dinner!

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When we got there Ash (the hostess with the mostess) had TJ’s Flax chips, hummus, veggies and salsa out for appetizers! We munched while she cooked.

Johnny was in charge of the grill and did a great job despite the flooding rains and tornado sirens that were going on. Luckily their porch is HUGE and so we could still cook out!

Everything was perfect! It was such a nice summer meal: Grilled Salmon with a special mustard sauce that was amazing(I’ll see if I can get the recipe!), sweet potato wedges and broiled asparagus.

I couldn’t have been happier with my dinner!

For dessert, I knew we would want something light so I made an old recipe. It’s such a summer dessert:

Jello/Yogurt Pie

• 2 fat free yogurts (same flavor, I used raspberry)
• 1 sugar free jello (same flavor as the yogurt)
• 1/3 c. boiling water
• 1 tub of fat free cool whip
• crust: graham cracker or I made a pretzel crust with pretzels, butter or spray butter and sugar or stevia
• frozen or fresh berries

1. Boil water and mix with jello until dissolved
2. Add yogurt to jello and water and stir until mixed together
3. Fold in Cool Whip until mixed then fold in berries
4. Put filling in the crust of your choice
5. Keep in the fridge until it is time to serve

Anna was wide awake and hanging out with me in the kitchen while I whipped this up yesterday!

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The luncheon was hosted by my Aunt Kim’s good friends, Susan and Linda. It was at Susan’s house on her back porch, which overlooked this amazing scene.

Her porch was huge and easily accommodated all of us comfortably.

The tables were beautifully set with chargers, china and cloth napkins. Fresh red and white flowers were the centerpieces.  They may have had the flowers delivered to make things easier!   Each guest had a name card, and the black and white with red was stunning!

Everyone was having a great time!

Lunch was amazing as well! The food was all homemade and it was perfect for a girly lunch. We had fresh zucchini bread sandwiches, balsamic strawberries and a shrimp salad with rice and celery.

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, Linda and Susan appeared with some of the best pie I have ever tasted. It was frozen but it was not hard, it was smooth and creamy. Susan was kind enough to share the recipe with me so I could share it with you! I think my challenge for the week will be to lighten this up and see if it is still just as good as it was!

Thank you so much to our amazing hostesses with the mostess! They did such a wonderful job with everything from the food to the place settings! It was so nice to get to have lunch together before the real wedding festivities began! I know I could learn a lot from both of them!

Linda:

Susan:

Recipes will be posted!

This was just the beginning of a very indulgent weekend! I just enjoyed myself and decided I would get back on track when I returned home. I will let you know my plan for that very soon!

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But really, we took off around noon on Wednesday and Anna could not have been better. She slept while we got checked in.

My mom held down the fort and got the bags checked while I took the car to parking. It was pouring and we decided that we all didn’t need to get soaked and we really didn’t need to juggle the car seat, the baby, the stroller and our purses and carry-ons in the down pouring rain. I felt like a dad, dropping the family off.

We got there with plenty of time, so we stopped for salads before boarding. Anna was still asleep.

Then we made a direct 2 hour flight into Orlando and she didn’t make a peep. I even had time to feed her before taking off so she was comfortable being help by my mom and I all the way there.

When we arrived with all of our stuff for fun in the sun, my cousin’s wedding and our baby gear we were picked up by my uncle (father of the bride!!).

We headed straight to their house where this was waiting for us. Since we were the first of the 40-50 family members that were arriving from all over for the wedding, we had my cousins and this all to ourself!

We settled in quickly and within minutes we had a drink (water for me) in our hands and a seat on the porch – with the Bride (Mandy, my cousin) and Groom (David).

My cousin Megan (sister of the bride) was the maid of honor and she had things under control!

The programs were ready:

The favors were packed and ready to be taken to the reception:

So we just hung out!

They look pretty relaxed for hosting a wedding for about 200 people in 3 days! Proof good planning and tons of work ahead of time pays off!

The girls were excited to meet Anna for the first time.

My mom and I were hoping for some jobs because getting ready for weddings is so much fun, but my Aunt Kim and the girls had things about done! The only real thing we helped with on Wednesday was making cookies for everyone arriving!

These are Aunt Kim’s famous oatmeal cookies(original recipe from her mom):

• 1 1/4 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 c. margarine or butter
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 small package instant vanilla pudding (the secret ingredient)
• 2 eggs
• 3 1/2 c. oats (quick or regular)

1. Cream margarine and sugars together then stir in eggs
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
3. Drop in round balls onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees.

More wedding weekend to come!

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