The Line Up (so far)

Okay, we are going to have our second annual Super Bowl party. I made some things last year that were hits and some not so hits. So I will bring back what worked and try out some new things this year to see if they will be hits. Here is the line up for the menu:
Potato Skins

Lil Smokies in BBQ Sauce

Guacamole and Chips

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Velveeta Queso Dip and Chips

Deviled Eggs and Olives

Hogs in a Sleeping Bag

Fried Ravioli

Okay, now I am hungry. By the way, the pictures above are not mine, they are images from the internet that I am borrowing until I can post pictures from my actual party.

Valentine's

I was searching for a Valentine's idea that was simple that I could make for my son's daycare class. I came across this....
I set out to find all the materials and had better luck than I thought! I already had the glue so I purchased 2 bags of the Valentine's Tootsie Pops, 1 package of card stock at Michael's, 2 packages of the google eyes at Michael's and the felt heart stickers I found in the dollar section at Target. This whole project is under $20 and I think its better than any of the pre-fabricated Valentine's sold in the boxes. I was looking at the Star Wars ones for my son then decided these would be better!

I started by loading my printer with the color card stock and printing the pattern from the above website. I then cut the all out and I did NOT take my time to make them perfect, I think they have more character this way. The guides provided for the slits for the sucker stick are a bit small so I cut mine a bit longer and then secured the sucker with a small piece of tape to prevent it from sliding out or turning. I then decorated the butterflies with the stickers and then inserted the suckers then glued on the eyes. Finished product, what do you think?

Banana Bread (Muffins)

I had a few bananas that I carted around with me this weekend for snacks and we never ate them. Well because they were in the heat, they started to brown. Rather than throw them away, I decided to make banana bread with them. Here is the recipe I found HERE:

Banana Bread Recipe
Ingredients;
3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Note; instead of baking a loaf, I put it into cupcake liners and made muffins. These only need to bake about 30-35 minutes, NOT an hour. And I only used 3 bananas, not 4.