10 Easter-Shaped Yummy Eats!

Did you miss me yesterday? I sure missed you lovely lovely people. Apparently, I am channeling Mr. Rogers right now or maybe my cuz, Bob Ross.

Earlier this week we checked out some snazzy Easter decorations. Easter certainly getting any further away so let's take a gander into the world of food shaped like Easter bunnies and other Easter-y things!

Bunny Breakfast! Cantaloupe, blueberries, strawberry, honey, and, marshmallows on a pancake. You know you like it!

Coconut Bunny Cake! Deliciously cute. 

A snack tray in an egg carton. People these days are crafty! 

Someone lost their mind when they called this pizza. It is a cute idea and a fun snack, but everyone knows that in NO WAY is that pizza.

Once again, someone decided that this is pizza. People are acting a fool up in here. Take some inspiration from this photo and make a cute egg-shaped vegetable tray. Leave off the questionable purple food though.

Bunny mask cookies. I KNOW that's right! 

The only problem with this super adorable carrot patch treat is that everyone knows wafers are the grossest! 

Mmmm Cheetos, the most delicious junk food in the world.

 A noodle shaped chicken. Yesssss!

And, the last thing I have for you on this fabulous Friday is some cute bunny biscuits. 

Happy happy happy Friday! I hope your weekend is just what you need. Stay tuned to The Etc. Lists tomorrow for a some Cora time.

sources: Bunny Biscuits, Bunny Mask, Coconut Bunny, Carrot Patch Wafers, Cheeto Carrots, Egg Carton, Bunny Pancake, Carrot "Pizza", Egg Veggies, Chick Pasta

Laurita's Cantina: Chocolate Pomegranate Balls

Valentine's Day is in the air. Earlier today, we gazed upon some good-lookin' heart-y things. A couple weeks ago, I showed you even more. Now, let's introduce our taste buds to some serious chocolate-y goodness.


Today, Laurita's Cantina opened her kitchen to make some delicious Valentine's Day treats!

Cora got to try out the non-sugared version. And, it is official, the girl loves herself a "pom."

Now, who wants to make some Dark Chocolate Pomegranates With Coconut?

You do? Yayyyy!!! What if I tell you that some of them have paprika on them? Still interested?

Ingredients:

• Pomegranates (I used 2)
• Dark Chocolate (I used about half a pound of Trader Joe's dark chocolate)
• Many random ingredients as toppers including coconut, salt, caramel, paprika, almond butter, and various combinations of those items.

The How-Tos:

• Get those seeds out of your pomegranates! Cut your pomegranate into 4 quarters. Put it in a giant bowl filled with water and start pushing and pulling those seeds out. It is kind of fun, but be warned: wear an apron (photo below)!

Here is one of my favorite t-shirts after my time with the pomegranates. I even tried to be super careful. Why oh why does "be super careful" not mean "put on an apron" to me?

The stains aren't bad, but this photo was taken after I exploded the shirt with cold water and sprayed some stain remover on it. Cora thought the whole process was pretty funny. So, I snapped a photo of her. Her smiles and laughs fade as soon a camera is in her face. That is when she goes into an intense mode of trying to get the camera out of my hands and into hers.

In case you were wondering what Cora was up to while I was de-seeding the pomegranate... gymnastics. Here was my view:

Back to the recipe....

• As soon as the pomegranate seeds look like that lovely pinkish-red-seeded-bowl in one of the photos above, you are ready to chocolate-ify them.

• I put the chocolate on a pan on the stove and added a bit of almond milk. You could add any kind of milk or no milk at all. I just thought I would try to sweeten up the dark chocolate a bit. Honestly, I don't think it made any difference at all.

• I added the pomegranate, did some stirring and called the kettle done.

• The wax paper came out and gooey balls of chocolate and pomegranate were dropped on it.

• Time for the random ingredients! I will tell you now that putting salt and caramel on top together was, by far, the best topper. Coconut was a little too much. You could hardly taste the paprika; and that was probably a good thing. Almond butter was OK, but it would have been better without it. Caramel by itself was pretty good and salt stood alone pretty well too. 

• I put them in the freezer for about an hour and then into the fridge and they were ready to go. I don't recommend eating them frozen- you couldn't taste anything.

And, THE BIG WINNERS!

I am happy to say that I came up with this all on my own. I am sure other people have done the same thing, but there was no recipe or advice followed to make these tasty treats!

Anyone want to see a close-up of a pomegranate?

Valentine's Day is tomorrow, so dust off your apron and buy some pomegranates! If you are like me, I bet you already have some chocolate in the house to mix them with.

Cookin' With Chris: Fried Beet Stems & More Yummy Food!

What is greasy, red, and was made on a whim?

You guessed it... fried beet stems!

Beets are the yummiest thing ever! Australians have known this forever. They put beets on everything (or it seemed that way whenever I would visit).

I have just developed a love for beets over the last couple of years. It has been a fast and furious love. I was buying them from the farmer down the street like they were going out of style.

I bought some recently and my resident chef (Cookin' With Chris, himself) cooked them up. We like them sliced, olive oil-ed, salted and then thrown in the oven for a while. Yummmmmmmmmmmmm!

Isn't this photo itself beautiful? Beets are the best!

Usually, we chop up the beet stems and thrown them on a pan on the stove with some olive oil. But Scott decided to go wild today and try something he'd never even heard of before... FRIED BEET STEMS.

The ingredients for the frying:

• Beet stems
• Half a cup or so of corn meal
• 2 eggs
• Some vegetable oil

He washed the beets; then cut them into around 4 inch lengths.

You're welcome for the awesome photography.

Next, he dipped them in the eggs.

Then he dropped them in the flour for a second.

Now, it was time to throw them in the ol' fryin' machine. Then he added a little salt while they were cooling off.

Scott made a dipping sauce out of yogurt, honey, and peanut butter.

I stirred it up while I stared at my cute sleeping little baby.

The dip made a wonderful breakfast the next day, but a TERRIBLE fried beet dipping sauce.

So, Scott moved on to option number two: ranch dressing. It was perfect!

This isn't over yet! There was one more part to the beet that hadn't been used yet. Scott wasn't interested in playing another second of the anti-waster game. So, I washed the beet greens, trimmed them up a little, and steamed up on a pan on the stove. When they were done I chopped them up and ate them with rice.

Woo hoo! We did it! We used every bit of that beet.

Would you like to know what else Chef Cookin' With Chris made for dinner?

He made some delicious kale chips. 

Once again, sorry for the terrible photography.

He also made a smoothie made of frozen berries, yogurt, almond milk, bran, a banana, and pineapple juice.

There you have it- another episode of Cookin' With Chris!

FYI- I am not claiming this to be a healthy meal just because it involves beets. It was a big frying fest- not healthy at all. Probably slightly better than fast food french fries, though.

NYE Party Decorations And Music!

New Year's Eve is just a day away! It is time to get to decoratin'!

If you aren't interested in decorating but you are interested in hearing one of the best playlists ever made then you are in luck! After all the pretty pictures there is some happenin' music that a guest star helped me put together.

Tape balloons to your wall and make your abode classy!

Serve your guests clock pizza!!!

Ooooohhh more balloons! A balloon maze- very fun. Quite possibly very annoying though.

Maybe you could write "2013 goals" instead of "2011". But wouldn't it be kind of cool to have a board where everyone could write their resolutions?! If you need help setting a resolution or sticking to it check this post out.

Once again, be sure to get your numbers right. But, make sure you snazz-up your house with some gold-ribbon dripping decorations!

Confetti food!!! THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN!

Picture this: You're getting ready to celebrate 2013 making its way to town. You put down your champagne flute and some turkey picks it up and starts drinking out of it. You may be so upset that you go home in tears. Or maybe you deal with it like a normal person. Either way, why not just mark your cup. You could use a marker although your host may not appreciate that. You could use a wine charm. OR!!! or you could bring a game to your delightful New Year's Eve party.  

See those little clocks on the bottom of the glasses in the photo below? Go ahead and make yourself something like that. But on each clock mark a time. Then, every 30 minutes or whatever interval you have marked on the glass, the person with that time on their glass has to stand up and tell everyone their resolution for 2013 or say something that they particularly enjoyed about 2012.

That's right people, I just made up a New Year's game to blow your party's mind.

And Music! You know I couldn't leave you without a playlist for your fabulous event.
Lucky for you, my sister (the playlist master of the world) is visiting me right now. Somehow, I convinced her to spend the last 4 hours working on this sound party with me. She has some serious playlist expertise. So, you will be sure to enjoy the following New Year's Eve playlist. 

FYI This playlist may lead you to believe that I only know songs from the mid to early 90s. And, you would be correct!

One more thing: there is a surprise after the sweet playlist. 

1. The Zombies- This Could Be Our Year *Start things out nice and slow for your party people. But don't let them forget the theme of the party... The New Year!
2. David Gray - This Years Love
3. The Beatles- I'll Follow The Sun
4. Cyndi Lauper- Time After Time
5. REM- It's The End Of The World AS We Know It
6. David Bowie - Golden Years
7. Foo Fighters- Next Year
8. The Outsiders- Time Won't Let Me
9. The Thrills- This Year
10. The Beatles- Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey
11. Peter Bjorn & John- Young Folks
12. Dressy Bessy- It Happens All The Time
13. Beck- Where It's At *Oh, what! I'm starting to bob my head a little. I think I might be ready to hit the dance floor.
14. Whitney- I Wanna Dance With Somebody *No, she didn't! Whitney's playing. I am really feelin' it.
15. Madonna- Lucky Star *Heck yeah! It's Madonna. Grab all your girls and get on the dance floor.
16. Michael Jackson- Billie Jean *No one can resist dancing to Billie Jean
17. Janelle Monae- Tightrope ft Big Boi
18. Lady Gaga- Just Dance
19. Outkast- Hey Ya
20. Britney Spears- Toxic
21. The Pointer Sisters- I'm So Excited
22. Young MC- Bust A Move
23. Skee Lo- I Wish
24. Big Tymers- Still Fly
25. Kanye West- Good Life
26. Billy Joel- Running On Ice *Billie Joel. A very random choice but I did it.
27. Lionel Richie- Dancing On The Ceiling *You were just running on ice. Obviously, it is time to dance on the ceiling.
28. The B-52s- Love Shack
29. Spice Girls- Never Give Up On The Good Time
30. TLC- No Scrubs
31. Prince- 1999
32. Blondie- One Way Or Another
33. Michael Jackson- Remember The Time
34. Dire Straits- Walk Of Life
35. Huey Lewis And The News- Back In Time
36. fun- We Are Young
37. B.o.B- Airplanes
38. Bill Medley- Time Of My Life
39. Bill Withers- Lovely Day
40. Alphaville- Forever Young
41. Starship- It's Not Over ('Til It's Over)
42. Beyonce- Countdown **during the New Year's Ever Countdown
43. Pink- Raise Your Glass *this song might get you dancing again. That's OK. Go for it. But be ready to cool down again.
44. Vampire Weekend- Horchata
45. The Lemonheads- It's About Time
46. Green Day - Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)

SURPRISE: Not only is my sister the #1 playlist playa' ever she is also very generous with her time. Get ready for this... she made a Spotify playlist of the fabulous New Year's Eve music above. Now, you can listen to it yourself without having the songs. She would like me to note that Spotify did not have actual Beatles songs so she had to get covers that are not nearly as good. There are a couple other covers on there and we had to let track #12 (ol' Dressy Bessy) go because Spotify be-a-hatin'.

If you have Spotify, just click here and it will take you to the playlist where you can listen your heart out! If you don't have Spotify and you want to download it click here. It is a pretty short process.

ps My sister would like to let everyone know that she provides a free service of making awesome playlists for you. But you don't get a choice in what's on them.
pps I made this playlist in Winamp because everyone knows that 90s music sounds the best on it.

sources: wall balloons, clock pizza, balloon maze, 2013 board, 2012 gold, confetti chocolate bark, clock game

Christmas Tree Treats!

Yes, that is what we are working with today. Christmas Tree Treats.

I had planned on writing about easy and delicious (delicious-looking, anyway) food that you can make for the holidays. But after taking a look at what my internet stalking turned up I realized that to me holiday food means desserts in the shape of Christmas trees. So, that is what you fancy folks get to take a gander at today... Christmas Tree Treats!

Four of the ten evergreen goodies don't quite meet the "treat" criteria. But they are shaped like Christmas trees so why not! 

Now let's check to see if your drool machines are in tact.

For some reason, icing is better when it comes in the form of a tiny tube line. 
And, that is a fact!

TheFabWeb.com


Make some cake. Powder 'em up and play stacking rings with them!

source

Cut a pineapple into a cone and toothpick those perfectly iced strawberries on!

Taste.com


I present you with Pesto Pizza with Red Peppers and Pretzels!

LiveBetterAmerica.com



Fact #1: Rice Krispie Treats are yummy!
Fact #2: When they are stacked up like a Christmas tree and decorated with candy, they become irresistible.

source



Christmas tree pancakes with cream. Try and stop me from going to town on them!

SouthernLiving

The time has come for us to talk about cheese.

CabotCheese

I know I haven't fooled anyone into thinking that this one is a Christmas Tree Treat. 
But it is a pretty adorable veggie tray!

BettyCrocker



Browines, strawberries, icing, generic M&Ms.
I didn't know it until now but I think my dream has come true!

MaddyCakesMuse.com

It is pretty handy that Christmas trees are in the shape of pizza so everyone can have their favorite food on Christmas!

Spoonful.com

Now, all of you crafty chefs out there get to work! I want to hear about at least one Tannebaum Treat on your table just 6 days from now!

If you still can't believe that Jolly Ol' Saint Nick will be coming down your chimney (or vent system if you don't have a chimney) check out some of my other holiday posts. They will surely get you in the spirit:

• 21 Awesome Advent Calendars You Can DIY
• 22 Funky, Unusual, Alternative Christmas Trees
• 16 Ideas For A Slightly More Traditional Tree
• Holiday Wreaths
• DIY Gift Ideas
• Some holiday playlists as well as all of the holidays posts to come
• Tree Toppers
• More Christmas Decorations
• Holiday Traditions
• My Christmas Tree Topper
• DIY Ornaments
• Holiday Card Display Ideas
• Mary's Beautiful Christmas House
• Becca's Beautiful Christmas House
• DIY Food Gift Ideas
• One More DIY Food Gift Idea

And a photo for the Grandparents!

This post isn't over yet!! It is time for 

Wednesday's Weekly Would You Rather Question!

WYR... 

be able to control stop lights so you never ever have to stop at one again

or

have hair that you get complimented on by strangers at least 4 times a day?

ha! Such a random question. I want some answers, people!

One more thing: an update on the Hot Nuts from yesterday. It turns out that they are even better served cold. They were in the fridge over night and I had one in the morning... delicious! I know you were wondering. So, you're welcome!

Another DIY Food Gift. Cookin' With Chris: Hot Nuts

Earlier today we looked at some DIY Food Gifts. Now, this afternoon a little something called Cookin' With Chris is coming back on the scene!

Recently, Scott made some delicious spiced nuts. They were fantastic straight off the stove top. And they were still pretty tasty when they chilled out a bit. So, I asked him to make them again so I could take photos and do my best to capture the recipe.

In case you hadn't guessed, the recipe I am about to show you is my attempt at a DIY Food Gift. You could package it up in something pretty like the box below. And add a homemade tag like I showed you this morning.

Del's Food

Hot Nuts Recipe (or, as Scott called it later, "How To Make Nuts Taste Worse." He is wrong- he never says good things about his cooking. I think the nuts are delicious!)

He put a teaspoon or less of canola oil on a Skillet and swooshed it around. I would picked olive oil. But I don't know what I'm doing- Scott said to use a bland oil like canola so it tastes more like nuts.

For a small batch, throw in about a half handful of walnuts, another of pecans and another of almonds. Or use whatever nuts you want.

Do a little nut toss and shake your pan around.

Then he added a smidge or cinammon and a smidge of 5 spice.

Did you notice that the spice jar he's holding says Nutmeg? That's how we make our lives easier- we keep cinnamon in the nutmeg jar.

Time for a little more tossing.

Then he added a smidge of brown sugar

Another toss. You have to keep those nuts moving so they don't burn. The whole process probably took 3 minutes. 

And that was it! The hot nuts were done. 

Tricked you- we could have stopped there but we decided to keep going!

I tried them and said I thought a little salt might be good. 

It was!

Then Scott added a little hand squeeze orange juice. Yummy!

A steam party happened. I'm not quite sure how.

Scott said that you can add whatever you want- raisins or rose water to make them rosey nuts. I wouldn't suggest the rose water though. Scott bought some a few years ago because he loves the smell of rose and rose water has done NOTHING to enhance any of our food thus far.

Scott also added a little honey and some sesame seeds. 

I liked better without sesame seeds. With or without honey was fine with me.

And here they are, in all of their hot nut glory!

Check out that fantastic festive Aussie napkin in the background! Animals with santa hats = the best!