Holiday Pretzel Bites and News!

First thing is first: I have decided to stay at my current job for the spring full time beginning in February. I will still be taking about 10 hours of classes in the paralegal program as well. I can totally do this. After the semester is over I will continue to search for a job in the legal field.

Holiday Pretzel Bites
I made these wonderful little pretzel bites to take to Spencer's family Christmas party. They were a big hit and very, very easy to make. Any combo of Hershey kiss flavors and M&M colors/flavors can be used

What you need:
-1 bag grid pretzels
-2 or 3 bags of Hershey Kisses
-1 large bag of M&Ms (can by many of all one color at Popalops in Crabtree or can buy seasonal)
-Parchment paper

1) Preheat oven to 200*F

2) Line a cookie sheet (or 2) with parchment paper cut to size.

3) Place pretzels on cookie sheet with Hershey Kiss on top

4) Place tray in oven for 8 minutes or until chocolate is soft, but not melted.

5) Press M&M into top of chocolate and let sit for an hour or so or the chocolate to harden before placing in bag(s) or in a bowl.

What I learned: 
-Peppermint white chocolate kisses melt much quicker than milk chocolate. Cooking multiple types of chocolate at the same time is a bad idea.
-Even though it might seem like the chocolate will never harden, it will. Just be patient.

Candy Christmas Tree Update

The saga continues. My mom was nice enough to get me new lights today, but she got the only white Christmas tree lights Kmart had left, garland lights. In case you are ever looking, garland lights are not the same thing. The 300 light strand was as long as a 100 light standard strand. The bulbs are clustered much closer together.

So after checking CVS, Kmart, and Home Depot, I go to target tonight. They only have three boxes of 50 white lights left. I bought all three and they just BARELY covered the tree. Note to self, buy white lights early. Spencer prefers colored lights, but I think they are tacky. Judging by the number of colored light boxes left on the shelves, I would say most people agree with me.

And finally, my candy inspired Christmas tree! (Which at one point had gumdrop garland.. but it was too heavy for the little tree branches).

 

 Next Time: Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

First Post!

Welcome!

I decided to start this blog to provide our family and friends around the country with wedding and milestone updates for Spencer and me. However, I love food blogs and baking so I am sure there will be plenty of recipe review posts as well. I am into healthy cooking for meals, but make wonderfully fattening desserts. I also love to decorate, so once we have our own "nest" home decor will be a big topic.

Tonight I worked on decorating a mini Christmas tree (covered in fake snow from the Farmer's Market), but the lights were these large horrible pine cones bulbs left over from a larger tree last year. After I put the lights on the tree looked great, but once the ornaments were on it was too busy. I took everything down, and later this week I will attempt round 2 with standard tree lights. My success for the evening: tree topper bow.

And if anyone was curious, the glitter from this ribbon is all over me, the couch, the floor aaand the dog...

I also think I need a better camera if I am going to do this blog thing successfully (hint, hint).