Ghosts on the Fly

Martha Stewart and company created these gorgeous candy corn cobs in the latest Living Magazine.  Besides being easy and Martha Stewart delicious, I love the natural look of them.

http://www.marthastewart.com/1084338/popcorn-cob#1084338

YET!  I did not have all of the ingredients at home so... adaptable as I am, I made a spooky modified version of these little ditties.

1/4 stick butter (melt over low heat in cast iron dutch oven or some such big heavy pot)
1/2 bag of mini marshmallows (add to butter)
1/8c brown sugar (add to butter and mallows and melt over low heat)
1.5 q popped popcorn (remove mixture from heat and stir in popped popcorn)

With buttered hands form into balls--super FUN part (with these measurements I made 12)

Wrap in parchment paper and twist the bottoms (mine was white, hence the ghosts)

Draw silly faces (or spooky if you're into that kinda thing...mine was for 2-5 year olds, so we went silly).

They turned out amazing! Not one left over.  Portable, Easy, delicious, and I had everything ON HAND (I love that bit).

If I make them again, I will add more fun things: chocolate chips, mini m n m's, or nuts (though this was a nut free party so careful there:)  This could obviously be done with rice crispy treats or another cereal as well.

Happy Halloweening!

Is Your Smoothie Smooth Enough?

I began my smoothie journey as a married-without-children woman interested in pina coladas in color coded cups, so I naturally loved my magic bullet.  Two bases later I upgraded to the multi-blade Ninja...with two pitchers and many blade options for chopping and kneading and yada yada. 

I loved it for a time, but two children later (one who won't eat a vegetable literally to save her life or her constipated colon), I was finding it a bit choppy (yuk yuk).  I couldn't get the veggies to blend smooth enough, at least not smooth enough for my texture-sensitive food diva.  So...I bit the magical bullet :) and began researching the illustrious Vitamix. Unfortunately, I found I could buy a new ninja a year for the price of one Vitamix, and I just didn't have that in me, 

SO!  I came up with a new plan...no more fresh kale/spinach/carrots etc. I have found a way for my thrifty heart and my picky eater to both be satisfied. Possibly this is not a novel idea, but for me it was...FROZEN VEGETABLES!--namely kale and spinach, which I find to be the hardest for the Ninja to handle.  I  love adding frozen cauliflower (it hides so well), and frozen carrots (also difficult to blend in their raw form).  I've  taken to adding more of that canned pumpkin I spoke of in my previous post and other homemade purees as well,  but tossing in frozen veggies along with frozen fruits is just so much easier--and if health is hard then I am less likely to follow through with it. How about you? This is great news for those of you who are doing the green smoothie craze and for those of you who are cheap as me!