St. Patrick's Day Treats

Because I'm an awesome mom...

Cake Pops

Pot o' Gold Cupcakes

(Pinterest Idea)

Pinterest Idea

My Grandma Neva's sugar cookie recipe.

Yummy!

Pinterest Recipe: Marshmallow Popcorn

I could not stop eating this.

Seriously yummy!

Marshmallow Popcorn. 3 bags popcorn (pop and take out extra kernels) 2 sticks of butter 16 oz bag of marshmallows 1 cup brown sugar Microwave butter, marshmallows, and brown sugar for 2 1/2 min. Take out and stir. Microwave again for 1 min. Repeat until thin sauce. When done pour over popcorn and mix.

Homemade Donuts

My lovely sister gave me this awesome doughnut pan for my birthday!

One pan for long johns and one for traditional cake doughnuts.

I couldn't wait to give it a try!

There were recipes included in the box but I opted for just using a regular cake mix for the first try.

Someone really loved helping with the batter...

Finished product.

I used melted chocolate chips and cream for the glaze.

The boys thought I was da bomb.

Pinterest Recipe: S'mores Dips

Pinterest has a ton of awesome s'mores ideas.

This one was incredibly easy.

I don't even think I really need to give you step-by-step because the picture kind of says it all.

YUM!

Tamales

Yes I did it!

I have always wanted to try making homemade tamales and decided it was time.

A few years ago when My Man's business grew, he hired a few hispanic men to come on board.

One of them had a wife who would make us homemade tamales.

They were both amazing and fire breathing hot.

We loved them!

We've ordered them in restaurants and have had good ones and not so good ones.

When I decided to make my own, I did a little research on cooking and preparation methods.

I ended up beef tamales because we have 6000 pounds of beef in the deep freeze (remember?) and I needed to use that instead of buying a pork butt to cook.

So, I kept it really easy.

I used a roast, seasoned it with homemade taco seasoning (another little something up my sleeve) and cooked it in the crock pot all day.

Then I shredded it, left it in the crock pot and put it in the fridge.

I also soaked my corn husks overnight.

The next day I made my MASA filling.  This is just Masa, crisco, and juice from the roast.  You combine to make a wet dough.

I should have taken some pics of the steps but my hands were very busy.

Drain and towel dry the husks.

Lay one out, spread a thin amount of the Masa mixture all over the husk, leaving a 1-inch boarder.

Scoop the meat in a vertical line down the middle of the husk on top of the Masa.

There are several ways to roll a tamale.  I decided to take each side and bring them up to meet, then roll them down nice and tight.  This left one end to fold up and make a bottom and the other end is open.  I took an extra corn husk and ripped it into 1/4 inch long pieces.  I tied one string around each tamale to hold the bottom fold down.  

To cook them, I used my pasta pot.

Pack them in nice and tight and steam for a good 30-40 minutes.

They were really really good.

Like really.

Pinterest Recipe: Lemon Bars

As far as easy goes, this is IT.

Two ingredients.

The kids could have made it by themselves.

As far as taste...it was good...but the real lemon bars are much better.

But they are more labor intensive so you have to choose which is more important to you.

Taste vs. ease.

And now I can't find the pin I pulled from Pinterest so I'll just have to tell you what I remember:

The ingredients were lemon pie filling and a box of angel food cake mix.

You mix the two together and pour into a greased 9x13.

I honestly don't remember the next part but I think it's 350 for 20-30 until set.

After it cooled a bit, I sprinkled powdered sugar on top.

Pinterest Recipe: Panko Parm Asparagus

I love asparagus.

I love it roasted.

I love it canned and put in a casserole.

I love it fresh and microwaved.

I love it any old way you can make it.

This recipe called for panko and parmesan.

How could I resist?

Crispy Parmesan Asparagus Sticks

1 bunch of asparagus (mine had about 30 spears)

2 egg whites

1/4 cup flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)

1 cup seasoned panko breadcrumbs

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lay a wire rack on a baking sheet and coat with non-stick spray.

Snap off the tough ends of each asparagus spear. On two separate plates, add the eggs whites (lightly beaten) and the panko + flour + cheese. Season the panko mixture with salt and pepper if desires. Coat each asparagus spear in egg whites, then lay in the panko mixture and thoroughly cover. If the panko won’t stick, dip back in the egg whites and roll in panko once again. Lay each spear on the wire rack.

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy.