Game Day Treats

Hooray! Time for college football!

I love fall–the back to school and eventual changing of the leaves. Nothing says fall in the South like a good college football game.

Last year I bought these fancy Jell-O molds.

The shaped jello was a huge hit.

Today, while awaiting the start of the Razorback game, I decided to conduct a little experiment: how would candy melts do in my jello mold?

The result: GREAT!

I had just a few red candy melts in my pantry-12 to be exact.

After heating the melts in a baggie in the microwave, I was able to cover 9 razorback wells.

I put the red candy in the pan then whacked in on the counter several times to get it to settle into all the cracks and eliminate bubbles.

You can see that the red part is not very thick. I used vanilla almond bark to fill in the rest of the mold. Since red and white are the Razorbacks colors, this worked great!

Remember to whack the mold on the counter again for the second color, if you use a second color.

I was a little scared to try to get the candy OUT of the mold.

When I first tried to pop them out nothing happened. So, I stuck the pan in the freezer for a couple of minutes. They came out without any problems. I did not grease the mold.

These would be ADORABLE on top of cupcakes!

You can get other college molds here.

Have fun with these adorably delicious treats!

Wooo, Pig, Sooiee!

 

Nuts About Football!

Need a healthy snack for your Super Bowl party?
Almonds + Food Writer = Cute Football snacks

Thanks, Party Pinching, for the fun idea!

 

For the Love of Jell-O!

It seems like we had Jell-O jigglers all the time when I was a kid. We LOVED jello! Mom always called them Knox Blocks. I recall the pan in the refrigerator had squares of various sizes from one of us kids doing the cutting. We would sneak in the kitchen and grab a couple during commercial breaks on “The Brady Bunch” or whatever else we were watching.

Here is a little retro-ness for your enjoyment.

I hardly ever make jello for my kids. Poor things! When I do make it, everyone is so excited! We all question why we don’t have it more often.

When I saw an ad for these Jell-O molds I HAD to have them.

The ad said they were available at Walmart. Since that is pretty much the only store we have, I was excited. Well, I checked 3 Walmart stores before I finally found my very own kit.

For my non-local readers, the Hogs are the mascot of the University of Arkansas–the Arkansas Razorbacks, Hogs for short! I did not attend the U of A. I’m a Ouachita girl. Funny thing about the Razorbacks…it doesn’t matter if you went to the school or not. Arkansas is a small state. The U of A is the biggest school in Arkansas. So, everyone rallies around the Razorbacks and calls the Hogs-Woooo Pig Sooie!

Unfortunately, the Hogs need some serious rallying this year!

The game yesterday was the pits! At least we enjoyed our snacks!

They are easy to make. One box of Jello and 2/3 cup of boiling water makes 12 Jello Hogs.

We are not fair-weather fans at this house. We will still be calling the Hogs. Sweet, fruity Jello makes it a little easier.

 

Black Bean Tartlets

Yes, another bean recipe. Hey, they taste good and are good for you!

I made these to take to a ladies’ luncheon. Everyone loved them. They would be great for all those tailgate parties coming up!

This recipe comes from this cookbook…

I love the chili-cheese crust.

Chili-Cheese Crust

1 1/4 cups flour

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal

1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese with peppers

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper

————————————–

1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons ice water

•Combine first 8 ingredients (that is down to the dotted line-your welcome!) in a food processor; pulse until blended

•Add egg and ice water; process just until the mixture forms a ball.

•Divide dough in half; shape each half of dough into 16 (1 inch) balls. Press balls into lightly greased mini muffin pan.

•Bake tartlet shells at 450˚ for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove shells to wire racks to cool completely.

•Spoon 1 tablespoon of Black Bean Salsa into each shell; garnish, if desired.

Serve at room temperature.

Makes 32 appetizers

Black Bean Salsa

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained

2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, minced

3 green onions, chopped

1/2 cup finely chopped sweet yellow pepper

1 plum tomato, finely chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro-I left this out because I can’t stand the stuff! Sorry.

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

•Mix it all up

•Chill at least 1 hour

You might want to have a little bowl of sour cream to go with these. You could even put a dollop on top of each one and fancy it up with some green onion or, if you must, cilantro.

There will be plenty of salsa, so be generous. I had some that wouldn’t fit in all the cups. The leftovers got eaten with tortilla chips. That was yummy too!

Enjoy!