PRINCESS ELMO BIRTHDAY PARTY IDEAS

Today my little one turned 1.  We had a party with ELMO food/cake and a purple princess tutu dress.  It was fun and very easy to do!  Here are the ideas:

Homemade No-Sew Tutu Dress and Homemade Tulle Wand

DIY Tutu Table Skirt~~~ Tutorial from sweetcraftcakes.com ~~~

ELMO 7 Layer Dip

~~~ classic 7 layer mexican dip recipe ~~~

~~~ tomatoes for face, black olives for mouth, carrots for nose ~~~

~~~ cream cheese or sour cream for white of eyes with black olives for pupils ~~~

ELMO Fruit Tray

~~~ strawberries for face, blackberries for mouth ~~~

~~~ clementine for nose, banana slices for eyes ~~~

M&M Jar with Number 1

~~~ peanut M&Ms with number 1 candle ~~~

~~~ just add a few M&Ms to a clean tomato sauce jar ~~~

~~~ then set number on side in middle and fill up the rest of the jar with M&Ms ~~~

Number 1 Brownies

~~~ Make brownies, cut them, and design a number 1 on some aluminum wrapped cardboard ~~~

I also made homemade sausage balls and a generic sandwich tray.

Hope some of these ideas help make a cool party for you too!

HOMEMADE CINNAMON ROLLS

Yummy homemade cinnamon rolls!  

I wanted the house to smell like fall, so I made cinnamon rolls.  When they bake up, the cinnamon smell really escapes into the air.  They were really a hit with my hubby - he finished them off this afternoon for a snack - LOL.  

I used the Cinnamon 101 recipe by Pioneer Woman, but I cut it down by about 1/4th.  Unless you want to make a ton of them and freeze them for later like she does, I recommend doing the same.  Since we live in a small place in central Florence right now, there is just no extra room in the freezer for that kind of thing.  I am jealous of you who have a big fridge with an ice machine!  

Here is how they turned out - you should make them too, right now!!

GOOEY OATMEAL PUMPKIN BARS WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Today my hubby had a huge exam for his Masters' course, so I decided to bake him something special.
I wanted to make something with the homemade pumpkin puree that I made over the weekend.  This is what I decided to do.  My bars are gooey because there are not any eggs in the recipe.
Recipe adapted from Lovin from the Oven's Pumpkin Bars.

Gooey Oatmeal Pumpkin Bars

1 cup flour

1 cup oats

1/3 cup sugar in the raw

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch salt

1 cup pumpkin puree

2/3 cup fat free greek yogurt

1/4 cup water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F or 170C.

Spray a medium-size baking pan with nonstick coating.

Combine flour, oats , sugars, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, & salt in a medium bowl.

Stir in pumpkin, yogurt, and water until thoroughly combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Cool in pan.

Spread frosting on top and DIG IN!

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup 50% fat philly cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar (put more if you want your frosting sweeter)

FUDGY MOIST FLOURLESS BROWNIES - YUM!

A friend of mine posted this Gluten Free Brownies recipe from Taste & See on pinterest a couple of days ago.  I just had to try them and see!  I didn't have any chocolate chips or canola oil in the house, so I did a few substitutions.  Here is my recipe...they turned out yummy!
Even the hubby liked them & was surprised when I told him there was ZERO flour.

Fudgy Moist Flourless Brownies

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
6 tablespoons butter
1.5 tablespoons water
8 ounces chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
3 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar in the raw
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Spray a 8 x 8-inch pan with baking spray.
(Use 8 x 4 loaf pan if you want thicker brownies.)

Melt the butter in microwave in large glass bowl.

Stir in cocoa powder and water until smooth.
(I used a fork.)

Add chickpeas and egg whites. Blend until smooth with stick blender.

Add remaining ingredients to glass bowl and mix until smooth.
(I used a rubber spatula.)

Pour the batter into the baking pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center of the brownies comes out clean. Cool in pan. These are easiest to cut if they've had time to sit overnight.
Otherwise, just grab a spoon and DIG IN!