"VALENTINE: Every Hour is Happy With You" Cocktail Gift

Last Valentine's Day was pretty lame because I was on week 6 of a 16 week recovery of hand surgery.  I've mentioned in posts past that Mr. Devilish Dish and I passed the recuperation time by watching reruns of "Bar Rescue" and creating cocktails.  Aside from the excruciating pain, and frustration of only having one hand to blow dry my hair, I have to say those few weeks were time well spent with my husband.  He took great care of me and went to great effort to keep me comfortable, sane and entertained.  In addition, we learned a lot about the art of cocktail making and when Valentine's Day rolled around I knew I wanted to get him the handful of tools I realized we were missing in our bar set-up.  We needed a cocktail mixing glass, a cocktail strainer and he asked for sugar cubes.  I also found a company that sells the most unique cocktail mixers, bitters and more.  El Guapo is located in New Orleans, which is dear to our hearts because my brother-in-law is a chef there.  I had already ordered gifts for him from this company in years past, and I knew their LOVE POTION BITTERS would be the perfect addition to a cocktail themed Valentine basket.  I also added a bottle of their Cajun Grenadine which features the famous Ponchatoula strawberries.  And of course no Valentine is complete without some chocolates so I added some of his favorites in there too.  Considering I put the entire thing together with one hand, I was pretty impressed with this little gift.  Even if I wasn't able to tie a bow on it.  And the best part, is I do love a Valentine Pun, so I was able to add a little homemade card that said, "Valentine: Every Hour is Happy With You." Which turned out to be very true, because My Valentine is the one that helped me get through that mess of a surgery recovery. 

Valentine: Every Hour is Happy with You!

These bitters are so unique,
and fit with my theme perfectly.

I filled the cocktail mixing glass
with a variety of his favorite candy.
(And mine too.  I ate that Reese's.)

Did you know that traditional grenadine
is made from pomegranate? THIS certified
Cajun version features Louisiana strawberries. 

Here's the whole basket.  Good thing
it didn't need a bow, because I couldn't 
tie one with one hand.

Hope this gives you some Valentine inspo!

BBQ Gift for Boys

Is it just me or are boys hard to shop for?  And by boys I mean my grown up husband.  It doesn't help that he's very particular about his things and he's also been known to treat himself.  I wouldn't dream of buying him clothes or golf stuff.  And he owns every possibly fishing lure known to man.  He does love grilling and smoking and barbecuing, although again he owns every grilling gadget and seasoning known to man.  A while back he asked if I would pick him up some towels for the patio.  I asked, "What kind of towels?" and his reply was, "You know, some towels that match our stuff, but you don't mind me using and getting dirty when I'm out here grilling."  Obviously after 30+ years I have trained him well.  He knows not to take the good towels outside.  Or mop up spaghetti sauce with them.  He has one hilarious towel I got him that hangs on his BBQ Cart and he said, "I don't want to use that one, it's too funny."  So when his birthday rolled around I could not think of anything to get him and then I remembered the towel request.  I decided surely I could build a gift around a few towels for the patio.  Perusing Bass Pro, I found this cool cast-iron casserole dish.  He loves to put things in the smoker.  Crab legs, Queso, Rice Krispie Treats, Pizza Rolls.  You name it, he's put it in the smoker.  I don't mind, except I DO MIND when he puts my beautiful bright red Le Creuset Dutch Oven in there.  That prized trophy needs to stay in the kitchen.  Once I stumbled upon the cast-iron dish and towels I just grabbed a few things to fill it up.  Sticking with the theme I added the silicone handles for said cast-iron pan, a brush to clean it and a very cool silicone pad to rest his tongs and spatulas on when he is cooking outdoors.  And I grabbed a container of the ONLY seasoning he does not own.  One created especially for game meats.  Little Devil's BF keeps us supplied with venison so that will be of great use.  Finally I added a magnet to add to our collection on our BBQ Storage cabinet.  I used a ponytail holder to form the towels into a big bow.  Because his gift might be boring barbecue and grilling stuff, but by gosh I will "Cute anything up!"

Proof I can "cute up" any ol gift, even
a boring BBQ boy gift.

Here it is before the "bow"
I scooted everything toward the
top because I knew the towels
would take up most of the space.

I used a new pony-tail holder to fold
the towels and create a bow shape.
I was too lazy to find a clear one or
one that matched the red color-scheme.
But he's a boy and did not care or 
notice.

This turned out pretty cute.  He was not aware
there was a cast-iron casserole dish available.
Thanks Lodge!  Now my fancy Le Creuset
gets to stay in the kitchen where it belongs.

Here's his "funny" towel he doesn't want to use
and get dirty.  Have fun having these lyrics
stuck in your head all day lol.

Harvest Chex Mix

So I have two things I need to admit.  First, when I made holiday themed things for the blog, I typically do it in advance.  So when you think we might be eating Eerie Eyeball Pasta Salad the week of Halloween, we are really eating it in August or September.  So during the month of October, I was busy planning Fall and Thanksgiving themed things to make.  When I came up with this Harvest Chex Mix as an idea for Thanksgiving snacking, or little hostess gifts for Thanksgiving Day, I really made it in October.  The second thing I will admit it although the intention is for the Bugles chips to look like little cornucopias for Thanksgiving, I bagged this Chex Mix up and gave it away for Halloween.  All of my family and friends got a cute little Halloween sack full of this and I flat out admitted, "This is really a Thanksgiving-themed snack mix but it's for the blog so pretend this is a Halloween gift."  No one complained, because it's pretty tasty and so cute.  I think a big bowl of this for guests to munch on while the Thanksgiving meal is being prepared would be ideal.  Or to enjoy while watching those holiday football games.  OR bagged up into Thanksgiving-themed treat bags as a cute little hostess gift if you happen to be visiting someone else's home for the holiday meal.  The colors are perfect for the holiday and the addition of the candy pumpkins and candy corn look just like Thanksgiving.

Perfect for Thanksgiving season - with the 
cute little Bugle "Cornucopias"

The Ingredients

In a large bowl, combine the 
Chex cereal, the Bugles and the 
pretzel sticks.

Melt the butter and brown sugar
together over low heat.  You could add
pumpkin spice or apple pie spice at
this point, but I like keeping the mixture
fairly plain so you can taste all of the 
other ingredients.

Divide the mixture between two
baking sheets and bake.

Once the mixture has cooled,
add in the candy ingredients.

Serve and enjoy or bag up to give
as little gifts.

Perfect for holiday snacking,

Makes a cute little hostess gift too.

HARVEST CHEX MIX

1 (12 ounce) box Rice Chex Cereal
1 small bag (7 ounces) Bugles corn snacks
4 cups pretzel sticks
2 (movie sized) boxes Reese's Pieces
1 bag candy corn
1 bag harvest mix (the candy corn mix with the pumpkins)
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a large bowl combine the Rice Chex, Bugles and pretzels.  In a small pan, melt together the butter and brown sugar until well combined.  Pour the butter mixture of the chex mixture and toss to coat.  Divide mixture evenly between the two baking sheets and place in the oven.  Bake for 15 minutes, stir and then bake for an additional 15 minutes.  (If you can't fit both baking sheets on the same rack in the oven, when you remove them at the 15 minutes point to stir, switch the pans between the racks.) Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.  Stir in the remaining candy ingredients before serving.

 

Halloween Fruit Char-BOO-terie Board

I was working on blog stuff the other day and it dawned on me that September was nearly over and that I had very little "Halloween-y" stuff to post about for the month of October.  Fortunately my Oklahoma Sooners football team had a bye week.  If you know me, then you know our entire Fall revolves around tailgating and football.  So a bye week is a true gift, where I get a break from tailgating prep and actually have some time to get other things done.  Now don't get me wrong, there was no rest for the weary around here this past weekend.  We went to a concert on Friday night AND Sunday night.  You know how much Mr. Devilish Dish and I enjoy live music.  But don't think just because the Oklahoma Sooners weren't playing that he didn't watch football all day long on Saturday.  When I asked what he had planned for Saturday he replied, "I'm watching the Ryder Cup Golf Tournament and about 400 football games on the patio." To which I said, "Great!  I'll make you some snacks but it won't be buffalo wings and queso.  It's gonna be Halloween-themed treats for my blog for the month of October."  So I spent my day in and out of the kitchen creating, taking pictures and snacking with him on the patio.  It was actually kind of funny to see his face when I brought these things out.  You'll see in upcoming posts all of the silly things I came up with.  All of them are super cute, and while they're all fun and appropriate for any kind of Halloween meal or party, a lot of them would be ideal for kids.  And my Littlest Tiny Devils are all the way in Colorado, so I served all of these juvenile snacks to my beer drinking, football watching husband.  He just laughed and was a great sport about the entire thing, as he is a huge part of the Devilish Dish, and always supportive.  Which just proves that ANY of these spooky snack ideas are perfect for kids and adults alike!

This little fruit Char-BOO-terie Board
so was fun to create. 
 I actually took this to a breakfast tailgate
that happened to fall on October 31st a
couple of years ago.  
We have a lot of kids at our tailgate
and I knew this would be a huge hit.  

HALLOWEEN FRUIT CHAR-BOO-TERIE BOARD

For this board you will need:

Mini Oranges -peeled (like Cuties or Mandarin Oranges)
Celery sticks - cut into small pieces to create the "pumpkin stems"
Bananas - peeled and cut into halves to create the "ghosts"
Purple icing for ghost faces
Green apples - cut into wedges
Creamy Peanut Butter
Mini Marshmallows
More celery sticks
Candy Eyes and Halloween Sprinkles
Mini Skewers
Cantaloupe cubes
Blackberries

Peel the oranges and use small pieces of celery to create the pumpkins.

Cut the bananas in half and make ghost faces with purple icing.

Spread creamy peanut butter onto an apple wedge and prop another apple wedge over it - slightly offset to create a "mouth."  Stick the mini marshmallows to the peanut butter to look like teeth.  Apply candy eyes with a drop of peanut butter or purple icing.

Spread peanut butter onto celery sticks and decorate with Halloween Sprinkles and Candy Eyes.

Alternate the Orange Cantaloupe cubes and Blackberries onto mini skewers for a pop of Halloween color.

A Totally Awesome 1980s Party

 I am a true 80's kid.  You know...Generation X: Raised on hose water and neglect.  Literally.  Commercials came on right before the evening news and said, "It's 10 o'clock, do you know where your children are?" Television had to REMIND our parents to summon us home for bedtime.  It was truly a different time, and if you know you know.  We loved it.  Now I have my great nephews, the Littlest Devils making me kind of a pseudo grandmother.  A really cool Gen X grandmother.  You know Mr. Devilish Dish and I love live music.  In the last year we've seen Adam Ant, Psychedelic Furs, The Church, Duran Duran, Rick Springfield, The English Beat, Wang Chung, Paul Young, John Waite, Toto, Christopher Cross and Men at Work.  (Not including countless Red Dirt and other genres, but this is an 80's post!) Take me back!  Anyway, now that I am a cool Gen X G-ma, I saw these adorable personalized beaded bracelets.  I wanted them with the Littlest Devils names on them but they were kind of pricy.  You know I'm a crafty girl, so I landed upon the idea to make some custom bracelets (think those Swiftie style bangles) and it reminded me of the good 'ol days when we made friendship bracelets.  I remember in 10th Grade, I had a class with Mr. DD and he asked me to make a friendship bracelet for him.  Mind you he was NOT my boyfriend at the time.  He was just one of the cutest boys in the whole school and a very preppie golfer-type.  I remember spending hours at the craft store putting together the exact combination of embroidery threads to make him the ultimate preppie boy friendship bracelet.  Apparently it worked because we've been together over 30 years now.  Since I am still an 80s girl at heart, the night I decided to try my hand at creating the beaded bracelets, I invited over some crafty friends and decided to make a true 80's themed feast.  Not only did we create some totally awesome bracelets and have some good food and good laughs, we turned on YouTube and found some videos with assemblages of old 1980's commercials.  It was hilarious hearing, "Where's the Beef?" and "Mikey Likes It."  I hope this inspires your next get-together for some 80's themed fun!

Here's the full spread.  This was so much fun 
planning and putting together.

No 80s party is complete without some glow
necklaces and bracelets.

Remember the Sea Monkeys? My mom would NEVER
let me have those.  We enjoyed Shrimp Cocktail with
Mr. Devilish Dish's SPICY COCKTAIL SAUCE.

I made a small "charcuterie board" and cut a brie
cheese to look like Pac-Man.  I just added some salami,
crackers and fresh grapes.

The hardest part of the whole night was hollowing
out a cabbage for the "Cabbage Patch" relish tray.
Just ranch dip served in a cabbage with some
fresh veggies.

Remember hitting the mall for an Orange Julius?
Not only do I have a recipe for the DRINK HERE,
but I have a FRUIT DIP that tastes exactly like the
original drink.  We enjoyed that with fresh berries.

I added a bowl of candy and glow sticks.
Most of the candy I found at Dollar Tree.
Pop Rocks and Ring Pops were the thing
back then!

I hope you get some inspiration for your own 80s party.  This was kind of a spur of the moment event, but I know I will use these ideas in the future.  This could be the beginnings of a great costume or birthday party.  

Road Trip Snack Box Gift Idea

We have soooo many birthdays in the month of September.  My brother-in-law, father-in-law, Little Devil, Devilish Nephew, Mr. Devilish Dish, plus several close friends.  Now combine that with Christmas shopping a mere three months away and I'm always out of ideas.  I love a good theme gift like my fun "CHOCOLATE Lab" gift from years ago, or the PATRIOTIC BIRTHDAY BAGS I made for my mom and aunt and while back.  I made this gift for my father-in-law this past Father's Day, but the idea could be easily adapted for any occasion.  My in-laws are professional road trippers.  They have great friends in Arkansas that they visit several times a year.  We were struggling to come up with a good idea for his Father's Day gift when I stumbled upon these neat treat boxes at Hobby Lobby.  I sent Mr. Devilish Dish a screen shot and said, "Father's Day idea activated."  We went to our local Winco Grocery Store because they have an awesome bulk section of nuts, candies and other treats and bought all kinds of tasty treats to fill the separate chambers.  Of course the gift could have stopped there, but I'm extra and I need to zhuzh up everything I get my hands on.  I found a Hot Wheels car that is the same model as their car and made a couple of cute gift tags to tie on to complete Papa Bear's Road Trip Snack Box.  What little boy (even 77 year-old boys) don't love a race car? That way he had some tasty snack for his drive to Arkansas, and a neat box he can refill for future trips.  I know I will recycle this idea for future gifts, and I hope it inspires you for your gift giving occasions!

Here's the completed Road Trip Snack Box - 
it turned out so cute!

We added chocolate covered sea salt popcorn, 
limoncello almonds, macadamia nuts, M&Ms and more!
Thanks Winco!

Here's my supplies all gathered and ready to go.

I used double-sided tape to add the car to the 
little road strip tag.

Here it is all tied on and ready to roll!

ROAD TRIP SNACK BOX SUPPLIES:


One divided snack container with lid
Assorted snacks to fill the container
Hot Wheels Car
Gift tag or card
Scissors
Twine or ribbon
Hole Punch
Double-Sided Tape

 

PS: Here's the road strip I used to create the tag
for the Hot Wheels Car to drive on.  Right-click and 
save to your computer and print onto cardstock. 
Attach your car with double-sided tape.

National Charcuterie Day - Charcuterie Board Fun!

It's National Charcuterie Day - A day set aside annually on August 26th to celebrate the art of all things charcuterie.  It's a day dedicated to appreciating and enjoying the creativity and work that goes into a creating a charcuterie board.  In French, "charcuterie" translates literally "pork butcher's shop" or "cooked flesh" and historically the boards were initially made from pork products.  As the art of charcuterie evolved, the boards have expanded to include other types of meats, and in modern times the boards often don't even include meat at all.  Most traditional boards feature a variety of cured meat, cheeses, fruits, nuts and often some kind of honey, mustard, or traditionally: quince paste.  While these are all delicious, and I am a sucker for a "grown-up Lunchable" - I have never been known to copy the norm.  A couple of years ago I purchased a large, but inexpensive board from Amazon, for one event and find myself using it quite often.  Not only do I use it for tailgates, taking to holiday parties and more - I've even used it a few times here at the house just for serving Mr. Devilish Dish and I.  I guess what I am saying is there are no rules when it comes to creating a charcuterie board.  It may not be a true "charcuterie" board by the strict definition, but it is guaranteed to be a hit at your next event.  I thought I'd share some boards I've done in the past, some of them are from so long ago, I only have pictures.  So I'm not including an actual list of ingredients.  I'm just sharing to celebrate the day and hoping I inspire you on some boards of your own!

I called this one a Sweet & Savory Dinner Board
for Mr. DD and I - half was meats, cheeses,
olives, crackers, shrimp cocktail and veggies while
the other half had fruits, sweet dips, cookies and more.  

I can't remember the occasion but I think it was 
some kind of holiday or birthday because I spied a
Prosecco bottle in the background.

I've seen boards like this called "BBQ Grazing Boards"
or "Memphis Grazing Boards" Mr. Devilish Dish
grilled and sliced up several types of smoked sausages,
and we included crackers, cheese, pimento cheese
spread, along with mustards, pickles and pickled
okra.  I've made this board a couple of times for both
a Super Bowl Party, and tailgating. 

I created this board for a dinner party at our house.
I used a combination of store-bought frozen Asian
items like egg rolls and crab rangoons, and then made
my own fresh rolls and dipping sauces.  Fresh
veggies and edamame helped fill in the gaps and add color.

This was so colorful and tasty!

I've made this board more than once for the
4th of July.  In addition to my Fruit & Brownie
Skewers, I added Little Debbie Snack Cakes,
and any kind of red, white or blue candy 
I could find!

I made this board for a breakfast tailgate
that just happened to fall on Halloween. 
It was a hit with all of the kids 
(and grown-ups too)

A Walking Taco Board - Seasoned taco meat in the 
pot in the middle, bowls of onions, salsa, sour cream
cheese, tomatoes etc.. All nestled on a bed of shredded
lettuce and cheese surrounded by small bags of 
chips.

My All-Time Favorite:
For our friend Noah's White Trash Bash Birthday Party!
Mr. Devilish Dish smoked a whole bologna and
diced it up.  (If you're from Oklahoma then you know this is
traditionally a Christmas treat) and I added Easy Cheese
and Crackers, Moon Pies, Fritos and Frito Lay Bean Dip, 
Swiss Cake Rolls, Twinkies, Honey Buns and Pigs in a Blanket.
I am not even joking when I say I came home with a completely empty
board after this party!

I hoped you enjoyed looking at some of my favorites. Leave me a comment if you are inspired to make your own board, or drop a pic on one of my social media accounts.  

Happy National Charcuterie Day,