I love making charcuterie boards for large gatherings. It easy and there is usually something everyone likes. I was asked to provide snacks for the first night of our Lenten Bible Study and I knew right away I was going to make a charcuterie board, several of them. There is really no wrong or right way to make one, but I like to at least have 3 to 4 varieties in each area.

For the charcuterie board in the picture:​

• Four types of deli meat; chicken breast, turkey breast, ham, and salami
• Four types of cheese; swiss, cheddar, colby, and gouda
• Four types of crackers; two round kind and two square kinds (one being gluten-free)
• Four types of fruit; red and green grapes, strawberries, and blueberries.
• Two bowls filled with dried cranberries and raisins (something I don’t always do, but I like having one or two bowls on a board)

Charcuterie Boards are usually a great crowd pleaser and a lot of people will be impressed with the presentation and options for them to snack on. I know the Bible study attendees were!

​To continue my Grab and Go Meals, I wanted to share my favorite Mason jar snacks:
 
Carrots, celery and hummus
Colorful bell pepper strips and ranch dressing
Apple slices (dipped in lemon) and peanut butter
Small mason jars
 
I have been taking the Yogurt Jars, Salad Jars and one of these snack Jars all week for work. It is so nice to have everything ready to go in the morning and who knows this year maybe that health resolution will finally be accomplished.

Yesterday I shared my favorite grab and go breakfast, today I am going to share you my favorite grab and go lunches. These are easy to throw together a couple at a time before heading off to bed.
​
Mason jar 16 oz.
Salad mix
Dressing
Other salad toppings: Cheese, croutons, dried cranberries, fresh apples (dipped in lemon juice) and/or chicken

Layer each ingredient accordingly:

Layer One: Salad Dressing
Layer Two: Firm Diced Vegetables
Layer Three: Soft Diced Vegetables/Fruit
Layer Four: Cheese
Layer Five: Protein - Cooked Chicken, Beef, Eggs, etc.
Layer Six: Salad Mix
Top with croutons if desired.

It's a New Year and that means the annual health related New Year Resolutions! One of my own biggest problems is I just don't eat breakfast, and I hate getting out of bed so I only leave enough time to make a cup of coffee and run out the door. This year I am trying to change that, I still might only leave time to grab and go, but now I am grabbing these amazingly easy and delicious yogurt jars. I make 5 of them Sunday night before bed and just grab them on my wait out the door. I still eat them at my desk, but they keep me full until lunch time!



Ingredients:
32oz Vanilla Yogurt
1 Cup Old Fashioned Oats
2 Cups Fresh fruit or frozen
5 Mason Jars 16 oz.

Instructions:
Mix 1 Cup Old Fashioned Oaks with the 32oz tub of Vanilla Yogurt in a large mixing bowl.

Using a canning funnel divide the Yogurt Oat Mixture into the 5 16oz Mason Jars.

Slice fruit into 1/2 inch pieces and add to the Mason Jars. Strawberries and blueberries are my favorite.

Refrigerate at least overnight and enjoy up to five days.

For the yummiest results mix the fruit and Yogurt Oat Mixture together before eating.

Who’s there? Candy Gram. Every time I hear that phase I think of that famous SNL skit with Jaws. At work we wanted to update our annual Halloween Candy Gram fundraiser and I came across popcorn hands on Pinterest. I presented the new idea at our committee meeting and everyone loved the idea so we decided to do both popcorn and candy grams and call them Handy Grams. Well 410 Handy Grams later I think I switched my opinion on how cute they were! These are cute if you have to make 30, not as many as we had to make. Thankfully there were a lot of us and we were able to get them completed in a few hours. The committee heard a lot of great feedback after all of them was delivered, everyone loved them and it helped us earn a lot of money towards our Winter Warmer coming up in a few weeks!

For our annual Halloween Party we wanted to do something a little different. We wanted to keep it similar. A few weeks ago we purchased a project and thought it would be a lot of fun to watch Halloween movies in the backyard.  We had a kid friendly movie which is one of my must watch Halloween movies: Hocus Pocus and an adult movie full of jumps and twist: The Others. I kept the food simple and fun.  I made Devilish Eyeballs, Witches Fingers, Mummy Dogs, Turkey Pumpkin Chili, Brain Dip, Vampire Fang Cupcakes and Eyeball Cake Pops. Creepy and Tasty!

It’s time for creepy and tasty treats! Last Halloween I shared my Devilish Eyeballs and Witches fingers so this year I needed something even better! This is how you make Halloween Cream Cheese Brain Dip:

Ingredients:
1 8 oz. package of soften cream cheese
½ Cup Chili Sauce*

Directions:
Mix the cream cheese and chili sauce together. Add a spoonful of chili sauce in the bottom of a bowl, preferable clear. Put the dip mixture in a gallon size freezer bag and cut off a small piece of one of the bottom corners.
Pipe the dip in a snake design on half of the bowl, when half way up the bowl repeat on the other side. Finish piping the remaining dip in the same pattern creating the look of a brain. Top off with a little more chili sauce. Serve with crackers.

This dip may look extra gross, but it is super tasty!
        *Can use salsa instead of chili sauce. 

duunnn dunnn... duuuunnnn duun... duuunnnnnnnn dun dun dun. It’s my favorite week of the year again: Shark Week! I’m all ready to watch hours of documentaries on sharks with my shark cupcakes and this year I decided to add a cocktail to the party. Adult Ocean Water! This is a super easy and super tasty cocktail to have at any party, perfect for a JAWS themed one.
Ingredients:
2 ½ oz. Vodka
2 oz. Blue Curacao
1 oz. orange juice
 
Mix well and serve in a rocks glass with ice.  Garnish with orange slice and a shark gummy! Duunnn dunnn... duuuunnnn duun... duuunnnnnnnn dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnn dunnnn.

Tonight I am hosting our monthly Miche Team Meeting and as a good hostess, I always prepare yummy munchies for my guest. Valentine's Day is just around the corner so what better theme for our meeting snacks. At the store I picked up three kinds of deli meats and cheeses and cut out hearts using a small heart shape cookie cutter. I used the biggest cookie cutter that I could that would allow me to get the most cut outs for each slice. I layered the deli platter, rotating between on the meats and cheeses. While also at the store I picked up a presliced fruit bowl, I needed to cut each fruit piece a little thinner before cutting them with a smaller heart cookie cutter. I added some wonderful sliced sourdough bread and a topped it off with some chocolate covered strawberries and nice bottle of wine!