"experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." -randy pausch

Friday, February 2, 2018

The Lost Poppers

Once upon a time, 
I did a pre-recorded segment on Good Things Utah.
It was Christmastime.
Nuff said.
So today, as I was finalizing my Super Bowl Spread menu,
I remembered I had never shared my Jalepeno Popper segment!
We filmed it in early December, but it aired the day after Christmas as part of the live show.
The work was done,
and I had the day off.
When I went to open my Instagram account {emiemiemi82},
low and behold it was flooded with messages from followers.
Almost a hundred messages!
And I sat there thinking,
"Why are there so many messages? What in the world did I post this morning?"
Then it hit me.
I was on tv and completely forgot.
Forgot to watch.
Forgot to tell anyone.
LOL!
OH how I love technology and pre-recording haha.
So there you have it folks.
That's how the poppers got lost.
I blame Christmas completely.
But who knows,
had I remembered back then,
maybe I wouldn't have remembered to share this with you
for the
SUPER BOWL!
Then all would have truly been lost ;).
My favorite part about television is the magic.
You take something real, and television turns into something beyond your wildest dreams.
Usually in 4 minutes or less on my cooking segment.
Either way, I love rolling with the punches 
and having my hands in all of the behind the scenes action.
I think it's why I've loved being a mother to a lot of little babies all at once. 
You never quite know what the day will bring,
but you can always count on the fact that it will be exciting.

Click HERE for the link to the live show!

Jalepeno Poppers

Ingredients:
1 bag mini peppers
1 package Goat, Havarti, and/or Blue Cheese
1 package Prosciutto or Bacon
Jalepeno Popper holder 
{OR wrap Prosciutto or Bacon over the top like a lid, 
and lay peppers on their sides in an aluminum lined baking pan or sheet} 

Directions:
  1. Preheat Oven 400*.
  2. Cut the tops off of the peppers, and core them, so there are no seeds left.
  3. Stuff with cheese of your choice.
  4. Wrap with Prosciutto or Bacon {Prosciutto you don’t have to fasten on, but bacon needs tooth picks and is more laborious}.
  5. Bake in the oven @400* for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.
  6. ENJOY!

Monday, January 15, 2018

free at last {not what you think}

the hardest things to write about are the things that hurt.
the things that you don't want anyone to see.
the reel that's in your head.
over
and
over
and
over
again.
that never ending tug at your inside.
the one that you forget about in the busy.
the one that sits there waiting for you to have quiet.
so it can nag and nag and nag.
time always makes it go away.
not nag as much.
maybe it just numbs.
but sometimes time is so slow.
this past summer was a lot of that slow nagging for me.
i remember coming out of it in october.
right around the time this picture was taken.
like this haze had lifted.
i felt like i had lost and gained someone all at once.
it was like i had come out of a tornado, 
and everything was out of place,
but in a good way. 
it wasn't like i wanted it to go back.
ain't no mountain high enough LOL.
no.
it felt good.
like reorganizing the furniture.
for so long this blog was about me writing about my life as a stay at home mom.
romanticizing everything from flipping tortillas to babies in the laundry basket.
so many good good years.
then overnight, everything changed.
at least it felt like that.
and i loved it.
still flipping tortillas and babies in the laundry basket, 
but there was more.
like this new love affair with my life.
seeing this person inside of me.
one that had always been there.
i think she has always been there.
i know she's always been there.
but i just hadn't let her come out to play for awhile.
maybe just parts of her at different times in my life,
but never all of her.
i hadn't ever really let her out of the yard.
and what i can't deny is one thing....
i felt so much shame and guilt letting that girl out.
it's painful really.
not because i felt like i was doing something wrong,
but because i was challenging myself and the things i thought.
i'm not talking about religion or core values.
nothing like that.
those things have all stayed the same.
i'm talking about how deeply inside of me,
 i was checking off a specific checklist of perfection every day.
and it wasn't like anyone was expecting this of me.
i've always been very driven.
a people pleaser really,
extroverted,
and codependent.
the girl without boyfriends with codependence issues.
it's funny isn't it?
and it wasn't like i didn't have joy in doing it.
the checklist.
because i did.
have joy in it.
{this is NOT about checklists}
it felt safe and comforting.
homemade dinner. check.
everyone bathed every day, hair combed. check.
home lunch with less than 5 ingredients. check.
not too much dessert. check.
perfect bedtime routine. check.
wipe the table the down after every meal. check.
laundry. check.
dishes. check.
clean house. check...or not {let's keep things real ha}
exercise 3x a week. check.
i didn't feel like i had to do it.
i just felt more calm doing it.
I LOVED IT.
it made me avoid feeling any guilt or shame.
it was about controlling it all in my head i think.
i think most of us do that at one time or another.
maybe your checklists look different than mine.
maybe they come in another form.
now before you put this post into 
"another one of those self acceptance and letting go of perfectionism" posts, 
let me explain.
because i know i'm not alone.
why did i LOVE working so much?
why did i sacrifice so much to do it?
soooo many reasons.
seeing people walk again {true story},
people getting out bed HAPPY,
people drinking milk again bahaha #justsayin ,
people giving up dependencies they thought the needed to survive,
people feeling less pain,
people living more,
becoming a leader,
prayers being answered like nothing i've ever seen.
all divinely guided.
and miracles that so many of you will never see.
some too sacred to share.
others you've read about.
maybe YOU reading this right now are one of the tens of thousands of lives changed.
the ripple has gone so far.
but do you want to know what else i loved?
i loved that it freed me from the checklist.
not the one anyone else had created.
not one i hated.
one i LOVED.
one that had brought me great joy.
one that was keeping me from feeling guilt and shame.
read that again.
because here's the thing.
if you're controlling everything so you're not feeling the guilt and shame,
and you're living JUST SO,
how can you ever really grow?
how can you ever really feel?
how can you ever REALLY become anything more?
there's something to be said about that elsa and not letting anyone see,
and i know you know what i'm talking about.
if you don't,
that scares me even more.
because what i have seen in the last two years is more people 
{ME INCLUDED} 
not wanting others to see.
binding yourself to looking and appearing a certain way.
it's like this innate childhood curse that we think we left in childhood...
in high school...
only to find out we've been safely stowing it in our bags everywhere we've gone all along.
it's like it's there, and we don't even see it.
brene brown goes into incredible depth on her research concerning guilt and shame,
and how it's connected to hiding those things we don't even see.
read her books.
they will change you.
the root issue of it all,
to feel so deeply, 
and challenge yourself out of something in this way,
standing by yourself with people all around you.
it's a gift.
all day today i've had dr. martin luther king jr's words in my head.
"free at last, free at last, thank god almighty, we are free at last."
because there's freedom in people seeing.
there's freedom in standing out in the wilderness where no one else is standing.
for everyone to see.
in the book of mormon we read about what i would call heroes.
they are never the ones in "the group."
they are always standing alone.
usually not doing the thing that everyone else is accepting.
they all come around.
but the hero of the story always must stand alone first.
it's the strength that it takes to stand alone that builds great character.
that's what i'm interested in.
that's what i've made my life's work about these last two years.
it has hurt on some days.
so badly.
and on most days, it's been JOY.
to see it all.
to feel it all.
even when it's a lot to see.
it's not like those things i felt free from are binding.
i love doing all of those things still.
they bring me GREAT joy.
homemaking is a sacred honor, and one i'm grateful to enjoy doing.
{also, i'm not saying that they are binding you}.
this is about me LOL!
that sounds so silly.
and none of it is about household tasks anyway.
this post is NOT about household tasks.
it's about being free.
and what it takes to truly achieve being free.
as maya angelou says,
"you only are free when you realize you belong no place — 
you belong every place — 
no place at all."
which is hard for someone who always just wants to belong.
ehem me.
maybe you?
don't we all have the yearning inside of us?
today was a "normal" day.
no work.
just normal do the laundry,
flip the tortillas,
put away the laundry,
make the lunch,
read with chase,
pin dean down to change his diaper.
without any interruptions or stressors.
despite the kids being home from school.
just a good old fashioned "life before i worked full time" sort of day.
it felt like coming home.
almost like a vacation.
but this is what i'm saying...
when i started working, it made me feel FREE from myself.
most people haven't seen all of this.
my job is like this volunteer church mission, 
except i get paid well, 
and often times most people on the outside looking in 
tend to think that i'm being boastful and self serving.
but they don't see.
and i gave up a long time ago trying to make them. 
sometimes i catch a glimpse of myself doing "normal" things, 
like today...
and it reminds me of that familiar space that used to be every day.
bliss.
i love the days where i get to visit that girl before i grew into the woman i am now.
today was one of those days, and it was pure heaven.
not because i want to be her again,
but because i get to visit her with a better version of myself to share.
one that knows leadership in a way i've only ever dreamed of achieving,
and one that recognizes guilt and shame for what it is.
one that stands alone for all to see.
because she knows.
she's a friend i don't feel like i need to see every day anymore, 
but boy do i love to catch up every now and then.
and it makes me feel so free.
free at last
free at last
thank god almighty
free
at
last.

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

THE FAMOUS ONES

If you're joining us here today from Good Things Utah or Instagram, WELCOME!!!
I've dusted off the old blog for this little ditty's grand debut, 
and will be around here a little bit more from now. If you're here from Instagram or caught the Live Show on ABC, you'll know a little bit about how this recipe came to be, BUT, if you're new and have stumbled upon us, here is a little story about how "The Famous Ones" came to be...

You see, once upon a time long long ago, in a far away galaxy called Rexburg, Idaho, I was a young college student who loved to eat cookie DOUGH for dinner. Calories are calories right??? Noooooooo. My 20’s were rough in this department, but that’s a story for another day. So anyway, I spent every Sunday FOR TWO YEARS making my 6 roommates (Becky, Melissa, Heather, Rachael, Jessi, and Stephen Yoshida) cookies to create the MOST PERFECT AND AMAZING COOKIE TO HAVE EVER LIVED. I’ve kept this recipe a locked down SECRET until now. Today, on Good Things Utah, I finally let my secret ingredients out of the vault for all of you. You can watch the LIVE show in my Instagram stories {emiemiemi82} for the next 24 hours! BUTTERFLIES in my stomach about sharing this with you. This is the recipe where my cooking began! DRUM ROLLS PLEASE...
THE FAMOUS ONES.

“The Famous Ones”

Ingredients:

3/4c sugar
3/4c Brown sugar
2 eggs 
1 tbls vanilla 
2 sticks butter, partially melted
1tsp salt
1tsp baking soda
2 1/4c flour 
1c quick oats, blended
1 Handful regular quick oats (NOT blended)
1/2 bag Reese’s PB Chips
1/2 bag Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1/4 bag white chocolate chips 
**1/2tsp cinnamon optional 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*

1. Cream all wet ingredients together with everything except for the flour. Once well mixed, add the flour. 

2. Blend 1 cup Quick Oats in an electric nut chopper (or regular blender), add to mixture. Mix well. Throw in a handful or so of regular NOT blended Quick Oats and mix well. These two things are the secret ingredient! 

3. Add three different chocolate chips in. Mix well. 

4. Roll into golf ball sized balls. They should be perfectly round. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350* for 12-13 minutes (every oven is different—the goal is to have golden brown bottoms of your cookies). I love mine to be ALMOST cooked. 

There you have it! They are so good they'll make you cry.

Sunday, March 26, 2017

meat from lunch stuck in my teeth {for all mothers everywhere, or for anyone that can see}

{please note the meat from lunch stuck in my teeth. thank you.}
...
what is a mother?
i am different.
in the book of moses it talks about how adam and eve's eyes were opened.
so they could see things more clearly.
and every time i've changed as a person,
i feel just like that.
like i know a little bit more.
and i understand a little bit more.
and i can never really go back to how it was before.
like when we struggled with infertility.
those were hard years.
i know the look in a woman's face sitting at the 3rd baby shower she's gone to in the month.
watching everyone pick out names, and set up nurseries.
i know the look of that woman fighting back the tears, 
trying to be happy for everyone around her who's pregnant. 
i know that look because i've been that woman.
and when i got pregnant for the first time,
i never forgot what it felt like to be the woman who couldn't.
and it made me a better person.
it made me a woman that saw more clearly.
these are the experiences in our lives that give us the experiences to be whole.
even though it feels like we are missing the pieces along the way.
in the most unexpected way, 17 months ago,
i became a mother that worked from home.
i didn't plan it.
i didn't want it.
and for the first 7 months,
i swore i wasn't even doing it.
it was like i was ashamed to be doing it.
my friend christy told me once that we all have a stick,
and the stick has two sides,
but most of us only want everyone to just see the one side.
part of me felt like if i did this work from home thing,
that everyone would see both sides of my stick.
and that made me feel like i wasn't a "real mom" anymore.
at least not the way i had defined it for so long.
and then one day, i woke up and realized 
that there was something really amazing about doing it.
and if people saw both sides of my stick,
so be it.
because i saw more.
i knew more.
the painful part of it of course
was knowing what it felt like to do it.
because now i knew the look of a woman who forgot 
to drop off the plates, cups, and bowls for teacher appreciation week.
{i heard they ate on napkins that day, and it was no big deal, 
and really i hope that was true.} 
after i got off of the phone with the school secretary that day, 
i consciously apologized in my head to all of the working moms 
i've ever misunderstood in all of my years of being a stay at home mom.
i know the look of a mom that realizes the book report is due tomorrow,
and it's 10:24pm. 
the mom before would have never let this happen.
yep, i get it.
and i hate that i get it.
because i didn't get it before.
and now i'm different.
and i can see better.
sometimes i wish i didn't see as well as i do now.
because what i see most clearly is the person i was before,
and sometimes that can hurt the person that i am now.
you know?
so last night after feeling like i almost needed to cry about it 
{i'm talking about the working mom seeing better thing here},
sean said to me very lovingly, "what is a mother anyway?"
because the way i mother has changed.
i can see that better now.
the core things have stayed the same: 
1. make them feel safe.
2. make them feel loved.
but what about all of the other rituals in between?
the ones that used to define me.
and made me feel confident in my mothering.
the way i used to do it.
a mother nurtures.
she loves.
and above all,
she makes her children feel safe.
this is what i told him.
it made me not cry,
and in the great words of marjorie pay hinckley, 
"i'd rather laugh than cry. crying gives me a headache."
it just made feel good. 
i wasn't laughing, but i wasn't crying,
because i'm still doing those things.
i'm still being a mother.
it might look differently than before,
but i'm still a mother.
i always feel like crying when i've been gone working.
even if i'm working on my couch.
i thought i used to know what mom guilt felt like.
but now i see more.
and sometimes it's a lot to see.
but it makes me better.
and i know the look of that mom.
anyone still with me here???
have you ever been surprised at what you say to yourself 
when you are doing something you never knew you had opinions about?
i've been wrestling with these thoughts i've had. 
about myself. 
and about being a working mom.
and it's been eating away at me to write about it.
because i've wanted to vomit at the thought of writing about it.
maybe because if i don't write about it,
i don't really have to think about it.
but i'm always thinking about it.
i HAVE to write about it.
so i sat there last night thinking about all of the things that i love doing as a mother...
wearing an apron to make dinner,
having a snack ready for the kids after school,
singing songs at bedtime to my children,
reading them stories,
and tucking them in each night.
braiding maxine's hair.
practicing piano.
being the room mom.
meal planning.
pretty much a lot of stuff i can't always do as a working mom.
this is my wrestle.
i've struggled with how to make it all look exactly the way it was before,
with it being completely impossible to make it look EXACTLY the way it was before.
and i think i'm finally starting to settle into just letting it look how it looks,
without worrying about how it looked before.
kind of like when you have your 4th baby,
and the family is changed forever.
and it takes a year to work that new baby in, but somehow you get a handle on it,
and you're more experienced as a mother than you were before.
you figure out how to shower, do the laundry, make the dinners,
and get the homework done.
some days that's pretty, and some days it's not.
but you still go on.
and you see more.
it makes you better.
it makes you more whole.
and the moms with 3 kids don't get it.
you're different.
not better than them.
just different.
because you see more.
we had a 5th baby, and it's name was plexus.
most people don't get to see something like that.
it's a lot of see.
and deep down i'm grateful to see it.
because i know that god brought this into my life for a greater purpose 
than anything i could have ever imagined.
but sometimes it's hard to see something that a lot of people have never seen.
it still makes me better.
not better than them.
just better than i was before.
and it still makes me more whole.
because i see more.
that looks different because i am different.
which i'm pretty sure is what god has wanted all along.

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

there's more to this story, but that's for another day {maxine turns 7}

Happy Birthday 🎂🎈🎁🎉 to my little miss Max!!! Things about Maxine you should know...She loves #emoji 😍💕👸🏼, shopkins, making arts 🎭 and crafts 🎨, #shopping 🛍, #dance 👯, and riding bikes 🚲. Her nickname is HP. It stands for Hell 👹👸🏼Princess. She doesn't know that's what it stands for, but she will flip on a dime and you won't even know what hit you 😳👸🏼👹. One time when she was 2 ✌🏻️, she and Brennan took two bags of pb and regular #chocolate 🍫 chips out on the tramp. It was hot. They melted. I used to think Brennan was the one causing the trouble bc he's older, but we now know the common denominator for events such as this is always Max 😂🙈. It's just her gift 🎁 to always be thinking and creating and planning. It may look like mischief now, but I know it's going to take her big places all through life 🙌🏻💕. She's learning to play piano 🎹, and her teacher tells me she's in the lead for practicing minutes. Every day she sets a timer ⏲ on #Alexa , and we go down to the keyboard in the basement to take turns practicing together 🎶. She's a perfectionist, and I #love watching her wrestle and learn through it #thestruggleisreal 😳. When she gets hungry, watch out. She'll eat hot 🔥 lunch, but asks for home 🏡 lunch 🍴 about once a month, and this all came about because Brennan was going through the hot lunch line 🌮🌭🍗 #adventuresinhomelunch every day without asking, and eating his home lunch too, which went unnoticed for about three months until max ratted him out and it alllllllll made sense 😂. There's more to this story, but that's for another day 🙈. So now I've just succumbed, and basically they know they've won and are in charge #thestruggleisreal ✌🏻️. At bedtime she asks me to scratch her back and tickle her arms and face. She loves to read chapter books 📚 "quiet and in her head," and her teachers tell me that if they could just have a room full of Maxine's, the world 🌎 would be a perfect place. I love you #littleMissMax 💕👸🏼😍!!!

Monday, February 6, 2017

but without all of the static {those Chocolate Whipping Cream Bowls & Red Velvet PB cookie recipes!}

Chocolate Whipping Cream Bowls

INGREDIENTS:
1pkg Chocolate Almond Bark
8-10 balloons {blown up softball size}
1qt Heavy Whipping Cream, powdered sugar
Berries, Chocolate Sauce, Mint for garnish

DIRECTIONS:
Make Chocolate Bowls:
Blow up the balloons (you want them small and round, like little bowls). 
Next, carefully dip each balloon (about 1/2 to 3/4 of balloon) into the melted chocolate and set on top of the chocolate disks on parchment paper.
Let set in fridge for about 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes take the cookie sheets out and let the bowls sit for about 5-10 minutes. While pinching the tops of the balloon snip or poke a hole to release the air…SLOWLY. 
Hopefully, the balloon will release freely. If it doesn’t, do not pull the balloon away from chocolate just let it sit for a few more minutes and the chocolate should release the balloon on its own.
The bowls are delicate. Keep the bowls on the cookie sheet and put back in fridge.
Make whipped cream as directed.
Spoon whipped cream into chocolate bowls, top with berries. YUM!
...

i can't even wrap my 
head around this day.
i've been to Good Things Utah 7 times in the last 8 months,
and I LOVE these people ahhh!
i love cooking for people.
just standing around in a kitchen is my dream come true.
i love to do things with my hands, and pour into people,
and i'm convinced that there's no better place to do that than a kitchen haha!
Good grief...
i remember struggling when my sugar cravings went away 16 months ago.
it was like i didn't know how to connect with my food people if i didn't have those passions for food like i'd always had.
it has been the weirdest thing.
because i just can't connect with you about feeling bloated after the super bowl...
because i'm not.
in fact, i haven't felt bloated once in over a year.
not even you know when!
i can't relate to waking up tired.
or being an insomniac.
i can't relate to being in a sugar coma.
i mean i can, 
because i remember living in that rollercoaster since at least middle school,
but now i can't.
{sometimes i'll still eat something fun, 
like that whipping cream 
chocolate bowl thing up there. 
i had some of that today just for fun. 
i couldn't take more than a few bites, but i ate it because why not.
and sometimes when we go out to dinner i'll have a dr. pepper just for the bubbles.
but i can't ever finish it. and sometimes it give me a headache.
and i tell sean to remind me that my body doesn't like sugar anymore ok? ok}.
maybe that sounds silly to you,
but to me, i had this inner struggle over it all.
almost like a writer's block.
because i was that, and i remember that,
but i'm not that, so where did i fit now?
i felt like there was this part of me that had disappeared,
but not because i couldn't have it,
but because i didn't want it.
it was like this part of me was in limbo,
mostly alone,
and i couldn't quite figure out how to get it back.
when i didn't want it back,
at least not the way it was before.
i could feel deep down inside that what i had was something even better.
i think that some people look at me now and think i deprive myself.
how can she REALLY look at that and not want it.
{well my friends, that's for another post LOL,
or just go scroll through my instagram ok? ok.
@emiemiemi82 ya'll.}
i really just don't crave sugar.
sometimes i wish i did.
i miss it.
but not in the way you think.
soooooo not in the way you might think.
what i DO NOT miss is waking up tired.
being controlled by my sugar cravings.
never having energy.
taking hours to fall asleep at night,
waking up anxious at a pin dropping,
my hair falling out,
my clothes never feeling like they fit right,
and being dependent on ice cream and sugar to calm me down at the end of the day,
or perk me up in the afternoon.
#sugaraddict
so when you hear me say i miss ice cream,
or whipping cream,
or living to eat in general,
it's not because i'm abstaining from it,
or not letting myself have it.
and it's not because i'm just "lucky to be skinny with a great metabolism either."
{it's called blood sugar balance fyi}.
and it's because i truly don't want it.
i don't need it.
it's like my entire relationship to food has evolved into something more powerful than before.
it's like this deeper need to take care of my body is there. 
in a way that i couldn't understand before 
because it used to be all about filling something,
rather than regenerating something.
it's like i can hear myself more clearly now,
because i'm not drowning it out with static.
{and i'm not saying that if you like sugar that you are the opposite of everything i have just said,
insert a positive affirmation for yourself here ok? ok},
so i've had this inner turmoil and struggle about missing everything that had defined me before with it, to that being gone now because the essence of it had changed all around me.
and even though i'm better for it,
it was like there was this mourning of it.
i think that comes any time a piece of you changes.
evolves.
and this is where today comes in.
because today i realized that i've recreated it,
in a completely different way.
it's like i've circled back around.
almost like a mom that had her first baby.
or her 2nd.
or her third.
and then her fourth.
and there's that reckoning and adjusting phase.
you moms know what i'm talking about.
and even if you don't have children,
i know you've been through change in the way i'm talking about.
in the same way,
just a different chapter of the book.
you men too! we can't forget about you men too ;)
where you have to find your new normal.
and you're not quite sure when it's going to come,
or how you're going to find it.
until it's there.
because there's something so present in your life that changed everything 
the way you thought you knew it.
it's like i've come back around and found where i was,
in a whole new place.
the same.
but different.
all at once.
and i get to share this amazing part of me,
that i've always dreamed of sharing in this way,
but in completely different way than i could have ever IMAGINE'd it.
and i just can't explain how satisfying it is to be here.
living inside everything i never knew could be.
inside of this person that's been here all along.
still loving on people,
in my kitchen.
but without all of the static.
i think it's also called your mid thirties.
whichever.
what happens when you twirl the balloon in the hot chocolate too soon?
it explodes chocolate all over you,
your computer,
your toaster,
your pajamas,
your hair,
your kitchen floor and cabinets 
{p.s. they're white}
and then you spend the next hour using a toothpick to pick it out from in between the keys on the keyboard LOL!
really though, it could have been worse.
and i'll never forget what it looked like as wet chocolate was spraying
ALL OVER ME EVERYWHERE.
maybe one of my favorite cookie memories ever.
at 12:45am on a sundee night.
Peanut Butter Red Velvet Blossoms


INGREDIENTS:
1 bag Hershey's Kisses
pinch salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon red gel food coloring {Red Velvet at Harmon's by the birthday candles!}
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons milk
1 egg
1 1/3 cups sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1/4 cup red sanding sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 375
1. Beat butter, peanut butter, and sugar in stand mixer for about 2 minutes on medium speed. Turn mixer to low and add in egg, milk, vanilla, and red food coloring. Mix for about 30 seconds to incorporate, then turn mixer to medium high and blend until light and fluffy.
2. In a separate bowl sift cocoa, flour, baking soda and salt. With mixer on slow add flour mixture to sugar mixture and beat until just combined.
3. Remove mixer bowl from stand. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Pour red sanding sugar onto small plate or bowl. Roll dough ball in sanding sugar and place on prepared cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.
5. While baking unwrap Hershey\'s Kisses. Once cookies are done baking, remove from oven and immediately press a chocolate Kiss into the center of each cookie. The cookie should crack around edges.
6. Allow cookies to cool to room temperature.

Cupid's Floats
Cherry 7up
Vanilla Ice Cream
Red Vines

Pour. Top with Ice Cream. Insert Straw.
It fizzes. Plan for that. It's fun.
You're welcome:)
...

email me at emilygibson82@yahoo.com