Friends, during my more than 10 years of blogging, it is this moment that were my Grandpa still alive he’d say I hit the big time! I’ve partnered with Werther’s Original to help solve the “Great Caramel Debate”. National Caramel Day is April 5th and we want to know…is it “Kar-muhl or “Ker-uh-muhl” to you?

Before we get into the debate, let me tell you a little story about my Grandpa Hudiburg. He had the most amazing farmhouse and a constant stash of rare Werther’s Original candy hidden in a very special place in his house. He once shared his secret place with me – inside his big butlers pantry off his kitchen. As a young girl, as soon as we’d get to Grandpa’s house I’d sneak away from the rest of my family, head into the pantry, climb up on the step stool, then the countertop and reach into a glass bowl to grab a  Werther’s Original candy. …

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I have a confession to make…I haven’t started my Christmas shopping yet. Not one single gift has been purchased. As of when I’m writing this post, I have 13 days to get all of my shopping done, wrapped, and under the tree. Eeeeeks!

I just want to sit around eating Christmas candy, snuggled under blankets, reading books or watching movies. I don’t want to shop. Do you want to come do all my Christmas shopping for me? Please? If you do I’ll make a batch of this Angel Food Christmas Candy for you. Deal?…

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 I am blaming this Slow Cooker Butterfinger Hot Chocolate recipe on Anna from Crunchy Creamy Sweet. She made a Homemade Butterfinger Bark for her blog the other day that pretty much blew me away. Did you know if you take candy corn and peanut butter and melt them together it tastes just like the inside of a Butterfinger candy bar? Me neither! But now I do and I’m obsessed.

Add to this new found discovery the fact that I have a daughter with a birthday coming up. She wants to go on a hayride with family and friends for her party and after have s’mores and hot chocolate to drink. My mind was trying to figure out how to have a large batch of hot chocolate ready for the girls after the hayride. This train of thought then went to… Oh! I have a Crock-Pot® Slow Cooker Cook & Carry to giveaway. Which then this all squashed together is simply to say……

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Because Kelly broke her leg towards the end of the summer, we had to leave some of the items on our 2014 Summer of Fun Bucket List un-checked. The end of our summer ended up being a bit lame… a lot of sitting around, doing not much of anything because Kelly was still pretty hurt. Luckily, my friends at Juicy Fruit sent us quite the care package full of their newest varieties of bubble gum – yes!!
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I just read something that says there are 35 days until Christmas! Can you believe it? I’m going to continue focusing on Thanksgiving until next Friday, then it’s going to be all Christmas all the time around our house. It’s my absolute favorite holiday and I can’t wait!

For the first time ever I’ve already bought a couple of Christmas presents. I took advantage of the Erin Condren 50% off sale the other day and got my kids teachers some personalized desk pads. I thought that was a really great gift but wanted to add a little more. …

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I did something ahead of time for a holiday. Can you believe it? I’m feeling rather on the ball right now.

I signed up to bring treats to Leah’s Valentine’s Day party at her preschool. I don’t usually do that… I typically leave treat bringing up to the more creative, “pinteresting” moms, but I figured preschool kids are pretty easy to impress. Surely, even I, could make something easy that they would love….

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After the egg cream float, daycare days, we moved to the country. Well, it was 3 1/2 miles south of the tiny town I went to school in, but to a young girl, that was country. There was no Pizza Hut delivery. There were no friends just dropping in to see if I wanted to play. There was nothing but my family and the animals and the land. The worst part about it was there was no easy access to candy. I had friends who could just walk to a convenience store to get their candy fix. Not me… I had to wait until we’d “go into town” before I could get candy. Such a rough life I lead…

I never understood why my mom couldn’t just make candy bars. I mean, the ingredients were right there on the side of the package. How hard could it be to figure out how much Thiamine Mononitrate and Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate went into a candy bar? Once again, you can pity me because my mom never even tried… I was left candy deprived.

You can imagine my determination the other day when we passed an apartment complex right next to a gas station and I heard my 7 year old exclaim “That would be the best place to live, ever!” When I asked her why, she said “Because you could get candy easily any time you wanted!” Ahhhh…. the flood of memories came rushing back to me and I became bound and determined to give my girl what I never had… her favorite candy bar without having to wait until a “trip to town” to get it.

OK so – Homemade Twix Caramel Cookie Bars…. soooooo good, but no substitute for the real Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate filled goodness you can find at the convenience store. If you are looking for a shortbread caramel Twix type cookie bar, this recipe is for you. If you are looking for the real thing, move next to a gas station.  I’m pretty sure that’s the only solution.

Recipe: Homemade Twix Caramel Cookie Bars

For the shortbread layer:

• 2 sleeves Girl Scout Shortbread cookies, finely crushed (I used a food processor)
• 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
• 9 Tablespoons butter, melted

Combine cookies, sugar and melted butter in a bowl. Press into prepared 8-inch square baking dish. Place in the refrigerator to chill while you create the caramel layer,

For the caramel layer (from Liz at Hooiser Homemade)

• 1 cup graham crackers, crushed
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter

Combine all ingredients into a medium sized saucepan and bring to a boil, while stirring, over medium heat. Continue stirring and allow the mixture to boil for 5 minutes, or until caramel starts to pull away from the side of the pan. Pour the caramel mixture over the shortbread crust, spreading so it is an even layer. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

For the chocolate:

• 1 package Milk Chocolate chips
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1 Tablespoon whipping cream

In a microwave safe dish, melt the chocolate chips and butter together on low power for 2 minutes. Stir in the whipping cream. Continue the melting process at 30 second intervals until chocolate is melted and smooth. Pour over the caramel layer and spread until even and smooth. Place in the refrigerator for 1 hour, or until settled. Cut into squares, top with crumbs from the shortbread crust, and serve.

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When it comes to creating a tablescape for a dinner party, I try to keep things simple. I do like to create some sort of place holders that will stand out as well as will serve as a souvenir of sorts that the guest can take home with them.

When Breakstone’s Sour Cream and Better Homes and Gardens challenged me to create an Easter tablescape, I knew I wanted the main focus to be on the place holders. I decided that my Easter tablescape theme was going to be “flowers and candy”…flowers because it is Spring and candy because my kids gave up candy for Lent and by the time Easter rolls around they are going to want to devour as much sugary goodness as they can! I thought “flowers and candy” would be whimsical, fun, family friendly and would make a beautiful combination for our special Easter feast.

For the place holders I simply painted the inside and outside of a small, 2-inch Terra Cotta pot using acrylic paint in a variety of spring colors. Once painted, I added the guest name on the rim of the pot. To reduce waste, I took the stem of an artificial Gerber Daisy (which I used in another part of the tablescape) and created a handle for the pot, hot gluing it to the inside. I filled the pot with Spanish Moss, then topped with a handful of jelly beans. Can you imagine how excited your guests will be when they take these spring like mementos home from your celebration?

Those artificial Gerber Daisies I mentioned above? I snipped those off of their stems and hot glued them to a Styrofoam wreath I had painted yellow using acrylic paint. What a gorgeous punch of color these beautiful flowers added to the table! Once our celebration is over, I’m going to add a thick ribbon to the top and hang this up as a wreath on my door. The great thing about artificial flowers as well as a hot glue gun is you can adorn just about anything you want to match the look you are going for. Our bread basket, napkin holders, etc. all got a hot glued Gerber Daisy to make them match our theme.

Thank you to Breakstone’s Sour Cream and Better Homes and Gardens for inspiring me to get creative in my kitchen this Easter. The Pepper-Crusted Pork Loin with Sour Cream and Onion Sauce is seriously one of the tastiest pork loin dishes I’ve had and I don’t get crafty enough around here. It was fun to trade in my spatula for a hot glue gun for a bit. I can’t wait to do it some more.

Don’t forget, Breakstone’s Sour Cream and Better Homes and Gardens are giving you the chance to win $2500 plus the opportunity for daily prizes as well! Make sure to share your favorite holiday traditions on their site (takes less than a minute) and you could possibly win the money to create your ultimate Easter celebration! Good luck!

Disclosure:  This is a sponsored post for Breakstone’s Sour Cream.  All ideas, thoughts, experiences, photos are my own.

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