Twitter Party Tip of the Day Feb 13th

Agaperabba Party Tip of the Day: keep your toilet clean during parties- place a container of antibacterial, bathroom cleaning wipes near the toilet, most guests will utilized what is provide and it keeps the room and toilet in tip top shape!

Valentine Week Thursday - Love Pops

L O V E POPS

INGREDIENTS
12 craft sticks
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 (1 ounce) squares white chocolate
1 egg white
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
3 drops red food coloring


DIRECTIONS
Soak craft sticks for one hour in a bowl of cold water.

In small heavy saucepan over very low heat, stir chocolate chips until melted and smooth. Remove from heat; let cool.

In large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed, beat butter, brown sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Beat egg in well; beat in cooled chocolate. With mixer at low speed, beat in flour, cocoa powder and salt until smooth. Divide dough in half.



Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and grease 2 large cookie sheets.



Roll each half out to 1/8 inch thickness between 2 sheets of wax paper; freeze, in wax paper, 5 minutes. Peal top sheets of wax paper off dough; cut dough out using 3-inch heart-shaped cutter.



Reroll scraps; freeze again 5 minutes; cut out. Place half of the hearts 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheet.
Drain sticks, pat dry. Place one stick on each heart to make 2 1/2 inch handle, pressing lightly into dough. Place remaining hearts on top; press edges gently to seal. Bake about 12 minutes until firm to touch. Cool on wire racks.



In 2-quart heavy saucepan over very low heat, or in top of double boiler set over barely simmering water, stir white or milk chocolate until melted and smooth; if using both chocolates, melt in separate 1-quart pans. Remove from heat.
Holding each lollipop by handle, dip into chocolate to coat on both sides; let excess chocolate drip back into pan. Place each lollipop as it is coated on wax-paper-lined cookie sheet; refrigerate 20 minutes until chocolate is set.



To Make Icing: In large bowl with electric mixer at high speed, beat egg white and confectioners' sugar until very smooth. If desired, remove small portion of icing to separate bowl; tint with drops of food coloring. Spoon icing into decorating bag fitted with small writing tip; pipe over lollipops in desired patterns. Decorate with assorted candies and decors; attaching with dots of icing

Twitter Party Tip of the Day Feb 12th

Agaperabba Party tip of the day: Does you child love Elmo or Dr. Seuss? Have a fish bowl centerpiece - just remember to keep the fish in the shade!

Valentine Week Wednesday Magnet Craft

Salt dough is a really fun medium and you can make so many things from it!

Try these adorable heart-shaped magnets for the refrigerator and pins to give as gifts.

What you'll need:
½ cup salt
1 cup flour
½ cup water
Wooden spoon
Rolling pin
Extra flour
Heart-shaped cookie cutters
Magnets
Pin backs
Hot glue
Acrylic paint (pink, white, red, light blue, yellow, white, pink, silver)
Pink and orange glitter glue
Gold glitter paint
Toothpick
Paint brush
Acrylic sealer
Wax paper
Cookie sheet

How to make it:

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

Mix together, salt, flour, and water until dough is formed.

Knead the dough on a floured surface until the mixture is elastic and smooth. If dough is too sticky, sprinkle with flour and continue to do so until stickiness is gone. Do not add too much flour as this will dry out the dough and cause it to crack before it's baked.

Roll out the dough to about ¼" thick with a rolling pin that has been dusted with flour.

Use different sized heart-shaped cookie cutters to create as many pieces as you like.

For smaller children, use a single shape to make it easier at painting time. For older children, you can double up and even triple some of the hearts for a 3D affect as we did (see photo).

Place all hearts onto an ungreased cookie sheet and place into the preheated oven.

Bake for 2 hours.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Paint with acrylic paints, glitter glue and/or glitter paint and spray finished projects with acrylic sealer.

To write the words on the conversation heart pins, use a toothpick dipped in white paint.

Hot glue a round magnet to the back of larger hearts to hang on the fridge, and a in back to the conversation hearts.

Tips:

To make 3D polka dots, simply roll salt dough into small ball shapes and place on top of heart before placing into oven.

Parents should not allow small children to handle a glue gun as burns can occur. Older children should be closely supervised if allowed to handle it themselves.

Salt dough will not keep for later projects as it gets hard and cracks. Depending on how many hearts you plan to make, you can either halve the recipe or double it.

Twitter Party Tip of the Day Feb 11th

Agaperabba Party Tip of the Day: Cut the food in half! To save cut hot dogs, corn, chicken nuggets, muffins etc. the kids won't even notice and you'll be amazed how much food isn't wasted!

Valentine Week Monday

Speading the word of our blog has been harder then I thought, I've started "advertising" on the blog listings, let's see if we get a few more readers. After all I don't want all these tips and expertise to go to waste! ;)



So here is to Monday's day of L O V E



CHOCOLATE-WALNUT LACE COOKIE ICE CREAM SANDWICHES
Serves 4

¼ cup granulated sugar

1½ Tbsps. butter ¼ cup quick-cooking rolled oats

2 Tbsps. chopped walnuts

1 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. vanilla extract 1 large egg white

1 pt. low-fat strawberry or chocolate ice cream



Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with foil and coat it with cooking spray or brush it with oil. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar and butter. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is melted and bubbling, about 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl. Add the oats, walnuts, cocoa, baking powder and vanilla, then stir to combine. Set aside. In a small bowl, use a fork to beat the egg white until it is slightly frothy. Measure out 1 tablespoon of the beaten white and stir it into the cookie batter; discard the remaining egg white or reserve for another use. Drop half tablespoonfuls of the batter about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet to make 12 cookies. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies look dry and are just beginning to color on top. Slide the sheet of foil and cookies off the baking sheet and onto a flat surface. Let the cookies cool completely. Peel the cookies off the foil. To assemble the sandwiches, set a cookie in the center of a dessert plate. Top with ¼ cup of the ice cream. Set a second cookie on top of the ice cream, then top that with another ¼ cup of ice cream. Set a third cookie on top. As you assemble the sandwiches, place them in the freezer until ready to serve.



Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 232 calories; 82 calories from fat; 9 g fat (4 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 16 mg cholesterol; 33 g carbohydrate; 5 g protein; 2 g fiber; 150 mg sodium.

Valentine Week

Sharing the L O V E holiday with all of you I will post some fun and easy sweetheart treats and ideas this week.

Today is heart-shaped cupcakes.

They're easy to make and require no special pans or molds.

To make some, line your cupcake tins with baking liners. Then prepare a batch of your favorite batter and fill the cups halfway. Place a small marble or a 1/2-inch ball of aluminum foil between each liner and one side of the tin (a great job for kids). This will push the paper into the batter to form the notch in the heart.

Bake the cupcakes at the temperature specified by your recipe but check for doneness a few minutes early. Let the cupcakes cool, then remove the marbles or foil balls. Frost with icing and top with colored sugar or sprinkles.

Twitter Party Tip of the Day Feb 8th

Agaperabba Party tip of the Day: When using a fondue or chocolate fountain, use a plastic table cloth underneath because there will be a mess and this way, you can toss it all away!

Twitter Party Tip of the Day Feb 7th

Agaperabba Party Tip of the Day: Don't wait until the last minute to book your kids party entertainment -last minute calls make me feel bad saying No, sorry we're booked :(

Twitter Party Tip of the Day Feb 6th

Agaperabba Party tip of the Day: Having trouble with a stain the day after the party? check out How Stuff Works and their long list of stain removals! http://tinyurl.com/2dt9ja