Eowyn's 5th Birthday

I just realized that I never followed up with how Eowyn's 5th birthday went :)

So, as you could see in prior posts, I had planned all sorts of fun games for our little guests, but once they got playing in the wading pool and the sprinklers, they really didn't want to do anything else :)

I did manage to convince the birthday girl and one of her friends to do the water relay.  They had a full bucket of water at one end with cups, spoons, sponges, and other things to use to transport the water to an empty bucket a few yards away.  At the end, both participants had the same amount of water in their "finish" buckets and were longingly looking back at the other children who were splashing in the wading pool, so we called it a draw and let them each pick a prize.

We also had our traditional pinata!  This year was a fishie!

I also, sadly, attempted to make Eowyn's cake.  I don't know why I do this to myself, but I plan something really cool and am always disappointed by the outcome.  I thought I did a great job with the "seaweed" and found some pearl colored Sixlets at iParty to use for bubbles, but the octopus ended up not being able to stand the heat and melted down.  Lol- it ended up looking like a purple sunshine =P

I'd have to say that the most fun was had with the water wars that the kids (and a few adults) had =)  water guns, water balloons, buckets, hoses... Water was flying everywhere!  And not one child got upset about getting water in their eyes or getting splashed.  It was a great day!

Devious little birthday girl!

Chocolate Covered Cherry Jello Shots

As I prepared the usual Jello Shots for our St. Paddy's day party, I decided that I wanted to try something new.  Since I'm pretty much addicted to Pinterest, I found a great idea from a fellow (and much more dedicated) blogger-That's So Michelle (http://www.thatssomichelle.com/2011/10/strawberry-jello-shots-in-mini.html).  I tried to adapt her recipe my desires...

Now, I will warn you that the finished product in these pictures are not exactly pretty, but they sure pack a punch.

Secondly, I plan to attempt this once I am able to find some silicon mini-muffin molds.  The use of the Press & Seal wrap in the metal mini-muffin tins cause a lot of frustration.  It didn't stick as well as I would have liked, so when I was trying to get the chocolate to form the shape I wanted, I had to contend with movement that wouldn't have been an issue if I could have used what I wanted to.


What you will need:

Glad Press 'n Seal
24 ct Mini Muffin Tin
24 plastic condiment cups (used by Jello Shotiers, such as myself, solely for Jello Shots)
1 Package (14 oz.) Chocolate "Make & Mold" Candy Wafers (I found a microwavable kind)
1 box of Cherry Jello
1 cup of hot/boiled water
1 cup of vodka 




First off, you will want to get two sections of Press 'n Seal.  As you press the Press 'n Seal in the depressions for the muffins you'll find that you end up with less than you thought you had.  Make sure that you start in the middle and have plenty overlapping on the top, bottom, and side.  Do the same to the second side.  It should look something like below.

Next, melt your chocolate.  I ended up tossing the whole bag in a microwave-safe bowl and kept heating it up at 10 second intervals and stirring until everything was all melted.  Pour the chocolate into the muffin tin (about 3/4 of the way to the top of each muffin).  


Then gently press one of the plastic condiment cups into the chocolate.  This is where it gets a little tricky...Because the Press 'n Seal doesn't stay as stuck to the tin as one would like, you may need to twist the condiment cup a little while holding the edge of the Press 'n Seal to make sure that your chocolate goes the way you want it to.

When you're done, pop them in the freezer for about 5 minutes to allow the chocolate to set.

Again, another tricky part.  Now you need to gently squeeze the condiment cups to get them out of the chocolate molds.  I found that if you gently squeeze all the way around the cup and then twist it, the cup will pop right out.  If the chocolate cracks a little, don't worry.  You can use some melted chocolate to seal any holes or cracks.

 As you see here, this cup has a few cracks near the top of the cup.  I just spattered some chocolate to make sure the cup didn't crack apart during the next step (make sure you put the cups back in the freezer for a few minutes to get any newly added chocolate to set).

Now you can gently peel your cups out of the tin.  I simply started at one edge and lifted the Press 'n Seal so that I could hold the chocolate cup with one hand and then peeled the plastic wrap off of it. 

Remove all of the chocolate cups and take the Press 'n Seal off of the mini muffin tin.  
Put the chocolate cups in the fridge or freezer to keep cool until you are ready to add the Jello (I put my cups back into the tin after I had taken the Press 'n Seal off).

The next step is to make your Jello.  As per the back of the package, boil one cup of water and mix in the Jello mix until it has completely melted.  Instead of adding cold water (as per the back of the box), you will want to add your cup of vodka.  Mix thoroughly.

Unfortunately, now comes the waiting game.  Pouring hot Jello into your chocolate cups will cause them to melt, so you will want to wait at least 45 minutes (I waited an hour) until the Jello cools to about room temperature.  The Jello should not set during this time, but I made sure to stir it a few times while I was waiting.  


About 5 minutes before I was ready to put the Jello in the chocolate cups, I removed the cups from the freezer.  I didn't want them to be too cold and possibly crack.

Now you can pour your Jello in your cups!  I found it was less messy to take each cup out and pour the Jello in it, then put the cup back in the tin so that it didn't tip and spill.

When you have filled all of your cups, put them in the fridge for a few hours.  

After the Jello has firmed up, you are ready to eat your yummy Chocolate Covered Cherry Jello Shots!

I had unfortunately grabbed a bag of DARK chocolate wafers, but my guests said they tasted great!  I'm not a huge fan of dark chocolate, but found that the bitterness of the dark chocolate did cut down on the strength of the vodka ;)  Next time I plan to be a little more careful and READ the bag before I buy it... and also see if I can find some silicon mini muffin tins.  I DID try to find some before this experiment, but I think they're just a made up product that I assumed would have been invented for this very purpose... =)




~Rissa