Brownie Hack for Reunion Pot Lucks

Posted on September 7, 2020 by Aunt Mo

The secret to cutting brownies

I’m not sure what this has to do with family reunions, except that a lot of brownies show up at family reunion pot lucks, but here’s my hack for cutting brownies.

I hate when I’m cutting brownies into squares and the knife pulls pieces of the brownie into clumps that stick to the knife. It helps when the brownies are cooled but they still look so messy. The solution is simple- cut your brownies with a PLASTIC knife. Plastic knives are naturally non-stick and won’t tear up your brownies as you cut them into squares. Your brownies will have straight edges and look as good as they are to eat.

Pirate & MERMAID Family Reunion Theme

Posted on October 29, 2019 by Aunt Mo

Ahoy there, Pirates and Mermaids! We’ve just completed a major overhaul of our pirate family reunion package and now it’s a Pirate & MERMAID Family Reunion. This reunion theme package is now perfect for everyone that attends your family reunion.

The Pirate and Mermaid reunion is for everyone who has ever dreamed of sailing or swimming in the seven seas in search of excitement and adventure. This reunion includes everything the Pirate Themed reunion has plus tons of Mermaid printables and ideas. It’s a treasure chest full of step by step instructions, templates and printables to help you plan a family reunion.

Pirates and Mermaids are so popular right now and there is no shortage of swashbuckling fun with this family reunion theme. Use the over 50 pages of pirate games, decorations, activities and good things to eat to help your family set sail to their favorite Mermaid lagoon or Pirate cove. Your families’ eyes will be filled with visions of gold and jewels as they discover the real treasure in life is family.

You can find the Mermaid and Pirate family reunion theme package here

https://familyreunionhelper.com/products/products.php?ProductID=33

Our Favorite Halloween Treat

Posted on October 15, 2019 by Aunt Mo

Peanut butter Eyeballs!

We love peanut butter eyeballs. My daughter found the recipe several years ago and it has since been a Halloween family favorite. The little kids in our family like them because they’re kinda scary, Grandma likes them because they don’t look very realistic and everyone likes them because they’re delicious! The saying, “bet you can’t eat just one!” certainly applies to these delicious treats.

What you will need:

2 cups confectioners’ sugar, divided
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 pound white candy coating (in small pieces) or white chocolate chips
24 milk chocolate M&M’s
1 tablespoon water
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring

Directions

Mix together 1 cup of the confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter and butter. Roll into 1-in. balls; place on a waxed paper-lined pan. Chill for 30 minutes or until firm.
In a microwave, melt white candy coating; stir until smooth. Dip balls in coating; allow excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper. Immediately top of each eyeball with an M and M to make the pupil.

Make squiggly lines to make the eyeballs look “bloodshot”.

Makes about 2 dozen eyeballs.

Pancake Bar

Posted on August 20, 2019 by Aunt Mo

Pancake Party- a delicious way to feed your family.

Pancake bars are easy to put together and can easily be customized to your family’s needs. The toppings are limited only by your imagination and the pancake recipe can be your favorite store brand or a family favorite recipe.

I’ve hosted a couple of pancake bars over the years, and it’s one of my favorite ways to celebrate pretty much anything. Christmas, neighborhood get-togethers, church functions, birthdays and fund raisers or sleepovers. It can also be a pretty inexpensive way to do breakfast at a family reunion.

You can cook your pancakes on the spot or make a big batch of pancakes ahead of time. Just be sure to let your precooked pancakes cool then stack them between sheets of parchment paper and freeze them for later. When you’re ready to use your premade pancakes you can reheat the pancakes in the oven, microwave or Dutch oven.

I like to serve a variety of toppings with plenty of options for those that are eating healthy and for those that like to to make the craziest looking pancake they can.

The most popular item on my pancake bar is the spray whipping cream. When planning your pancake bar, you can really just think ice cream sundaes and that will help you come up with some fun toppings. Here’s some of our favorites:

Butter
Peanut Butter
Nutella
Honey
Yogurt
Fruits such as peaches, blueberries, strawberries, and sliced bananas.
M & M’s
Crushed butterfingers
Toasted nuts
Gummy Bears
Sweetened shredded coconut
Sprinkles
Mini Marshmallows
Mini chocolate chips
Whipped cream
Syrups such as Maple, Cinnamon, Raspberry of Strawberry
Hershey’s syrup

You can serve your pancakes alone (which is what I like to do) or add a side of bacon,, sausage or eggs. Either way, everyone can find something to love on a pancake bar and no one should go away hungry.

My New Favorite Reunion Recipe

Posted on June 10, 2019 by Aunt Mo

Biscuit & Gravy Casserole for a Crowd

Uncle Steven attended a camp out with about 90 youth this past week. When he was telling me about the camp he said his favorite thing to eat was the Biscuit and Gravy casserole they had for breakfast. It sounded delicious and so I contacted the camp cook and she shared her recipe and I tried it out on my family. Kids and adults thought it was delicious and it was very easy to make.

Biscuits and Gravy Casserole Recipe

I made 2 cake pans (9×13) of this so I doubled the recipe. I used 1 lb sausage and 1 lb ground beef.

Ingredients

1 lb bulk pork breakfast sausage or ground beef

1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury™ Grands!™ Southern Homestyle refrigerated Buttermilk biscuits (8 biscuits)

1 pkg of biscuit gravy mix (should make 1 quart of gravy)

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13×9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray.

In 12-inch nonstick skillet, cook sausage/ground beef until browned and thoroughly cooked.

Using another pan, cook gravy according to package directions.. Combine thickened gravy and meat. Spoon into a 9×13 dish.

Separate dough into 8 biscuits. Cut each biscuit into fourths. Top sausage mixture with biscuit pieces.

Sprinkle with a little cheese if desired.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated and biscuits are golden brown.

Serve & enjoy but don’t plan on leftovers. I will use this recipe to feed family at two reunions this year. I think I’ll cook the meat and make the gravy in advance so I just need to assemble the casserole a couple of hours before we eat.

Fool Your Family With These Family Friendly Pranks

Posted on March 19, 2018 by Aunt Mo

Our top 5 April fools tricks and treAts

When my kids were little, it became tradition at my house to have “funny” food for one of our April Fools Day meals. For many years I made “Flannel” pancakes. I don’t know why but I fooled my family for probably 5 years in a row with my flannel pancakes.

Now that my kids are grown with kids of their own we continue the tradition but have added additional pranks- my favorite being my delicious Aprils Fools Brownies. Actually they are BROWN- E’s.

Brown- E’s

To make my delicious Brown-E’s I put a bunch of brown capitol E’s in my special brownie pan and cover it with foil. At the end of dinner I ask everyone if they still have room for a brown-E. This prank has been going on for about 3 years and I’m afraid this year the older grandkids will remember this trick.

For Sale Sign

Another fun way I’ve fooled my grandkids, which all live with a 1/2 mile of my house, is to put a “For Sale” in my front yard. They didn’t that was very funny and fortunately, neither did our good neighbors.

Frozen Breakfast

Put cereal and milk in a bowl and let it freeze overnight. You can freeze it with the spoon in it or not. The next morning right before breakfast, take the bowl out of the freezer and pour a little bit of fresh milk on top.When your hungry kids try to dig in, they’ll find that their cereal won’t budge.

Image result for cereal png

Flannel Pancakes

When cooking pancakes put a piece of white flannel, about 3”x3”, into each pancake and cook as usual. Flannel makes pancakes impossible to cut and eaters will become quite frustrated until they realize they’ve been fooled. This is an easy trick to do when serving many people. Put one flannel pancake on a plate with two or three other pancakes.

Non-drinkable Juice

What you’ll need:
Clear drinking glasses, Jell-o, Straws

The night before make some jell-o in clear juice glasses. Use a flavor that matches the juice they drink – such as grape, orange etc. Fill the glass about ¾ full and after it starts to set, insert a drinking straw. Once it is set, it will look like a normal glass of juice with a straw in it. Simply set it at their place at the breakfast table. Provide spoons so they can eat the gelatin when they realize they can’t drink it.

And here’s one more fun idea. Take a few quarters and Gorilla glue them on the sidewalk or walkway leading up to your house. When the grandkids, or your guests, try to pick them up they’re stuck. Warning- the glue will leave a dark spot on your concrete when you pry it off.

Cute Christmas Treats for Your Family Party

Posted on December 2, 2017 by Aunt Mo

Perfect Treats for Your Family Christmas Party

Simple to make and delicious to eat!

These cute reindeer and snowman stole the show at our family Christmas party last year. They are simple to make and delicious to eat. You can make them yourself or use these goodies as an ice breaker activity when your family first arrives at the party.

The Snowmen are easy to make using Hostess Sno balls. Just keep your eyes open for them because they seem to only be available at certain times of the year.

Use a little white frosting to glue an orange candy like an M&M or Skittle or Sixlet to the Sno Ball. You can also just do a dab of orange frosting. Use black frosting gel in a tube to make the eyes. Cut a paper straw in half and press it inside of the Sno Ball.

Hostess Sno Balls -6ct Box

Reindeer

Making the reindeer are a little more complicated though once I figured out the process,even my little grandchildren were able to make their own reindeer.

LITTLE DEBBIE SNACK SWISS ROLLS CHOCOLATE & CREME 12 CT

Purchase a package of Little Debbie’s Swiss Rolls.

First you will need to cut two small slits on each side of the Swiss Roll and gently place one pretzel on each side.

Put a dab of white frosting where you want the eyes to go and carefully press the point side of two white chocolate chips into the Swiss Rolls to make the eyes. Use black gel to make the dots for the eyes.

Put a dab of white frosting to glue a red M&M nose below the eyes. Cut a paper straw in half and press it inside of the Swiss Roll.

HINT: Be very careful when placing the antlers and the eyes. If you push to hard your reindeer may look like this…

Halloween Ghost Cake With Flaming Eyes

Posted on October 18, 2017 by Aunt Mo

Ghost Cake With Flaming Eyes

Posted on October 18, 2015

When I was a young mother I attended a workshop that included some fun holiday cooking ideas. The most memorable idea I came away from the workshop with was this ghost cake with flaming eyes.

The best thing about this ghost cake is that you get maximum effect for minimum effort, so, if you are a busy mom or grandma, you can whip this cake up very quickly but the “wow” factor is huge!

To make the eyes flaming you place a lemon extract-doused sugar cube inside of a clean eggshell for each eye and then you light the cubes on fire. When presenting the cake turn out the lights before bringing in the cake.

Ghost Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

1 (18.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix, mix according to package directions
1 (7.2-ounce) package fluffy white frosting mix or make your own 7 minute frosting. (No Cook 7 Minute Frosting Recipe)
2 sugar cubes & 1 teaspoon lemon extract
Licorice string, chocolate chips, m & m’s- whatever you want to make a mouth

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 x 2-inch baking pan.

Prepare the cake mix as directed on package. (When you break the eggs, crack each in the middle and pour out the egg. Then save the 2 best shell halves. Wash these halves and turn upside down to dry.) After mixing, pour the batter into the pan.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. When cooled, you can remove the cake from the pan and put on a sturdy piece of cardboard or a tray so that you can trim your cake to look more ghost- like. I just left my cake in the baking pan and felt like it looked ghost- like enough without the extra work to decorate it.

Frost the cake. Place the 2 egg shell halves round sides down on cake for eyes. Place 1 sugar cube in each shell half. Make a mouth of licorice string.

Just before serving, pour 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract over each sugar cube. Light the eyes and amaze family and friends!

Lemon Jell-O to Feed a Crowd

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Aunt Mo

A Favorite Family Reunion “Side”

I love this salad, it’s inexpensive to make, quick to put together (it takes awhile to set though) and everyone loves it. I’m not really sure that you should call it a salad, there’s no fruit in it, let’s just call it a “side”. The fun thing about this side dish is that it separates and looks like you’ve spent a lot of time working on layers. In reality, it just makes the layers all by itself.

Lemon Jell-O for a Crowd

3 (3 oz.) pkg. lemon Jell-O
4 c. boiling water
1 (12 oz.) can frozen lemonade consentrate
1 (12 oz.) container Cool Whip
1 (12 oz.) container Cool Whip- for the top layer

Mix Jell-O and water until Jell-O is dissolved. Add lemonade and stir. Refrigerate until syrupy.

Fold in the whipped topping to the Jell-O and pour into a clear glass dish (I used a 10 x 15 Pyrex glass dish) and refrigerate until firm.

In the above photo you can see the layers beginning to form even as I’m folding in the whipped topping.

Spread a top layer for whipped topping over the Jell-O when set.

You change this recipe up to make it a fun side dish for using orange Jell-O with a can of orange juice and serving at your Halloween or Autumn gathering.

I’m not a great food photographer, I’m more of a, “I’ve got 80 people to feed how do I do that easily, inexpensively and deliciously” type of person. This lemon “side” is the answer for our family reunions and parties.

Build Your Own Pizza Party

Posted on September 18, 2017 by Aunt Mo

Build Your Own Pizza and Team Pizza Building

Most families like pizza and for many families, pizza is part of their Friday night fun, but skip ordering take out and try one of our pizza party ideas with a twist.

Pizza Bar

A favorite pizza activity of our kiddos is making their own own pizzas- This is a great way for kids to create their own custom pizza and you know they’ll eat it because they get to choose their own toppings.

The only tricky part of a Build Your Own Pizza party is choosing the crust you want to use. You can make your own pizza dough or buy a premade crust. Pictured below are some options. We have also used English muffins, French bread or pita bread, left whole, for crust. If making your crust from scratch be sure to keep each crust “personal” pan size.

Image result for pizza crust

Set out popular pizza toppings. To get you started, the 10 most popular pizza toppings are listed below and are a good place to start:

Pepperoni
Mushrooms
Onions
Sausage
Bacon
Cheese
Black olives
Green peppers
Pineapple
Spinach

Our family would include barbeque chicken and Canadian bacon to that list. You might also want to consider offering a white sauce and a red sauce as options for your pizza bar.

Pizza Making for Teams

To add some suspense to a traditional pizza party, divide your family and friends into teams. Give each team a premade pizza crust, a jar of pizza sauce and a bag of cheese.

Wrap pizza toppings in gift wrap or newspaper and let each team pick 2 or 3 of the wrapped toppings. These are the toppings that they must use on their pizza. They won’t know what toppings they have picked until they unwrap their packages. Decide if trading toppings will be allowed.

After all the teams have “decorated” their pizzas and baked them, set them out for all the teams to try. Cut pizza in small slices so there are lots of samples. You can even give prizes for the most delicious pizza creation.

The challenge with any pizza party is getting them baked. Individual pizzas are great because you can fit more that one pizza in your oven at a time. As pizzas bake you may want to play an ice breaker game to keep your guests entertained. You can find some our favorites HERE.

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