St. Patrick's Day

Each year, someone in my family hosts a St. Patrick's Day party. My maiden name is McBride, and the McBride side of the family really loves to celebrate our heritage, mostly by drinking green beer and making all kinds of green food. Who doesn't love good food, green beer, and great company? This year, for our annual St. Patty's Day party, I decided to make three things to bring: 

1. Spinach Dip This is one of my favorite dips. I love making it to take places because its quick and easy to make,  can be made up in advance, and is always a party favorite. It's especially great if you have any vegetarians in your group, and is naturally green, so perfect for St. Patrick's Day! 

2. Chocolate Chip Toffee Cheesecake Bars- I know that's a mouthful, but its worth it. These cheesecake cookies are literally heaven on earth, and I easily colored them green for the occasion. 

3. Leprechaun Bait- This is the first time I've made this, but I've seen similar versions on both Facebook and Pinterest so I figured I'd give them a shot. This was a pretty simple recipe, and could be easily changed for any holiday! Add red and pink M&M's for Valentine's day, or red and green M&M's for Reindeer Bait, pastel M&M's for Easter Bunny Bait, or add Reese's Pieces or fall colored M&M's to make it a Halloween dessert! 

My grandparents hosted the party this year, and it was a great day. The weather was nice so we all got to be outside, and we showered my Grandma with a little birthday love by us girls all going to get pedicures. We spent the rest of the day having green food and drinks, and hanging out. Life doesn't get much better than fun times with family. 

Girl Selfie! Here we have a pic of some of the ladies in my family. Up top we have my gma
& my s-mom, and on the bottom we have my great grandma, my sister in law, and myself.
You can see that we are all decked out in our green St. Patty's Day gear! :) 

Chocolate Chip Toffee Cheesecake Bars

Wow! Long name, but 100% amazing. This is one of my very favorite desserts to make. I made it last year for my own birthday and we had my family over to cook out. Mothers day is usually the week after my birthday, and I asked my mother-in-law & sister-in-law what I could bring for Mother's Day and they said more cheesecake bars!! So we ate this dessert two weeks in a row, and have had it several times since then. I made it this weekend for my family's St. Patrick's Day party, and colored the cheesecake part green. I initially found this recipe from Joyously Domestic via Pinterest, and have adapted it a bit to make it my own. Here's how I made it:



Ingredients 

Cheesecake mixture: 
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 8-oz. cream cheese, room temperature
*I also like to use parchment paper for this recipe. 

Cookie portion: 
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup milk chocolate chips 

2/3 cup Heath Toffee bits


Green food coloring if you're making these for St. Patrick's Day


To start, preheat oven to 385 degrees. Mix together the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt and vanilla.  I used my KitchenAid Mixer for this, and it save me a lot of work. next dump in your egg and mix thouroughly, then stir in your flour and baking soda. Last, dump in your chocolate chips and toffee pieces. 

Divide mixture in half. Line a 13x9 pan with parchment paper, and spray with cooking spray. Then spread half of the mixture into the pan. I use my handss to do this.  Set aside.

For the cheesecake portion, microwave your cream cheese for 1 minute on 50% power, then put in mixing bowl and mix together the cream cheese and white sugar until fully blended. I used my mixer again for this part  Beat in the egg and vanilla.  Mix until smooth. Stir in a couple drops food coloring if you want to color your cheesecake filling.  I

Pour the cheesecake mixture over your cookie dough, and make sure your cookie is mostly all covered with the cheesecake filling. Then, use your hands and flatten out your remaining cookie on top. I did this by grabbing handfuls at a time, flattening htem out into circles and laying them on top. It's okay if some of your cheesecake is exposed. You want to have the cheesecake mostly covered with cookie, but it doesn't have to be 100%.

Bake for 25 - 35 minutes or until the bars are cooked through and your cookie is light brown. 

Once your cheesecake bars are cooled, remove the parchment paper and place your cookie back in the 13x9 pan. Cut into squares. Store refrigerated. 

Normally the filling is white, but this time I colored it green in honor of St. Patty's Day!

Kerri's Spinach Dip

This recipe came from my sweet Kansas friend, Kerri. When Lee and I lived in Kansas right after college, Kerri and I worked together, and she would always bring this amazing spin dip for our food days, and lucky for me, she shared the recipe! I like making this recipe when I am hosting a party, because it can be made a day or two in advance, and will be ready to go the day of the party! Here's how I make it:

Kerri's Spin Dip Ingredients

2 pkg. (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach

1 pkg. dry vegetable soup mix (without noodles)

1/2 c. water

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese

1 c. (8 oz.) chive dip (this is basically just sour cream w/chives, and is found in the dairy section next to the sour cream)

5-6 drops hot sauce 

To defrost spinach, place packages in microwave.  Micro on High 4 minutes, turning pkgs over after half the time.  Let stand 5 min.  Drain thoroughly.  Set aside.

Place soup mix & water in small bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap.  Micro on High 1 minute.  Let stand, covered, until vegetables are re-hydrated.

Place cream cheese in large bowl.  Microwave for 1 minute at 50%  power to soften.  Mix in re-hydrated soup mix, drained spinach, sour cream and hot sauce.

I like this dip best with Wheat Thins, but it is also good with tortilla chips, French bread cubes, and carrot or celery sticks.

I think this dip is actually a lot better when it is made 24+ hours prior to when you're going to eat it. At first when you mix it up, the spinach can be a little bit slimey, but after about a day, the texture improves, and flavors mix together better. I always make this at least a whole day in advance and let it sit covered in the fridge until I'm ready to serve it. Once you get the dip out to serve, you may want to mix it up with a fork to break up any cream cheese chunks.

Given the color of the dip, this is one of the items I'm taking to my family's annual St. Patty's Day party! Since the party is early Saturday afternoon, I made this dip early Friday morning and had it ready to go for Saturday! 

Leprechaun Bait

Every year, someone in my family hosts a St. Patrick's Day party. My grandma's birthday is in March, so we usually make it a joint birthday/St. Patty's day party. Who doesn't love green beer, good food, and great company?! This year, for our annual St. Patty's Day party, I decided to make Leprechaun Bait. 

This is the first time I've made this, but I've seen similar versions on both Facebook and Pinterest so I figured I'd give them a shot. This was a pretty simple recipe, and could be easily changed for any holiday! Add red & green M&M's for Reindeer Bait, pastel M&M's for Easter Bunny Bait, add Reese Pieces for a Halloween dessert, or add any color M&M's to match whatever party you're hosting! Here's how I made it: 

Ingredients

4 cups corn Chex cereal

1 cup pretzels (I used Goldfish)

1 bag microwave popcorn

1 cup M&M's

3/4 package white Almond Bark

sprinkles

Side note: You can use any type of pretzels you like, but I love using Goldfish pretzels because they don't break and get crumbly as easy as pretzel sticks or twists. 

To start, pop your popcorn according to the instructions. I used Movie Theater Butter style popcorn, and I thought this tasted really good with the white chocolate because it was a sweet & salty combo. After you pop your popcorn, then measure out and dump your Chex, pretzels, and popcorn into a large bowl and mix well. 

Next, melt your chocolate in the microwave. I have a glass Pyrex measuring cup that I used to melt my chocolate in. It has a spout on it,and made pouring the chocolate simple and mess free. Once your chocolate is melted, pour it over your mixture and stir until the all of the mixture is lightly covered in chocolate. 

Then, line two cookie sheets with wax paper and spread out your mixture to dry. While the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle on your M&M's, distributing them evenly between both cookie sheets, and throw on your sprinkles. 

Once your party mix is dry, break apart and store in an air tight container. 

Here is a close up of what my Leprechaun Bait looked like. Yummy!! 

I made this for my family's St. Patrick's Day party last weekend, and again on St. Patty's Day for our work food day. When I made it the second time, I ran out of almond bark, so I used half almond bark and half green melting chocolate wafers. This added more green to the mix, and it still tasted great!

This is what the mix looked like with both green and white chocolate melted on top.