In the Left Corner...

By next Saturday morning our Super Bowl Snack Throwdown will be underway as Lauren and Kate square off head to head in a sausage making challenge. With that in mind we felt today would be a good day to let our readers learn a little more about the bloggers who will be spending the next 4 months with us.

We had the privilege of interviewing both ladies over the last few weeks and I think you will all quickly see that they fit right in with our community. With all that said let's learn how they SHINE!

First up in the right corner is Lauren from New Jersey!


Lauren comes to us via her blog at www.lacucinadilauren.blogspot.com where you will see her delectable dishes posted daily. While it may look like Lauren spends all her time in the kitchen we quickly learned that she is a busy woman outside of the kitchen. Lauren is a high school English teacher (and yes she knows the difference between lie and lay!) and has a seven week old and a 2 1/2 year old keeping her busy.

We love that Lauren's favorite foods are pasta and chocolate...she's certainly a woman after our own heart!

To hear more from Lauren about what she'll be bringing to the table (literally) this football season listen to our interview with her here:





Next up in the corner on your left hailing from North Carolina, Kate!

Kate joins us as the author of www.goodiesbykate.blogspot.com where you will see Kate's amazing ability to craft a cake into just about any object. Don't be fooled by all the baking though, Kate is a master chef as well and often posts her scrumptious suppers on her family blog.

Like Lauren you may think that Kate devotes all her time to cake baking and cooking but she is kept busy by her twin boys Brandon and Connor...they are both 2 1/2 and keep Kate hopping!
It was great to hear from Kate how she loves to be creative in the kitchen and tries out new recipes that meet the allergy needs of her kiddos. Kate's favorite "go to" ingredient is cinnamon--I wonder how she'll work it into her recipes this season?

To learn more about Kate and what she's cooking up for this football season listen to the interview with her here:



These ladies sure do bring a lot of creative energy and passion in the kitchen to our challenge. I can't wait to see what great dishes they cook up this football season!

We'd also like to take a minute to welcome our celebrity judge for this Snack Throwdown Season. Joining us each week to give her professional opinion of each recipe offered up by our competitors and with a score that will be added to votes from the readership and votes from Struble Suds is Jen Perez from http://www.beantownbaker.com/. Jen surely knows good food based upon all the fantastic food found in the posts on her blog.

Your goal this holiday weekend? Peruse the three blogs provided by these ladies and let us know what recipes you find that you can't wait to try!

For me? The Better than Sex Cake found over on Lauren's blog, the Red Velvet Cupcakes found on Jen's blog, and the "Sushi" cake found on Kate's blog. Can you tell I have a sweet tooth?

Signing off until Monday...

Free For All Friday: Trick and Treats

It's official

H*A*P*P*Y  B*I*R*T*H*D*A*Y

AZLori

Let's see if it works again today...

1+0+1+0+0+8 = 10!

or 10+10+8 = 28

One year short of Lori's age... 29, of course!

Lori, hopefully your birthday will be as nice as your Birthday Eve.  It did occur to me yesterday that I never followed through on your great suggestion to share one experience I would love for us to share in the upcoming year.  I'll think big.  Before year's end, I would love us to revisit the 13th floor of Manzanita Hall - together!.  

Having wished Lori a happy birthday eve and a happy birthday, we are going to depart from birthdays for the rest of today, so that we may turn briefly toward Halloween, football, and whatever you might have up your sleeve. 

Hopefully many of you have kept your eyes open over the past week, in search of your favorite Halloween trick, treat, novelty item, baking item, decoration, or whatever else you might have run across.  Provided you did, we can have a fun day sharing our Highlowaha Halloween Favorites.  I for one am excited to see what you've discovered.

Here's my item to get us going...

I found this at Michael's Crafts.  I couldn't get the image any bigger, so if  you are having a hard time discerning what is pictured, they are Halloween party favors.  Though Martha Stewart sells all the supplies necessary in a "kit," there is no kit necessary.  The party favors are simply balls made out of paper mache and filled with small Halloween treats.  Cute, homemade, and inexpensive.  What else could you ask for?

Let me back up.  Using water balloon-sized balloons, fill with air and tie not.  Paper mache the balloons using orange tissue paper and a paper mache' solution.  Paper mache' solution is simply flour and water... don't let anyone try to tell you there's some super secret expensive ingredient.  Note: Be sure to leave a small  hole where treats will be inserted.  Once dry, pop the inner balloon and remove. Fill with fun treats (i.e. bugs, gummy worms, eye ball chocolates, or spider rings).  Cover hole with remaining orange tissue paper and solution.  Using black tissue paper, cut out bats, cats, or Jack-o-Lanterns faces.  Apply using the same paper mache' solution.

Matthew, Jack (that'll be messy)  and I will make these for their classmates and teachers.  If we weren't making them for our preschool friends, I would most certainly make them for friends, colleagues at work, for neighbors, or  for other swim moms who keep me company at the pool.  They're easy, cheap, and notable.  I'm practical, so I also like the fact that you throw the paper mache' ball away when you're done and there's no chatchka to clutter your home.

Now to something for which we actually need a secret ingredient.  Super Bowl Throw Down.  Competing next are Maureen and Katie.  The ingredients we are choosing between this week are...

Nutmeg or Candy Corn      

Place your vote.

Now it's your turn.  Tell me about the best Halloween item you've seen this Halloween season and why it caught your eye.  If you know the price, even better.  The Martha Stewart kit, by the way, is $12.99 -(less 40% if you have your weekly Michael's coupon).  Take the time to share and have your name entered in a drawing to receive a Halloween treat in the mail.

Signing off until tomorrow...