Sushi for a sweet tooth...

You can call me unrefined but I'm not a sushi gal. I've tried it. I didn't like it. I tried to like it...still...no-likey. And before you even get it out of your mouth, "Yes. I have had California rolls too & I just can't hack it." Sushi looks so pretty & I feel a culinary properness just ordering it...but it just ain't happenin.

My ears perked up, though, when I heard Rachel Ray mention candy sushi on her show many moons ago. A treat that looks like sushi but tastes like sweets?! Got my attention!

Now I tried to take a mental note of all Rachel said to do...but that was...maybe 3 years ago. When my sister said she wanted to have a luau-themed birthday party, I knew the perfect sweet...but how did Rachel do it? I couldn't remember...so I did what I always do...I waited until the night before & crossed my fingers, hoping to suddenly remember. I made a few adjustments, but somehow it turned out looking like the picture to the left! They were a big hit at the party.

Here's what I did (I'm sorry I didn't take pictures of the steps, I didn't realize I'd be doing a blog about this in the 3 months following):


What you Need:
Ingredients for Rice Crispy Treats
Additional bag of jumbo marshmallows
Green Fruit Roll-ups (I had to use Shrek roll-ups) :-)
Twizzlers (I used the different colored/flavored twizzlers)
Pink/Orange Sprinkles
* I also used a few different colored fruit roll-ups on mine

1) Make a batch of regular rice crispy treats (I added a bit more marshmallows & butter than the recipe called for so the treats would be pliable)

2) With wax paper & a rolling pan, I flattened the rice cripsy treats to maybe 3/4 of an inch thick. (3-4 inches wide, 8-10 inches long...or you can use the length of the twizzlers... & 3/4 of an inch thick) You probably will have enough rice crispy treat to make a couple of these.

3) Take the wax paper off. Place two twizzlers about 1/2" away from each other in the middle of the rice crispy. Length-side facing you roll up the rice crispy treat from back to front.

4) Take a green fruit roll up off the wrapper & wrap it around the log of rice crispy treat/twizzler goodness.  If you can't wrap it all the way around, use another one to fill-up the open space.

5) Once you've got the length of the log covered, cut round slices about an inch or so thick. Voila...rice crispy/fruit roll-up/twizzler sushi...my favorite kind!

Additional Sushi:

I took the jumbo marshmallows, used leftover fruit roll-ups & wrapped them around each marshmallow. On some of the marshmallows, I cut off the top & dipped them in pink sprinkles.

That's the whole spread...I lined up my bamboo placemats as a table runner and a tablecloth I found on clearance underneath it.

How to party like it's 2011...

A new year...a new venture! This past year, I have become quite a blog stalker. I have to place the blame on my college friend Katie Hughes Bower who has the most fun blog...ever. You can read her blog here: www.bowerpowerblog.com. I have a long way to go before I can join her ranks...so if just for the amusement of my mom, here is my own brand-spankin new blog.

You can probably tell by the title that this is not just any blog, but a blog about partying! More specifically, it's a blog about how to party with just a few buckaroos. I have always loved entertaining & growing up as the oldest of four children living on just a teachers salary, I learned how to pinch some pennies. As much as I love Martha Stewart, I don't quite have the budget to throw a full-fledged Martha-product-laden shindig.
We're going to learn together how to party like it's our birthday (my goal is to use every single song lyric dealing with parties in my blog over the next year...how's that for a New Years resolution) and with just a little jing-jangling of coins in our pockets!

I am definitely a newbie so forgive me for any growing pains trying to figure out blogosphere. :-)