How to make Peanut Butter Shells

When you think of making candy it seems like a really involved process. I made a ton of delicious peanut butter shells. When I say shells I mean seashells. I have a shell mold. Of course I do. Are you new? Noah loves shells and sea life. After my infamous Crisis Cooking with Sheila episode and trying every easy method to make these darn shells. I figured out that a spoon works the best. I used one of Noah's toddler spoons. It made it easier for control purposes. I tried the pastry bag. It wasted too much of the goodie. I tried a squirt bottle. It was impossible. So lets just say when I finished them I was not making them with love anymore. I was extremely frustrated and angry. So, use a spoon. It will save you hours of grumpiness.  Here is my recipe. It has two ingredients. It sounds like it would take a long time to set but it doesn't. Like twenty minutes in the fridge.

Sheila's peanut butter shells

Reese's peanut butter chips
Shortening

Combine half a bag of Reese's chips with a teaspoon of shortening. Microwave it for 30 seconds. Stir. Microwave another 17 seconds and stir until melted. Carefully fill the molds. Carefully drop them on the counter.

Refrigerate  for twenty minutes until hard pop them out and do it again.
I figured out that two bags makes six trays of shells as long as you aren't sloppy.

It's a beautiful and yummy treat for anyone who likes peanut butter.

I Hopped Down the Hershey's Bunny Trail

Noah's first Easter!

  I can’t believe Easter is next week! Where has all the time gone? It seems like just yesterday I was putting up my Christmas Tree.  I love Easter, it is one of my favorite holidays. It reminds me about what Christ did for me. I also love the festivities and traditions my family has. We always dye eggs, surprisingly I really like the smell of vinegar.  I started the tradition of doing an Easter Egg hunt with Noah. I have some really cute pictures and videos of egg hunts in the past. My favorite Easter tradition is hunting for Easter baskets. Sometimes the Easter Bunny leaves your basket out in the open, but at my house he hides them. It is fun to hunt for it. A few times I have found it in the dryer, the closet and even outside once. Noah loves going on the hunt. This year it might be a little tricky to hide. The Easter Bunny really has to put his thinking cap on, and find a great place.  I wonder what kinds of goodies and surprises are going to make it in Noah’s basket. Did I mention, he uses the basket that I used since I was like four? I think that is a pretty cool tradition too.  I am sure there will be some great treats.  The Easter bunny doesn’t do a ton of candy, but there is always some. There are so many great Easter candies to choose from, and I love candy.

I was contacted by Hershey’s to hop down the Bunny Trail. The Bunny Trail allows you to make a virtual Easter baskets, and share your Easter traditions and memories. I guess I am really lucky because they sent me my basket.  I was able to customize the basket; I picked green, my favorite color. Pink grass because it would look like Spring.  Then the most difficult part of the trip down the Bunny Trail, picking out the candy I wanted to try.  I love so many kinds only picking five was kind of tricky for me. I am very happy with my choices though.  First thing I pick was York Peppermint Patty Eggs. I really like peppermint and I know that it’s one of Noah’s favorite candies.  Any candy shaped in an egg is very festive in my opinion. The next thing I picked was Jolly Ranchers Wildberry Jelly Beans, because you have to have Jelly beans for Easter.  I really like that they have flavors like Strawberry Watermelon and Blue Raspberry. My mom who doesn’t really like a lot of candy, really liked the jelly beans too.

 Since I love Jolly Ranchers, I also picked the Jolly Ranchers Sours. I already know how good these are. I just really like them. They aren’t too sour and have the classic Jolly Rancher flavor.  I always eat all the Watermelons first, then the Cherry, then Apple, and then Orange.  The folks at Hershey’s must have known because there were a lot of Watermelon ones in there.  Next I picked the Snack Sized Twizzlers. Twizzlers are so yummy. I like these because I can give a pack to Noah and it is just enough candy for him. He literally chased me all over until I opened my Easter Basket. I asked my friends on Facebook if I had to share with anyone and everyone said no. I decided to share though. It’s no fun having such a fun basket of treats and being stingy.  I also know that Noah would have chased me around again.  The last thing I picked I am not sharing.  I got a giant Resse’s Peanut Butter Egg. I have never seen one this big.  Noah asked me for a slice of it.  I said nope.  I love Reese’s peanut butter eggs, and this one is huge.  I did make sure the Easter Bunny saves him a normal sized one for his basket. I am so excited and happy with the special trip I went on down the Hershey’s Bunny Trail.

I hope you will try out some of these special Hershey’s Easter treats. 

For more information please visit Celebrate with Hershey's. 

Thank you so much to Hershey’s for sending me my awesome Easter Basket.  I created while I hopped down the Bunny Trail. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Retro Mike N Ike's Candy Review

When I have to get Noah after school we always get a drink and a snack at a local gas station. One of the times we went he ended up getting a little box of Mike N Ike’s. The little boxes are a perfect size for Noah. So, now he always gets a little box of Mike N Ike’s which is fine because he is happy and I am happy because they are cheap. He really likes the ones in the red box and the ones in the blue box. I personally love Hot Tamales.  One day Noah and I were talking about Mike N Ike’s as he was eating them. He asked me if I liked them. I said yes. I started telling him about an old kind they used to sell called Cherri N Bubb. Cherri N Bubb are cherry and bubble gum flavored Mike N Ike’s. I told him that they don’t make them anymore and how much I loved them. I also told him I wished they made them again. I am not sure if someone heard me or not, but a week or so later, I received an email that Cherri N Bubb were back for a limited time.  It was a dream come true!  They also brought back Lem N Mel. I had never tried that kind before. I love watermelon candy so I thought it sounded good. I would give all the Lemon ones to Noah. I am not a lemon candy fan.  I had to tell Noah about Cherri N Bubb coming back, we just talked about it. He was as excited as I was. 

When I got the candy I was so happy. I had to open up the Cherri N Bubb's as soon as I got it in the door.  They were as good as I remembered, if not better. Sometimes you remember something being really good but isn’t after a long time. This was not the case.  They were amazing. They were soft and delicious. I had to share with Noah and he would hound me for Cherri N Bubbs.  We also like Lem N Mel but Cherri N Bubb have a fond place in my heart. I remember eating them growing up and I definitely loved them as much as I do now.   I love when they bring back things from my past.'

Cherri and Bubb and Lem N Mel candies are only available for a limited time. I am going to go to the store and stock up. They are good for a year so I thought I would buy a bunch and snack on them throughout the year. You can find Cherri N Bubb and Lem N Mel in the candy aisle.

Thank you to Just Born for sending me samples of Cherri N Bubb and Lem N Mel Mike N Ikes for my family to try out and review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

100 Years Ago....

 My grandpa would have been 100 years old today. He was the best man I ever met. Not because he brought me happy meals and treats to me but because he was so kind and loving and an amazing person. I thought that this year is a big milestone to think that my grandpa was born 100 years ago. I would celebrate in a way that he would love. He used to love to play cards. His favorite candy was Kit Kats, my grandma Rose and I would bring him back one when we walked to the store. I miss and love my grandpa. I wish he and my grandma Rose were able to meet Noah. I am sure they would have loved him.  I see a lot of my grandpa in Noah, especially his love of trying to figure out how things work. I know him and my grandma are smiling down on us from heaven. I make it a point to talk about my grandma and grandpa a lot to Noah. On my grandma Rose's birthday I told him that it was my grandma's birthday. He responded she is 96 I said how did you know that and he responded because she was 95 last year. 

 

So in honor of my grandpa Jim's 100th birthday, Noah and I both ate a KitKat bar.

Do you like Angel Mints?

When I was younger my Grandma Rose was in the hospital on a few occasions. We would go and visit her of course. I used to like to go to the gift shop and look around. That is where I learned about Angel Mints. They are kind of like the pastel mints that are sometimes called Dinner Mints or Dainty Mints, but they are huge.  They kind of melt in your mouth, and they are so good.  They were something I always looked for when I was in candy stores, or gift shops.  They became harder to find.  So, I turned to my trusty assistant Google, and found out where I can get some. I don’t know what is with me and liking things that are really hard to find.  I found out that their factory is in Clearwater Florida. We were actually planning a trip to the Clearwater area at the time. Fate? I think so! When we came down to Florida for Noah’s first trip we went to the Angel Factory. I just wanted to buy some Angel Mints. I wasn’t really interested in taking a tour or anything. I am not even sure they offered one.  I was so excited when I was able to buy massive amounts of Angel Mints to have whenever I wanted.  I bought a big box. Of course that was five years ago, so those Angel Mints are long since gone. I still look for them on occasion. I was able to find them at a candy store in Tarpon Springs. I was so excited after looking for a while. Of course I could always just go to the Angel Mint Factory again, since it’s fairly close to me now. 

Every time I pop an Angel Mint in my mouth, I think of my Grandma Rose. She always had mints for me when I visited.  They weren’t Angel Mints but they were just as good.  It’s little things like that which remind me of my g-ma.

We Had a #GetUnjunked Party!

It is no secret that I love to eat candy. I am surprised I didn’t get gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with Noah because I eat so much candy. Noah has inherited my love for candy as most children do, but I don’t like him to eat a lot of it. I heard about a brand of candy called UNREAL that is made with no GMOs and has no high fructose corn syrup and I thought that would be a good candy for Noah.  UNREAL Candy also has no artificial ingredients and no preservatives. It has low glycemic index and doesn’t contain partially hydrated oils.   I believe that everything is fine in moderation. I know that some parents do not allow their children any candy, but I occasionally let my son have a treat. I would prefer that the treat not contain artificial ingredients. Thankfully, UNREAL has saved the day. UNREAL offers the 

following:

 UN54 which is chocolate candy shell peanuts

 

UN41 which is chocolate candy shell

UN5which is Chocolate covered caramel and nougat

UN8 which is Chocolate covered peanuts and caramel

UN77 which is chocolate peanut butter cups

I was invited to host a party for UNREAL Candy.   As the mother of a kindergartener, I now have contact with parents that are actually local to me.  Noah has a lot of friends from school and in our area so I thought it would be fun to host a party and share my new knowledge of Unreal with the parents and let the kids hang out and socialize and of course come home with a goody bag.

I decided to hold the party outside close to the playground because after all it was a beautiful sunny day. They just opened a brand new playground with really cool equipment too, that all the kids wanted to play on. I thought that since our guests were six year olds they could play while I talked about UNREAL . I think sometimes if you tell a child it is not full of sugar they might turn up their noses at it. That has been my experience growing up. The parents were really surprised to learn about UNREAL. A couple of them said they had seen it in CVS but wasn’t sure what it was all about.  I tried to answer any questions they had to the best of my ability while trying to tweet during the party.  After I explained what UNREAL candy was, we thought we would have the kids try some out and give their opinions.  After all that’s what they came for.  The adults were able to sample too as UNREAL  was very generous with their product.  Instead of having each child eat 5 whole candy bars in like a hour, I broke them up in groups and had each kid sample a couple pieces.  There was not an unhappy person in the bunch.

Here are some of the tweets I tweeted out during the party:

I hope everyone enjoys unjunked candy this Halloween.

They taste better than snickers!! :) -This was from a parent at the party

I love the real peanuts in the peanut candies. -this was from a little girl who was trying the UN54

No GMO's No preservatives wow

You are not yourself when you are hungry or if you have all kinds of junk in your candy.

It was hard to tweet and entertain at the same time as you can imagine. It was a lot of fun though.  The party was a total success. I think that I have encouraged some local parents to rethink their candy buying habits and switch to the UNREAL brand.  Each child went home with a few treats and info for the parents in a nice little goody bag.

This party was on behalf of Global Influence. I was compensated for my time and party expenses. All thoughts and opinions are my own.  

Happy Valentine's Day from Hershey's Review

 It’s almost Valentine’s Day, really where has all the time gone? It is time for you to celebrate your loved ones for Valentine’s Day.  Now, Valentine’s Day is not a huge deal in our house like other holidays but I like to celebrate with treats. I am sure that will change once Noah is in school and has to pass out valentines to his classmates. When I was in school, it was just those little cards and the occasional little candy treat taped on or in a little bag. Hershey’s has amazing treats for Valentine’s Day. One thing I really like about Hershey’s is most of their candy is wrapped which makes it easy for passing out to others.  Hershey’s even went another step and made some the candy it’s self a valentine, with to and from right on the wrapper. You of course could attach it to your card still if you wanted to.

Some of the items we received, and if you know me at all, I am a huge candy junkie, were Hershey’s Valentine Kisses, Jolly Rancher Heart Lollipops Valentine Exchange, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Hearts Valentine Exchange. I am pretty sure everyone loves Hershey Kisses that like chocolate.  They are great for baking too.  Every year since I was very little we would make Peanut Blossoms at Christmas time. It was from a “cookbook” from 1982 and I was born in 1981, we still use the same recipe. Kisses are just the perfect amount to satisfy a little chocolate craving. They are also portable and so easy to unwrap my 4 year old has become a master at doing it.  Noah really likes the valentine’s colors of the wrappers. He has even created new things with the wrappers, like a butterfly for example.

If I had to pick my favorite hard candy, it would be Jolly Ranchers. I am not huge on hard candy, but would never turn down a Jolly Rancher, depending on the flavor.  I have been enjoying them for pretty much since my first one. I have tried and love every variation they have made.  Suckers are a big thing with Noah right now. We had been getting those little wrapped ones, but after he kept pulling the little stick off it, I decided, no more suckers for while. I feel pretty good about having him try a Jolly Rancher Lollipop. I will definitely enjoy them myself.   What is your favorite flavor of Jolly Rancher? Mine are Cherry and Watermelon. I know that is two but they are tied as my favorite.

I am sure you read my post about Hershey’s Halloween Candy in October and already know how much I love Reese’s peanut butter holiday shapes. In case you missed it, I prefer them to the Reese’s cups because there is more peanut butter than chocolate. I love peanut butter. I am so glad that Noah isn’t allergic to nuts of any kind because that would be not a good thing in my house. Noah loves the Reese’s Peanut Butter Hearts; he is actually the same as me and loves any kind of the Reese’s Holiday Shapes. I always buy them for any holiday I can find them and Noah, helps himself. He ate my pumpkin Reese’s and one of my Christmas Trees during those holidays.  He has made a huge dent in the Reese’s hearts though. He is really good at sharing and being generous and thinking of others.  He proudly likes to tell me that Grandma would like one. He is very sweet. 

I don’t let Noah sit down and eat a lot of candy, but he does get treats. I will get my little man some Hershey’s treats, including a Reese’s Peanut Butter heart for Valentine’s Day. I am trying to stay away from toys so, this year will be just some treats. We will also make Valentine’s Day Cookies.

For more information, recipes and ideas, please visit The Hershey’s Website

Thank you to Hershey’s for sending my family some complimentary Valentine’s candy to try out. All thoughts and opinions are my own.