WIAW #35 – Wine and Double the Candy

October 21, 2015October 14, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 4 Comments

I can’t believe I FORGOT to do WIAW last week! How can that be? Welp – to be honest, life/work/etc. got crazy and Wednesday came and went without a WIAW. Sadness. I know. Forgive me?

Hopefully you do – because I’m back on the WIAW bandwagon now!

Breakfast look familiar? Yup. It’s my traditional, breakfast made by B – eggs with hot peppers, spinach and other veggies. I was particular hungry this morning so I had a handful of nuts too.

breakfast

I opted for an apple at my desk for a midmorning snack.

snackapple

For lunch, I had some grilled chicken, leftover tomato/zucchini pie, peppers and onions and half of a sweet potato. It was SO good.

lunch

And then one of my favorite snacks – delicata squash roasted with honey and cinnamon. I’m addicted to delicata squash right now.

snacksquash

And then a coworker came around the office with a big bag of peanut M&Ms … of course I took some!

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After work, I had plans to grab drinks with a coworker. I LOVE getting wine at our local grocery store, Heinen’s. You just put your card into the machine and boom- a glass of wine! And not a bad view. Such a pretty grocery store 🙂

winetime

B also made me dinner. I came home to some breaded chicken over stewed zucchini and tomatoes. Sorry for the poor lighting. But it was delicious.

dinner

I was craving some candy so for dessert I had a mini Take 5 and some candy corn. Candy twice in one day 🙂

dessert

And that was it! A WIAW Wednesday that was perfectly delicious. Wine and candy twice in one day? Yum!

Some questions for you:

Have you had delicata squash?
What’s your favorite Halloween candy?

WIAW #34 – An Actual Real Wednesday

October 7, 2015October 5, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 11 Comments

I’m excited to bring you a WIAW post that is an actual REAL Wednesday of eats. I know – I typically share Mondays, or Tuesday, or even Thursdays … but here is a REAL Wednesday!

I had a breakfast meeting scheduled in the morning at one of my favorite downtown spots, Restore Cold Pressed. I go there probably too often for my wallet to like, and it was nice to introduce someone new to the juice/smoothie/acai bowl/avocado toast joint. I of course got an acai bowl with granola, almond butter and blueberries. Confession: I saved about half for breakfast another day because they’re pretty big and too good not to savor!

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For lunch I was pretty excited – B had prepared some grilled chicken a few nights before for lunches, so I took that with leftover cauliflower, kabocha squash and sweet potato. Such a good meal! I love lunches like this.

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Snacks during the day included:

Some mixed nuts (about a handful) 20150930_135918

An apple, grapes and a sweet/salty bar. 20150930_140219

For dinner, I had put some turkey chili in the crockpot and it was ready for when we got home. #Winning

I topped it with some cheese.

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And dessert was about a serving or so of candy corn. ‘Tis the season! 20150930_201753

And that was it! A WIAW Wednesday that’s actually a Wednesday.

Some questions for you:

Do you like candy corn?
What’s your favorite kind of squash?

Halloween Candy Corn Buckeyes

October 30, 2013October 30, 2013 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

Do you like scary movies? I don’t really. I don’t like being scared. Sometimes after watching the TV series Sherlock I have to go on Instagram or watch Gossip Girl just so I can sleep without nightmares. Yup. I’m a baby. Which is why when we invited our friends Dave and Anson over for a scary movie night to celebrate the upcoming Halloween holiday, I was less than excited. Excited for the pizza from Crust we’d be eating? Yes. Excited for a scary movie? Not really. But I knew I’d suck it up and enjoy it – same as last year when I barely made it through Paranormal Activity. And if I didn’t? Well, at least I’d enjoy the baked goods!

I love peanut butter and chocolate. Especially during Halloween – who doesn’t like a good Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup? (Ok, I know a few people who don’t) Which is why when I saw this recipe for White Chocolate Candy Corn Buckeyes, I knew I had to make some Halloween themed Buckeyes. Aren’t they cute? And if you haven’t guessed from my previous recipe (Candy Corn White Chocolate Peanutty Bars), candy corn and peanut butter actually go well together. Who would’ve thought?

Halloween Candy Corn Buckeyes - i crashed the web

Halloween Candy Corn Buckeyes (an update to my traditional Buckeye recipe)

Here’s what you need:

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tspvanilla extract
3-4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 cup candy corn, about 3/4 of it chopped up
1-12 oz. bag chocolate candy coating wafers (I use the Wilton Candy Melts)

Here’s what you do:

Line a baking sheet with foil or waxed paper.
In a medium bowl, mix peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and confectioners’ sugar. Mix well (I use my KitchenAid) until it forms a stiff dough. Add in chopped candy corn.
Shape dough into balls, about one inch or 2 tsp wide.
Place on baking sheet and place peanut butter dough balls in refrigerator for 1 hour, or freezer for 30 minutes.
Melt chocolate coating wafers according to package directions. I usually nuke in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave. Stir occasionally until smooth.
Time to coat the Buckeyes! Remove peanut butter balls from freezer. Insert a toothpick into a ball, and dip into the melted chocolate. Return to wax paper or aluminum foil chocolate side down, and remove toothpick. For eyeball-themed buckeye, add a Candy Corn M&M on the exposed peanut butter area. For the plain candy corn buckeyes, coat entire peanut butter ball and immediately after removing from chocolate add a whole candy corn to top of ball while chocolate dries. Repeat with remaining balls.
Refrigerate Buckeyes for 30 min to 1 hour to set.

Spooky Eyeball Halloween Candy Corn Buckeyes - i crashed the web

Top with M&Ms to make spooky eyeballs

Or just top with candy corn and enjoy!

A few questions for you:

Do you like scary movies? Not really. But I really do enjoy reading the Wikipedia pages to get a snapshot of the plot for them!
What’s your favorite scary movie? Saw. It scares the heck out of me but is SO interesting! The rest of the Saws don’t seem as good. I haven’t actually seen them – but reading their Wikipedia plot brings me to that conclusion. I also like Scream. That counts right? I went through a phase in high school where I was obsessed with the names Sydney and Tatum for girls.
What’s your favorite Halloween treat?

How can you not like this?!

After watching that I need to go flip through Instagram again. Spooky!

Candy Corn White Chocolate Peanutty Bars

October 24, 2013October 24, 2013 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 2 Comments

Got a sweet tooth? Love candy corn? Or do you just really like Halloween? Then these cookies are for you! They’re festive and perfect for this time of year. Even my husband, who typically is not a candy corn fan (and who has a “meat tooth, not a sweet tooth”), enjoyed these. Well he was able to eat one and enjoy it!

A note on the name. It’s just descriptive. Someone told me they’re also called Hello Dolly bars? Call them what you like – just bake them and enjoy!

Candy Corn White Chocolate Peanutty Bars

Here’s what you need:

3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3/4 cups Rice Krispies crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cups white chocolate chips
3/4 cups candy corn M&Ms (if you don’t have these on hand feel free to use regular m&ms or extra white chocolate chips)
1 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
1 cup coconut
1 cup candy corn
1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 ounces)

Here’s what you do:

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper.
Prepare graham and Rice Krispies crumbs! Process both graham crackers and Rice Krispies into a food processor and grind until they make a smooth powder/crumb. You can probably use all graham crackers (or even better, a box of already made graham cracker crumbs) but I like using Rice Krispies to cut the sweetness. And then you can use leftover Krispies for Candy Corn Rice Krispie Treats! But that’s a story for another day 🙂
Mix crumbs with melted butter and combine until thoroughly moistened. Press crumb/butter mixture into bottom of pan.
Sprinkle white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, candy corn M&Ms, peanut butter chips, peanuts, coconut, and candy corn over the top.
Pour the can of condensed milk evenly over the top of the bars.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until bars start to get darker brown at the corners. Cool completely before cutting into bars. I popped mine in the fridge to harden first and speed up the process.
Enjoy! You probably won’t be able to eat more than one because they’re pretty sweet. But perfect for this sweet holiday!

Candy Corn White Chocolate Peanutty Bars - I Crashed The Web

Look at all that goodness that goes on bars! Peanuts, put butter chips, white chocolate chips, candy corn M&Ms … YUM!

Enjoy!

Just In Time for Halloween … Candy Corn COOKIES

October 25, 2011June 25, 2012 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 7 Comments

Candy corn is like cilantro — you either love it or you don’t. Me? I’m a semi fan. I can eat probably about 6 pieces before feeling a sugar high, crashing and then feeling sick. My husband isn’t a fan at all. So, to get in the spirit of Halloween, I decided to make some candy corn cookies — without any candy corn involved!

I found the recipe online, pinned it, and have been looking for the perfect day to make it (you need to set aside a decent chunk of time – you need to refrigerate the dough for at least a few hours or overnight, plus the actual forming of the dough into candy corn-like cookies takes time as well).

So, get ready and get baking! This week is the perfect time to get yor candy corn cookies baking:

Candy Corn Cookies

(Adapted from Land O Lakes website)

You’ll need:

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons orange juice (I just squeezed my own from about a half an orange)
2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Orange food color (I mixed yellow with red because I didn’t have orange at home)
Yellow food color
1/2 cup sugar

Here’s what you’ll do:

Line the inside of a 9×5-inch breadloaf pan with waxed plastic wrap.
Mix butter with 1 cup sugar, beat until creamy.
Add egg, orange juice, orange zest and salt to butter/sugar mixture. Continue beating until well mixed.
Mix together flour and baking soda. Add by 1/2 c portions to the wet ingredients. Beat until fully mixed.
Divide dough into thirds. Press one-third of white dough evenly onto bottom of prepared pan.
Place another third of dough back into the bowl and add yellow food color. Mix until blended and set the dough aside.
Place the final third of dough back into the bowl and add the yellow and red food coloring (or orange, if you have it). I used probably a ratio of 8:1 drops of yellow to red coloring to create an orange ball of dough.
Press the orange dough evenly over white dough in pan. Press yellow dough evenly over orange dough in pan.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until hard(at least 2 hours or overnight).
Place 1/2 cup sugar in large bowl and set aside.
Heat oven to 375°F. Invert loaf pan to remove dough. Peel off plastic wrap and place layered dough onto cutting surface.
Cut loaf crosswise into 1/4-inch slices. Cut each slice into 6 candy corn shaped wedges. Dip wedges in sugar and then place onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake for about 9 – 10 minutes, until edges are firm and bottoms just turning light brown.
Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. Immediately place warm cookies sugar bowl again; roll in sugar to coat.
Cool cookies completely on wire cooling rack.