Pea Pods made from Fruit

Summer is in full swing around here! The kids are in a few day camps, the days are 90+ degrees and humid, the cicadas are singing their hot summer songs - and I'm loving it all.  It's hard to believe it's nearly the end of July - only one full month of summer left so I'm going to enjoy every second of it.

And I have a really easy healthy treat for you this time.  Well relatively healthy when you compare it to the rest of the sugary sweets that you usually find here.  Cute little pea pods - made from fruit.  

I spotted these Joray brand fruit rolls in the food store the other day.  Joray makes all kinds of flavors of fruit rolls, but I had never seen an all apple green fruit roll.  (ps if you look for them, I found them in the Kosher section of my local Shop Rite food store).

I thought they'd make great pea pods with some green grapes as the "peas".

They are really super easy to make too.  Cut out a leaf shape from the fruit roll.  Add your grapes (2 or 3 "pea" clusters) and wrap the fruit roll around the grapes.  

Twist the ends a bit and that's pretty much it.

Very cute as is or you can up your cute factor by adding some smiley faces.   Faces added with an edible food writer.

Smiling pea pods - try not to smile yourself!

Make them for your veggie averse peeps.  I was thinking they'd also make a super cute addition to a twin or triplet baby shower or maybe a fun April Fool's Day prank.  So many options!

Thanks as always for stopping by.  Have a GREAT week!

Deviled egg mini cakes for the Summer Picnic Party

So it's full blown summer out! Here on the east coast it's been in the 90-100 degree range for awhile, the cicadas are singing their hot summer song, and it's totally picnic season.  This picnic is hosted by Hani from Haniela's and Beth from Hungry Happenings - both ladies that are pretty amazing and always come up with some pretty spectacular food ideas.  They invited me to their Summer Picnic Party - and as with all great picnics, everyone is bringing a yumtastic dish (click on the pics below!).   (PS there is also a Picnic Party Giveaway! Lot's more info on the party listed down below!!!)

I decided on some deviled eggs, because all picnics need some of these fun finger foods right? And who can resist the smell of a good deviled egg sitting in the sun all day at a hot ole' picnic.  Oh yeah, MMMmmmm, mmmmm, mmmm yum.   I loves me a hot and gooey deviled egg.

OK the sarcasm came through in writing right??  And I just know I had you mouth on floor and totally fooled, thinking "What the what? This blog is supposed to be all sugar 24/7 - the name of the blog is Sugar Swings for pete's sake, what are cooked stinky eggs doing in a post??" Yup, I know, I know.  Of course these are mini cakes for the picnic! (Indulge me and pretend I did indeed fool you and you didn't read the title of the post!!!)

These are made using a Wilton mini egg pan I got a gagillion years ago.  I think I've maybe used it 3 times total, so was happy to use it for this party.  I just used some boxed cake batter I had left over (this was a white cake).

Bake 'em up for only about 7 minutes or so (they are really small) and when cooled, scoop out a tiny half circle so it looks like 1/2 of an egg.

Dip in melted white chocolate or candy melt.  If the candy is too thick, add a little shortening to thin it a bit so your dipping goes smoother.  I also froze the cakes for about 1/2 hour so they were not so crumbly when dipping.

Side bar: I have decided I really really (really) don't like dipping stuff in candy melt - I'm just not good at it or don't have the patience.  You cake pop queens and kings deserve some major props for doing it all the time and so well!

Let harden, then add a swirl of buttercream tinted egg yolk yellow.  And add some red sugar sprinkles to finish them off (that's supposed to be the sprinkle of paprika on top of the eggs!).  Apologies for the terrible pictures done at nite, but you get the idea at least!)

And you get some non-smelly "deviled egg" mini cakes for these hot summer days.

And yeah, granted the buttercream and candy melt could melt in the heat too, but at least you don't have to worry about the mayo going bad and giving you or your guests major stomach issues later!

And now as promised more info on the Summer Picnic Party Giveaway! See all the fun stuff in the graphic below!

Enter to win below and also check out the other fun summer picnic food from a bunch of awesome fun bloggers!

The Marshmallow Studio - Buzzy Bee Pop Tutorial

Sam's Kitchen - Elderflower Cordial

Lila Loa - Sandwich Picnic Cookies

Pink Little Cake -Shortbread Cookie Tart with Caramel Bits

Hungry Happenings - Ketchup and Mustard Push up Pops

The Partiologist - Ant on a Log

Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons - Picnic Blanket Treats

The Baked Equation - Lemon Cookie Cake

The Decorated Cookie - Cookies on the String

Not Your Momma's Cookie - Ant Attack Cupcakes

Creative Fun Food - Picnic Blanket Sandwich

Pint Sized Baker - Picnic Cupcakes to Go

Roxana's Home Baking - Apricot Orange Kugelhopf

Created by Diane - Luau Pasta Salad

Munchkin Munchies - Checkerboard Tablecloth Picnic Cookies

Sugar Swings - Deviled Egg Mini Cakes

Trilogy Edibles - Chocolate Mousse

Sugarkissed.net - Watermelon Cupcakes

Haniela's - Roasted Chicken Green Bean Salad Sandwiches

GIVEAWAY SPONSORS

Thank you to all the amazing Giveaway Sponsors. Be sure to check out their websites below.

The Marshmallow Studio

Restaurant Ware

The Cookie Cutter Company

 Wilton

 Mary Had a Little Party

 King Arthur Flour

To enter giveaway please use the Rafflecopter below. Giveaway will run from July 20th, 2013 till July 27th, 2013. 6 Winners will be picked using the Rafflecopter widget. Prizes will be picked in the order of sponsors you see above, starting with The Marshmallow Studio and ending with King Arthur Flour. Winners will receive one email from hanielas@yahoo.com. Winners will  have 48 hours to respond. New winner(s) will be picked if we don't hear from you. Thank you and good luck.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

THANK YOU to Hani and Beth for organizing this too - So fun and I'm totally honored to be included with this amazing group of bloggers.  

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ummm cupcakes...???!

....looks like a cupcake.....but could be meat....could be cake...it looks like meatcake...!...or rather meatloaf "cupcakes".....yeah i know i know this is not really a sweet treat.....well maybe if you love meat it is....but needed to bring an appetizer to a party....and it's still cupcake shaped so i'm going with it here...!

...these are really easy....use your favorite meatloaf recipe....i don't really use a recipe...kinda wing it and use whatever's in the house....but this is similar to what was used:

1 pound lean ground beef
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 large clove garlic, chopped fine
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon basil or italian herb mix
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 egg, slightly beaten

...saute oil, garlic, carrot, and onion until soft but not brown.....let cool then add to the ground beef....add rest of ingredients and mix.....add to cupcake liners (used the aluminum ones with the extra liner as i wasn't sure if they would leak through plain liners)....

...then bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or so....after removing from the oven add a piece of provolone cheese on top of each "cupcake".....

...then "pipe" with mashed potatoes....

3 large white potatoes
3 tablespoons butter
about 1/2 cup milk
salt/pepper to taste

...peel and dice potatoes into cubes...boil in water for about 20-25 minutes or until a fork goes into the potatoes easily...drain....add butter and beat with mixer until smooth...add milk slowly until you get the consistency you want (to be able to pipe)....

...topped them with a piece of carrot (defrosted frozen carrot square!).....and eat....!....these are much better warm...so when taking to the party they cooled a little and i was afraid to reheat because i wasn't sure what would happen if they were nuked....but next time i'd try that to see what happens....!...i bet these would be great for a super bowl party too....

...anyway....more actual sugar stuff soon....!