Sooooo this weekend is Memorial Weekend.  Do you have any fun plans?!

I don’t, other than likely eating my weight in macaroni and cheese burgers (yes, it’s a thing).  And probably avoiding both the heat and wearing a swimsuit, both of which I find agonizing.

To beat the heat AND satisfy any sweet cravings lingering after a BBQ binge, may I suggest some of these AWESOME peanut butter & jelly-ice cream sandwiches?  Spoiler alert: yes, I AM suggesting exactly that.

The idea of sammiching ice cream in between PopTarts isn’t exactly new, but when I spotted this Breyer’s Peanut Butter and Jelly Blast ice cream, I knewwww I had to snatch it up and use it somehow (if not smother my face in the carton).  Then the idea of using strawberry PopTarts came to mind, and then adding some more peanut butter and sprinkles was just necessary.  Thus, this incredible creation was born!

They’re made in minutes and if you whip them up the night prior, or even in the morning, they’ll be frosty and ready to eat by lunchtime!

Peanut Butter & Jelly PopTart Ice Cream Sandwiches

2 pkg (4 total) strawberry PopTarts
2 cups Breyer’s Peanut Butter & Jelly Blast ice cream, softened
4 tsp smooth peanut butter
Sprinkles

1. Open each package of PopTarts and carefully cut each PopTart in half crosswise.  You’ll have 4 sandwiches.  Smear about 1 tsp of peanut butter on the bottom of each PopTart half.
2. Scoop about 1/2 cup of ice cream onto the bottom (unfrosted) side of one of the PopTart halves. Kind of gently smear it around to coat the tart.  Take another tart half and gently press it on top of the softened ice cream, frosted side up.  Using a butter knife, smooth out any super messy sides.
3. Roll the sandwich edges into sprinkles.  Loosely wrap the sandwiches into squares of wax paper and place them on a plate or cookie sheet.  Freeze the sandwiches for about 2 hours minimum, 4 hours recommended, or until firm.  Eat up!
*Note: heads-up! This recipe is easily doubled!!  If you can’t find the peanut butter & jelly ice cream, try using strawberry ice cream or even a raspberry sorbet!*

Okay, so if you’ve never had a frozen PopTart, please eat them immediately.  They are AWESOME!  And if you can find that ice cream, grab two cartons.  It’s a rich vanilla ice cream swirled with strawberry jelly and lots of hunks of peanut butter.  And when sandwiched between those flaky, berry-filled PopTarts, these make for excellent little melty sammies!  If you’re either A) a kid, B) a PBJ lover, or C) human, you’ll love these!

Have a great weekend!!

xo, Hayley

I have breaking news: there is a pajama epidemic.

Some of you may know I’m headed to Austin next month for a blogging conference with some of my best bloggy friends.  While there, a friend of mine is throwing a fun little pajama party in her hotel room, so obviously, I am required to wear pajamas.  And what I normally wear — ratty, dye-stained shirts and too-small workout shorts–definitely doesn’t cut it unless I want to alienate people.

So I set out to some local chain stores (rhyming with Shmalmart, Shmarget, Rohls, and the like) to find some cute PJ’s to sport for when pictures are likely to be taken at the party.  I entered the pajamas/undergarments section of each store prepared to find a couple cute little boxer-tank sets or maybe a fun patterned nightie.

Instead, I entered the Twilight Zone of WTF Pajamas.

Surrounding me were hideously-patterned drawstring pants, often splayed with cartoon characters, with matching cartoon character lace camis.  To my left were the most heinous nighties imaginable, making a burlap sack look like a stripper’s negligee.  And to make things even more terrifying, those long-sleeved satin PJ pant sets in atrocious patterns.

I mean, WTF.

Often times, I offer my unsolicited advice to parents and married people despite the fact that I am neither a wife nor a parent.  I think that my unsolicited advice is smart because often times, I find parents get “kid brain” and stop thinking rationally, probably because they’ve stepped on too many Legos and it has indirectly affected their thinking, or they have become so used to their husband’s presence that they no longer care if he sees them plucking their upper lip hair.

But liiiiike, if I was your husband and you wore one of those abominable, frump-ass nighties to bed, I’d be like WTF.  What are you doing in my bed, grandma?  And what’s with the adult silk pajama set patterned with miniature elephants?  How old are you?  Have you no SHAME?

I’m pretty sure I’d be the best husband ever.

So anyways, my quest to find cute pajamas was put to a halt when I decided I didn’t want to wear a Sesame Street character to bed, and conversely, that I didn’t want to look like I was 95 & 1/2.  A word to pajama fashion designers out there:  WHEEEERE is the section for normal women?  All I’m asking for is some reasonably-priced, cotton boxer shorts in a plain color and perhaps a tank top or soft jersey T-shirt, free of stupid logos or slogans or cartoon characters, because I don’t know, that seems creepy to have Elmo on my chest.  Sue me.

Since my quest was abruptly ended, I guess I’ll just have to attend the pajama party in street clothes.  Or in my ratty jammies and risk people judging me for not having cool-woman pee-jays.  I just have to say, I can’t wait to live in a world where I get sleep in plain, color-coordinated separates that make me and my non-existent husband happy and not make me or my non-existent husband feel like they’re in bed with a mass of frump.

Anywhoooooooo, no matter how ya serve them, cannolis never seem to be frumpy.  Unless they’re soggy, which is a crime against humanity if I’ve ever seen one.  But assuming the world isn’t out to get you, cannolis are always a delicious treat: the satisfying crunch of their crispy outer shell down to the rich, creamy filling piped generously inside.  However, I took the cannoli vessel and turned this tasty ship around by adding a cookie dough filling instead of the traditional ricotta.

Um, wow.  Kinda makes regular cannolis look a little frump-ass, am I right??

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cannolis

About 10 pre-made cannoli shells (I use and love Ferrara brand)
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp milk
1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
About 1 cup miniature chocolate chips
Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugars until creamy.  Add in the vanilla and milk and beat to combine. Gradually add the flour a little at a time, until the dough has come together and is soft, yet still slightly stiff enough to stand up (not completely as stiff as regular cookie dough, but not goopy, either).  Stir in 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips.
2. Place the cookie dough into a gallon-sized Ziploc baggy; seal out the air.  Snip a corner of the baggy off with scissors and pipe the filling into each of the cannoli shells. Sprinkle the ends of the shell with remaining chocolate chips. Dust with powdered sugar, if you’d like.  These are best served immediately, as shells tend to get softer with time.
*Note: You can usually find pre-made cannoli shells at grocery stores.  Sometimes they’re found in the frozen aisle, other times in the bakery, and sometimes on the baking aisle (where I find mine).  If you can’t seem to find them, you can try looking online, replace the cannoli shell with a cake cone (for a different taste), or try making your own cannoli dough–for which you’ll need cannoli forms.

These are a seriously indulgent dessert not for the faint of heart!  Stuffed with all that buttery, brown sugary cookie dough goodness, the textures in these cannois are outrageous!  Crunchy, smooth, crispy, soft… it’s truly an amazing, one-of-a-kind dessert unlike any other classic cannoli!  This twist is super fun and also a great no-bake recipe for the summertime!  Serve them alongside big scoops of vanilla ice cream

Have a delicious day!

xo, Hayley

So I started working out again.

Let me rephrase: I am starting to work out again.  More like TRYING.  Or thinking about working out, but just eating a bag of pretzel M&M’s instead.

Chewing burns calories, right?  And for as much as I THINK about exercising, it should burn SOME calories.

Anyways, this recent spurt in exercising came about when I decided to put on my adorable cupcake-ish Betsey Johnson dress to wear one Sunday afternoon.  It was one of those perf. days: not too hot, not too breezy, nice and sunny, and I wanted to dress up all purty-like.  My cupcake dress was like, theeeeee perfect adornment to such a gorgeous day.

So I slipped it on and was shimmying up the back zipper when.. it stopped.  And I tried to play it off like, “oh, it’s totally normal for a zipper-backed dress to stop zipping like, an inch above your butt; no big”.  I began leaving my bedroom when the entire top of the dress fell off because guess what, smarty?  Homegirl gained some back fat and now my dress was unwearable.

Basically, I felt my life flash before my eyes.  All those moments when I’d frolic around in my pink poufy dress, blissfully unaware that eventually I’d gain some weight which would prevent me from slipping into my gorgeous Cinderella-but-cuter dress.  I longed to travel back in time when I was svelte and had a model body like Kate Upton.*
*Okay, this never happened and I have never had a body like Kate Upton.  I have, however, had many dreams in which I LOOKED like Kate Upton, but eventually I woke up and realized I didn’t have abs, or cute swimsuits, so I kind of just gave up on that part of my life.

So now I’m taking my junk in my trunk and the trailer carrying the rest of it to the gym.  I’m running two miles at a time, which should basically net me a world record because who actually does that?  And I’ve been doing these moves in which you get in a push-up position (it’s already bad and I have barely told you), and you lift one arm in the air and tilt your body.  Oh, and in that lifted arm, you’re holding a dumbbell, which  I’m convinced was a medieval measure of torture.  Oh, and the last time I did that, there were no 5-pound dumbbells, so I figured the 4kg kettleball would be an equivalent, and I was having THE HARDEST TIME EVERRRR lifting those damn balls in the air until a friendly gentleman suggested I not lift 10 pounds over my head with one arm.  He could clearly tell I was not Kate Upton.  I don’t like my gym very much.

Anywho, when I’m not lifting 10 pounds over my head effortlessly or strutting my stuff in a bikini, I’m making cake-battery treats that makes the Kate’s in all of us happy.  These treats taste just like cake batter, but they’re made out of cookies, AND they’re no-bake, which basically means they’re made of magic.

Time to fill your trunk with this juuuuunk, homegirl.

No-Bake Cake Batter Squares

1 pkg Birthday Cake Golden Oreos
1 pkg white chocolate chips
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
Rainbow sprinkles

1. Line an 8×8 inch pan with foil, extending the sides over the edges of the pan. Lightly mist the foil with cooking spray and set aside.  Meanwhile, in a food processor, grind the cookies in batches (about 10-15 cookies per batch, depending on the size of your machine) until ground into fine crumbs. Little chunks are okay, but you want it to be more crumb consistency than chunk. Set the crumbs aside in a bowl.
2. In a large bowl, melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave until smooth.  Pour in the can of milk and stir to combine. Dump the crumbs and some rainbow sprinkles (I used about 1/4 cup) into the milk mixture and, using a rubber spatula, fold the mixture together until completely blended.
3. Press the mixture evenly into the prepared pan in a single layer. Sprinkle the top immediately with additional rainbow sprinkles, if desired.  Allow the bars to set, at room temperature, for about an hour before cutting into squares to serve. Makes about 16 small squares.

When summertime hits, there is NO WAY I’m going to be turning my oven on, so this is the perfect way to get my cake-and-cookie fix without having to suffer for it.  These bars are chewy and sweet, taste exactly like cake batter, but have a subtle cookie crunch to them.  And of course, anything studded in rainbow sprinkles is to-die for!  You’ll love these!!

Have a fantastical Monday!!

xo, Hayley

Soooooo it’s NO surprise that I. Love. Fashion.

Pretttttty positive that Betsey Johnson is my style soulmate.

Even still, I LOVE shopping for clothes anywhere and everywhere, especially online.  That ensures people nearby are less likely to have the same thing as me, which basically makes me feel special inside.  I love being able to score a killer piece and incorporate it with things I already own to create lots of different outfits depending on my mood.

When Shabby Apple contacted me about doing a review + giveaway, the fashion lover inside of me couldn’t say no!  Shabby Apple is a women-owned and operated business that focuses on creating beautiful, flattering pieces of clothing for women that’s artful in design and has a fun, vintage flare.  It is terribly easy to get lost in love with their incredible variety of Vintage Clothing!

Instantly, I fell in love with Shabby Apple’s Lighthouse Dress.  Once you take a peek, you’ll see why:

photo credit from HERE 

The Lighthouse Dress is made of 100% cotton voile which makes it perfectly lightweight and breezy for summertime. It features a white overlay with a buttery yellow slip underneath for a nice, cute pop of color. I was wary the slight yellow color wouldn’t do any favors for my milky white skin tone, but it actually looked really cute!  I think it’d look especially adorable on super tan girls, too!

What I love about this dress, besides the fact that it’s a perfect dress to toss on for hot summer days, is its nautical flair. The white sailor lapels have a pretty pintucked detail with the convenient no-cleavage slip guard in the middle.  And the detachable bow belt is TO DIE FOR!  So insanely cute, and adds that extra little bit of sweetness to this adorable nautical summer dress!

Of course, I can’t get a dress without channeling my inner Rachel Zoe and styling the heck out of it.  So I came up with three different ways to wear the Lighthouse Dress.

Hey, Sailor! If you know me, you know I am kinda sorta obsessed with sailor-y clothes and anything remotely nautical.  After falling in love with the subtle sea-inspiration of the dress, I went for it full force!  By draping a white or cream colored cardigan over the shoulders, it lends a yacht-club feel to the outfit.  Also echoing the sailor feel are the white boat shoes with gold hardware.  Finish off the look with some anchor jewelry (I love my jeweled anchor pendant!) or if you don’t have anchors on you, try pairing chunky gold jewelry with the outfit to help bring out the yellow undertones.  Conversely, red or blue jewelry would look adorable, too!

With hot summer barbeques lined up, you’ll need an outfit that’s both all-American AND all-adorable I dressed up this classic sundress with some costume-y black-and-white oxford flats and some pearl jewelry.  Nothing screams ‘girlie’ more!  For this look, it’s all about the little dainty details to emphasize the femininity of the dress.  Pearls, small diamonds, and pastels all help bring out that prettiness.  If you don’t have wing-tip or oxford shoes, pretty lace flats or even white or black Keds would look cute, too!

And ooookay, let’s be real here.  I own an alarming amount of spiked and studded clothing and accessories. Seriously, my room could probably double as a fashionable torture chamber or something.  I KNEW I had to punk up the sweetness by using some of those darker, edgier elements.  I immediately knew to pair this dainty dress with black chunky-heeled booties which makes the outfit look trendier.  Bring in more pops of black with a black and silver studded choker, studded black and silver bracelets, and fun rings (it’s hard to tell in the picture, but the ring on my finger is a hot pink skull & crossbones–so perfectly Rebellious!).  For this look, I replaced the pretty bow belt with a chunky leopard belt.  The leopard is a fun pop of color and texture and kind of breaks up the sweetness of the dress as a whole.  If it were cooler out, you bet your bottom dollar I’d be adding a leather jacket to complete the look!!

So whether you’re feeling punky, pretty, all-American-cutie or boho chic, Shabby Apple will definitely have something to catch your fancy! To enter to win $50 credit to their store, just enter below!  A lucky winner will be selected on 5/24/13 and will be notified via email.  In the meantime, be sure to check out Shabby Apple’s impressive collection of Vintage Clothing to stalk before you shop!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for entering!  Have a fashionable weekend!!

xo, Hayley

Shabby Apple provided me with product to review.  All opinions are 100% my own. 

I’m just going to come out and say what everybody’s thinking: Boobs are awesome.

So when something mean and nasty comes along to take away boobs’ magical powers, that nastiness needs to get its booty whipped, or preferably drop-kicked in the face.

Besides lung cancer, women in the United States are more likely to die of breast cancer than any other cancer. And the scariest thing? Breast cancer doesn’t have to run in your family for you to get it. All women are at risk for breast cancer.  And the two most common risk factors that increase your risk?  Being a woman, and growing older. Um, cancer?  Why you hatin’ on older boobies?

However, through early detection and improved treatments and research, more women than ever are surviving this awful cancer. In 2011, more than 2.6 MILLION people survived breast cancer in the US, likely by being diligent about getting mammograms, which detect early signs of cancer when it’s most treatable, or by maintaining a healthy weight, exercising frequently, and avoiding excessive alcohol. (And also, helllooooo, we’ve lived with these boobs our entire lives.  We knoooow when something’s not right — and those people who spoke up to their doctors probably saved their own lives!)

So when beloved cookware brand Pampered Chef contacted me about participating in their Help Whip Cancer Campaign, I had to say yes.  Since starting the program in 2000, customers and Consultants have raised over $10.2 million dollars toward Help Whip Cancer! The funds raised through the Help Whip Cancer program are distributed to breast cancer education and early detection programs throughout the country.  And raising money is EASY through the progam: consider hosting a Fundraiser Show in May or October and up to 25% of show sales will be donated to the American Cancer Society. Or, purchase any of Pampered Chef’s Pink Products and Pampered Chef will donate $1 for each product you purchase.

In order to participate, Pampered Chef asked me to turn one of my favorite recipes PINK for the occasion.  Create an edible, adorable pinkalicious dessert?  No problem!  I took the basic premise for my Rainbow Truffles and tweaked the colors to different shades of pink to create a cool, almost pink-camouflage interior to these petite and pretty truffles!  A sweet treat that also kicks cancer’s butt?  Perfect

Pretty In Pink Truffles *adapted from my Rainbow Truffles (link above)

1 box white cake mix, plus ingredients on back of box
Wilton Gel Food Coloring in Rose
About 1/4 cup frosting (canned vanilla is fine!)
1 pkg. white chocolate almond bark (like Candiquik)
Sprinkles (I used rainbow heart sprinkles)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line 1 muffin tin with 12 paper liners. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, prepare the cake mix according to package directions.  For easy measuring, I love using Pampered Chef’s Easy Read Measuring Cups. Once the batter has come together, separate it evenly among three smaller bowls. A large scraper works well for this! Using toothpicks, gradually tint each bowl of batter a different color of pink. Use a VERY light amount of pink for a soft, ballet-slipper color, then gradually add more coloring to each. I left the remaining batter in the original mixing bowl white.

3. Once your batter has been divided and tinted, fill 3 muffin cups 2/3 full with each color. Bake the cupcakes for approx. 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely. Once cooled, remove the wrappers.
4. Break apart the cupcakes into crumbs into four small separate bowls by color. Add about 1 Tablespoon of icing to each bowl and, using a spoon or your hands, blend the crumbs with the icing until combined. Meanwhile, have a foil-lined baking sheet ready.

5. Take a pinch of each color and stack them on top of each other in your hand. Gently roll the colored crumbs together to form a small ball in your hand. Place the balls on the cookie sheet and once finished, freeze for about 30 minutes or until firm.

6. Once firmed, prepare your chocolate bark. I microwaved mine in the large Silicone Prep Bowl because it’s microwave-safe and the perfect volume to dunk truffles; stir until smooth. Once smooth, tint the chocolate (if you’d like–I did a light pink) and begin dipping the truffles one at a time, allowing excess chocolate to drip off, until coated. Return to the cookie sheet and immediately sprinkle. Allow the chocolate to harden a couple minutes before serving.

I LOVEEEEE that the pink rainbow looks almost camouflage-y… these truffles prove that kicking butt is best done in pink

If you’re looking for more ways to help with Pampered Chef’s Help Whip Cancer program, visit them online for products and recipes, or to learn more info about the program and to watch the testimonial video.

Have a sparkly pink day!!

xo, Hayley

I have been selected by The Pampered Chef to be an ambassador for their Help Whip Cancer® program. While I have received product in exchange for my post, my opinions are my own, and I have not been paid to post positive comments.

Okay. Chubby Hubby time.

I don’t mean to insult hubbies around the world or anything, but honestly, chubby hubbies are the best kind.

I mean, they don’t give you unconditional love and affection, or help fork over rent money, or change dirty diapers or give you diamonds, but they DO make your tastebuds awfully happy. And kinda give your belly this like, really warm and comforting kinda snuggle hug. And isn’t that what everyone wants in life?

I don’t really have much to say about these bad boys except that they are the gooiest, craziest little magic bars I’ve concocted. If you’re addicted to the ice cream, consider this your new drug of choice.

Chubby Hubby Magic Bars

1 box yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
2/3 cup hot fudge sauce
1 cup peanut butter chips
3/4 cup chopped peanuts
3/4 cup crushed chocolate-covered pretzels
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1. Line a 13×9 inch pan with foil and mist it lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs and oil with a wooden spoon until blended. Press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
3. Remove the crust from oven and sprinkle evenly with the hot fudge sauce, peanut butter chips, peanuts, and crushed pretzels. Drizzle the top evenly with the scmilk — you may not use the entire can, that’s okay. Return the pan to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes or until the top is set and golden. Allow the bars to cool completely before cutting into bars.

OH MAH GOOOOEEEEEYYY.

Pretty please promise me you’ll make these? The ULTIMATE Ben & Jerry’s treat!!

Have a happy Friday!

xo, Hayley

I have a small confession to make.

The girl I kinda sorta Instagram-stalk just broke up with her boyfriend and I’m like, kind of upset about it.

…which is silly since I don’t even knoooow her. Or him. Or anything about their lives except their names, that they were once in love (a love documented by pictures taken with the romantic glow of Toaster), and that they had a dog which I am DYING to know what will happen with custody issues.

You see, I’ve always had somewhat of a voyeur problem in that I find interesting-looking/seeming people and like, create lives for them in my head. And I’ll follow them secretly on Facebook or Instagram, or back in the days I’d stalk pretty people on Myspace. In my weird little way, I get all invested in their problems and stuff, and start to get excited when they post new pictures or when they write a post about how much they love their significant other, my heart is touched. They’re like my own little made-up characters in the weird soap opera playing in my head where they call the shots and I fill in the blanks.

But anyways. This girl. I am oddly invested in her life and IG account and check it probably too frequently. Anyways, THEIR LOVE WAS REAL. And now they’re broken up. And now she has a picture with another guy, kissing him on the cheek. I MEAN WHAT THE HELL, MAN. Do I need to send her the pictures from their happier days? The one with the Valencia filter where they held hands on the beach? Or the time he brought her those flowers? DID YOU FORGET YOUR OWN ROMANCE?!

And deep down, I’m hoping I’ll click over to his account and see him posting pictures that visually represent the pain and heartbreak inside of his empty soul over their tragic breakup. But um, DUUUUUDE, what’s with the picture of all the love letters she wrote you with the caption “Lies, lies, lies” ? IT WAS TRUE LOVE. TRUE. When you love someone so much, you excessively post pictures filtered in Walden on your IG feed for your friends and stalkers to see. #truth

Aren’t you guys thinking about your dog child? How is it supposed to have equal screen-time on each of your IG accounts when there’s a custody dispute going on? STOP THE MADNESS.

Anywho, while I’m tracking their makeup process through Instragram (and trying to convince myself I’m not creepy), I made some for-your-viewing-pleasure popcorn based off the ever-so-popular Late Night Snack Ben & Jerry’s flavor. Once I heard the hype, I knew it’d be good and now it’s a family favorite in this house. This popcorn is the perfect accompaniment to a movie or a dramatic, teenage train-wreck breakup.

Late Night Snack Popcorn

About 8 cups popped caramel corn (homemade or packaged)
1/2 pkg white chocolate bark (I like Candiquik)
1 pkt Duncan Hines Frosting Creations in Caramel
Chocolate-covered potato chips*
Sea salt

1. Line a flat, clean work space with wax paper. Meanwhile, microwave the white chocolate bark in a large bowl until smooth and melted. Remove about 3-4 Tablespoons of the white chocolate mixture to a smaller bowl.
2. Add the caramel packet to the smaller bowl of white chocolate; stir to combine. Set aside. Then, add the popcorn to the remaining white chocolate in the larger bowl. Gently toss to combine. Spread the white chocolate-coated popcorn in an even layer onto the wax paper.
3. Break up the chocolate covered potato chips into pieces and sprinkle evenly over the still-wet popcorn. Drizzle the caramel mixture over the top of the popcorn and immediately sprinkle with sea salt. Allow the popcorn to set, about 20 minutes, before breaking into clusters to serve. This will keep airtight about a week, if it lasts that long!
*For Chocolate Covered Potato Chips, take about 2-3 cups crinkle-cooked potato chips (like Ruffles) and coat them in melted chocolate — I used Candiquik. Allow the chocolate-covered chips to set before breaking into clusters. Since they’re being broken up anyways, don’t worry about making the coating look neat — as long as the chips are mostly covered, you’re fine. You could even dip just half or just one side if you’re pressed for time.*

I think chocolate-covered potato chips are my newest favorite thing EVER. They’re SO good, and this mixture is the perfect blend of sweet and salty. I LOVE the crunch of the sea salt sprinkled on top of this irresistible popcorn, especially on those bites with the creamy, smooth caramel. You’ll flip for this mix!

See you tomorrow with another new Ben & Jerry’s recipe!

xo, Hayley

I have a bone to pick with adults.

I know I’m an adult, but seeing as I consider buying heels with American flags on them as a crucial investment, I’m not the most adult-y adult in the world. I’m talking about those tried-and-true adults. You have a house, a car, probably a family, a 401K, and are in the over-40 bracket. YOU guys.

So first of all, you guys are great. You’ve long made up for your dorky teenage ways, you’ve successfully navigated through the murky, awkward waters of your 20s, you hopefully lived up your 30s since I have heard rumors that your 30s rock, and are now coasting away from the fast lane toward the comfy middle zone of your 40s. Or maybe you’re in your 50s, or maybe just retired (in which case I am unapologetically jealous). Keep up the good adult-y work.

But like, I’m thinking that when you do reach that over 40-age, you guys get it in your head that playing the Age Game is appropriate again, and I have to wholeheartedly disagree.

You know when you were a kid and you had no filter and said silly things, like that time you went to pick your obviously-overweight aunt up from the airport and she said “come and gimme a hug!” and you shouted in your childish candor, “No! You’re fat!”

Or when you are curious about the ages of those around you and ask everyone how old they are and adults usually make a face and say ‘it isn’t nice to ask people their age’ and then they drop the subject for eternity? EXCEPT NOT, because they’ll end up asking you when they’re over 40 and you’ll be in THEEEE MOST awkward spot ever.

I don’t know if I have a giant sign on my forehead that says “Flattering Age Guesser” or not, but apparently I have been the person to ask about a stranger’s age. I was minding my own damn business getting groceries a few days ago when the chip distributor began chatting me up. He had asked how old I was and I didn’t bat an eye when I said “22.” I didn’t bother asking him how old he was because I figured this age question was a double-edged sword and also because I didn’t really care. But then he said, “How old do you think I am?!” and looked at me like I held the secrets to the universe in my hot pink head.

And it was then that I began crawling in a dark recess of my mind wondering HOW in the world I could appropriately answer this question without being A) an obvious liar by choosing an age too low, or B) a complete jerk for selecting an age too high.

So I chuckled and said, “it doesn’t matter — you look great!” but my flattering comeback did not satisfy the chip distributor and he grilled me again, “No, I wanna know–how old do you think I am?!” I tred to explain I was never very good at math and I grew up under a rock and didn’t know how to count over 22, so unfortunately I couldn’t even fathom a guess to his age, but he kept pestering me until I finally blurted, “35.”

35 seemed to satisfy the chip distributor, because he basically acted like I had given him a million dollars and began smiling like crazy before admitting he was turning 51 in September. Thinking I had escaped the crazy age game, later that day I went to get frozen yogurt when the yogurt shop lady insisted I guess her age, too. I wondered briefly if the universe was playing a cruel joke on me to test my graciousness, and so I blurted, “35.” The yogurt shop lady gave me three extra punches in my frequent-buyer card and replied, “I’m turning 49 this year.”

So the moral of the story is, tell people 40 and older that they look 35. It seems to shut them up just fine. Just make sure you don’t tell people 35 and younger that they look 35, or else you’ll kind of seem like a jerk. And that’s only okay to be a jerk when you’re a kid and calling out your aunt for being fat.

Anyway, adults seem to like adult-y things, namely coffee. And donuts. So for Ben & Jerry’s Week, I wanted to celebrate the 35 and under adult in all of us by making some coffee-flavored donuts based off Ben & Jerry’s Coffee Caramel Buzz ice cream flavor!

Eat up!

Coffee Caramel Buzz Donuts *donut base recipe adapted from Jocelyn’s Vanilla Chai Donuts recipe 

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
2/3 cup vanilla yogurt (can use plain)
1/3 cup strong-brewed coffee
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp malt powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
Caramel Glaze [recipe and ingredients follow]
Toffee bits (approx. 1 cup)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Liberally grease a 4-cavity long john donut pan or a 6-cavity regular donut pan; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the baking soda, baking powder, malt powder, salt and flour. In a medium bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar and honey; beat together with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the egg, yogurt, coffee, and extract and carefully beat to combine. Gradually add the wet mixture to the flour mixture until a dough forms.
3. Pour the batter into a gallon-sized Ziploc baggy; seal out the air. Snip off a corner of the baggy and carefully pipe the batter into the greased donut cavities, about 2/3 full. Bake the donuts for approx. 10 minutes (in the long john pan) and approx. 11-12 minutes (in the regular donut pan). Allow the donuts to cool slightly in the pans, about 5 minutes, before carefully inverting them to a wire rack to cool completely. Bake any additional donut batter, if needed. Once donuts are baked & cooled, prepare your glaze.

Caramel Glaze

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
About 2 cups powdered sugar*

1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter, brown sugar and vanilla together, stirring continuously. Bring the mixture to a rapid boil, constantly stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until darker in color. Remove from the heat and stir in the powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time. Add more powdered sugar to thicken the glaze if need be*. The glaze shouldn’t be too runny but shouldn’t be as thick as icing, either.
2. Dip the tops of the donuts into the glaze, allowing excess to drip off. Repeat the dunk process one more time. Return the donuts to the wire rack and sprinkle immediately with toffee bits. Allow the glaze to set, about 10-15 minutes, before serving. These make about 6 long john donuts or about 8-10 regular donuts, and can be kept at room temperature for a couple days, stored airtight.

These donuts have a subtle, warm coffee aroma to their tender, moist crumb. The malt powder adds that unique flavor to the coffee which is strikingly similar to the ice cream! And can I just say I’m obsessed with the caramel glaze? Sinfully delicious! Perfect for any adult of any age

Stick around! I have some more awesome Ben & Jerry’s Week Recipes still to come!

Happy Eating,

xo, Hayley

Trends I Could Never Get Behind No Matter How Hard I Tried {Or Didn’t}

Flipflops.

Fancy sandals.

Justin Bieber.

Buttercream icing.

Monogrammed anything.

Cargo shorts.

Crocs.

The color peach.

Wearing yoga pants in public.

Sparkly deodorant.

Odd-flavored chips, like pickle or BLT or taco. NOT. OKAY.

Tribal prints. They just look wrong on a super pale girl like myself.

Musical TV shows. Just … no.

Red velvet cake (!!)

Okay, I know I may have lost some of you with that list. I know a lot of peach-wearing, odd-flavored-chips-munching, Justin-Bieber-listening Glee-watching fans out there who happen to LOVE red velvet cake. And I promise, I am only referring to myself when it comes to this list. It’s just a no-no for Hayley (I look awful in the color peach and flip flops are the devil’s shoes as far as I’m concerned).

But YOU GUYS. For Ben & Jerry’s Week, while brainstorming flavors, I came across their Red Velvet Cake flavor. I have a bunch of friends who swear by this stuff (including my sister’s adorable friend, Laura!) and I knew I couldn’t omit red velvet just because I’m a hater. Soooo I took one for the team and whipped y’all up these brownies and OHMAHGAWWWSHHH they are amazing!

One bite and I was in HEEEAAAAVEN. They are so moist and tender, and chewy and fudgy like a regular brownie, but have that distinctive red velvet flavor and color pop to them. And the icing — whoa nelly. White chocolate cheesecake icing, from scratch. Honest to goodness, super sweet, slightly tangy frosting that pairs SO beautifully with these little red squares of delicious.

So you may have converted me on the red velvet thing, but please, NEVERRRRRR take me sandal shopping. It’ll always be a No.

Red Velvet Brownies with White Chocolate Cheesecake Icing *red velvet brownies adapted from Sunny Anderson’s recipe  

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 Tbsp red food coloring
1 tsp white vinegar
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
White Chocolate Cheesecake Icing [recipe & ingredients follow]

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Liberally grease an 8×8″ baking pan with cooking spray; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, soda and flour; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add the food coloring, vinegar and eggs slowly to incorporate. Lastly, beat in the cocoa mixture to combine.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool the brownies in the pan completely. While the brownies cool, prepare your icing.

White Chocolate Cheesecake Icing

1 stick butter, softened
1 small pkg. sugar free/fat free instant cheesecake pudding mix
1 tsp vanilla extract
About 3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup white chocolate chips

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter, cheesecake pudding mix and vanilla together to combine. Gradually add the powdered sugar, about a cup at a time, until frosting is light and fluffy, and a bit softer in consistency than regular buttercream. If needed, add in a Tbsp or two of milk to help soften it up.
2. Spread the icing evenly over the cooled brownies. Immediately sprinkle with white chips. Refrigerate to set, about 20 minutes, before cutting into bars. Store leftovers in the fridge, for several days.

Just LOOK at these beauties! So rich and delicious. Even if you’re a typical red velvet naysayer, please give these a try. If that gorgeous square of buttery red velvet brownie doesn’t do it for you, that ridiculously fluffy cloud of cheesecake & white chocolate icing will!

Stay tuned for another awesome Ben & Jerry’s recipe tomorrow!!

Have a delicious day!

xo, Hayley

Sooooo I declare this week Ben & Jerry’s Week.

It’s what you do when you become increasingly obsessed with those damn delicious flavors of ice cream and when you kind of wish you lived inside of Ben and/or Jerry’s head(s).

I have always had a special soft spot for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. I don’t remember the first flavor I’ve ever had, but I do remember as a kid I would BEEEEEGGGGGG my mom to buy me my own little pint of heavenly churned ice cream and she’d be like “BLAH BLAH IT’S TOO EXPENSIVE BLAAAH” and I wouldn’t understand because I was like, 5, and five year olds are incapable of understanding the concept of money, or at least I was, which was why I always asked my mom for million dollar sheets. 

Anyways, sometimes she’d cave and we’d get our own little pint of joy. I tried to savor each bite of melty, sweet ice cream, but knowing me, I am incapable of savoring anything as I’m too frenetic to stop and smell the flowers and also because melty ice cream is gross. Like soggy cereal. Who actually eats soggy things? So weird.

As I grew older, I started to appreciate their flavors more because I’m an unconventional kinda cat and I don’t like plain-anything. Immediately, I fell in looooove with Chunky Monkey. Hello, banana ice cream? Totally amazeballs. I’m obsessed with anything banana.

(Sidenote: as a kid, and okay, teen, and OKAY FINE ADULT, I have always been OBSESSED with Gerber’s banana baby food. WHYYY, I do not know, but every excuse I had to purchase it, I did. Wisdom teeth out? Asked for banana baby food. Broke up with a boyfriend? BBF, man. My mom thinks I am disgusting for being 22 and still eating baby food, but she obviously doesn’t understand the special magic that Gerber bottles and sells.)

So for Ben & Jerry’s week, I HAAAD to make something to pay homage to the chunkiest of all monkeys. Even though I hate monkeys — but that’s another story. 

These truffles are WAY tasty! They taste JUST like banana, are soft and sweet, and are the perfect little treat. They also cause me to rhyme, which is a common side effect of awesome food.

Chunky Monkey Truffles *truffle base slightly adapted from Brunette Baker’s Peanut Butter Eggs recipe 

1 pkg. banana instant pudding mix
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup water
1 & 1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 pkg chocolate almond bark or Candiquik
About 15 halved walnut pieces

1. Line a baking sheet with foil and set aside. In a medium bowl, beat together the pudding mix and the softened butter with a handheld electric mixer until it begins to come together. Slowly add in the water, and continue beating the pudding mix until it resembles pudding. 
2. Gradually add the powdered sugar, about 1/3 cup at a time, until the mixture stiffens. Using a cookie dough scoop, roll out balls of the pudding mixture and gently roll them in your hands to round them. Place the truffles onto the baking sheet. 
3. Freeze the truffles for about an hour or until firm. Once frozen, melt the candy bark according to package directions. Drop a truffle into the chocolate bark, covering completely. Allow excess to drip off and return to the baking sheet. Place a walnut piece on top of each coated truffle. Allow the chocolate to set before serving. Makes about 14-16 truffles.

I was SO surprised at the strong banana flavor in these petite truffles. It really packs the same flavor punch as the ice cream does! The insides are soft, with a texture very comparable to a truffle — not wet like pudding, but moist. And the crunchy chocolate outer shell with the salty walnut on top really exaggerates the Chunky Monkey flavor. These are SO fun to eat and make!

Stay tuned for some more B&J’s yumminess coming tomorrow!!

xo, Hayley