Glitter Spice

I’m BACK…sorry about the small hiatus. March seemed to be a popular month for houseguests. I have spent the past two weeks playing tour guide for some of my most favorite people from the West Coast. It has been great, because not only was I able to show them some places that I love, I was able to discover a ton of new places. I am constantly amazed by how many things New York City has to offer. You could probably eat at a different place every day for a whole year and still not experience every single restaurant! Which pretty much blows my mind.

All of our houseguests had to deal with a long flight, and a time change coming from the west coast. I figured that it would be great to have a few snacks in order for them when they arrived. This usually consisted of some wine, cheese, hummus, chips and salsa, and a kale salad or some homemade soup.

The main goal was to throw together something light that they could pick at while they unwound from their long day of traveling. For one of my guests I whipped up this super simple crushed red lentil soup. I love this soup, because I can make it days in advance. Like most soups it actually tastes better the next day. This soup also freezes like a dream. I started making this soup years ago when I first moved to Seattle in 2006. I grew up in Michigan, where there is a huge Middle Eastern population. There are some Middle Eastern restaurants in the city that whips up some of the best crushed red lentil soup that I have ever had. I had a hard time finding a replacement in Seattle, so I just started making my own. The Middle Eastern places in Michigan still have me beat, but I think that this soup comes pretty darn close.

Ingredients

1 TBS Olive Oil
1 Large Onion, finely chopped
1 3/4 Cups Split Red Lentils
7 Cups Veggie Broth
4 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 Tsp. Ground Cumin
Juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Directions

Place your lentils in a strainer, rinse and set aside.
In a saucepan heat the olive oil and add the onions. Sauté the onions for 5 mins, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant.
Add the veggie broth, the rinsed lentils, a little salt and pepper and simmer for 1/2 hour, or until the lentils have disintegrated. Add water if soup needs thinning.
Stir in the cumin, lemon juice and adjust salt and pepper as needed. *Note – This soup really needs salt and lemon in generous quantities.
Use a hand mixer or run it though your blender to eliminate any of the onion and garlic chunks.

Serve and enjoy!

This soup is also great over a bowl of fresh chopped kale with a small trickle of olive oil…Awesome, now I am craving the heck out of some middle eastern food 🙂

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Lentils. This post has no comments yet.

For the past week, Derika has been traveling in South Africa for a Pepsi Corps project. When I am home by myself; I like to make something earlier in the week that I can recreate into new and exciting dishes as the week goes on. When I cook for Derika and I, I always make too much food. So when I am cooking for myself, you can’t even imagine how many leftovers I have. Good thing I like leftovers, but I have to admit that eating soup for 5 days in a row does not make me a happy camper. So while Derika was traveling, I decided to make a hearty lentil soup that I could sass up a bit as the week went on. Lentils are a great source of protein, and they go great with almost anything. What I really liked about this soup is that I could really get creative with it as the week went on. The base for this soup is a ton of veggies, coconut milk to add a creamy flavor and some black beluga lentils that I had left over from the Dal Makhani that I made. I was actually craving Dal Makhani, but I did not have all of the ingredients, nor did I have the time to soak the beans. So instead of these beans hanging out in a slow cooker all day, I whipped up this simple soup in an hour. The best thing about this soup is that you can add a hard-boiled egg to it and call it breakfast. You can dump this soup over a ton of chopped kale, and top it with avocado and call it lunch. I don’t care what you call it, just enjoy it and let me know the creative ways that you ate it.

Ingredients

2 TBS Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1 Large Sweet Onion, diced
1 Large Carrot, peeled and diced
1 Celery Stalk, diced
1 Green Pepper, diced
4 Garlic Cloves, roughly chopped
Half of a Jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 Tsp. Ground Coriander
2 Bay Leaves
1 Pinch Chile Flakes
2 TBS Tomato Paste
1 Can Light Coconut Milk
3/4 cup black Beluga Lentils
2 Cups Veggie Broth
Salt & Pepper

Directions

1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. When the oil is hot add the onion, carrot, celery and green pepper, jalapeno along with a pinch of salt. Sauté until the vegetables are tender and lightly golden, about 7 to 10 minutes.

2. Add the garlic, coriander, bay leaves, chile flakes and a few grinds of black pepper. Continue to sauté for 3 minutes until fragrant and the garlic softens.

3. Stir in the tomato paste and coconut milk. Scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, and then stir in the lentils.

4. Add the veggie broth and 1-teaspoon salt, bring to a boil then cover and reduce the heat to low.

5. Simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the cover and continue to simmer for 20 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Garnish with fresh cilantro and enjoy!

I made this soup on a Monday and I ate the heck out of it all week.

I have had it for breakfast over kale and with a hard-boiled egg…

If you decide to eat it for breakfast, it needs to come with a warning label. Warning…If you eat this for breakfast, you will be full the rest of the day. No joke! On Saturday Derika and I ate this for breakfast and then we went out for a day of fun in the city. We stumbled across so many cute restaurants that we wanted to try. Unfortunately, we could not eat any of the tasty snacks we saw along the way, because we were still full from breakfast! I need to remember this so that I can eat this meal before I get on a long flight.

The possibilities are endless. I feel like I was channeling Popeye when I came up with the idea to pour this soup over kale. Don’t cook the kale, just chop it up and dump the hot soup over it…magic!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Coconut Milk, Kale, Lentils. This post has no comments yet.

I have been feeling a little under the weather this past week and I am at the point where I have run out to tissues, so I have resorted to using toilet paper. No, I am not proud of this and it is so not glamorous…but it made me realize a simple DIY trick that I have not shared with you. Blowing your nose with toilet paper sucks…it is thin, and not so soft, and it makes your nose look like you have been using sand paper on it. However, when your toilet paper smells like you are running through a lavender field, it sucks less and it makes you forget how terrible it is. I am going to share my secret with you on how to keep you bathroom smelling super fresh without investing in artificial air fresheners. Now you can easily have an earth friendly bathroom air freshener, and if you do have to blow your nose with toilet paper, at least it will smell nice.

Supplies

1 Roll of Toilet Paper
1 Bottle of Your Favorite Essential Oil (I prefer Lavender)

Directions

When you are getting ready to put a new roll of toilet paper in the bathroom, take an extra minute or two and put a couple of drops of your favorite essential oil on the inside cardboard section of the toilet paper roll.

Insert your toilet paper into the holder and viola; you now have a simple bathroom air freshener that will keep your bathroom smelling funky fresh. The great thing about this is that you could buy one air freshener at the store and for the same price, you can buy a bottle of essential oil that will last you 10 times longer and smells 10 times better.

Every time I use my toilet paper, I feel like I am frolicking through a lavender field…Ooohhh, sooooo dreamy and oh so fresh!

Enjoy your new affordable eco air freshener and don’t be surprised if your friends begin to ask you why your bathroom smells so amazing!

If you are looking for more eco-friendly tips and tricks, check out my friend’s blog Simply Alyson, she is the queen of how to be a little more eco-friendly in your everyday life. 🙂

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Uncategorized. This post has 2 comments.

I love Mexican food, so much that I could probably eat it everyday. One of the best things about Mexican food is eating Mexican food with some killer refried beans. I love them on nachos and burritos and tacos and enchiladas, and you get the picture. I am not great at planning ahead before I cook, unless I am having a dinner party. During the week, I usually decide what I am going to make by what is in season and affordable at the store that day. This is where my sadness comes into play with dried beans. I love dried lentils, because they cook so quickly. When it comes to black beans or pinto beans, I never remember to soak them the night before. I am constantly thinking about food and coming up with new recipes in my head, so I have no idea why it is so hard for me to soak my beans…Fail!

The other day I had an idea to make a Mexican casserole for Taco Tuesday, and I knew that this recipe had to have some refried beans. I don’t mind canned refried beans, but sometimes it kind of resembles pet food, and it kind freaks me out. I have also found that when I try to make refried beans with canned pinto beans, the consistency is never right. So instead of running to the store for a can of beans, I decided that I would make my own refried beans, but guess who forgot to soak her beans…this guy! So in a moment of desperation, I decided to take a risk and make refried beans without pre-soaking them. Let me tell you, I felt like I was living on the edge…I guess I need to get out more! However, the mystical unicorn cooking gods must have been looking down on me, because I somehow managed to pull off banging refried beans in just 90 minutes. Believe it or not, these mystical magical unicorn beans are healthy and a cinch to make! Continue reading to find out my secret.

Ingredients

1 LB Dried Beans (I used pinto here, but you could use red or black)
Water or Homemade Veggie Broth
1/2 TBS Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 250.

2. Dump the dried beans into a large Dutch oven or pot with a tight-fitting lid (I used my trusty Le Creuset).

3. Pick out any broken pieces and add the salt.

4. Top with enough water or vegetable broth to cover the beans by an inch and a half, and bring the uncovered pot to a boil.

5. SHHHH, THIS IS THE SECRET STEP! Cover the pot, place it in the oven and cook your beans for 45 minutes. At the 45-minute mark, carefully take a little peek. If they look sad and dry add some boiling water to the pot. Cover the pot and put it back in the oven for an additional 30 minutes.

6. Remove your beans from the oven; they should look something like this.

7. Test one of the beans to make sure that they are the right consistency for mashing. They should be easy to pinch between your fingers, but still a little firm.

8. With extra care, strain the remaining liquid, setting the bean liquid aside.

9. Mash-up your beans with a potato masher, adding the left over bean liquid as needed until you reach your desired consistency. I like my refried beans a little lumpy. If you want to make them super smooth you could put them in a food processor and slowly add the liquid as you process your beans.

10. Once you get them to the desired consistency, discard the remaining liquid. Add additional salt and ground pepper to taste.

Voila! You now have magical refried beans.

This made a ton of beans, so I used half and froze the rest. When you want to use your frozen beans, just let them defrost in the fridge overnight and they are as good as new.

Beans, beans, the musical fruit. The more you eat, the more you toot… Enjoy your beans and check out my enchilada casserole recipe!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Pinto Beans. This post has no comments yet.

Derika and I are getting ready to head to New Orleans for the weekend. Mardi Gras kicks off this weekend, and I cannot wait to see my first Mardi Gras parade. I will have a few travel days by myself since Derika has to work, so stay tuned for an update on my New Orleans Adventures. I am sure that it will include many beignets, hurricanes, beads, and brunching; I AM SO EXCITED!! The last time that both of us visited New Orleans was Memorial Day 2005! We were living in Michigan at the time, and we drove from Detroit to New Orleans. It is crazy to think about it, but we were there just a few months before Hurricane Katrina hit. I know that it has been awhile, but I am curious to see how much the city has changed since then.

When we travel, I am in charge of the travel snacks. I try to bring a few different options, because I don’t want to have to rely on airport food. I don’t have any problems with eating at the airport; I just like to have a back up option. I always travel with raw almonds, it is easy and they are healthy and filling. I was feeling a little sassy, so I decided to spice it up a bit and whipped up some spiced nuts. The final outcome was a bowl of nuts that are packed with flavor and a little bit of spicy heat. Enjoy!

Ingredients

3 Cups Unsalted Mixed Nuts
2 TBS. Olive Oil
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1 1/2 Tsp. Cumin (this has a strong flavor, if you don’t LOVE it use less)
1 Tsp. Freshly Ground Pepper
1/2 Tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1/2 Tsp. Smoked Paprika
1/2 Tsp. Granulated Garlic
1/2 Tsp. Onion Powder
1/2 Tsp. Mustard Powder

Directions

1. Pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees.

2. Pour 3 cups of nuts into a mixing bowl.

3. Combine all of the dried spices except for the granulated garlic into a small bowl and set aside.

4. Add the 2 TBS of olive oil to your bowl of nuts and stir until all of the nuts are coated. If you notice excess oil in the bottom of the bowl, add a few more nuts a handful at time until the oil is mostly gone.

5. Top your olive oil nuts with the dry spice mix and stir thoroughly.

6. Spread a single layer of nuts onto a baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes, stirring the nuts once at the 10 minute mark.

7. Remove the nuts from the oven and sprinkle them with the granulated garlic. Allow the nuts to cool and then place them into a serving bowl.

The hardest part is not eating all of these nuts before my trip. Enjoy!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Almonds. This post has 4 comments.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Since it is Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be a good time to share my festive looking cherries, because they are the appropriate Valentine color. Since we have moved to Manhattan, I have fallen in love with the Manhattan cocktail. I like the idea that I can order a Manhattan in Manhattan, and I am on a mission to find the best Manhattan in the city. My current favorite is from a speakeasy called 67 Orange Street; they make oodles of yummy beverages. When I am home and in the mood for a Manhattan, I usually have Derika make me one. I have to admit that her Manhattan skills are pretty legit. The only thing that we have been missing, are the amazing boozy cherries that come with the fancy bar Manhattans. The maraschino cherries from the store just aren’t right! Santa must have heard me talking about making my own boozy cherries, because this Christmas I got my very own cherry pitter…I am so excited! Unfortunately, it is not the time of year to buy fresh cherries in NYC. However, on New Year’s Eve we were out grocery shopping, and low and behold there was a mountain of fresh cherries on sale. Now I know that it is not the time of year to buy cherries, but I had a cherry pitter burning a whole in my pocket. So I bought a pound of cherries and tried not to think about it. Don’t hate me; I just couldn’t wait until summer. I raced home with my guilty purchase, and a mission to make some bourbon cherries for our Manhattans. Here is what I came up with…

Ingredients

1 LB cherries (pitted if possible), washed & well dried
2 1/2 C Water
1 C Sugar
1 Lemon for Juice
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
4-8oz Bourbon (I used Buffalo Trace)
4 – 8oz mason jars

Directions:

1. Place the water and sugar in a medium sized saucepan. Bring to a light boil, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves.

2. Add the lemon juice and vanilla extract. Remove from the heat. Yay, you just made simple syrup!

3. Wash your cherries and pit them with your fancy cherry pitter. You don’t have to pit your cherries for this recipe, just warn your guests before you make them a cocktail with you non-pitted cherries. 🙂

4. After you make your simple syrup, sterilize your jars, lids and rings in which you want the cherries to go. You can do this in a deep wide stockpot with one of those old-fashioned metal steamers laid out in the bottom. This will keep the jars off the bottom of the pot so they don’t break. Fill the pot with water and bring to a rolling boil. Using a pair of canning tongs (I have this ball utensil set ), carefully place the jars, lids and rings in the water so they fit comfortably. The jars should have 1″to 2″ of water above the them while you boil them for about 15 minutes. Carefully lift jars, lids and rings out of the water and set aside on a clean, dry surface. Yay, your jars are sterilized!

5. Now using very clean hands, place the cherries in the jars with 3/4 inch of headspace left over. Pour the simple syrup over the cherries, (still leaving that 3/4 inch of space at the top) and pour 1 to 2 ounces of bourbon over the entire mixture. This should leave you with 1/2″ of headspace. If you need more liquid, just add more bourbon. 🙂

6. Secure rims and lids on the jars. I decided that it would be fun to can my cherries. I have never canned anything before, but it has been on my list of things to try. You don’t have to can your cherries, but if you want to can them place the sealed jars back in the boiling water to ensure seal for 15 minutes.

7. Carefully remove from the water and allow to set. You may hear a “ping” noise coming from the jars – this is an excellent sign. Once cool, check to make sure the rings have in fact sealed and refrigerate any that don’t. While you should use unsealed cherries within a couple weeks, the sealed ones will last for a year at least.

I waited for about a month before I opened a jar of my cherries, I think the waiting was the hardest part. What I noticed is that over time, the syrup that the cherries were in started to change from a pink to a valentine red color. Sooo pretty!

I was so excited about how the cherries turned out, they were boozy and sweet! To our excitement, the cherry syrup was the secret ingredient that our homemade Manhattans were missing! Have fun making these, and have even more fun eating them. Try not to eat all of these cherries in one sitting, but I won’t blame you if you do!

Cheers,

Manhattan recipe coming soon. 😉

As a side note, I just started a bloglovin account… Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Bourbon, Cherries. This post has 4 comments.

I have been trying to use green cleaning products around the house, but buying natural household items can get a bit pricey. So instead of investing in the natural household cleaners, I have switched over to using vinegar to clean my kitchen and bathroom. It works great, but to be honest with you I cannot stand the smell of plain vinegar. When I do purchase the natural cleaning products at the store, I usually purchase the citrus ones because I love the way they make the house smell. After doing a little research, I discovered that you can add all sorts of fun things to make your vinegar smell a bit better. For my experiment I added orange peels to my vinegar and let it hang out for a couple of weeks…Oh my god, it turned out amazing! I want to clean ALL of the things now! You are going to be surprised by how easy this is.

Supplies

Glass Jar
Peels from 2 oranges
1-32oz bottle of vinegar
Spray Bottle
Water
A little bit of patience
Peppermint Essential Oil(optional)

Directions

1. Peel 2 oranges and put the peels in your glass jar.

2. Pour the whole 32 oz. bottle of vinegar over your orange peels.

3. Seal the glass jar and let the vinegar and orange peels hang out for 2 weeks. This is where your patience comes in. 🙂

4. After 2 weeks, strain your vinegar and discard your orange peels. Your vinegar should now look like this. I do admit it looks like a jar full of pee…

5. Pour your orange vinegar into a spray bottle with equal parts water. Add a dash or two of the peppermint oil if you are feeling sassy, skip this step if you are not. Voila! You now have a very fancy homemade citrus cleaner for around $2.

The citrus and the peppermint takes the edge off of the strong vinegar odor and it leaves your house smelling fresh and fancy. Have fun cleaning the heck out of everything in sight and you might as well get a second batch going, because you will go through the first bottle super quick. In my next batch, I am going to add some orange peels, lemon peels and rosemary. Yay, for gettin’ fancy with your homemade natural cleaning products!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Uncategorized. This post has one comment.

So the veggie spiralizer obsession continues! I thought that since I did a blog post on how to make zucchini noodles that it would be a little cruel to leave you hanging without something delicious to cover them with. I bet you didn’t know this, but I live with a Bolognese Connoisseur…my wife Derika looooooves Bolognese. Currently, her two favorite places to get Bolognese are Bizarro Italian Cafe in Seattle and the Union Square Cafe in NYC. If you like Bolognese, make sure you hit these places up on your next visit.

I never make Bolognese for Derika, because I don’t think that as a vegetarian I would ever get it right. Lately, I have been trying to eat less soy, so I came up with the idea to add lentils to a simple pasta sauce to give it an additional protein kick. When I got done making it, the sauce kind of looked a little like Bolognese! I ran this recipe by my Bolognese Connoisseur and it got the two thumbs up…heck yes! This sauce is super filling and a little more heartier than just eating plain ole’ pasta sauce. I dumped a bunch of it over my zucchini noodles and ate the heck out of it…so tasty! I have a hard time cooking for 2 and had a ton of Lentil Bolognese left over, so I decided to freeze the rest. It has been snowing buckets in NYC lately and all I want to do is stay home and order carry out or cook at home. This is the current view from my apartment right now…winter wonderland!

So instead of venturing out for dinner, we thawed out and taste tested the frozen version of the Lentil Bolognese, and I think that I actually liked it better. This sauce defrosted like a dream and I think that it was better, because the lentils had a bit more time to hang out in the sauce. We were both happy campers, because we got to enjoy a great meal at home in the comforts of our warm and cozy house…Winning! Now I just need to figure out how I can fit a fireplace in my NYC apartment.

Ingredients

1 Cup Dried French Lentils
2 Cups Veggie Broth
1 TBS Olive Oil
1 Medium Yellow Onion, diced
4 Garlic Cloves, minced
1- 28 oz Can Organic Crushed Tomatoes with Basil
1 Tsp Dried Basil
1 Tsp Dried Oregano
½ Tsp Italian Seasoning
4 medium zucchini, spiralized into pasta
Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Directions

1. Add lentils and 2 cups of broth to a medium pot. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer and cook until lentils are tender and liquid is evaporated, about 30 minutes. If all of your broth evaporates before the lentils are cooked, just add a little more water. The lentils should still be firm and not mushy before you add them to the sauce.

2. Meanwhile, add 1-tablespoon olive oil to a pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes, or until translucent. Add the garlic cloves and sauté for an additional minute, until fragrant.

3. Add the tomato sauce, basil, oregano, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer on low for 20 minutes.

4. When lentils are done cooking add them to the sauce and simmer for an additional 5 – 10 minutes.

5. In a separate pan, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and sauté the zucchini pasta for 5 – 7 minutes, until desired tenderness is achieved. Fresh zucchini will often lose moisture as the zucchini pasta cooks so be sure to drain any liquid that has built up in the pan.

6. Divide the pasta among four plates and top with lentil marinara. Serve hot.

Stay warm out there and try to not spiralize every veggie in your produce drawer with your new veggie spiralizer 🙂

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Lentils, Tomatoes, Zucchini. This post has 2 comments.

I’ve wanted a vegetable spiralizer for a couple of years now, and this Christmas Santa finally brought me one! There are a ton of different versions out there, so after I got mine I did some research. I found out that the two most popular ones are thePaderno World Cuisine Spiralizer and the GEFU Spirelli Spiral Slicer. Santa ended up getting me the GEFU version and I really like it. I have a ton of kitchen appliances and I like that it is compact and easily fits into my kitchen drawer. I also like it because it has two different options for thick or thin ‘noodles’ and it is also super easy to clean.

I was a bit skeptical on how zucchini noodles would turn out, but I have to say that I am impressed and obsessed! They are so good, and the spiralizer is a cinch to use. Now lets get to making some noodles!

Step One…

Buy yourself a veggie sprializer. Here is what mine looks like.

Step Two…

Get yourself a zucchini, cut the ends off of it and attach it to whatever spiralizer you purchased. Once your zucchini is attached, simply begin to spin the zucchini in your spirlaizer….Ohhhh, Magic!

Step Three…

Spiralize the heck out of your zucchini. It comes out in ginormous strands, so I would recommend cutting it the length of spaghetti noodles once you are done spiraling. Your zucchini should look like this. Soooo, pretty!

The great thing about the spiralizer is that it takes the middle out of the zucchini, which is the part that gets soggy when you cook zucchini. I hate soggy things, so this is one of the reasons why this is the kitchen appliance for me. So, there you have it folks…zucchini noodles in a flash! I like to heat a 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil up in a pan and quickly sauté the noodles with salt and pepper, before I top them with my favorite sauce. Enjoy your new guilt free noodles and stay tuned for zucchini noodle recipes coming to a Glitter Spice blog near you!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Zucchini. This post has no comments yet.

The Super Bowl is coming, the Super Bowl is coming! Ok, so this is the second time that I have lived in a city that has hosted the Super Bowl. The last time was in Detroit in 2005. I did not get to enjoy much of the festivities that time around, because I was working for REI and we had a to work a huge snowshoe event that weekend…Boo! So this time I plan on getting into some fun Super Bowl shenanigans. We of course don’t have tickets to the actual game, which I am secretly kind of glad about. The stadium for the Super Bowl is an open-air stadium and everyone is going to freeze! However, I do plan on going down to Bryant Park where all of the festivities are happening just to check it out and to get into the spirit.

Ok, so I have a confession. I am not really a huge football fan…Shhhhhhh! Derika on the other hand is a huge fan, so we do spend some of our weekends watching the football. I have to say that I am starting to enjoy it and I am finally starting to pick up some of the rules. I know about 5 players names in the NFL and I pick my favorite players the same way that I pick out a new bottle of wine. When I am wine shopping and I have no idea what I what, I usually pick a style and then pick out a couple of bottles based off of which labels catch my eye. The same goes for my football players. If you have a name like Lovey or OchoCinco…I will like you. If their helmet or any part of their uniform sparkles…I will like you. If the player has epic flowing locks that flow in the breeze as they run down the field…I will like you. If your fans throw Skittles at you as a form of celebration…I will like you. If your name is easy and simple to remember or if there are two of you (Manning)…I will like you. If you do a neat little dance after you sack the quarterback or score all of the points…I will like you.

While I am watching the football, I am usually crafting until I hear one of my favorite names. I usually miss all of the touchdowns and all of the good plays because I am crafting, which annoys Derika a smidge…good thing she likes me. 🙂 My theory is that if you are scoring all the points and making all of the good plays, they will replay it 176 times and I will get to see it and craft at the same time…Winning!

Right about now I bet you are wondering why in the heck I am even excited about the Super Bowl. Well, here are my reasons…This Super Bowl is spotlighting one of my favorite candies! Yay!

I absolute love love love the Super Bowl commercials. I am usually the one taking a bathroom break during the game and will be wondering why you are in the bathroom during the commercials…The best part of the Super Bowl! Here is one of my favorite commercials…

[youtube=http://youtu.be/1A6frF5zfDE]

Besides the Skittles and the great commercials…I of course love all of the snacks! Yay for snacks! Since I have been scheming about what I am going to make in regards to snacks for this weekend. I thought this would be a great time to go through my blog and pull out some of the things that I have made over the past year that would be a great Super Bowl snack. I hope you enjoy my selections! Have a great weekend and try not to eat too many Skittles. 🙂