Tasty Tidbits Thursday: Oscar party food

As you know, I like to watch the Oscars to see the fashion — and the opening skit is usually entertaining. So at the last minute, I thought it would be fun to do something special with my kids to celebrate the Oscars. And since my daughter’s birthday was the day before, we turned it into a spur-of-the-moment birthday/Oscar party.

{Hayley with her Grandmas — Ella snuck in too}

I wanted to make some easy, kid-friendly food.
The menu we came up with was:

Garden Veggie Pizza Squares
Tuxedo Brownie Cookies
Chocolate-dipped Tuxedo Strawberries
Garden Salad
and assorted chips and salsas
The Best Chocolate Cake – Ever!!!

Garden Veggie Pizza Squares:

(Using pre-packaged crescent roll dough makes it easy and the veggies make it a good thing!)

Ingredients
	1 (8 ounce) package refrigerated crescent rolls 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened 1 (1 ounce) package Ranch-style dressing mix 2 carrots, finely chopped 1/2 cup chopped red bell peppers 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper 1/2 cup fresh broccoli, chopped 1/2 cup chopped green onions

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Roll out crescent rolls onto a large non-stick baking sheet. Stretch and flatten to form a single rectangular shape on the baking sheet. Bake 11 to 13 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Allow to cool.
Place cream cheese in a medium bowl. Mix cream cheese with 1/2 of the ranch dressing mix. Adjust the amount of dressing mix to taste. Spread the mixture over the cooled crust. Arrange carrots, red bell pepper, broccoli and green onions on top. Chill in the refrigerator approximately 1 hour. Cut into bite-size squares to serve.

Tuxedo Brownie Cookies:
These are easy coolies to make, and the perfect “dress up” cookies for parties.

Ingredients:

1 22.5 oz. package brownie mix with syrup pouch
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 13 oz. package Hershey Hugs Kisses (black and white), unwrapped

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat mat. Or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the brownie mix, syrup packet, cocoa, water, oil and eggs together.
Drop by rounded teaspoonsful onto prepared cookie sheet, one inch apart.
Bake 8 minutes or just until set.
Remove from oven and let cool 1 minute. Press a Hershey “hug” in the middle of each cookie.

{fancy glasses}