Showing posts with label sweet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sweet. Show all posts

Thursday, January 31, 2013

36 yummy & healthy-ish party snack recipes (for GAME day & everyday)




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let's be honest.
i know absolutely NOTHING about american football,  or the super bowl. {except the tv commercials are famously expensive, the half-time show is the talk of the town, and superbowl parties with lots of treats are the festive event de rigueur every january!}

but at our house we do know a little something about snacks & parties. we LOVE 'em!


so here's a roundup of 36 YUMMY, some sweet, some savoury, some crunchy, some gooey, some respectably salty party snack recipes that would be a perfect addition to your super bowl party or gosh-darn any old party! i deem them *healthy-ish* as most are made from fresh ingredients and are way less greasy and sodium-packed than their processed munchie counterparts. please note: i'm not a nutritionist in the least, but i do think these goodies look YUM! enjoy!


ps: you can find all these pins, and MORE, in my *yummy & healthy-ish party snacks* board on pinterest! come follow!


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mini pizzas | prevention

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spicy chickpea crackers | tasty yummies
mango salsa wontons | self
smoky chipotle hummus dip | fitsugar

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7-veggie fresh salsa | self
ombre fresh veggie tray | supermom moments
baked beet chips | a cozy kitchen



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white bean & artichoke dip with pita crisps | self
adobo glazed mini turkey meatballs  | self
toasted sourdough, avocado &  watercress  snacks | helloonline

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oven baked zucchini chips | nutritionist in the kitch
cucumber feta rolls | good life eats
mini chicken lettuce wraps | whole living 

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kale chips | two take two 
rosemary sea salt soft pretzels | two peas and their pod
maple rosemary glazed cashews | a food centric life

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have a yummy & healthy snack recipe to share? please add it in the comments below!

happy snacking, nicies!

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Friday, September 10, 2010

kissing friends tales

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gosh how i love love!
ain't it a many splendored thing indeed! 

well today is mr. rikrak + my meeting anniversary  {+ then a year later-to-the-day kissing anniversary!} 
17 years!
good heavens. 

last year i told my tale of how i met my kissssssing friend, and asked to hear YOURS!
how delightful your answers are!

hope you'll enjoy these inspiring kissing friends tales by fabulous handmakers from around the world.

and please add yours in the comments!
hope your weekend is filled with lotsa love, nicies!

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i asked... how did you meet your kissing friend! :)

paisley baby: I tried to sell Mr. Paisley some life insurance 20 years ago - one of my past careers! 

bird trouble: Me and my man met on the L-train in Chicago. We were both going to the same punk rock show. He was with an ex-girlfriend and I was with my boyfriend at the time. We stayed internet friends for 3 years, then I became single and I wanted to travel... so I flew out here to Philly on a whim. The rest was history!

alex keller : we met....at a pub actually. i was shooting pool, and he was admiring my game. he still remembers what i was wearing, and i remember being thrilled that the most handsome guy in the place was interested in me. he's still the most handsome. 

lori : As you know, we met at my cousin's wedding. He was wearing such a crazy suit. I KNEW I just had to get on the dance floor with HIM!!!!

mountain man:  Mrs mountain and I met on the internet (not a dating site) almost 13 years ago 

jlr designs: My other half and I actually met 14 years ago in high school in an English class. We became great friends, and 6 years later we went on our first date :) 

the monkey's mama: My husband (ahem, kissing friend) and I met when I was a junior in high school and he was a freshman in college. My twin and I were touring our future college campus and ran into him and a friend. Fast forward two years--now I was a freshman (in college) and he was a junior. He and that same friend were the game leaders at our InterVarsity freshmen retreat. One of the games they had us play ended up breaking my thumb so, naturally, he felt badly and had to check on me.
Instant friendship for 2 years, then dating, then marriage 2 months after I graduated from college.

Ahh, kissing friends. 

dawn correspondence : My kissing friend interviewed me for a job! *Scandalous* I got the job...and he asked me out multiple times before I finally agreed to go out with him a couple of months after him asking. We are now the best of friends and I couldn't live without him!

nessagurl: We met in grade 10 computer class, but didn't become best buds (we were only friends) until 11th grade art class. We spent all of our time together for the next 5 years until I went to Switzerland to be a nanny for a year. After one year I invited him to be a nanny as well for a family down the road from us. He came to Switzerland... fell in love with me and 10 years later we have 2 beautiful children and are still best friends to this day.


ness: I met him at dinner my freshman year of college almost 16 years ago My friend whispered that she wanted to date him when he went for a drink re-fill and a fateful discussion of what kind of girl he liked transpired. He asked me out the next day.

We said we were just friends, but we couldn't stop kissing each other.

tanis alexis: my mister and I met when we worked on the set of 'I, Robot' as painters. I met him a number of times later on in many different places.He was the only person to laugh when I got sassy with him.. and he wound up being my 'last man standing'..the sole human who stood by my side as my world fell apart. I knew that he was a one of a kind human being by then. 

karin: My love and I met in a bar. I didn't want to go out that night, I really didn't, but a friend felt sad and needed a talk, so I went along with her.

He didn't want to go out that night, he had to study, but a friend was feeling sad and needed some distraction, so he went along with him.

I never believed in love at first sight, until I met him. Since that evening, we hardly spent a day or night without eachother. This was almost 12 years ago.

 margo (editor's note: WHO WAS PRESENT ON THE NIGHT MR. RIKRAK + i met!!!!) : I met my husband in high school, he sat beside me in math class and flirted with me by playing with the hair on the back of my neck.. we were friends for a couple of years and started dating in grade 12. our first kiss was on a four-wheeler 

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cosmic creatures: I met mine at the bus stop at work. We'd both done the late evening and were the only two there. I could hear his music and I knew what it was! And then I HAD to ask him what he was listening to so I knew if I was right or not. 

He took his earphone out, told me and smiled. We talked on the bus all the way home and met up for lunch a few times at work and just got closer and closer. That was 3 years ago now! Still very happy =D

tabbytoo: I met mine years before we even thought about dating each other.

I met him in 9th grade drafting class. Later I sat behind him in 12 grade Calculus. Then he asked me to the prom. We didn't go, but we did start dating. And smooching in the courtyard at school.
Wow, I met him about 37 years ago. 

allegro arts: i met mrs Arts at the zoo.
i was a single dad at the time, took the daughter there for a day trip. we were wating for the bears to get fed and started talking.

then she said "you're cute, i like you, we're going out on Saturday. Pick me up at 3." 

bambisMinis: I met my guy when I bid on and got an online job to do a costume for this model guy. Part of the costume involved actually paining latex over a body suit while the guy was wearing it. The model and I hit it off, and have been living together 8 years as of last May.

fancypantsandmore: Met mine online. Was reading some profiles and read his, love his quote. Saw he was online so I sent him an IM to tell him. I also told him he didn't need to respond, just wanted to let him know. That was the truth. I was not really looking for anyone.

He did respond though and we started talking online daily and emailing each other. Decided to met about a month later. I was already pretty much falling for him and according to him, him for me as well.

We moved in together 2 months after the first date, got married 8 months after that. Been married 12 years now.
He is sometimes grumpy, has a hothead, takes everything too seriously and is just the opposite of me for the most part. He is also romantic, loving and would give his right arm to help anyone. I adore him!


 i met my husband at work. i was dating someone else at the time, and it wasn't going well - we really weren't compatible (he was a nice guy, but we just would have been better off being friends and not dating!)...

anyway, when i started working at the company, I sat kitty-corner from my now-husband. we used to chat a lot during the day and became friends. i ended up breaking up with that other guy i had been dating and not long after that started dating the guy at work! it was kind of not all that dissimilar to pam and jim from the office :)

i left that company a few years later and went back to graduate school and we got married :) 

 summerscreations: He ordered me over the phone actually. Lol!
A friend of mine had recently started dating a friend of his. They were having a bbq and she called to see if there was anything they wanted her to pick up on her way over. My husband asked if she could pick up a blue-eyed blonde of the curvy sort. She said she had one of those and invited me over. We've been together since that night. :)


elbeading: Middle school sweethearts here. We started dating when I was in 8th grade, he was in 7th; we met thru mutual friends. I broke up with him because he kept banging his head into the lockers for fun. (Hey, I was 13, and had an "image" to uphold, or so I thought.) Dated a few more times throughout highschool, have been together seriously since right before I graduated (7 years). Only been married 4 months, but hey, at least we know we can stay together thru a bunch of crap!

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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

my favourite things: cute tofu


xanadu!
when two of my favourite things happily meet it's pure bliss!

take my love of all things cute (are you with me?) 
add one of my favourite staple foods: tofu
and you've got the gosh-darn-cutest tofu around, the kawaii sensation: hannari tofu.

a few years ago when mr. rikrak & i lived in south korea my deep deep adoration of  things *cute* & delicious tofu was solidified. 

the CUTE: animated everything was pretty much everywhere! it was as though the inanimate-objects-personified-world which i had always day-dreamed of in my head had finally come alive! CUTE was dancing all around me! of COURSE all food had a cute face on it and of COURSE trees made winking eyes at me and clouds made sleepy faces! it was so refreshing to find such a cute-loving community! )

and then there's the TOFU love.
we're addicted to tofu here at the rikrak home.
tofu any-which-way.

so in case you're new to the Japanese tofu mascot hannari tofu, (a series of adorable & cuddly tofu characters with different cutiepie faces) now is the time to embrace your inner cute tofu self and squeeze a plushie.

have any favourite plushie characters? 
love tofu? 

*squeal* 


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images: 
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Friday, April 17, 2009

greatest hits: by ouou

what inspires you artistically & creatively? what would those inspirations look like visually? in this fun series, (please see the others here) ... i’ve invited some wonderful artists to share with us 4 images of inspiration in their artistic life, something of an interview in images! the guidelines were basically this: choose 4 visuals (something like your creative-stimuli *greatest hits!*) that you feel most inspires & expresses your art or craft today. for some, it might be a person, place or thing; a material; a pattern; a colour; a sound or song, etc. it might be a photograph, a drawing, a scan, etc. i’ve tried to leave it a bit open-ended so that we might better glimpse into these artists' motivations and their amazing, raw talent! today i’m delighted to present the next in the series: greatest hits!

i just love
things adorable. things that are beautiful, linear and that captivate my imagination and inspire me with colour & design. so you can well imagine my delight with the glorious, sweet artwork of Laurie, artist behind the amazing shop *
ouou * .

i glimpse @ her pen & ink works, gocco creations & silkscreening marvels and i'm transported to somewhere thoughtful, sweet, adorable and whimsical. what a great talent that is! i'm honoured to own some of Laurie's beautiful work, and visitors to our home always comment on her enchanting style & captivating artwork. be sure to visit her lovely lovely shop here, and her wonderful blog, too.







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and now...here's a glimpse into what's inspiring Laurie, in her own words, with her own lovely photos:

Nature:
Here in the Pacific Northwest we are already starting to see hints of spring with crocuses, daffodils, snow drops and the deepening of our evergreen moss. No matter where I have lived, though, nature and plants and trees most especially have always had a way of making the words-words-words in my head melt away and my heart fill with joy. It is in those moments when inspiration feels infinite.

Netsuke:These Japanese figures are such perfect little forms. My first love in design was Art Nouveau, no wonder these curving, detailed, often strange statues catch my imagination and wonderment. I find myself pouring through images of them or seeking them out in museums time and time again.

The Library:
I have a background in independent book selling and children's book illustration, so "books books books" are an obvious choice for my list. The library, in particular, is where I hope to stumble upon the unexpected, or spend hours sketching, nestled into a corner with a pile of tomes stacked around me.


Surprise:
Oh those moments!

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thanks so much, ouou!
and have a sweet sweet weekend, lovelies!
join me all next week for earth day celebrations, 3 (count 'em, 3!) great little giveaways,
and more!


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