Big Girl Weekend

     I had one heck of a weekend that involved an awesome girl's night Friday at the cabin. Everyone made their favorite snacks, and I grubbed all night long. I chose to bring a cheese ball and white chocolate covered Oreo 'truffles.' There were also pinwheels, vegetables and dip, cupcakes, a hot cheese dip, and seven layer dip. The food was definitely 100% not diet food and definitely 100% delicious! We used this night as our Christmas gift exchange. RunninRob had the great idea for each person to bring their favorite things, so by the end of the exchange I got to come home with a bag full of goodies (see picture below). For my favorite thing, I made everyone a jar of fridge pickles and gave out a new lip balm. I love pickles, and these are super easy to make.
     Since I have been in a food (and drink) coma since Saturday morning, I have been eating everything in sight AND been an epic failure in the workout department. I am going to be repeating week 4 of couch to 5k this week, since I didn't ever get around to even starting it. I am a little scared to weigh in the morning, but maybe seeing that number will be the kick in the hiney that I need to get back in gear.

Cheese ball

2 packages of cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

5 green onions

1 jar dried beef

1/2 tbsp worchestire sauce

Soften cream cheese (I microwave it for 20 seconds). Chop onions and beef. Add to cream cheese. Add 1 cup of chopped pecans and worchestire sauce. Mix well and form into ball. Put remaining 1/2 cup pecans on outside of cheese ball. Refrigerate. Serve with crackers or wheat thins.

Oreo 'Truffles'

2 packages cream cheese

1 package Oreo cookies

white almond bark

Grind up the Oreos in a blender until it resembles sand. Add to softened cream cheese. Mix well. Put in fridge about 30 minutes to firm up. Roll into balls, dip in white almond bark. Refrigerate until set.

Fridge Pickles

10 cucumbers

3 green bell peppers

2 large yellow onions

4 cups white vinegar

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp celery salt

1 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 tsp black pepper

3 tbsp chopped garlic

Thinly slice vegetables and place in large bowl. Combine vinegar and remaining ingredients in small saucepan. Bring to boil, cook 1 minute. Pour over vegetables. Let cool. Cover and chill in the fridge for a few days. This makes a lot of pickles, so you can definitely cut this recipe in half. You can also up the red pepper if you want more spicy pickles!