Cereal Treat Round Up - Living Life

Perusing many of my favorite foodie blogs over the last few days, I've been thrilled to see the red, white and blue proudly displayed in everything from salads to frozen pops to cakes.  I, however, am with Liv in hot, hot, hot Las Vegas for the dance season finale, Nationals.

Liv & Vanners prepare for a group number

Sitting in the audience, I often find myself moved to tears as I watch Liv and her teammates perform their hearts out.  The confidence these young dancers show is phenomenal, and when combined with the skill that comes with those hours of practice, I simply sit in awe at the sheer talent.

As we made our way from San Diego to Vegas, Vanners, whom you may remember from our Sleepover Special, and Liv began reminiscing about the Fruity Cereal Treats - Vegas Style, that they prepared and styled at last year's Nationals.  Fruity Cereal Treats quickly turned into thoughts of Cinnamon Krispie Treats which just happened to be packed in the cooler for our long weekend.  Digging through the mounds of costumes, shoes, accessories, etc, that us dance moms have become all to familiar with, the girls found the Cinnamon Treat package, and I'm afraid there is not much left to share.

Liv!

What we do have to share though, are some of our favorite Krispie Treats which have accumulated on Liv Life over the years.  Not a fan as a youngster, it was my son who prompted another Krispie Treat attempt years after his first taste with the addition of Peanut Butter.  And he liked them.  So did I.

Inspiring somewhat of a Krispie Treat obsession, we've used Nutella, Reese's Pieces, Cinnamon, and multiple layers of peanut butter fudge and ganche to provide mouthwatering treats that are anything but average.

Peanut Butter Krispie Treats with Mini Peanut Butter Cups

Cocoa Marshmallow Krispie Treats

Cinnamon Marshmallow Krispie Treats with Cinnamon Glaze

Triple Peanut Butter Krispie Treats with Peanut Butter Fudge and Peanut Butter Ganache

Holiday Krispie Treats
Use different color candies for different holidays

Nutella Krispie Treats

Fruity Cereal Treats

Vanners!

Vanners takes the stage!

Cinnamon Marshmallow Rice Krispie Treats with Cinnamon Glaze

Life is often filled with opinion and controversy.  Lately our radar has shown rather strong opinions as to whether dance should be considered a sport or an art form.  The news if filled with people on all sides of the issue as to whether Obama should be in the White House.  But more importantly, we've recently had great discussion and fairly strong opinions on the issue of whether cinnamon belongs in marshmallow krispie treats.

A post on our Facebook Page regarding the cinnamon issue left me with a majority of responders on the "give it a try" side along with a few on the "absolutely not" side.  After serious discussion and begging from Liv to leave the cinnamon out, I plowed forward and added a simple teaspoon (a generous one at that...) into our very "marshmallowy" after school krispie treats.

Not really looking any different than usual, we spread the marshmallow coated cereal into our pan and decided if we were going to go cinnamon, we were going to go big.

Pulling powdered sugar from the pantry and adding cinnamon, a touch of vanilla and milk, we soon had a sweet, cinnamon glaze ready to be drizzled over the treats.  Her interest piqued, Liv had a hard time waiting for the glaze to set, and she actually cut into the treats as my back was turned.

Her exclamation of, "Yes!!!  These are awesome!" had me turning to find her smiling ear to ear as she cut even further into my unphotographed pan of treats while muttering the phrase all moms love to hear:  "I guess you were right...".

The hug that followed was even better than the acknowledgment, and as I helped myself to my own unphotographed piece, I concurred.... Cinnamon Marshamllow Krispie Treats rock!

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Candy Cane Marshmallow Pops

Scanning Twitter this morning I saw a tweet stating that Christmas Eve is just 10 days away.  10 days??   How could I not have realized that the day was drawing so close?  I still have packages to mail, cards to address, cookies to bake and holiday spirit to find.

This year has been difficult for me to find that "Christmas" spirit, and frankly it doesn't really feel much like the holiday season.  I guess living in San Diego might have a bit to do with it with our temperate weather, or perhaps it's the fact that Costco has had Christmas lights and trees for sale since August.  Whatever the reason, I'm just not feeling it.

Liv, however, is quite the opposite.  Her room is decorated with any leftover lights she can find, her stocking has been hung by the fireplace with care and this year she has had a bit of a change regarding Christmas gifts.  Usually her main priority is making a list of things she wants, but this year her priority has switched to a list of things she wants to give.

Yesterday we spent her day off from dance rehearsals preparing Peppermint Bark as well as these adorable Candy Cane Marshmallow Pops as treats for her friends at dance class.  Simple ingredients make these little guys easy to put together and with a cute factor off the scale, they were a total hit with the girls this afternoon.

A wonderful idea for treats for a crowd, we simply packaged them in clear cellophane bags, added a printed wish for a "Candylicious Christmas" and tied it all with pretty red ribbon.

Watching her pop out of the car, candy cane striped socks up to her knees, she was instantly surrounded by a group of smiling girls as she passed out the treats.  And the warmth on her face?  It just may have done it.  I got that little feeling in my stomach as my heart swelled by leaps and bounds.  I think I might be feeling it...

Happy Holidays!