Mini Spinach Dip Bread Bowls from Picky Palate

Back in January, right around Super Bowl time, Jenny from Picky Palate started posting finger foods and appetizers in anticipation of the big football game. One of her new creations was these amazing little baked bread bowls filled with homemade spinach dip. They looked delicious, so I made a mental note to make them sometime. And then I never made them! But I kept thinking about them a lot, pretty much every time an occasion came up that would at all call for party foods. I considered making them this week for bookclub, then decided to make something else. And then two days before our get-together, they popped up on Oh Joy!, and I took it as a sign from the culinary gods that I was not supposed to ignore these babies any longer!

They are super simple to make, and taste heavenly. I think I probably ate a fourth of them myself! They are delicious as an appetizer or finger food, but if you served them with a salad and some fruit, they would also be great for brunch. Instead of making full-sized muffins, I followed Joy's lead and made mini muffins. I followed all of the directions from the original recipe, but cut each piece of dough into three smaller pieces before pressing them into the muffin cups and obviously used a smaller scoop to add the filling. I'm getting hungry just thinking about them; if only I hadn't eaten all the leftovers when I got home!

Visit Picky Palate to get the recipe!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

So far, we've feasted on Lucky Charms for breakfast, and kiwi, green applesauce, pickles, and sandwiches for lunch. The kids and I are wearing our brightest green shirts and a few green plastic bowler hats, we delivered potted shamrocks to our friends, and we have plans to watch Darby O'Gill and the Little People this evening (as soon as it arrives from Amazon). And we can't wait for our traditional St. Patty's Day dinner, an Irish Fry (fried eggs, home fries, toasted english muffins with butter, breakfast sausage, and baked beans), accompanied by watergate salad (simply because it's green) and a delicious--if not entirely healthy--green punch concoction. What are your St. Patrick's Day traditions?

Birthday Cake Boxes

I turned another year older a few weeks ago, and to celebrate, I delivered slices of birthday cake to a few of my friends. Last year, my friend Marcelle took slices of her favorite cake, flourless chocolate cake, in chinese take-out boxes to some of her friends. Such a fun idea to give friends a little bit of celebration on your big day (especially when you are a grown-up and no one is throwing you a huge birthday bash every year)! And last Fall, I spotted adorable DIY slice-of-pie boxes on Stephmodo that I knew I had to do something with. At some point it occurred to me to combine both ideas, and voila! Birthday Cake boxes!

I came up with a quick template (well, it should have been quick, but I'm a dunce when it comes to Illustrator, so it took a while!), printed a bunch out on my kraft cardstock, cut, and taped. I made a really good, vanilla buttermilk cake with vanilla frosting and rainbow sprinkles, boxed up the slices, and delivered them! It was so much fun! Happy Birthday to me!

Click HERE to download the template. The assembled boxes will fit cake slices from a 1- or 2-layer 8" round cake that has been cut into at least 12 pieces. And click HERE if you'd like the recipe for the Vanilla Buttermilk Cake!

Print out as many boxes as you'll need on cardstock.

Cut on the solid lines.

Fold on the dotted lines. A bone folder would work nicely here, but I can never find mine when I need it, so I just used my fingernails.

Use double-sided tape to attach the overlapping flaps to the sides of the box.

Do this one first, then wait until you've slid the piece of cake into position to do the other two. Just trust me on that one. ;)

All done!

Cool Things I Got For Christmas

I need to point out before you read any further that all of these gifts were given to me. I had absolutely nothing to do with buying them--I didn't even make a Christmas list this year--so I can't take any credit for how cool these gifts are. I just had a lucky Holiday season and generous family members!

1. Jewelry Kit from French General--from my sister Holly

I hadn't even heard of French General before receiving this jewelry kit, but I've since checked them out online and made a very long mental list of all the goodies I want to buy! Their jewelry kits are beautiful and include everything you need to make the piece of jewelry shown except pliers, glue, and wire cutters. But their offerings don't stop with gorgeous jewelry kits! They also have beautiful fabric, amazing trims, paper goods, aprons, etc.

2. Printing by Hand by Lena Corwin--from my brother Chaz

One of the things I've been wanting to learn to do (I've made it an actual resolution this year) is screen printing. I've had a lot of fun over the past few years making things with freezer paper stencils, but they can be a little limiting. My brother took a class in LA on silk-screening, and I've been bugging him to come up and visit me, help me build a silk-screen set-up, and teach me how to use it (you know, just a quick trip, haha). In the meantime, he bought me this fantastic book chock-full of inspiring techniques and projects. It has ideas from custom rubber stamping to screen printing, and the whole book is beautifully styled and gorgeous to look at.

3. Plaid Cowlneck Shirt from Banana Republic--from my husband, who always buys me cute clothes (good job, Love!)

So, I have to admit that I had to look the shirt up online to figure the neck out, but every time I wear it I get loads of compliments. I wear it tunic style over skinny jeans, but I'd love to get my hands on a cute skinny belt and try it as shown above.

4. The SoNo Baking Company Cookbook by John Barricelli--from Santa

I love baking, and I love anyone who has anything at all to do with Martha Stewart, so this gorgeous cookbook from Everyday Baking guy John Barricelli is perfect in every way. Although there aren't a ton of pictures, every recipe sounds mouth-watering and fairly easy. I think the first thing I'm going to make is the Cornmeal Bread. Or the Strawberry Thumbprint Corn Muffins. Or the Tart Tropezienne. Or the Apple Spice Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting....

5. A Macbook--from my husband, who always spends way more on me than I do on him

This one was a true stunner. My husband has been having fun with woodworking this year, and he made my mom and one of my sisters beautiful wooden cutting boards for Christmas. He wrapped my Macbook similarly and had us open them at the same time. So imagine my shock when I opened up a laptop instead of a cutting board! Good job, you. In all honesty, the Macbook freaks me out a bit, but I'm learning to deal with it.

6. The Selby is in Your Place--from Santa

A very, very cool book. Todd Selby has photographed a whole bunch of creative people in their homes, and it is so fun to look at each picture and see how their personal spaces are a reflection of them. It makes me feel like I need to rethink my whole house!

**Dear Family Members: If I didn't include your gift in this list, rest assured that I loved it anyway. There were a few things I couldn't find on the internet, plus I got tired and wanted to take a nap!**

Christmas Cookie Plate

If you are looking for our giveaway, scroll down to the next post, or click HERE.

I think there is no Christmas sweet quite as iconic as the Christmas cookie. When we were little, we always made cookies for our friends and neighbors and delivered them on Christmas Eve. Over the years, we've added a few new stars to the line-up, but our favorites remain unchanged. Click HERE to see a few of our favorite Christmas cookies, the recipes we return to year

after year.

You can also see a list of our favorite holiday treats to share and a list of our favorite savory snacks!

December Giveaway Day!

Comments are now closed. Congratulations jhitomi! We'll be contacting you shortly. Thanks everyone for entering our giveaway, and Happy Holidays!!

We at Max and Ellie have been participating in Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Days for a few years now, and we are thrilled to once again offer up a fun prize from our store. If you're new to Giveaway Day, here's a quick synopsis: hundreds of bloggers, some associated with generous online shops, some just associated with their own generous selves, all do fantastic giveaways on the same day. The sponsor, Sew Mama Sew, has link lists of all of the participating blogs, and you can spend literally hours checking out new blogs and shops, leaving a comment, and entering to win fabulous prizes. Click HERE to go to Sew Mama Sew's master lists.

Now, onto our prize! We have tons of lovely, new items in our shop, and we'd love to send one of them to one of you! The winner of our giveaway can choose one of the following from our shop:

an itty bitty boo-boo kit in their choice of color (we have lots of new colors not yet listed in the shop, like orange and lavender; just ask!)

or

a bobbi pin trio in their choice of color

or

a set of blossom earrings in their choice of color

or

a set of cute-as-a-button earrings in their choice of color (not currently listed in the shop, but you can see them in the picture below, and if that's the prize you choose, we can send you lots more pictures!)

All you have to do to enter is visit our shop, pick a favorite item (or 2 or 3!), and leave us a comment on this post telling us what it is! Be sure to include your email address in your comment so that we can get in touch with you if you win. The giveaway will end sometime on Friday, December 17th, at which time we'll announce and contact the winner and ship out their prize. We'll actually be out of town while that last part is going on, but we have a sweet, helpful husband who will be dealing with packaging and shipping the prize. But because of that, we are only opening this contest to US residents.

Happy Holidays and Good Luck!

love, Max and Ellie

Holiday Treats to Share

Giving homemade treats to friends and neighbors during the Holidays is one of my favorite things about this time of year. It's easier on the wallet than store-bought gifts, and the time and effort that go into making a gift for someone show a level of caring that is far greater. Growing up, we always gave cookie plates (tune in next week for some of our favorite Holiday cookie recipes), but in the past few years, we've tried to be extra creative with our homemade treats. Click HERE to see what we've given, gotten, and gobbled up!