Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Pure Bees Please

Hello busy bees! Thanks for stopping by today and especially on Valentine's Day. The blog traffic actually tripled that day. To show our gratitude, Hayden and I decided to share another "rawdorable" semi-homemade treat using more Pure Bars (gotta thank Veronica for adding my post to both the Pure Bar Facebook and Pinterest pages), although it can also be made with homemade or other store bought bars.

I just picked up some more Pure Bars from the local store. It seems that the more I buy the bars from there, the more flavors appear on the shelf. Although I've purchased every flavor online, it's nice to see more options available in my area.

Today, I was excited to see both the Banana Coconut and Dark Chocolate Berry flavors. They are extra yummy when eaten together, and since Hayden and I have been constructing cute critters out of the bars, this color combo had us thinking about making bees.

First, we unwrapped the bars and cut them lengthwise.

Then, we stacked the cut bars on top of one another, alternating the flavors (this is also a really cool way to increase your flavor options or when you just can't make up your mind; I wonder if Pure Bar would consider selling their bars like this).

We cut the four-layer stack into three equal cubes and softened the edges.

The cubes were set on a platter and the dark chocolate-covered almond "heads" were attached. 

We used banana slices for the wings. I recommend cutting a slant on the bottom of each slice, so that it sits on an angle.

Lastly, we added antennas and faces with quick and easy chocolate icing (cocoa powder combined with pure maple syrup to create a yummy icing), just like we did with last week's "love bugs." So cute and delicious, too!

Now we need to figure out what we should bring to this Sunday's Oscar party at my mom and dad's house. If you've followed my blog all along, you know about how we dress up for the event, eat fun fingers foods, take pics on the "red carpet," vote for our favorites (it's really competitive), etc.

This year, everyone is going as a character or a specific nominee. I figured it would be easy to get my hubby to wear a trash bag and have him run around like Bradley Cooper in "Silver Linings Playbook" (I highly recommend watching that movie). That means I should go as Jennifer Lawrence's character, although I think my youngest sister has the same plan (she is a dancer). So we both don't show up in dance wear, maybe I'll replicate her dress "malfunction" from the Screen Actors Guild Awards. I just hope my mom doesn't decide to streak the room as Helen Hunt in "The Sessions" (her character was naked throughout a lot of the film), as she wouldn't reveal her "costume choice." Ha ha :-)

Anyway, Hayden is going to be the young Cosette from "Les Miserables," while Jacob might be a character from "Wreck It Ralph." Anyone else doing something fun like this for the Academy Awards?