Party Prep

It's awfully early for me to be up and blogging about the Halloween party the night before, which means that either I wasn't drunk enough, or that I didn't have enough to drink.

Which is hard to imagine, given the number of jello shots we made Friday night.

My friends and I do jello shots a little differently. We actually have literal jello "shots".

This is the bag before.

Nothing says "Adult Fun" like a Winne The Pooh bag full of "borrowed" syringes, does it?

Except maybe a counter full of hooch.

We assembled our trusty team of jello shot making professionals: Me, Darnell, Wes, Kevin and Brent. We set up the assembly line, and went to work. Brent is concentrating very hard. Jello Shot Making is a lost art.

Those shots on the left? The pale yellow ones? They are pina colada flavored, and we made them with rum. They are outstanding, and probably the most popular choice amongst Jello Shot enthusiasts, i.e. me and my friends. Because of their pale color and appearance, and also to not confuse them with the Island Pineapple shots (my second fave), we took to calling them "breast milk" shots. My friends and I are very inappropriate that way.

We made some shots.

And we made some more. But we're not done yet!

Dr. Kevin conducted an experiment with the jello shots. It failed.

Done! These are all the jello shots we made. We estimated that we made over 400. For a party of about 25-30 guests. And one of them was pregnant. That's a large shot per person ratio!

Here's a quick little party recipe for you. I make this for a lot of parties and it's always a hit. It couldn't be easier. Even if you have no cooking skillz, you could pull this bad boy off. I promise. It's my Famous Cheese Ball. I think we'll call it that too. So here's the recipe for.....(drum roll please.....ok maybe I am still a little drunk..........)

Caps' Famous Cheese Ball

You will need: 2 packages of cream cheese (don't skimp and get the lite stuff. Come on, it's a holiday), 1 bag of shredded cheddar cheese, 1 package of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing seasoning (the dry stuff), and 1 small package of REAL bacon bits. Please for the love of all things sacred, cheesy and holy, do NOT buy those dehydrated imitation bacon flavored flecks. If you can't find real bacon bits, just leave it out. Really, it will be better than adding that aforementioned crap.

Let the cream cheese soften on the counter for 10-15 minutes before you start.

Basically, you just dump the cream cheese in a bowl, add the ranch dressing packet and about 1/2 - 3/4 of the bag of bacon pieces (you can eyeball it), and then a cup of shredded cheddar cheese and mix it all together.

Form it into a ball.

Put the rest of the shredded cheddar in a bowl, and roll the cheese ball in the shredded cheese, pressing gently to make sure all sides get covered.

Once it's all coated, place it on a plate, or if you have a fancy Halloween themed serving dish/platter, that would be ideal. But I don't. So I just used a plate.

Smush it down just a tad, so that the top is flattened. Like a disc. A cheese disc, if you will.

Now, you decorate! This is the fun part. I used black peppercorns.

Hi Sam!!
Ta Da!!! Cute, huh? I KNOW.

Now, I have to give credit where credit is due. The Cowboy walked in when I was putting the face on and took one look at it and started telling me all the ways I was putting the peppercorns on a cheese ball pumpkin in the wrong fashion. I didn't realize there was a rule book on this type of thing, but by the way he was talking, apparently, he wrote it.

Oh sorry, I was supposed to be giving him credit, right? So yeah, The Cowboy did the face on this one, because mine was "wrong".

Oh, and I used a little slice of bell pepper for the stalk. I just happened to have that in my fridge, but you could use whatever you have. Celery, a stick, what have you.

Now here's the best part - this recipe can be used at other holidays too. For Christmas, I made 3 smaller balls, and instead of rolling the cheese mixture (which is the same) in the cheddar cheese, I roll it in grated Parmesan cheese (who am I kidding, I use the green can stuff and I don't care), and make a snowman!! Then decorate with peppercorn buttons, a carrot nose and cracker hat. If The Cowboy's Rule Book says it's ok that is. You can even do a Thanksgiving turkey. Really, go nuts. Get creative. Eat the cheese. People will love you for bringing it. I always, always serve it with Keebler Town House crackers, which, if I may be honest with you, I think is far superior to Ritz. But you use whatever kinds of crackers you like.

Party pictures to come later today or tomorrow! Good times were had by all! I'm off to take a nap.