Cheesy Googly Eyes

You can see (no pun intended) that you can add little mozzarella string cheese disks and olive googly eyes to anything.

 

I made this rigatoni pie for work (recipe here) but added the eyes to nachos, mini pizzas, regular pizza or even crackers.

Cut the olive in half and then push the straw through the skin side. 

You can cut the extra olive off the back.

Different diameter straws will yield different sized pupils.

(yes, I punched out the pupils while I was talking to my mother-in-law on the phone. #multitasking).

Cut the cheese disks from the string cheese. 

Set everything up so it's ready to go.
Make whatever you’re going to make (pizza, nachos etc.) then add the cheese disks at the end for the last couple of minutes. Remove from the oven and push in the olive pupils. 
 
If you're making the crackers- put the Triscuits in the oven at 350 degrees for 5 minutes- it doesn’t take long for the cheese to get just melted enough to add the olive pupils.

St. Patrick's Day Cucumber Hats

I made these fun cucumber hats for work awhile back- not with the clovers though.

I love this little set of "Jelly & Aspic" cutters for punching out tiny shapes- usually in the middle of cookies or to make flowers from Airheads for cupcakes. Even though the set has a clover, I like the one without the stem. You get similar sets at Amazon or buy the fondant cutters at the craft store.

I tested American cheese cut at the deli for the hat bands first but the per-wrapped singles drape over the cucumber sections more easily.

Cut 1.5" sections of an English cucumber.
Halve them lengthwise and lay the pieces flat on a plate with the peel side up.

Cut a straight section of the cucumber to make the brim for each hat.

Add a thin slice of American cheese band and  a square of cheddar to make the buckle.

Punch out a few clovers (or use a small flower punch) from the flat slice of cucumber then cut and add a stem.




 Happy St. Patrick's Day!