Beach Ball Cheese Ball

Sunday afternoon, I went to a baby shower for one of the girls I work with. The shower was a mermaid/sea theme shower. I volunteered to bring a cheese ball and crackers. I found a cheese ball on line decorated like a beach ball and that got me thinking I could do something similar. I was going to use Kellie's cheese ball recipe, and this is close to it but not quite the same. Either that or there is an error in the email she sent me with the recipe - so Kellie, if you are reading this, does your cheese ball recipe have 1/2 cup shredded cheddar or 2 and 1/2 cups? I used 2 and 1/2 cups, but the recipe you sent me only said 1/2 cup.  Here's what I did:

2 (8 oz) blocks of cream cheese at room temp.
2 and 1/2 cups SHARP cheddar cheese
3 Tbsp hidden valley ranch dressing and dip mix (or 1 packet)

Mix everything together and form into a ball.

I had Pierce help me with the next part- he divided the ball into 7 sections and even left a little circle at the top - like a beach ball has- the little circle we left plain. I thought about putting slivered almonds there, so it'd still look white- but too many nut allergies in the group I was with. Then in each of the seven sections we did a different color of topping: 2 of them in chopped parsley (green) 2 in finely chopped yellow bell pepper, 2 in pimento (red) and 1 in bacon bits. Some of the other ideas on the internet were green and black olives- but I didn't use those. The best flavor was probably the parsley and bacon sections. This picture is just of the back half, because I didn't think to take one until after the party when the front half was gone. The girl who the shower was for LOVED it and asked for the recipe. The rest of the cheese ball we had at FHE on Sunday night with the entire extended family and they all liked it too - although a couple people said it was a little on the salty side- maybe I'll cut back the dip mix to 2 and 1/2 Tbsp next time.

Bran Muffins

Saturday morning I decided to make bran muffins - another healthy recipe idea. I have recipes from both Uncle Mike and Aunt Joy - slightly different from each other. I made a combination of them both. This is what I came up with.

2 cup wheat flour
2 cups wheat bran
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Mix together:

1 Tbsp lemon juice
and enough milk to make 1 cup.

Allow to sit a few minutes to curdle (or use 1 cup buttermilk)

then in a blender mix:
The milk
2 oranges, peeled and cut into quarters
3/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c oil
1/3 c egg whites (equivalent of 2 eggs)
1 tsp baking soda

Pour into the flour mixture and stir just until moistened. Pour into greased muffin tins. Bake at 400 for 10-12 mins.

This makes 24 muffins at 112 calories each.