This was our second year in a row watching the Oscars in Austin. Its crazy to think that the whole process started a year ago. I didn't have an Oscar party locally to attend and I didn't know of anyone that would care to attend one, so my husband and I had our own. I decided we'd have appetizers and a dessert and that I wanted to make new things that I hadn't tried before. This is where I have to give a huge thank you to Pinterest. I have been crazy pinning a variety of recipes and now I finally had a chance to use them. On Saturday, I selected 3 appetizers and a dessert that sounded delicious and went shopping Sunday afternoon. As soon as I got home, I got to cooking. First, I made the S'Mores cookies. They were a little time consuming, but had an interesting premise. Basically, you laid out a bunch of graham crackers, put a scoop of your cookie dough (chocolate chip with marshmallows) on each cracker, baked for a few minutes, add a piece of Hershey's, and bake a few more minutes. Next, I made the Salsa roll-ups, which were a Weight Watchers recipe. I wanted to include at least one healthier item. These were very easy to make and perfect for making while the cookies were cooling. Finally, I pulled my husband into the kitchen for the last two recipes. He really wanted pigs in a blanket, so I told him he had to make those. He also helped me by chopping the tomatoes, jalapeno, onions, and cilantro for my Queso Blanco. We finished all the dishes during the red carpet coverage on tv so we had a little time to make our Oscar predictions and eat before the show started. The food was excellent and I was glad we had so many leftovers. The pigs in a blanket were a huge hit for my husband, me and the dog. They were especially good paired with a new mustard I had found at Target. The Salsa Roll-ups were okay, but probably the least popular dish. I think they would have ranked higher if the other food hadn't been so good. The queso was amazing and even made my stale tortilla chips taste good. I tried it again today with apples and it was a great combo. The S'mores cookies combined all the great flavors of S'mores with a much neater way to eat it. This recipe made a lot of cookies so my husband's coworkers have been enjoying those all week. The actual show was okay-we did decent on our predictions, not having seen many of the nominated films. Our Oscar party was a big hit with us and we'd love to have guests for next year's bash. By the way, it was near 70 degrees, making it a perfect Oscar day.

The New Austonian