Oscars party!

As you may remember, Special K gave me the opportunity to host an Oscars party--they sent me Special K Popcorn Chips, a red carpet for decoration, some OPI nail polish, some beaded coasters, and a $100 Visa gift card to buy party supplies. They even generously allowed me to give away the same package to a reader! I was super excited to invite my girlfriends over for some snacks, wine, and of course, the Oscars.

On Sunday evening, Stephanie was the first to arrive, which was convenient since she's my own personal photographer ;) (Thank you Steph for all the pictures I'm about to post!) She looked AMAZING in her jeweled pink gown...

She wanted to get a picture of each of us girls on the red carpet, which was fun...

Me, in my "Vanna White" gown

Tammy

Jessica--I said on the invite that black-tie
attire was optional, and Jess had a long day...
So she chose comfort ;)

Renee

Emma (she made this dress in about 15 minutes
 from a huge choir gown)

Rachael (she came in the best of both comfort
and classy--a dress on top, and pajama pants
underneath)

(Not pictured is my friend Alicia, who would prefer that her photo is not on the blog). I had lots of snacks and wine to go around...

This Olive Tapenade with Crostini was a big hit, and I totally
blame it for my weight jumping two pounds the next day ;)
The rosemary makes it unique and delicious! This was 1 PP for
2 Tbsp, and a little goes a long way.

This Red Pepper & Feta dip was my personal favorite (I used
fat-free cheese, and this came out to 1 PP for 1/4 cup!) I liked
it best with tortilla chips, but it was also good with vegetables--
particularly the red pepper strips.

Citrus Tahini Hummus (a typical hummus recipe, only it
includes adding an orange to the food processor with the
rest of the ingredients--it was good!)

And of course I included the Special K Popcorn Chips--but rather than just throw them in a bowl next to all this food, I wanted to take them to the next level--Oscars level. (The chips they sent me were the Sweet & Salty variety). Since I had recently bought some chocolate-covered potato chips from Trader Joe's, I thought, "Hmm... I bet these would be great dipped in chocolate!"

So I melted 3/4 of a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave until it was dip-able, and I dunked one corner of each chip in the chocolate and laid them out on foil to harden the chocolate before putting them in a bowl.

They turned out to be really good! I did try the chips plain, and I also like them that way. They are kind of like a rice cake, but they're really thin, so they're crunchier; also, you get a lot of chips in one serving. I actually bought these chips before, so I already knew I liked them before Special K contacted me.

Anyway, I calculated the PointsPlus in the chocolate-dipped chips, and I could eat four chips for just 1 PP--awesome! I estimate that I probably ate about 16 of them, however--whoops. I was sitting right next to them, and it was hard not to keep reaching for "just one more".

I did make the Guacamole Deviled Eggs I'd mentioned, but they were so ugly that I just couldn't bring myself to take them out of the fridge. I used chili powder instead of the minced serrano chile, so the red powder + yellow yolks + green avocado made for one really gross looking filling. They tasted really good, though! Thankfully, Jerry loved them, so he took them all to work with him yesterday.

For dessert, I made single serving Boston Cream Pie in jars. They were very easy to make, and I love single-serve desserts, so that I don't go overboard.

And what Oscars party would be complete without champagne, right? So we did a champagne toast...

I had so much fun chatting with my friends that I didn't pay too much attention to the Oscars! But I hadn't seen any of the movies that were nominated, so I just blindly picked my winners, and was wrong with all of them ;)

I did pretty well in regards to staying on plan, but I ate more than I'd counted on. I kept picking at the Special K chips and the tortilla chips, which were right in front of me. I plugged everything into my tracker after everyone left, and I was 13 PP in the hole for the week! So I've been working on earning extra activity PP to make up for it. Regardless, I had fun and I don't feel I went overboard, so I wouldn't change anything.

(Very big thanks to Special K who made this happen--I wasn't paid for this post, but like I said, Special K sponsored the party in exchange for my reviewing the chips. This was, by far, the most fun review I've done yet!).