First Day Of School Cakes {Tradition}

When we were stationed in VA I had the pleasure of meeting and becoming close friends with Sharon of Mama's A Mess. On the first day of school she would make her eldest daughter a cake with the current school grade decorated on it. Watching year after year the progression and changes in her daughter was beautiful. I then decided when the girls started Kindergarten I wanted to bring that first day of school tradition into our home.

So every year since Kindergarten I make a cake, decorate it and then when the girls get home we snap a picture. It has only been a few years since starting the tradition but the girls remember it and plan what flavor of cake and frosting they want well before school starts.

This year with the big moved a week before school started I decided to make it easier on myself and to make mini cupcakes in the shape of this years school grade. Plus I really didn't want and my waistline doesn't need two full double layer cakes in my fridge. 

So far I have seen the most change in C but she is the oldest and has had two more years of cakes then M. It is just such a fun tradition and I look forward to it each year just as much as the girls do.

Poor Man's Pasta - Leftover Heaven

My girls Nonna is Italian and boy can that woman cook! Years ago she told me about "poor man's pasta" and the concept behind it. Since then, it has been a staple in our house. I can not stand throwing away food, even just a few pieces of meat or letting my produce go bad. This is where this dish comes in and saves the day.

The other day I had leftover plain pasta and a container of grape tomatoes that were getting close to being tossed in the garbage. Instead of tossing the tomatoes and adding sauce to the pasta, I decided to combine them into a new meal.

Sauteed fresh (home grown) garlic in EVOO

Sliced my grape tomatoes in half

When garlic was almost golden I threw in the tomatoes to reduce. When the tomatoes were broken down the way I liked them I tossed the leftover pasta and garlic salt in the pan and let it all heat together.

Add some parm and voila!

The great thing about this dish is you can add anything. The next day I took this meals leftovers put it in a pot with a smidge of EVOO and added some leftover rotisserie chicken. Heated it all up together and it was amazing!

Save all your left over craps of meat and veggies from the week and Friday night throw it all together in a large high wall skillet with sauteed garlic. When heated, throw in some fresh cooked pasta (or leftover pasta), season to taste and you have a very easy, very tasty new meal and nothing went to waste!

Cooking With Trader Joe's Cookbook & Easy Lunchboxes

It's finally here! The Cooking with Trader Joe's Cookbook featuring Easy Lunchboxes!! Even if you are not a regular reader of my blog, you undoubtedly have seen me mention Easy Lunchboxes aka ELB. Well the super fabulous Kelly Lester and the publishers of the popular Cooking with Trader Joe's Cookbook series teamed up to create a cookbook all about delicious recipes packed inside ELB's. 

This cookbook is chalk full of recipes for kids and adults, fun facts and Kelly's tips. Each recipe is better than the last and the photography and page layouts make you want to read on. I love pictures with my recipes so I really like that every recipe in this book has a picture of what it looks like packed into the Easy Lunchbox containers.

Because the ingredients for these recipes can be found at Trader Joe's, you can totally browse the isles book in hand and create your meals. The contributors of this book are everyday moms and dads. No celebrity uber chef wrote this cookbook so there are no impossible recipes to follow, and no ingredients you have never heard of. Just fast and tasty recipes, simply made. Included in the cookbook are plenty of recipes for the Vegan, Gluten Free and Vegetarian lifestyles.

I look forward to getting my hands on a hard copy and you can get your Cooking with Trader Joe's Cookbook, Easy Lunchboxes right now on Amazon. This is a must have cookbook for your kitchen and would make a perfect gift!

Christmas Angel Pancake Tutorial - Guest Post

Luke 2: 10-11 

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: 

for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, 

which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day 

in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 

Copyright Jenni Price *this is for non-commercial use only* 

I am so excited to bring you a fabulous guest post by the ultra fabulous Jenni Price! If you have not visited her blog before, you are missing out! I first was introduced to her via Muffin Tin Mom when she posted a Bunny Pancake Tutorial for Easter. Since then I have been a faithful follower of Jenni Price Illustration and am always so excited to see what she is working on next. Whether it be amazing pancakes, perfect painted fondant,  or her super sweet paintings/cards you can buy, everything is done to perfection.

So please enjoy this wonderful Christmas tutorial. How fabulous would it be for your kids to wake to this breakfast treat on Christmas? I'm going to give it a try for my girls, let me know if you do too!

Griddle or large skillet 

Pam Cooking Spray 

Large mixing bowl 

Water 

Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix (the just add water mix) 

Electric mixer 

Three Condiment Squirt Bottles (can be found at Walmart) 

green and yellow soft gel paste food coloring 

Paper Towels 

Spatula 

Spoons for mixing 

mini chocolate chips and mini M&Ms for decorating 

Measuring Cup 

Toothpicks 

Mixing cups 

Get out your large bowl and stir with a spoon 2 cups plus 1-3 Tbsp of pancake mix with 1 ½ cups of water. You want your batter thick enough to “draw” with but not too much where it wont squeeze out of the squirt bottle (you can add more pancake mix if it's too runny). Grab your electric mixer and stir until it's well blended. If you have too many lumps, they will clog up your squirt bottle.

Divide up your batter into three mixing cups. Refer to the above squirt bottle graphic for a rough idea on how much pancake batter should be in each squirt bottle. Mix in a small amount of green food coloring (a little bit goes a long way) into one cup, yellow into another cup and the white has no color in it. Mix each color until well blended. Pour each cup of batter slowly into the squirt bottles making sure to keep paper towels handy for any drips.

Spray your griddle with cooking spray but do not turn it on yet. Keep toothpicks nearby to release any 

clogs in the squirt bottles. 

Step One: With the yellow batter, draw the angel's hair.

Step Two: Switch to the white batter and draw the angel's face and a dot for her nose.

Step Three: Using the green batter, draw her dress but leave room for her arm.

Step Four: Draw her arm with the green batter, then switch to the white batter and draw a large dot for her hand and a little dot to represent her thumb. 

Step Five: Taking the green batter, draw her wings off to the side. Do not connect them to the angel as it will make it tricky to flip the pancake.

Step Six: Turn your griddle on to the lowest heat setting (200 degrees) and let the outlines cook until they are puffed up. Now turn off your griddle. Take your green batter and fill in the angel's dress.

Step Seven: Take your yellow batter and fill in the angel's hair and draw a halo above her head. 

Step Eight: Switch to the white batter and fill in the angel's face and wings. Turn your griddle back on to the lowest heat setting (200 degrees) and let your angel, wings and halo cook until they are bubbly and loose most of their shine before flipping them. When your pancake is fully cooked, decorate the angel with mini M&Ms and place a mini chocolate chip on her face to represent an eye.

Romans 10:9 

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, 

and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, 

thou shalt be saved. 

Pin It

My Epic Cake Fail

Last Friday was a big baking day for us. C and I made some zucchini bread with walnuts and mini chocolate chips, the savory zucchini quiche and we also made hubby a birthday cake. His favorite cake is German Chocolate but I wanted to add something special...a filling perhaps. 

So C and I made chocolate mousse for the first time. I Googled for an easy recipe and found one at Food For A Hungry Soul. It was fun, super easy and tasted wonderful. I was very excited for the final product. After a new hours when the mousse was chilled I pipped it onto my bottom layer cake and then topped that with my second layer. I frosted the whole cake with the coconut frosting and put the completed cake back in the fridge to set.

When I went back to check on it a few hours later, to my horror this is what I found.....

HUGE EPIC FAIL! What happened to my beautiful cake? One side just fell apart and I think the top cake was to heavy for the mousse and squished it. I have never had a cake do this, granted I do not make many cakes, and it was my first mousse filling, but still! Oh well, not everything (or every cake) in life will turn out perfect, it's just important to roll with it.

Hubby got a huge kick out of it when he returned home from his trip. I am always happy to oblige in his happiness, even at my expense...lol So we decided to cut it and see how it tasted.

It was amazing!!!! The cake was so moist and the mousse was fabulous, rich and silky. Everyone happily shoved cake in their face, and I was happy it turned out to be a hit. In the end I used this cake as a important lesson for my girls. Do not judge anything or anyone by its out word appearance, it's what is on the inside that matters the most.

4th Of July Weekend Fun

This was our first 4th of July in PA. I was so excited and had planned for the family and I to do a lot, including attending parades, fairs and fireworks. Unfortunately my ulcer had other plans. It took my out for the weekend and zapped my energy. Our neighbors even invited us over for a big bbq party and fireworks but I couldn't get out of bed. I was bummed for the girls but I guess the good thing about them being so young is that they really do not know they are missing anything. Even when they can hear the fireworks going off all around us, they never thought twice about it.

Finally yesterday, on the last day of this holiday weekend I felt better and I was determined we were going to have a 4th of July celebration. We went out, bought some fireworks, food, ect.. and came home. I prepared the food while the girls ran around the yard soaking each other with water guns and hubby set up their swimming pool. I loved hearing the giggling and screeching from the girls as the ice cold water hit them.

The food was perfect. I made pork ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans and corn on the cob. Yes, their is only four of us in our family and I cooked for twenty..lol However, I will not have to cook dinner for the next two days so loving that!

Then I wanted to make something special and creative for dessert with what I had in the pantry. I came up with these Super Ooey Gooey Loaded Brownies. I baked the brownie mix in a 8x8 pan and once cooled I flipped it onto a cookie sheet. I then made homemade caramel. I found this awesome and super easy recipe from Simply Recipes. Once it was cooled enough I lightly drizzled it all over the top of the brownie cake.  I then sprinkled chopped roasted peanuts and placed mini marshmallows. Next I melted down white chocolate and drizzled the chocolate and of course more caramel all over the top. I had bought some iridescent red, white and blue sprinkles and thought it would give a little 4th of July feel, but maybe because it was iridescent only the blue showed up...and still not that well. Oh well it was still delicious.

Then when it was dark and we were full we had our own firework show in the backyard. The girls really loved it and said it was the best 4th of July ever. I love those girls.

M with her first Sparkler

Daddy and girls enjoying the show

I hope you and your family had an amazing and safe Independence Weekend. I can't wait to stop by and see what everyone did and all the yummy food that was enjoyed by everyone. Now it is back to reality. Acres of lawn to mow, a garden to weed, dishes and laundry to be done and some sewing for the shop. Life is good :)

Easter In L.A. {photography}

We spent last weekend in L.A. visiting with family and having an early Easter for the girls. While we were in L.A. I want to do the "tourist" sightseeing. With how many time I have been to L.A. I have never actual been around the town. So with my uncle as our guide the girls and I went out for the day. 

First we went to the Hollywood hills...

...then to Graumans Chinese Theater

...Madame Tuessaudes

...Hollywood First National Building

For lunch we hit a famous Hollywood spot and a place I have passed many times but never stopped....

Pinks! See the girls standing to the left under the sign :)

I had the "Emeril Lagasse". A 9" dog with mustard, cheese, bacon and coleslaw. There were so many amazing ones to choose from, it was a tough decision for sure! My dog rocked!

Later we hit The Grove. What an amazing place. It's like it's own little city and it's gorgeous. I wish I had a whole day just to hang out and snap pictures...and The Original Farmers Market area was full of old world history, charm and amazing food. We were on our way to see the movie Rio at The Grove when look what we found right outside the theater....Mario Lopez filming Extra Coast To Coast.

The movie was super cute and the girls really loved it. Well C really loved it, M curled up in my lap half way through and fell asleep. Granted I couldn't blame her since we left San Diego that day at 0500 to miss the LA morning traffic. 

We then headed back to the uncle's house to relax and await hubby. Poor hubby had to drive in the afternoon traffic but he still made it before dinner. while we waited the girls played with their "cousin" Jackson. Isn't he a doll. So cute and fluffy and with two parents whom work in Hollywood I wouldn't be surprised if we see him in print and TV ads soon. After all he already has his own blog and tweets!

Girls with cousin Jackson

C being silly

Saturday was "Easter" for the girls. Time to get dressed up, hunt for eggs and have a fabulous dinner. The uncle's spent the day cooking while the girls had fun playing and running all over the house. The girls Great Grams came up from La Jolla to share this special Easter with us. It was wonderful having everyone together for one last Easter before the move to the East Coast.

Tired from the big hunt!

The girls even wore out poor Jackson, he had to hide and stay cool under the curtains.

What about Easter dinner you may be wondering...and I know you are. It was delicious! Besides the beauty that is their entire home I love visiting the uncles because the food is always amazing. Five star restaurant quality.  

 Beets boiling away....

Beautifully dyed eggs to go with the beets and fresh horseradish.

Herbed Roaster Pork Loin with Gravy

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

In addition we had seasoned roasted cauliflower, a salad of dandelion greens with grape tomatoes and vinaigrette and fresh rolls from La Brea Bakery. It was a feast and although I am afraid to get on the scale, I am sure I gained back the five pounds I had just lost a few days before...lol