Life is very Pinteresting!

I hesitate to use the word 'addicted', but I think I may have to in the case of Pinterest! I love, love, love it! Check out my Pinterest page to find out more about it. Anyway, there are so many creative and amazing ideas on Pinterest (and out in the blogging world)! Usually I just ooh and ahh at all of the ideas and creations, but I've decided to start trying to tackle a few. The first one that I did was the Rainbow Cake in honor of Hayley's 14th birthday.

I only had to use two cake mixes and I divided each of those up into three seperate cakes.

Each layer is quite thin.

Isn't it so pretty!?

I used some rainbow colored Sprees for a super simple decoration.

So fun, right?!!



Hayley had no idea what she was cutting into! She was so surprised!

Fourth o' July Treats

The Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays.  I love red, white, and blue everything, so I wanted to try some new and different goodies for this year's celebration.



These Berry Raspberry Icebox Cookies were delicious!  I found the recipe on 'The Cooking Photographer' blog.

The kids love to make fun little chocolate shapes using Wilton candy molds.

I was super excited about making this Red, White, & Blue Jello dessert.  It was very time consuming to make, but very pretty!

Found these yummies (rice candy) at Tacoma Boys.  Too, too cute!

How Cute are These?!!

My friend Krista has been on a Cake Pop kick lately... well, mostly because I've been asking her to make them for events that we've been putting on for school & cub scouts !  Have you heard of Cake Pops?  They're are actually a couple of books out that I know about.  Check out this link: http://www.chroniclebooks.com/index/main,book-info/store,books/products_id,8831/path,1/title,Cake-Pops-by-Bakerella/.

Anyway, take a look at her latest creation which she made for her son's second grade teacher who is in LOVE with panda bears!



How cute are these faces?!



Rocket Cookies & More Dots

Making some cute rocket cookies for Luke's Blue and Gold Cub Scout Ceremony.  It's a space theme.  I haven't made sugar cookies with the Royal Icing in a couple of years because they require a lot more time (and energy).  I'm way out of practice, but I had fun making them!  I found the frosting recipe here.

Started with the thicker meringue frosting piped along the edges.

Thinned out the meringue frosting to make it flood the cookie.




I tried to get really fancy with different designs (windows/doors/numbers) & wasn't thilled with any of them... I ended up just doing this basic design.  I have definitely reached the 'it's-good-enough' stage!

In case you haven't noticed, I am OBSESSED with these little candy dots!  They are just too, too cute and the recipe makes a bunch (like around 65!) of sheets of them!



Spiced Molasses Ginger Cookie Recipe

2 cups sifted all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup dark molasses

ice water

sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350. 
2. Lightly butter cookie sheets... or better yet use Silpat Sheets ... I LOVE THEM!
3. Sift fist 6 ingredients into medium bowl.
4. Using electric mixer, beat shortening, butter and brown sugar in large bowl until fluffy.
5. Add egg and molasses to butter mixture and beat until blended.
6. Mix in dry ingedients.
7. Refrigerate dough one hour.
8. Roll dough into 1 1/4 inch balls.  Dip quickly into ice water, then toll in sugar to coat
9. Arrange on prepared sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.
10. Bake until cookies are pale golden and cracked on top but still soft to touch, about 10 minutes.
11. Let stand one minute before removing from cookie sheet.  Best to use a metal spatula.

Let me know how you like them!

Fresh from the Garden

This morning on the way to the bus stop Luke asked if he could make dinner.  Well, I'm no fool!  I was all over it!  He couldn't remember the name of what he wanted to make, but among the ingredients he requested I have on hand were meat (ground beef) and soup (cream o' something).  Then, after mixing & heating it up with some spices he served it on a bed of farfalle.  It was basically a poor man's stroganoff and even though it was delicious, I just couldn't bring myself to take a photo of it because, well, it kind of looked like dog food.  :)  But, it was the best darn dog food... I mean stroganoff that I've ever had!  The gorgeous part of the meal was the salad that he made. 

He picked some green and red leaf lettuce, roma tomatoes, pole beans, pea pods and a couple of different varieties of carrots.  I just think it's the neatest thing to be able to go out in your garden and pick food right out of the soil and serve it up immediately for a meal.

He put this lovely salad together all by himself!

Friends, Fires & Fried Onions

Different cities, busy sports schedules, jobs, school and just a whole lotta life make it very difficult to connnect with friends and it's been many months since we've been able to spend some good, quality time with our friends Jake and Max!  We've really missed them so we were excited when we were finally able to fit in a sleepover this past weekend.  After only a few awkward shy teenage moments the kids were able to pick up right where they left off in May!  Hayley and Jake have known each other since they were nine months old and I just love the fact that they're still awesome buds.   

Most of the games are the same... they all still love the trampoline, roasting marshmallows, board games, Nerf gun wars and the Wii...

But the cell phone & texting were extremely popular this time around...

Jake had mentioned that his Uncle Pat had made the most awesome Onion Rings this summer.  This immediately made my mouth water and inspired me to try to make them myself for the first time!  They aren't as intimidating as they seem... just very time consuming.  They were delish!

We sure had a great time with the boys and no one threw up on my watch, so I consider our time together a great success!  We love you guys!

Cooking with Hayley

I've realized lately that I do waaaaay to much for my kids, so Hayley and I have decided that it's time for her to know how to cook (laundry will come later).  Okay, okay, it was really my idea, but she's 12 1/2 now... it's time, right?  This is her second time in two weeks that she's made dinner with very little assistance from me.  Last week she made Chicken Parmesan and this week she wanted to try Lasagne.  I'm very proud of her.  She's really had a great attitude about the whole process!

 Her finished product!  She did a great job and it was enjoyed by everyone!

Bon Apetit!

I decided I wanted to try to make something that I'd never made before... Crepes!  I checked out a cookbook at the library (appropriately titled 'Crepes') and after perusing it a couple of times I decided that my initial venture would be a sweet crepe rather than a savory one... big surprise for those of you who know me!  I don't know why, but crepes have always intimidated me.  I always thought I'd need an expensive pan or a special flipping technique that I lacked.  Well, I'm pleased to say that I discovered that I needed neither!  They were quite easy to make and super delicious.  They also freeze well.

I will say that my apple filling doesn't look particularly pretty, but they really did taste yummy!

I think next time, I'll try to make the crepes even thinner...

Final outcome...