Thursday, April 22, 2010

Earth Day Party

Happy Earth Day 2010

We celebrated our annual Earth Day today.
The theme was "Go Green!"
All foods were green and we worked on cleaning up our own back yard.
Remember, everyday is Earth Day and everyday is a great day to have a family party!



This is my green snack table...



Green veggies, fruits and pickles...spinach dip and guacamole
Heineken Beer, Gatorade, and Perrier...











after working in the yard, we had a "green dinner", angel hair pesto pasta and then
Key Lime Pie and Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream!

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!!!!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Peeps Easter Cake Idea

Easter Cake with Peeps!



This Cake is just like the Rainbow Cake I made for St. Patrick's Day, the only difference is it is 3 layers and "Easter Colors"





Peeps are great! They come in so many colors...I bought every color and I searched for ideas for peeps, I couldn't find anything I liked. Finally I decided on the colored cake layers...it worked again!


Happy Easter!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Rice Krispie Bunnies

Last Minute Easter Ideas

I saw these Bunny Pops on the Ladies Home Journal website...

We tried our best...our Bunnies look a little "sinister!"





Happy Easter!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Rainbow Cake Tutorial



This is a special post....and being the 100th blog entry, It deserves a special cake!
100th Post!
Rainbow Cake
This is a great show stopping dessert....keep in mind it needs some extra time...it is not hard but takes extra time and love!
Ingredients:
Cake:
2 white cake mixes and ingredients to make cakes per directions on back
6 eight inch cake pans ( I bought the tinfoil disposable cake pans...I was able to bake all 6 layers at once)
food coloring (I used the Wilton set)

Icing:
2 eight ounce packages of cream cheese softened
1 1/2 cups softened butter
12 cups of confectioners sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1/4 cup milk
(this was a double batch)


follow directions on box of cake mix and divide each cake mix into 3 bowls (approximately 1 cup each)
you should now have 6 bowls total of cake mix
using toothpicks add food coloring to each bowl of uncooked batter...add color a little at a time, keep in mind it only takes a small amount to color mix


Now pour colored batter into well greased pans and cook per directions *cook about 10 minutes less* due to smaller amounts in each pan.
Remove from oven and cool on racks.
Do not ice cake until completely cooled.
In the meanwhile prepare icing.
Blend all ingredients. You might have to adjust amount of confectioner's sugar, or make your favorite icing and double the amount.
This makes a large cake!
I iced two layers at a time, completely, including edges.
In between every two layers, freeze cake for 1 hour in freezer before icing next two layers.
This cake is very heavy with the icing and freezing the cake in between frosting makes it sturdy enough to hold the next layers.
The photo above is frosting the last two layers.
The cake is layered by color in order from the bottom up:
Purple
Blue
Green
Yellow
Orange
Red
I kept the cake in the fridge before bringing this masterpiece out...
They thought it was just a HUGE cake....
Surprise!




Yummy!

p.s. there is extra clean up involved!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

St. Patrick's Day Party

St.Practice Day Party...we celebrated St. Patrick's Day Early!
The theme was "Lucky" for the "Luck of the Irish"
We made Irish Brown Bread...see recipe
The menu was Irish Brown Bread
Guiness Onion Soup
Guiness Irish Stew (recipe)
Little "Pot O'Gold's"
These did not photograph very well, but they were cute and very good!

Make lemon Jell-O and cut into tiny squares, hallow out a lime and add whip cream if you want...actually the combination of lime and lemon Jell-o was good!

Now for the Highlight of the night.....
this looks like a plain cake....

But wait, it is a "Lucky Cake"....

this is the Rainbow Cake...
It is the Pot O'Gold!
and Magically Delicious!


One more picture of the "Masterpiece"!
Happy St. Packtrick's Day!


Friday, February 26, 2010

The Queen of the Mixers


Introducing the newest team member to the party planning crew...
I got a new friend and helper in my kitchen before Christmas.
I have been waiting to post and thank my Mother-In-Law for my new friend...

My KitchenAid Mixer!

Thank You Kathy!
This was hers and I love it!

Introducing the behind the scenes "Cast Members"
The little and mighty turquoise mixer is so cherished...
This was my Mother's. She got it for a shower gift....
Next in the line up is a friend that has been around for a long time:
And introducing the Mighty Queen....
I cherish them all...
Happy Baking!

Banana Bread Recipe

Cheryl's Traditional Banana Bread
This is my basic but always good banana bread recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 bananas very ripe and mashed
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh blueberries

Heat oven to 350. Grease 2 loaf pans. In large bowl beat together sugar and oil. Add bananas, yogurt, vanilla, and eggs.  Add flour, salt, and baking soda. Gently stir in blueberries. Pour into greased pans. Bake 40 to 50 minutes.

Yummy!