Recipes and Cooking Ideas for Homemakers and Amateur Cooks
 

Cranberry Relish or Salad

Posted on December 22, 2009
Filed Under Holiday cooking, Salads

This is a cranberry relish recipe that Mom added some variation to. It is SO good!!!! You don’t even have to be crazy about cranberries to like it. Mom gave me this recipe along with the ingredients. :) There are several different ways to make it and on the recipe she wrote: “It might not always taste exactly the same, but always leaves that crisp flavor in your mouth!”

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Cranberry Relish

Printable recipe coming soon.

2 cups washed, raw cranberries
2 cored apples
1 large peeled orange, or put in some peel if you like OR substitute the orange for crushed pineapple
1 – 2 cups sugar, to your taste
1/2 cup or more chopped walnuts or pecans

Pulse in blender or grind together berries and oranges. Do not over blend to mush. I opted for the crushed pineapple instead of the orange. I LOVE pineapple! I put in about half of a can.
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Shred or chop apples. Add nuts.
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Mix together and keep tasting and adding sugar till happy. I liked it with 1 cup of sugar… didn’t want to interfere too much with the tartness. Don’t miss popping a few cranberries between your teeth for a tart burst of flavor! Makes 3 cups. May be frozen.
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And here’s another variation, which I love! You can also mix in some Cool Whip and cream cheese. Mmmmm! I think this addition would make it a salad instead of relish.
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So there you go, this one or that one… take your pick… you can’t go wrong either way! :)
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Comments

3 Responses to “Cranberry Relish or Salad”

  1. Marlene Graber on January 21st, 2010 8:35 am

    I just looked at this again, one reason was to look up the recipe (!) to make it for tonight’s supper. I just saw again how beautiful you set up the stage for the pictures! As elegant to the eyes as delectable to the taste! Can’t wait to indulge again. Fresh cranberries actually last pretty long in the fridge.

  2. Kymmi on February 7th, 2010 3:14 pm

    Kay, Wonderful site. I needed equivalents for a super bowl party and did not want to go any were but Sam’s. Also first feed I have ever subscribed to. Will certainly give you, Kay, the credit for the relish recipe I just downloaded.

    Kymmi

  3. Pat on February 21st, 2010 12:27 pm

    I always enjoyed your recipes but never left a comment. I’m sad to see you’ve abandoned this site!

Turkey Schnitzel

Posted on December 16, 2009
Filed Under Chicken and Turkey

Don’t you just love the sound of that? Schnitzel. Makes me feel like I’m cooking authentic German food. It’s really good. I’ll give you a brief description and see if you think you’d agree… pieces of turkey breast dipped in milk, then flour, then eggs, then seasoned bread crumbs, then fried in oil and butter. Mmmmmm!

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My mom gave me this recipe, including the ingredients. She does that for birthdays. I love it! She shares my love for trying new recipes, but she’s also got a bunch of tried and true ones.

Turkey Schnitzel

Printable recipe coming soon

1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 lb. turkey slices (1/4″ thick) or strips
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. canola oil

Mom gave me this with the recipe.
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It’s some GOOD stuff, but I wonder if she knows that things like this are way out of my comfort zone! ????
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I think the only chunk of meat I’ve ever bought with a bone in it is ham. Oh wait, sometimes I get a rotisserrie chicken at the deli, but that’s easy, all I have to do is reheat it. I’ve never even done a turkey at Thanksgiving! This turkey breast is supposed to be cut into slices or strips. Well, I got various sizes and shapes of pieces! :)  

Place first 4 ingredients in 4 separate bowls.
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Dip turkey slices or strips into milk, then flour, then eggs, then bread crumbs. Place on waxed paper and let stand for 5-10 min. I was out of waxed paper, so I just used plastic wrap.
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Heat butter and oil in large skillet. Brown turkey for 2 minutes on each side or until juices run clear.
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Serves 4. In Germany and Austria, schnitzels are served with French fries and lemon wedges (to squeeze on meat).

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The meat stayed really moist. And it had a great flavor! Because you can quick fry it up, it’s one of those quick things to make for when you’re staring in the fridge/freezer/cupboards at 4:30 p.m., totally blank for a supper idea. Mom said she even tried it with just the bread crumbs (without dipping it in milk, flour, and eggs) when she was in a hurry and that was good too. It would be good with chicken breast too, I’m sure, although I’ve never tried it, having only made it this once… so far anyway. ???? So, with these variation ideas, the question would be: Would it still be schnitzel then? We sure don’t want to lose that word! :)

Coming before Christmas yet: Cranberry Salad and Fudge. That is 2 separate recipes, by the way. ????

Comments

6 Responses to “Turkey Schnitzel”

  1. Elsie on December 16th, 2009 8:41 pm

    Sounds good!
    The word schnitzel sounds like a swiss word meaning pieces. Makes me wonder, maybe I should ask one of my Aunts!

  2. Mom on December 17th, 2009 2:21 pm

    Hey, Jenny was supposed to slice up this whole turkey breast, and get it in the freezer in nice quick cooking-friendly packs while she was there. She must have forgotten to tell you!! The children called these fingers – for if you change the recipe too much to keep the schnitzel in there!

  3. Kay on December 17th, 2009 2:55 pm

    Ha, no, Mom, she told me and I said, “Nah! I can do it!” :) Then, when it actually came down to doing it, I was feeling a bit out of my comfort zone! It was of course fine, I just didn’t get it sliced very evenly. :)

    Btw, that was a big chunk of meat, I think we’ll get 2 more meals out of it! Thanks!

  4. Jan on January 9th, 2010 3:32 pm

    There’s a schnitzel they make in Romania, but that’s with beef or pork. It’s pounded very thin, then fried about the same way. It is also very good. I’ll have to try it with turkey, but I never have turkey on hand.

  5. yoana on February 28th, 2010 3:38 am

    hello…i found your blog a few days ago…i tried out the recipe for turkish schnitzel and turned out not only to taste great but also to make my friends gealous for it..kisses from romania and keep out the good job your doing with the blog..i will start a new one in english with old traditional romanian recipes..

  6. Nikki Cooks on November 19th, 2010 3:51 pm

    I accidentally found your blog by accidentally finding The Best of Blogs site! And I am glad I did! Your recipes look great and definitely something a home cook, such as myself, can do and will love to do. **Adding to my favorites**

School Bus Birthday Cake – Happy 7th Birthday, Lexi!

Posted on December 10, 2009
Filed Under Birthday cakes

Some of you may have already seen this on my Facebook, so excuse the repeat!

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When Lexi started Kindergarten last Spring, she decided that she wanted a school bus cake for her next birthday. She had also made a bunch of new friends and wanted them all to come for a REAL party instead of the low key family parties she’s had so far. So, unlike all her other birthdays, this one was planned well in advance. That doesn’t mean I didn’t go party shopping earlier than the day before or finish the cake earlier than an hour before the guests arrived! :( Sigh. Oh well, it all worked out great and the party was a success and was a lot of fun for all involved… well, maybe my husband wants to speak for himself on that one. :)

Anyway, the birthday cake. There was a bit of an issue getting started. I decided I wanted the bus elevated a bit to look more realistic and my problem was HOW to do that! So, I looked around the house for something to use. I found these 2 square lids and put them down first. Tiffany saw this and said, “So, you’re using my candy box lid, huh?” I confidently said, “Yup.” and she didn’t protest. Whew!
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They were red though, so I taped strips of black paper around the edges. Then I cut a piece of cardboard the size I wanted the bus to be, cut notches for the wheels and put it on top of the lids. I know, not professional, but it worked great! :)

Then, I took the lids off again and made part of the bus on ‘ground level’ (on the foil-covered cardboard though).
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The first 2 layers are the full length of a 9×13 cake. It’s 5 or 6 inches wide. I used 3 cake mixes for this. The top layer… there’s no reason for that extra little piece on there except that after I cut and stacked it, it looked like the nose of the bus (is ‘nose’ what that part is called?) would be a little too long. Also, it looked a little too tall, so I ended up cutting about a half inch off of the bottom (shown on the next picture). I was glad to get rid of those crazy big holes down there too! Not sure why that happened!

The ‘nose’ is carved (maybe that called a ‘hood’?), and the top of the bus is slightly rounded. Doesn’t look too promising, huh? This is where I felt like dumping it in the trash and running to the local bakery.
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It’s times like this when I love frosting! Now it’s looking more promising!
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Now the yellow fondant gets rolled out… think that’s big enough?
7th10.jpg Sprinkle plenty of powdered sugar on the table/counter and on top of the fondant. Roll it out. Then roll it up around the rolling pin, take it over to the cake and starting at one end, unroll it off of the rolling pin onto the cake. By the way, to get yellow fondant, I bought white ready-to-use fondant and put yellow paste (NOT liquid food coloring) on it, then mixed it in by hand… you’ll see the messy process of doing the black soon.

Ah, it IS big enough! Tuck it in and cut off the excess.
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Now, I’m going to leave you hanging with this picture and flip to something else… the setting for the bus, which is, of course either a highway or a school. I chose the highway. And it’s stopping to pick up Lexi.

First step was to make the road. Here’s the tar. I know, gag. But this technically is edible. Nobody tasted the road though. That stuff actually does wash off, but I think next time, I’ll put plastic gloves on my birthday party shopping list!
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Next I rolled it out onto the ‘cake board’, which was actually an upside down baking sheet with tin foil on it.
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And now, we have a BIG jump in the progress because I either I was so entralled with my project that I forgot to take pictures or I didn’t feel like stopping to wash up to photograph each little step. And the setting is done.
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It’s all made out of fondant (road and white & yellow lines and mailbox), graham crackers (driveway), frosting (grass, plus some under the driveway to hold the graham crumbs in place), and a tootsie roll (mailbox post).

And now back to the bus again, which is another big jump in progress. The reason for the big jump here is because the clock was galloping and party time was drawing near and I was in a hurry.
7th14.jpgThe wheels aren’t on yet (chocolate covered mini donuts). The black and gray are fondant. The letters are frosting piped on. The ‘people’ are flavored tootsie rolls cut into 4ths, then smashed, then stuck on with frosting and a face piped on. The ‘mirrors’ are pieces of graham crackers.

And the cake is now DONE! 45 minutes till party time and my kitchen looks like a tornado hit! Don’t even ask questions like what I’d have done if it would’ve totally flopped because the answer is that I don’t know and that I’m just SO thankful it turned out ok.
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school-bus-cake3.jpg Yeah, so I forgot the lights on the back!

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Lexi had her seven 1st grade friends over. Supper was pigs in blankets, Pringles, cheese slices, and layered finger jello. I was in the kitchen and heard a bunch of quacking coming from the dining room. Here, they were making duck bills with their Pringles! :)
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And here they all are with the cake.
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Back row, left to right: Emily, Victoria, Kaitlyn, Samara
Front row, left to right: Alexis, Candace, Lexi, Sarah

And here’s the aftermath:
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First thing to go was the donut wheels, then they picked off the people in the windows and ate them, then had cake and ice cream.

This bus was pretty easy… very little carving. It was just rounding the top a little and shaping the nose/hood/whatever it is. I only bought one box of fondant (I forget the oz, but it was the smallest of the 2 sizes that were there). Oh, and by the way, the girls standing there is just a toy… not edible! Let me know if you try this! :)

Comments

11 Responses to “School Bus Birthday Cake – Happy 7th Birthday, Lexi!”

  1. Aug on December 11th, 2009 6:04 am

    Wow! I am so extremely impressed. Something like that would NEVER turn out for me. You have quite a talent and make it look so easy!

  2. Katrina on December 11th, 2009 10:33 am

    Fabulous cake bus!

  3. Twila on December 11th, 2009 12:30 pm

    I just told my 7 y.o. son whose birthday is coming up soon that he should not ask me to make one like this because I could NOT do it! It’s SO cute!!!

  4. Charlene on December 12th, 2009 6:37 am

    Nice Job, I made a bus for my oldest 7th birthday, but it didn’t look that nice,
    My children had fun picking out the girls they knew on the picture!

  5. Liz on December 12th, 2009 10:10 am

    Great job, Kay! Hard to believe you had your doubts if it would turn out ok. You are so good and creative at making cakes. I’m sure your girls love you for it.

  6. Jo H. on December 12th, 2009 5:53 pm

    You make some amazing cakes! loved your recent updates :)

  7. Ruth on December 13th, 2009 7:30 pm

    You cake turned out great. I’ve never worked with fondant, but would like to try sometime. Congratulations on your pregnancy. Hope everything goes well.

  8. Beth on January 14th, 2010 12:29 pm

    I put Alexis’ pic of the girls & bus cake on our refrigerator & Trevor saw it this morning. He pointed at the picture & said “that’s the cake I want for my birthday”. :)

  9. Sarah on May 28th, 2010 2:50 pm

    I LOVE THIS CAKE! I would like to make it for my husband, a school bus mechanic, for his birthday. I’m confused about this part of the instructions, and they seem important. Could you clarify?

    “Then I cut a piece of cardboard the size I wanted the bus to be, cut notches for the wheels and put it on top of the lids. I know, not professional, but it worked great!

    Then, I took the lids off again and made part of the bus on ‘ground level’

    The notches are for the donuts to go in?
    Why did you take the lids OFF?

  10. Kay on May 28th, 2010 3:43 pm

    Yeah, the notches were for the donuts to go in… otherwise they (the wheels/donuts) would’ve been on the outside of the bus instead of flush with the side of the bus. And I’ll bet your bus mechanic husband would know that’s not right! :) The reason I cut notches instead of making the whole cardbord piece narrower is because I thought the extra stability would be good if the cardboard would come all the way out to the edge of the bus.

    About taking the lids off was just a rambly useless piece of info. I think i thought it would slide around on them while I was working on the cake and end up tipping the bus over, so I did the stacking and icing before putting it back up on the lids. Hopefully, you can find something better than odd things around the house (like my lids)! I’ll bet a piece of 1×4 board cut to the right length would be perfect.

    Let me know how it turns out! :)

  11. Tracy on July 11th, 2011 7:54 pm

    I cannot thank you anywhere near enough for posting this!!!! My sister and i are in the process of creating a short bus for my daughter’s 13th birthday and so far are winging it and had pretty much the same thought of doing it the way you have laid out here. You have given me hope that my cake will turn out as beautiful as yours. Thank you for the step by step pictures.

Christmas Cookies – Sour Cream Cutouts

Posted on December 7, 2009
Filed Under Cookies and bars, Holiday cooking

Other than listening to some Christmas music, this is the first thing “Christmas-y” thing I’ve done this year… Christmas cookies. (Decorating my house will hopefully happen this week yet.) These were for a cookie exchange, so I *ahem* didn’t let my eager little helpers in on the fun because I have to say “No licking!” about 273 times in the course of the project and that just sorta wrecks the Christmas spirit. So, I got up early and made & frosted them myself.

I’m not a fan of sugar cookies, butter cookies, or any frosted cookies like that because I think they’re rather dry and messy and not very tasty. Having said that, these would be about at the top of the list of good frosted cookies that I’ve had. The only better ones I can think of were some that my friend Kim made one time. They had cream cheese in them.

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Sour Cream Cutouts … recipe taken from the Christmas Cookies & Candies cookbook

Printable recipe

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
6 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream

FROSTING:
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp. milk (I added more so it would be faster/easier spreading)
Food coloring, optional

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine dry ingredients; add to the creamed mixture alternately with sour cream (dough will be sticky). Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until easy to handle. (It’s not kidding about this… impatient me tried it without chilling. Bad idea. So, I chilled it for about an hour and the process went MUCH better!) On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4″ thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters dipped in flour. Place 1″ apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 375 for 8-12 minutes or until lightly browned. (I set the timer for 10 min and they were perfect.) For frosting, beat the butter, powdered sugar, and milk until smooth. Add food coloring if desired. Frost cookies. Yield: about 9 dozen.

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Up next: Lexi’s 7th birthday cake. Her birthday was actually today, the party is tomorrow… 7 of her friends are coming after school.

Comments

10 Responses to “Christmas Cookies – Sour Cream Cutouts”

  1. Kay on December 7th, 2009 8:56 pm

    Uhhhh, I just posted this and was proof-reading it and looking at the pictures… is it just me or does that one green tree have the tip bitten off? Oops. :) Wasn’t me!

  2. Twila on December 7th, 2009 9:30 pm

    Now that you mention it… :) You must have some elves at your house!

  3. Ruthie on December 7th, 2009 10:07 pm

    The cookies must be as yummy as they look! And Happy Birthday to Lexi!!

  4. Beth on December 8th, 2009 5:18 am

    I was one of the lucky ones who got a plate of these. The sour cream must make the difference between other dry & boring sugar cookies, because these were absolutely scrumptious!

  5. Shannon H on December 8th, 2009 7:39 am

    Ohh good. I was going to start a google search for cut out cookies now I don’t have too! :) I’m going to attempt this with the girls one of these days, maybe Sat cause Madison will want to help too!

  6. Sharon on December 8th, 2009 9:06 am

    Yup, these sound similar to the ones I make and I’d agree that they’re much better than other cut-outs. I grew up with them and always thought my Mom’s cookies were just the best. Got a kick out of the bite!

  7. Dorothy on December 8th, 2009 4:34 pm

    We’ll have to give these a try. I think cut-outs are never worth the bother. Besides having to cut them out they don’t taste good. I love sour cream so these seem to be a winner already in my mind.

  8. Aug on December 9th, 2009 6:26 am

    I just got the call that today is a snow day here, so I think I’ll go mix up a batch of these and let the kids cut out and decorate with me. I remember these cookies as being extra good cut-out cookies too, because I don’t like a lot of them either. Thanks for sharing the recipe. And…I’m glad you’re back at Kitchen Scrapbook a little more again!

  9. Arla on December 10th, 2009 11:05 am

    Kay, do you know a nice tasting spritz cookie? We like to do them to add dash to our cookie plates, but they aren’t overly yummy…kind of boring in taste. Any ideas?

  10. Sarah Elizabeth on December 15th, 2011 3:46 pm

    Hi! Do these freeze well? They look great!

5 Ways to Help Nausea/Morning sickness

Posted on November 30, 2009
Filed Under Tidbits

I’m just sayin’. ????

1. Eat whatever you’re craving. It’ll usually make you feel better. Even tacos at 12:30 a.m.? Yup. I know from experience.

2. Graze all day. Isn’t that GREAT advice? :)

3. Stay hydrated. Water can be so nauseating, so it helps to squirt a bit of lemon juice in it. Also helps to drink it ice cold. Or drink iced tea, juice, or milk.

4. Noodles. In small quantities though, or it starts making you sicker.

5. Stay out of the kitchen as much as possible and don’t be browsing cookbooks and cooking magazines… even if it means not updating your cooking blog for quite awhile. ????

These are all, of course, my own opinions and what worked/is working for me. I have friends who eat crackers like crazy, but I’m never in the mood for plain crackers. If you have your own tips, please leave them in a comment below! We need all the help we can get during this phase, don’t we? And if you’re not pregnant right now, maybe you’ll want some of this info for in the future. :)

On another note, thanks alot for the emails from you readers, wondering if everything is ok and saying you’re missing the updates. I’m hoping to keep this site up a bit better now and hopefully slip in some holiday recipes yet this year. One that I’m planning to do is my mom’s cranberry salad. Hopefully I can make it like she does… it’s one of those I-don’t-really-have-a-recipe-for-it Mom specials. It is oh so good!

Comments

31 Responses to “5 Ways to Help Nausea/Morning sickness”

  1. Liz on November 30th, 2009 10:08 pm

    And then everything makes sense… =) (as to why this site got neglected).

    Big congrats. Still excited. Can’t wait.

  2. Twila on November 30th, 2009 10:27 pm

    A big WOW and congratulations to you!

  3. Rina on December 1st, 2009 1:31 am

    CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

  4. Twila on December 1st, 2009 6:26 am

    Congratulations!

    I thought maybe that was why we hadn’t been hearing from you. Hope you feel better soon.
    I don’t really have any tips, I never got very sick, and hopefully I won’t need any tips…my baby is 14!

  5. Sharon on December 1st, 2009 6:41 am

    oh YAY! To new babies and more posts on this site now. :-)

    For my last two I felt better when I stopped taking my prenatals. And B6 maybe helped. But you’ve got good tips–especially the what-you’re-craving one! (chicken salad sandwich)

  6. Jolita Miller on December 1st, 2009 7:05 am

    Congrats!

  7. Arla on December 1st, 2009 7:14 am

    Ah! Even as I hoped for you. The silence was getting looooong, and the day before your folks came up for our Thanksgiving dinner; I thought of this. So proud of myself, because since I’m on the other side of babies and it’s grand babies instead I don’t think of who is or might be pregnant.
    Praying that all goes well for you.

  8. Amy on December 1st, 2009 8:35 am

    Thrilled to the tips of my toes! I echo Arla (except even more intensely) Praying that ALL goes well! God Bless, Amy

  9. Amy on December 1st, 2009 8:37 am

    sorry above post has wrong website address…

  10. Katie Mast on December 1st, 2009 9:34 am

    I have been missing updates on your site. But i sure understand now. However i never got sick with my 3 kids. I just ate what was in site. that explains all the weight gain. grrrr. Enjoy this special moment, cuz it passes all so quickly. My baby is now 11.

  11. Katrina on December 1st, 2009 9:43 am

    Congrats and aha!
    Hope the sicklies go away soon! Mine usually last time just about exactly 14-15 weeks. I never found a solution, sometimes some things worked and other times it was something else. Thoughts to you!

  12. Janice on December 1st, 2009 10:19 am

    Wow, I’m so happy for you! Been there, done that! My last one, it helped to ‘graze’ on whatever tempted me, which was bland foods. Dry breakfast cereal (not highly sweetened) seemed to be a good choice.

  13. Rosalyn Landis on December 1st, 2009 11:39 am

    Congratulations!!!! I hope all goes well for you. I’m looking forward to your holiday recipes.

  14. Monica on December 1st, 2009 11:39 am

    So happy for you! I bet your girls are excited. I can certainly identify with those “sick” feelings!!! Hope it will pass quickly for you!!

  15. Jo on December 1st, 2009 3:01 pm

    You already know how excited I am. :-)
    I didn’t have “morning” sickness till my last pregnancy. And then I discovered that a lot of it was probably sugar lows, not morning sickness. But it always made me feel better to eat whatever I was craving at the moment—just a little bit! I craved grits a lot with Ariana. ???? Dare you to try that!
    I have a cousin who (when she was pregnant) once woke her husband in the middle of the night & made him go to the store for a specific brand of chocolate milk that she just HAD to have. I don’t recommend doing that very often… ????

  16. Carrie on December 1st, 2009 3:13 pm

    ha! love this post….and your unique style of getting the word out! ???? crazy girl. i remember eating tons of cereal, and whatever else i found appealing…usually not much. and, oh, still so excited for you all!!!!!!

  17. Shannon H on December 1st, 2009 3:46 pm

    Well, I just had it last spring, but I have no tips. I just remember those days of laying around, wondering if it would ever end. It will, one of these days! :) Praying all goes well!

  18. Dawn Landis on December 1st, 2009 6:53 pm

    Congratulations! I had not checked in on your site for a while and I’m glad I just did! Wishing you the very best!

  19. Amber on December 1st, 2009 7:41 pm

    Congrats to you!! The prenatal vit. made me sick, so i took chewable childrens’. Much better! Hope your next months go well for you!

  20. Michelle Fisher on December 1st, 2009 9:23 pm

    Congratulations! :-) I’m just about out of this phase and am so glad…. hope your time in this phase passes quickly.

  21. Kay on December 1st, 2009 9:47 pm

    Thanks for all the happy congratulations! :) This was really interesting. Now it’s my turn to comment…

    Sharon and Amber, so the prenatals can be the culprit? How important are they? (maybe you could ask your doctor husband that, Sharon). I’ll have to try the kid’s chewables (how many did you take, Amber?), then I can fight along with the girls over the red ones “cuz they’re the best”. :)

    Twila and Arla, you guys actually thought of this?! Wow, you’re good!

    Janice and Carrie, oh yeah, I eat lots of ceareal and amen on the not too sweet ones.

    Monica, the girls are elated!!! Lexi asks questions that make me tip-toe between an answer that will satisfy her but yet not make good gossip for her fellow 1st-graders! I’ll spare you the details, but I’m often glad we’re in the privacy of our own home when my girls start talking! :)

    Jo, I haven’t craved grits yet, and uh, sorta doubt I will. :) Wow, that’s quite a story about the wife who sent her husband out for choc milk!!! Poor guy!

    Thanks for all the other tips, like Katie’s ‘eat everything in sight’ and Katrina’s ‘no solutions, some things worked sometimes and other things other times’. And if there are any other brilliant tips, keep adding them! :)

  22. Judy Martin on December 1st, 2009 11:42 pm

    congrats! i found that if i drank orange juice every morning i didnt get sick. my hubby would deliver it every morning b4 he went to work. it worked wonders!

  23. Mom on December 2nd, 2009 12:27 pm

    Wish I was there to give you a hug (or aren’t nauseated ladies into hugs? Don’t know because I never got sick!) and tuck you into bed and take care of your house and girls. AND dance a jig with your girls!! I could also answer some questions, because I answered plenty from you! So happy and hopeful!! mkg

  24. Bobbi on December 3rd, 2009 9:30 am

    Congratulations on another blessing!

  25. Donna on December 3rd, 2009 11:29 am

    Congrats!
    Sometimes I wish I was still having babies.
    But,alas those days are long long gone.
    I am utterly happy for you.

  26. Rene on December 4th, 2009 8:06 am

    Kay,

    Congratulations!! With my son (who will be 20 this summer – I know summer is far away but it’s only 2 degrees here today so I like to think about it) nothing really helped too much except staying cooled off and not moving too much. At about 12 weeks or so I noticed I wasn’t sick anymore and I was infinitely happy!!

    Take care of yourself and can’t wait to see the new addition to your family.

    Hugs,

    Rene

  27. Randy Ross on December 6th, 2009 6:17 pm

    Congrats! I read your blog periodically for some yummy recipes—I thought I would respond to your morning sickness post because boy oh boy do I have morning sickness too! Here are some things that help me.
    buy prenatal vitamins without iron until you get through this and take them at night. I buy he GNC brand–you can order them on line or buy them at GNC if it is close to you
    Crystal Light lemonade really helps a lot
    Suck on sugar free sour candy (they are called ice breakers and can be found at check out in many different flavors)
    Eat protein with every meal (egg, cheese, yogurt, meat, beans, nuts)
    So far these things have eased the nausea a bit. I can’t wait for it to go away!

    Take care and I can’t wait for you to return with some more yummy posts!

  28. Sandra on December 7th, 2009 2:02 pm

    Congratulations!!!Oh I hope your sickness goes away!!I had lots of nausa!!I am very excited for your new addition coming…praying everything goes well!~Sandra

  29. Keturah on December 7th, 2009 3:05 pm

    Hi from Montana! I’ve been stalking your site for a few years now and never commented before. Thought maybe this is whats keeping you away! Prob. because I just went through this myself, For the fifth time now! This was the first time that lemon water helped so much. Idrank gallons of it. with tepid water though, not ice cold! I have a bad case of gestational diabetes though so I cant eat just whatever and whenever I want. Looking forward to more updates!

  30. Bernice Wagner on December 8th, 2009 3:13 am

    I am so glad you are back! It’s so neat to see the bonding you and your girls have and I so enjoy your recipes with your good directions. I like recipes that have ingredients I have in my cupbord. God bless you and your husband on your journey as parents, with a new one on the way!Bernice Wagner

  31. Linda Beachy on December 9th, 2009 10:20 pm

    Congratulations! It’s a good thing Kelsey read your blog again. She said it’s sounds like you’re gonna have a baby. After looking at the blog I decided the same. The nausea I can identify with very well. I took b-complex and that seemed to help some (not enough). Be sure to take with food. I needed to eat often and gained a lot of weight. sigh. Eating did help for a bit. Hope you feel better soon and things go well for you.

Supper by a 6-yr-old — Cooks in Training #9

Posted on September 22, 2009
Filed Under Chicken and Turkey, Cooks in Training, Desserts, Side dishes

Lexi made supper tonight.

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Her menu was:
Crunchy Chicken Tenders
Easy Mac n Cheese
Trees with Cheese
Puddin’ Cones

There were only 4 ingredient spills. The only help Lexi accepted was finding some of the right ingredients and measuring cups/spoons and reading the recipe (“because it’s faster if you do it and I don’t know all the words”) and a couple times, handling hot stuff. I did tell her when to do stuff so it would all get done at the same time. I also gave her lots of tips and how-to’s, but she did the actual work. She did very well, actually better than I expected.

Now and then, Tiffany (3) crossed her arms, put on a scowl, and whined, “Mom, she won’t let me dump that in. I don’t have ANYTHING to do!”

I was planning to blog as it was going on, but I was kinda busy with damage control. :)

She loved doing this meal! I believe we have a cook in the making. ????

Crunchy Chicken Tenders … recipe from Betty Crocker Kids Cook cookbook

3/4 cup cornflakes cereal
1/2 cup flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/3 cup buttermilk or milk
1 pound uncooked chicken breast tenders, not breaded

Heat the oven to 400. Line a 9×13 pan with foil.
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Spray the foil with cooking spray.
Put the cereal, flour, salt, and pepper in a plastic bag. Seal bag closed. Use a rolling pin to crush the cornflakes.
Pour the milk into a bowl. Dip chicken in milk.
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Drop milk-coated chicken, a few pieces at a time, into cereal mixture. Seal bag closed. Shake bag to coat chicken with cereal mixture. Put the coated chicken in the pan.
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Spray chicken with cooking spray. Throw away any leftover cereal in the bag. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until coating is crisp and chicken is no longer pink in center. Makes 4 servings.

Dishing it up…
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lexi9.jpg Good stuff! We ate them with bbq sauce. I realize I didn’t get a picture of the rolling pin part… they had great fun with that!

Easy Mac and Cheese …recipe from Betty Crocker Kids Cook cookbook

Water
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni or small pasta shells
1 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese or American cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground mustard (I had to talk her into putting mustard in!)
1/4 tsp. pepper

Fill a 3-qt saucepan about half full with water. Bring to a boil. Add pasta to water.
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Heat to boiling again. Boil uncovered for 8-10 minutes, stirring often with a wooden spoon. Drain pasta (put a colander in the sink and pour the pasta into it). Put drained pasta back into saucepan. Add butter, milk, cheese, salt, mustard, and pepper to pasta.
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Stir with spoon until mixed. Cook over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring a few times, until cheese is melted. Makes 4 servings.
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Dishing up. This was a bit wild! Whoosh! and it was all in the serving bowl in about 2 seconds. Pretty amazing that some didn’t land on the floor!
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Trees with Trees … recipe from Betty Crocker Kids Cook cookbook

1 1/2 pounds fresh broccoli (I just had her use a bag of frozen broccoli florets.)
3 Tbsp. water
6 oz process American cheese loaf
1/3 cup milk
1/4 onion salt
1 drop red pepper sauce, if you like (she didn’t like ???? )

Microwave the broccoli and water till hot and crisp-tender. Melt the rest of the ingredients in a saucepan or microwave. Stir with a wooden spoon until the cheese is melted and mixture is smooth. Drain broccoli and put it into a serving bowl. Pour hot cheese over broccoli. Makes 6 servings. I didn’t notice it at the time, but in all the photographing, I missed the broccoli, all except the dishing it up!
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Puddin’ Cones … recipe from the 2003 Quick Cooking annual cookbook

This is what sparked the whole idea of making supper. Her cousin Krista made these for dessert when she made supper one time and Lexi saw a picture and wanted to make them too. Krista, you’re her hero!

1 1/2 cups cold milk
1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) instant vanilla pudding mix
3 envelopes whipped topping mix (when Lexi read this, she said “Envelopes?! What do envelopes have to do with cooking?”)
8 cake ice cream cones (about 3 inches) She used only 6.
Chopped nuts, jimmies and miniature colored baking chips or topping of your choice

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In a mixing bowl, beat milk and pudding mix on low speed for 2 minutes.
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Blend in whipped topping mix; cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Spoon 1/4 cup into each cone; sprinkle with toppings. Yield: 8 servings. I just told her to fill the cones, not to measure. When the pudding mixture was gone, there were only 6 cones used, which I think is better because they look more like ice cream cones if they’re heaped a little.
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puddin-cones2.jpg These were good, altho’ not as good as real ice cream. She made them right before she dished up the food and till we got done eating and were ready for dessert, the cones were starting to get a little soft already. So, they should not be made too much in advance!

Comments

9 Responses to “Supper by a 6-yr-old — Cooks in Training #9”

  1. Katrina on September 22nd, 2009 7:15 pm

    It all looks de-lish to me! Wow, great job daughter(s) and Mom!

  2. Aug on September 24th, 2009 10:45 am

    That is great that she is learning to cook and loving it! I think that letting them help with they are young goes a long ways towards them liking it later! And she has a great teacher to learn from, so that always helps!

  3. Ruth on September 24th, 2009 8:37 pm

    I’m impressed! She didn’t just open a box and stick it in the oven, but she made it from scratch. She did a great job. You deserve credit, too, because you let her do it even though you could have done it a lot faster and easier.

  4. Rhonda H. on October 2nd, 2009 8:50 am

    I love to see kids learning to cook – particularly since I’ve done a lousy job at teaching my own. Granted, I have 3 boys with pretty much zero interest in cooking, but it’s always good for them to know how to do the basics.
    Also, I made two pans of your pumpkin cream cheese squares this week and had requests for the recipes from two different people, so I sent them links to your site. So yummy!

  5. Marie on October 3rd, 2009 3:12 pm

    She did as good of a job as anyone! I’m very impressed – looks delicious!

  6. Stephaine @ Geezees on October 8th, 2009 12:51 pm

    Wow, i am so impressed…it’s so good to see kids cooking! And everything looked so yummy!

  7. Tilt on October 13th, 2009 3:31 am

    This dinner looks amazing!
    I especially love the ice creams!

    Congratulation to the little chef!

  8. Cheryl on November 7th, 2009 10:08 am

    I love that your kids help out! Do they enjoy doing so? Did you ask if they wanted to be involved or did they offer? The pics are making me hungry!! Tell them great job:)

  9. Linda on November 7th, 2009 10:02 pm

    Just curious if you have come across this site http://partycupcakeideas.com. I think your girls would have fun. :)

Mini Lemon Meringue Pies

Posted on September 22, 2009
Filed Under Pies, Snacks

Really mini. Not 4″ pie pans.

Smaller.

Not cupcake pans.

Smaller.

These were made in mini muffin pans.

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These are perfect for a bring-a-salad-or-dessert church gathering. You know, there are 20 desserts to choose from and you have a hard time narrowing it down to 5 and one of the desserts calling to you is pie cut into 8 pieces. A piece of pie is a complete dessert, so there goes the rest of the selections. I decided to try making little individual pies instead of a couple big lemon meringue pies to take to the Fall Praise Social picnic this past Sunday evening. And it worked! With these little things, you can have a taste of lemon meringue pie without passing up the pecan bars, eclair dessert, monster cookies, and fresh peach delight.

Use your regular lemon meringue pie recipe or use my favorite recipe featured here. Roll the crust a bit thinner than usual, then cut out circles. The tube of my Pampered Chef Measure-All Cup was the perfect size for circle-cutting. Then, press them into the mini muffin pan and bake at 375 for about 10 minutes. Make the filling and spoon into crusts. Make the meringue and spoon on top of filling. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes. Should be easy to remember… everything to bake gets baked at 375 for about 10 minutes. :)

Here’s the process in pictures:

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They tasted exactly like lemon meringue pie. I guess that would make sense, what with using that recipe and all. They’re long gone, and I just feel like snitching one off the picture and inhaling it in 2 bites.

—————————————————————————————-

In other news, you may want to stay tuned. I think I might blog live this evening for a couple hours. Lexi is planning to make supper. She’s 6. She feels quite capable and wants me to leave her alone in the kitchen with her cookbooks. Tiffany and I are allowed to help her by setting the table and we also may carry things to the table like bbq sauce and salt & pepper. I think she’s in for a bit of surprise and will end up needing more help than she thinks she will. Here is the menu she picked out (going by pictures in cookbooks): Easy Mac n Cheese, Crunchy Chicken Tenders, Trees with Cheese, and Puddin’ Cones. She gets home from school around 4:15. Supper is scheduled for 6:30.

Oh, and did I mention that she doesn’t know the difference between a teaspoon and a Tablespoon?

Comments

6 Responses to “Mini Lemon Meringue Pies”

  1. Arla on September 22nd, 2009 9:26 am

    Jenny was nine when I could leave the bread and cookie baking entirely up to her and I did, too, many times. Her baking was perfect most of the time. I’m not saying this just because I’m a prejudiced mom…she really could bake and soon surpassed my abilities. I’d say Lexi’s talent runs in the family. You might find out as I did that you find yourself asking your ten year old daughter how SHE does it sometimes. I trained in Lisl and Jenny at the same time…turned out that Lisl could; but preferred other work as I do.

  2. Katrina on September 22nd, 2009 7:18 pm

    Great lil’ pies!

  3. Sharon on September 23rd, 2009 11:48 pm

    Thanks for the reminder that I used to make granola all the time and the family loved it. Will be making your recipe.

    Off the subject, but I am recently interested in using the modified corn starch called Clear Jel. Does anyone have any experience using it in Lemon Meringue Pie. I would love, love, love to figure out how to prevent the pie from “weeping” and thought the Clear Jel might work. I appreciate any input about it, or, any other solutions that you know about….happy cooking

  4. Jan on September 28th, 2009 12:10 pm

    What happened to the printable recipes? I need to take a finger food to the church “apple schnitzing” tonight and have been longing for lemon meringue pie ever since you first posted it, so now I have a good excuse to make these little things.

  5. Kay on September 28th, 2009 12:40 pm

    Hmmm, yeah, Jan, I wonder too what happened to the printable recipes! :) They seem to have disappeared, huh? Actually, I’m glad to know someone misses them. They take extra time to do, so I’ve been slacking off. So thanks for the little nudge… I’ll start doing them again and as I have time, I’ll go back and catch up.

    Another thing that works is to highlight the entire post, pictures and all, and then copy and paste it into Notepad (Start > Accessories > Notepad). The pictures don’t copy into there along with the writing, so when you hit print, you get words only printed out and you don’t even have to dodge around all the pics when you copy and paste. Maybe you could do that for now since I won’t have a printable recipe for you before you make them for tonight.

  6. Jan on September 28th, 2009 4:00 pm

    I made them, but they don’t look as nice. I think my crust was still too think and it shrank in some places and puffed in others, making the place for the filling rather small, but they’re still cute now that they’re done. I got tired of carefully putting meringue on with a spoon, so I piped it on. Worked great and was fast and fun!

After School Snack Ideas… and Biscuit Donuts

Posted on September 2, 2009
Filed Under Snacks

Well, it’s that time of the year again. School has started, or is starting soon (unless you’re in Peru, where I just found out that ‘summer vacation’ is in the winter).

The kids come home from school,
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…and they are STARVING!!!!! Or so they think.

I remember that when I was a schoolgirl too. I NEEDED a snack. I was starving. We lived 1/2 mile from school and half of that distance was our 1/4 mile long lane. We’d often walk to school and sometimes Mom would put the snack on a platter and walk out to meet us, disperse the snacks, and we’d all walk together to the house, munching away. Good memories. My favorite snack of all is when she’d mix peanuts, chocolate chips, and marshmallows and put them in little cups.

Renita was telling me about an after school snack that she makes sometimes for her boys. So, yesterday I stole her idea and made it too. Here it is.

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Biscuit Donuts

1 can refrigerated biscuits
Oil or shortening for frying
Powdered sugar

I put about a cup of shortning in a small pan and heated it to about 375 degrees. Take each biscuit and make a hole in the middle with something round.
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If you use the Grands biscuits with flaky layers, split them in half (where 2 of the layers meet)… makes so they aren’t doughy in the middle when the outside is done. And it also makes twice as many donuts that way. ???? Is donuts spelled ‘donuts’ or ‘doughnuts’? I’ve seen it both ways, not sure what the difference is except that one way is shorter, so I’ll stick with that one. Fry the donuts in oil for 45 seconds – 1 minute per side.
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Drain on paper towel.
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Coat with powdered sugar.
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Easy.
Yummy.
Only 3 ingredients.

Other after school snack ideas:
— Apples with peanut butter
— Cookies and milk
— Their leftover lunch ????
— Nachos with salsa (serving of tortilla chips spread out on plate and sprinkled with shredded cheese and microwaved for about 20 seconds to melt the cheese)
— Fruit
— Pudding
— Graham crackers with milk
— Reeses Puffs ????
— Popsicles
— Salties (chips, pretzels, Cheetos, party mix, etc.)

That’s all that came to my mind right now. What do you give your kids for an after school snack? Or do you say, “Go look in the kitchen, see what you can find.”? :) Today, I was in the middle of doing laundry, so I said that and they found goldfish crackers and drank chocolate milk.

Comments

13 Responses to “After School Snack Ideas… and Biscuit Donuts”

  1. Aug on September 3rd, 2009 7:37 am

    Glad you posted on this topic, because I was thinking that I would like to do after school snacks for the kids on the days that I am home. Yesterday I made these little strips of bread that you dip in butter and then make a sugar/cinnamon coating for and bake for about 5 minutes. They were really yummy. Those donuts look easy and good. And thanks for the other ideas too.

  2. Freida on September 3rd, 2009 7:55 am

    Ohhhh, Jasmine would be thrilled with the donuts. I’ll have to try these!

  3. Lanita on September 3rd, 2009 9:12 am

    Yummy they look so good! we’re going camping and planning to do these in a large pot over the fire.

  4. Jan on September 3rd, 2009 9:27 am

    my kids would love these and it’s something i often have on hand

  5. Lynn on September 3rd, 2009 10:18 am

    Wow this is funny – I am making these today for my kids when they come home from school! I can relate to your story we also had a very long lane to walk after school about 1/3 mile. I was raised on a mennonite farm also – those were days I would love to go back to.

  6. JoAnn on September 3rd, 2009 2:45 pm

    I think these are what you can often find on Chinese buffets. I’ve never tried making them, but I will, soon!

  7. Kelly on September 3rd, 2009 7:34 pm

    Yum!! Those look super easy and delicious — I might need a “weekend snack” of those this weekend :-)

  8. Angela on September 4th, 2009 3:53 pm

    These donuts are especially yummy over the campfire! =)

  9. Loretta on September 5th, 2009 8:55 pm

    OOhhhh can’t wait to try these-the children were just asking about donuts today!!!Thanks

  10. Shannon on September 9th, 2009 10:05 am

    We often had these but mom would roll them in cinnamon sugar instead of powdered sugar.

  11. Katie Seamons on November 18th, 2009 5:54 pm

    I have tried these and they sure are yummy, but I have also tried using the pizza dough and it works even better. Not as stong of a baking powder taste. Great blog!

  12. Katie Seamons on November 18th, 2009 5:54 pm

    Sorry that was supposed to be strong not stong…

  13. Paola on June 16th, 2010 9:03 am

    Hi, nice recipe! One note: in Peru summer vacations are actually in the summer because we are in the south hemisphere :)

The BEST cold cereal ever

Posted on August 31, 2009
Filed Under Breakfasts

REESES PUFFS! Any ‘amen!’s to that?

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Whoever invented cold cereal with milk was brilliant. It’s quick. It’s good. It’s healthy.

This post isn’t going to have a recipe to make your own cold cereal, it’s just a post about cold cereal. BUT, if you do want to make something as good as cold cereal to eat with milk, make this granola.
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Hands down, the best granola I’ve ever had. Maybe it’s because it has chocolate chips in it. Or maybe it’s because it has all regular ingredients in it.

Anyway, back to rambling about cold cereal. I think cold cereal actually started with Mr. Kellogg and Mr. Post, but whoever is behind General Mills came up with the kinds that are the biggest hit in our family. A couple weeks ago, Kelloggs was on sale AND I had Kelloggs coupons, so I bought a bunch of Kelloggs cereal. Well, big mistake. EVERY single day, Tiffany asked for “Yucky Charms” (she can’t say her L’s) and Lexi asked for Reeses Puffs or Cinnamon Toast Crunch. We were all glad when it was time to get cereal again… welcome to our cupboards again, General Mills! Especially Reeses Puffs!

We do also like Post Honeycomb, Kelloggs Fruit Loops and Big-bite Mini Wheats, Quaker Life and Cap’n Crunch, but not enough for them to be ‘regulars’ in our cereal cupboard. Give us Golden Grahams, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, and Resees puffs any day! Tiffany would eat cold cereal 3 meals a day plus snacks if I’d let her. And it really does make a great bedtime snack!

Anyway, I’m just curious… what kind of cereals are regulars in your cupboard? What do your kids like?

Comments

17 Responses to “The BEST cold cereal ever”

  1. Shannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnon on August 31st, 2009 7:47 pm

    Reagan is the cereal lover here. She wants some every morning, no matter what else there is to eat. She is majorly hung up on Rice Krispies right now. I think it’s only because she gets to put sugar on them. :) And yes, “Yucky” Charms are a hit too, once again, the marshmallows call! :) Madison will just eat whatever is here, she’s not so picky. I don’t usually eat anything unless I’m pg then I’m starved. Reading about Captin Crunch makes me hungry for it again. :) Eric, once a month or so he’ll actually eat breakfast and then it must be Honeynut Cheerios.

  2. Freida on August 31st, 2009 8:08 pm

    Fruity Pebbles or Cookie Crunch or Graham Crackers are what my kids eat. I like anything basically, just whatever we got. I like to switch off, but I usually end up with granola since that is most times what I have on hand other then the kids’ cereal. Erin, when he eats breakfast, likes granola or Honeynut Cheerios. Reeses Puffs are good, I agree, but I hardly ever buy them. I figure they will just go to “waist” anyway, and that is not what I need. :)

  3. Freida on August 31st, 2009 8:10 pm

    Oh and btw, did you ever try that granola with cinnamon chips? I did and it is GOOD!!! I will do it again.

  4. Wendy on August 31st, 2009 8:38 pm

    Amen to Reese’s Puffs!! The best cereal ever!
    (But I don’t eat them very often because they make the roof of my mouth sore…)

  5. Marissa on August 31st, 2009 8:42 pm

    My boys enjoy homemade granola and the “hay-bale” cereal- frosted mini-wheats

  6. Angela on September 1st, 2009 6:57 am

    I think you might need to examine the nutrition labels if you think that kind of cereal is healthy!! False flavorings, lots of sugar and/or corn syrup, and chocolate chips do not fall in my healthy category. =)

  7. Beth on September 1st, 2009 11:32 am

    I’ll give you an amen about the Reese’s Puffs, but the granola wins, hands down. I put the semi-sweet chocolate chips in. That gives me my chocolate fix, so I rarely eat any later in the day.

  8. Karen on September 1st, 2009 12:25 pm

    Kimberly will eat cereal 3meals a day+ =)our reg ones are mostly like yours.kallie looovveess the reeses puffs!

  9. Sheila on September 1st, 2009 1:14 pm

    Hi Kay, I bet you’re surprised to see a comment from me! :-) I was just taking my lunch break here at Rockland and decided to be really bold and leave you a comment. :-) Darren is our cereal lover. He always has been. I would say Quaker Life is the all time favorite around our house, but we eat quite a variety. Krista eats it, too, but she isn’t as die-hard as Darren. I’ve always been glad that they like it, because it makes such an easy breakfast. I personally don’t eat cereal because it does not appeal to me in the mornings. I do eat it for a snack sometimes. Bruce keeps it stocked over here at work and eats it almost every morning at first break.

  10. Arla on September 1st, 2009 2:08 pm

    I’m with Angela, cold cereal has a lot of sugar and they add the vitamins back in if I’m not mistaken to make it seem more like food. BUT, it’s a big hit here, too. For a few years I refused to buy it. Here’s why: Elv was taught at home to eat it every night before bed and the children caught on. When they eat cereal they eat lots. Well I want my cereal at the orthodox time and so the children wanted it then, as well. What with having cereal morning and night; Elv was gonna be broke fast. Now, since most of us around here are more calorie and healthy conscious than we used to be, we can afford to buy a bit of cereal now and then, again. Elv is the only one who eats it at bedtime and the children like other things just as well for breakfast.

  11. renita on September 1st, 2009 5:26 pm

    interesting to see we are “normal” when it comes to cereal eaters! The boys will eat all of the cereals mention above and I think all 4 have different favorites. They will have it Sunday eve. if we’re at home. And I also have 2 that would eat it every day 3 or 4 times a day. A box of Reese’s Puffs don’t last more than a day.

  12. Amy on September 1st, 2009 7:45 pm

    Honey Bunches of Oats are a biggie here and I keep cheerioes on hand for the little ones. Icould live on the granola you had on here, Kay!! I add about 3 tsp cinnamon with that and some raisins, too. SOooooo good!!

  13. Lisl Lattin on September 5th, 2009 1:42 am

    An hour ago I told Dru I was craving pizza. Now it’s cold cereal. Mom, I still like cold cereal at bedtime. Alas, cold cereal in Thailand would rather blow the budget. We get it now and then but mostly I just gaze longingly, sigh, and walk on past. (Dru kind of gently tugs on my hand so that I remember it’s not a necessity of life.) It’s funny though, I remember dad eating cold cereal out of a particular green bowl–do you still have that bowl, Mom?

  14. Loretta on September 5th, 2009 9:06 pm

    We love cold cereal @ here too!!! They always want all different kinds, so we mix a bunch of diff kinds together and always try to add a “healthy” kind–like a bunch of bran flakes!

  15. Tamara on September 26th, 2009 3:17 pm

    My fav cereal is Great Grains with dates and pecans…sooooooo good. Reese’s Puffs are really good too…with milk or right out of the box. There is a great recipe for Reindeer Chow using Reeses Puffs, white chocolate, powdered sugar, dried cranberries, little pretzels and other things I cannot remember at the moment.

  16. Kate on October 30th, 2009 3:02 pm

    i’m addicted to life cereal. the honey graham flavor in particular. but reese’s would do in a pinch!

  17. Janelle on November 14th, 2009 8:27 pm

    Yeah…was wondering where you got that it’s healthy! But yeah…I agree that it’s yummy and oh-so handy!

Check this out! – Lightning McQueen again

Posted on August 24, 2009
Filed Under Birthday cakes

Look at this cake! Does it look familiar?

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But… the one I made says Happy Birthday Jordan and this one says Happy Birthday Christian.

It totally made my day over the weekend when I got an email from Theresa with pictures attached. This is the very reason that I like to post birthday cakes from start to finish, including the pictures where it looks hopeless of ever turning into something recognizable: so you all can see there are no tricks and you can see how to do it yourself! I don’t personally know Theresa, and it was just so refreshing to hear a confident ‘I could do that.” And it turned out GREAT!!!

Here are a few things about Theresa:
— She is a mom of 3.
— She has never made a birthday cake (before last week).
— She has an 8-wk-old baby.
— She saw the Lightning McQueen cake post and instead of thinking “I’ve never made a cake. I couldn’t do this.”, she thought, “My little guy has a birthday soon. I’m gonna try this.”

Did I mention she has an 8-wk-old?! She didn’t say, but I’ll just bet that some of this was done one-handed while holding a baby! ???? And if not that, then imagine all the interruptions!

And another thing I wanted to stress is that this was Theresa’s first cake ever! Talk about a crash course in fondant and cake decorating! In her email, Theresa said, “Trust me, while I was sculpting the cake, I said to myself (and my husband) …”I can’t do this!” I just had to laugh when I read that because I know the feeling! I don’t think there’s been a cake yet that I haven’t thought, “What did I get myself into here?!”

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I think we should give Theresa a round of applause for her awesome cake! What do you say?…

____________________________________________________________________

Editted Sept 28 to add another cake! Yvonne made this cake.

You did an awesome job, Yvonne! Turned out great!

Look how she personalized it! I think Adam is turning 3, what do you think? ????

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August 9, 2010… This is Jen’s cake for her son’s 3rd birthday!

Jen has a couple good tips for us… she bought pre-colored fondant (with her Michaels 40% off coupon, hooray for those! ???? ) and pre-cut letters and shapes and a squeeze tube of black icing. That all would really cut down on time!

Here are the pictures she sent. GREAT job, Jen!!!!

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December 6, 2010 …this cake was made by Jo from England for her twin boys turning 3.

Well, actually, she said it was a joint effort. Grandma and her daughter and the neighbor and her daughter helped out. Sounds like fun! You guys did super!!!

Here is the cake…

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March 31, 2011 …this is Nazy’s cake she made for her 4-yr-old son. He loved it and wanted to eat it right away. :)

Nazy never did anything like this before and she didn’t have many tools. But she tackled it anyway! You did a great job, Nazy!!!

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April 21, 2011 …Fiona from Malta (Europe) made this cake for her 2-yr-old son.
There are 3 things that Fiona mentioned in her email that I could SO identify with… she wasn’t sure about making a cake with an active 2-yr-old running around (yep, I know all about that, little fingers trying to get at the cake or Mom’s hands messy from mixing fondant when the 2-yr-old decides to spread powdered sugar on the floor or getting bumped during a delicate part of the decorating). :)
And another thing was that after spending all that time on the cake, she couldn’t cut it, so her dad did it for her (do I ever know what that’s like! Cutting is THE worst! I wince every time and sometimes I hold the knife over the cake, then start chatting with the kids a little so I can put it off a leeeeeetle bit longer.).
And the other thing is that it looked difficult, but she decided to give it a try anyway, thinking oh well if it doesn’t turn out, she’ll make something else. Love that attitude! :) And look what it got her… a cute Lightning McQueen cake, exactly what she set out to do! Nice job, Fiona!

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June 5, 2011 …Donna made this cake for her sister-in-law’s sister’s son’s 1st birthday. Donna is probably being modest by not saying this, but I’ll bet she rocks cake decorating because if SIL’s sisters are coming to her, well, that doesn’t just happen out of the blue. ???? Another clue might be because this cake looks a.w.e.s.o.m.e!!!!! And I love all the bling around it. *tucking away the ‘celebration spirals’ idea for the future*

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June 20, 2011 …Niccy from Canada made this cake for her daughter. She used frosting instead of fondant and it is absolutely amazing how smooth it got. Her secret? Hot wet knives. Very creative, Niccy! And I’m lovin’ the tire idea… she took Oreos and iced over the white cream filling with black frosting! She also personalized it, instead of the regular logo and #. Thanks for the great ideas, Niccy, and you did great on the cake!!!! :)

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June 29, 2011 …Tanisha made this cake for a Cars 2 party, complete with watching the movie. Does it have real working LIGHTS, Tanisha?! Wow!! That really ups it a notch! :) Super job on the cake! I love the license plate… great idea! And the cake board is just way too cool!
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January 20,2012 … Kate and her sister made this cake for Kate’s son Levi’s 2nd birthday. This is my favorite kind of reader who looks at the tutorial and says, “I could rock that cake”, which is what these girls thought… and then they did just that! Kate told me a couple little tidbits that I could relate to… they didn’t have a clue what they were doing and there were little kids running around eating cake crumbs and fondant pieces in the middle of it all and it was so fun. Yep, that’s pretty much me when I’m making a cake too. ???? Oh! And I forgot to mention along with that “we could rock this” thought… they had not worked with fondant or made a 3-D cake before! Kate, you guys did an AMAZING job!! And I like how you personalized it to Levi and wrote actual readable letters on the tires!
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February 1, 2012 Joyce made this cake for her son Ethan’s 6th birthday. She made it a Cars 2 Lightning McQueen. I totally get what she said about what the hardest part is… it’s NOT the baking, decorating & details, or the sacrificed sleep… it’s the ‘wrecking’ it… like throwing it away or cutting it up. Yep, that’s me too, very much! Awesome job on the cake, Joyce! And I like how you put cake under the racetrack, too! :)

Visit Joyce’s blog… she blogged the making of this cake! Read more details and see her progress pictures: Joyce’s Lightning Mcqueen Cake

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February 6, 2012  …Diana made this cake for her son’s 4th birthday last year. I like how she made the racetrack… just a partial one under it, not getting the whole racetrack on. She also sent me a darling little tidbit: After the party, she asked her son what his favorite part of his birthday was and he said “the back”. The back?! She asked more questions and figured out he was talking about the cake and his piece of the cake was the spoiler. :) Then, a couple months later, as they were driving, just out of the blue he said, “Mommy, thank you for making me my Lightning McQueen cake.”…what a sweetie. You did a GREAT job, Diana! It’s looks like a real toy!

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April 27, 2012 …Deborah from FL sent me this cake that she made for her Cars-lovin’ son’s birthday. She never decorated a 3D cake before! And wow! It turned out amazing! My favorite part is the smile… looks like he actually has cheeks. :) She got some of her inspiration from Donna’s cake above. I still want to try that party bling sometime. So festive! Good work, Deborah, and thanks for sending me pictures!

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Anybody else make a Lightning McQueen cake from the step-by-step instructions? Email me a picture (kay@kitchenscrapbook.com)! I’ll add it here! :) And please let me know if you emailed a picture and I missed putting it on here! Or if you blogged about it, I’d love to put your link on here.

Comments

12 Responses to “Check this out! – Lightning McQueen again”

  1. Liz on August 24th, 2009 8:36 pm

    Wow, first decorated cake – i’m impressed! And with a 8 week old, make that double impressed! Way to go Theresa!

  2. Marilyn on August 25th, 2009 4:15 am

    Wow! I’m impressed!! Super job Theresa!!!

  3. Berneice on August 25th, 2009 8:03 am

    way to go!!! Looks great!!!

  4. Cheryl on August 25th, 2009 8:16 am

    Three cheers for Teresa!!!!and for Kay too!!!

  5. Rosalyn on August 25th, 2009 8:49 am

    Yay! :) It looks great! :)

  6. Traci on August 25th, 2009 11:36 am

    APPLAUDING!!!! I love this blog!!1

  7. Marylou on August 25th, 2009 12:26 pm

    Way to go, Theresa!! Great job!

  8. Elsie on August 26th, 2009 6:18 am

    WOW, it’s just awesome for your first cake, Teresa! I’ve never used fondant before, but use drop stars of frostening. I love the fondant look. I thought Kay’s cake was awesome too.

  9. renita on August 28th, 2009 6:38 am

    1st cake ever?! Totally amazing Teresa! I hope Christian enjoyed it as much as Jordan did. And great teacher, Kay!

  10. Jay Cook on September 8th, 2009 12:28 pm

    Wow. First cake ever and it’s a nice one. I feel so incapable now. Loved the movie Cars BTW. Our family has seen it a bunch of time. Think I’m going to attempt a movie-based cake.

  11. andrea on February 18th, 2010 9:40 am

    How did the cake taste? I have never had a cake with fondunt (spelling?) on it but my son wants a lightning mcqueen b -day party

  12. Tammy on October 18th, 2011 1:12 pm

    So following the guide and doing one for my friend’s three year old!

Stuffed Mushrooms

Posted on August 21, 2009
Filed Under Snacks

I just realized I don’t have an ‘Appetizers’ category on here! What’s up with that?! Shows how often I serve an appetizer before a meal. Actually, I think I did it only one time so far this year. It was a couple Sundays ago. I called everyone to the table and set the appetizer down for them to eat while I dished up the meal. The appetizer was…
these Stuffed Mushrooms. ????

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I love stuffed mushrooms, but have never made them before. Seems like every time I see a recipe, they always have crabmeat or are tomato-y or something. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just not my favorite kind.

Then, one day, as I was browsing Tasty Kitchen, I found a cheesy, cream cheesy, bacon bits recipe. Perfect! Here it is.

Stuffed Mushroom Caps

25 whole mushrooms
½ of a small sweet onion
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
½ of a bell pepper
5 Tbsp. grated parmesan
1 tsp. fresh or dried sage
4 oz. cream cheese
3 Tbsp. seasoned bread crumbs (I used cracker crumbs with some Italian seasoning mixed in)
2 Tbsp. shredded mozzarella
¾ cup hamburger or sausage or bacon (I used bacon)

Clean and stem the mushrooms. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a foiled cookie sheet.
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Dice the bell pepper, mushroom stems and onion and toss in a food processor with the garlic and sage. Process until all is mixed together well and remove. Heat a pan or skillet with a little bit of olive oil and cook the meat (of your choice) with the bell pepper and onion and garlic mix. When the meat is browned, remove and pour into a mixing bowl. To the bowl with the meat mixture, add three tablespoons of the parmesan, the mozzarella, and cream cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste. With a melon scooper, fill each mushroom cap with the mix.
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Mix the remaining parmesan and bread crumbs and sprinkle on top of stuffed mushrooms.
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Drizzle a little olive oil on each one and bake for 15 minutes in the oven.
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Mmmmm! These were rated ‘Definitely make again’. I was afraid they’d be too garlicky because I could smell the garlic while they were baking. But… they weren’t.

Comments

4 Responses to “Stuffed Mushrooms”

  1. Shannon on August 21st, 2009 1:54 pm

    Oh those look scrumptious!!!

  2. Monica on August 21st, 2009 4:33 pm

    Oh how yummy!! I LOVE stuffed mushrooms!

  3. Geneva on August 21st, 2009 5:26 pm

    i love stuffed mushrooms and these look really yummy

  4. Paul on October 1st, 2009 5:40 pm

    Looks amazing! Mushrooms has got to be my favorite snack…would be interesting to spice it up a little. Gotta try this…

Lightning McQueen Birthday Cake

Posted on July 23, 2009
Filed Under Birthday cakes

I made a birthday cake last evening for my friend Renita’s 6-yr-old son, Jordan. His birthday is TODAY! The cake is a Lightning McQueen cake. I was thinking of updating as I make it, but decided not to this time. (That way, I don’t get icing all over my mouse and keyboard. ???? Just kidding, I have to wash my hands to handle my camera anyway.)

Here’s a list of what all I used:
–chocolate cake mix
–store-bought white fondant ($6 at Walmart)
–red, black, yellow, and blue food coloring paste
–buttercream icing (recipe featured in this post, you’ll need to scroll down a little)
–graham cracker crumbs
–small piece of thin cardboard
–small bamboo skewer
–2 toothpicks
–6 candles

It’s all very common/inexpensive things, no molds or anything, so I hope that after you see this cake being made, you can see how easy it is to do one yourself. :)

I started by baking a 9×13 chocolate cake, cooled it and froze it (easier to carve that way), then cut out a section about 11×7 and placed it on the cake board. By the way, the cake board is a piece of foam board cut in half, stacked, and covered with tin foil. Renita gave me that little car to look off of. Very helpful!!!!

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It took awhile to get the fondant red. See that little can of red paste? It was brand new and I used at least 3/4 of it! This is when I was starting to mix it…
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And then I never got a picture of it after it was red. *rolleyes* The way to mix it is to pull it, twist it, knead it, and whatever till it’s all uniformly colored. It’s easy to do swirly designs with fondant too!

Ok, now the carving starts. I took another smaller piece and stacked it on top for the cab. Is it called a cab when it’s a race car? I can’t think of what else to call it. Anyway, the part inside where you sit. This doesn’t look too promising so far, does it?
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Ah, but frosting helps SO much and covers lots of imperfections! Not to imply that there are no imperfections here!!! But at least it looks like now it actually has a chance of becoming a race car.
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Now we roll out the red fondant. By the way, whenever you do cakes, please use concentrated paste, NOT liquid food coloring. Concentrated paste makes the end result such true vivid colors. Sprinkle the table with plenty of powdered sugar. Flatten the fondant a bit and sprinkle powdered sugar on it too, then simply roll it out like you would a pie crust.
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To pick up the fondant, I rolled it around the rolling pin, then unrolled it off of the rolling pin over the car.
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lm7.jpg Kinda blurry, but you get the idea. There was a powdered sugar issue because it was really sugary on the bottom and then when I rolled it up onto the rolling pin, it got sugary on part of the top. I thought, “Oh no! Now what?!” because when I tried to brush it off, it didn’t want to come off!

By patting and tucking, fit the fondant to the shape of the cake. Then, trim off the excess.
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Roll out some white fondant and cut out the windows and the smile. To cut the fondant, I used either a sharp knife, a scissors, or a pastry cutter, whichever seemed like it would work the best for what I was cutting. Pieces of fondant don’t automatically stick… you need to wet the back with water a little bit first, then they’ll stick.
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By the way, remember all that powdered sugar that was on the red when I first put the fondant over the car? The problem took care of itself… the sugar melted or something and dissolved into the fondant. I love when problems take care of themselves like that.

Now we’ve got eyes. I know, one is bigger than the other. Oh well. To make the eyes, I used a small (clean) painbrush and black and blue coloring paste and painted them on.
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Now we’ve got wheels. They are made out of  black and red fondant. To put them on, I cut into the fondant, icing, and cake, making a wheel-shaped hole, then tucked the wheels in. I thought it might add a little character to turn the front wheels to give it a ‘rarin-to-go’ look. ????
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Now we have decals, ‘lettering’ on the tires, and headlights.
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Now with the Rust-eze logo, the spoiler, a flag, and a racetrack, Lightning McQueen is DONE!

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The track is rolled out black fondant. Everything here is completely edible except the bamboo skewer on the flag, a thin piece of cardboard inside the spoiler, the 2 toothpicks under the spoiler, and of course the candles. (The spoiler kept settling instead of staying at the proper angle, so I had to prop it up with toothpicks.)

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Happy birthday, Jordan! Have fun being 6!

Edited to add: Several readers have been inspired to use these instructions and make a Lightning McQueen cake themselves! See their cakes here: Lightning McQueen cakes that readers have made They all did an awesome job! If you want to do it, I’d love to see your cake! :) Email it to kay@kitchenscrapbook.com and I’ll add it to that post!! :)

Edited April 25, 2011: I just made another Lightning McQueen birthday cake last week. It’s posted here: Regan’s Lightning McQueen birthday cake.
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Comments

75 Responses to “Lightning McQueen Birthday Cake”

  1. Christine Martin on July 23rd, 2009 12:36 pm

    You don`t know me but my parents went to church with Shannons parents years ago :) I often check out your recipes and this cake is too cute, my children loved it!! Cody, 7 yrs. wishes you would live close enough to make him one. :) i`m not that talented…keep up the good work!

  2. Freida on July 23rd, 2009 1:44 pm

    You are totally amazing!! I will never cease to be amazed at your decorating skills. Tucker says- She should make me one like that. :) He LOVES anything Lightening McQueen. Good job, lady!

  3. Lisa@The Cutting Edge of Ordinary on July 23rd, 2009 1:54 pm

    Great job! You are so talented. I bet Jordan was one happy little boy!

  4. Shannon on July 23rd, 2009 1:54 pm

    Wow Kay, this is beautiful! You do an unbelievable job. My girls are totally amazed going from one picture to the next!!! They say, “Did you read the instructions? Can you make one like this now?” Noooooooooooooo, your mama is not that talented. :)Good Job!!!

  5. Marissa on July 23rd, 2009 3:20 pm

    My sons are a bit envious of whoever gets this awesome cake……… WOOoooooW!!!

  6. Traci on July 23rd, 2009 5:19 pm

    Shut UP!!! How cute is THAT??? I have got to show this to my friend who’s son is a CARS FREAK!!! Two thumbs up on this one girl!

  7. Katrina on July 23rd, 2009 10:54 pm

    Fabulous job, Kay. I just could not do that! You rock cake decorating!

  8. Marilyn on July 24th, 2009 5:19 am

    Wow! awesome job on decorating the cake, looks great :)

  9. Amber on July 24th, 2009 6:46 am

    Amazing! When looking at the picture on the link on xanga, I thought you set a car on top of a board! Wondering where the cake was… :) Too cute!

  10. Rosanne on July 24th, 2009 7:20 am

    Great job, Kay! I’ve been playin with fondant a little and your instructions were helpful. I haven’t attempted anything like this but maybe I should for Cody’s 6th birthday in Dec. Is the lightning on the side more fondant or just painted?
    Keep up the great work!

  11. Janice Y. on July 24th, 2009 8:06 am

    My son’s reaction, “Man, you should make one!” Love the graham cracker crumb idea for dirt. I’ve tried using nestle’s quik already and it melts soon. I’m guessing Jordan’s mom was happy, too!

  12. Kay on July 24th, 2009 8:22 am

    Rosanne, the lightning is fondant… I made yellow and orange fondant, then pressed them together, twisted them to blend just in the very middle, then rolled it out. The 95’s are also cut out of that. Then, I colored regular icing black and piped around it all.

    To all of you, seriously, if there’s a little boy in your life who’d like this, you really oughta try it! Just plan to take your time and keep tweaking it till it gets right (this took me a little over 4 hours, not counting baking and cooling the cake). And don’t say you couldn’t do it (unless you’ve tried it) because you’ll be surprised how forgiving and imperfection-hiding that the icing is! ????

    …And when you try it, tell me about it and email me a picture! :)

  13. Berneice on July 24th, 2009 9:47 am

    Umm can you ship cakes to Haiti?? :) Landon is having a b-day Sept 2nd and he would love a Lightening Mcqueen cake! :) Good work!!

  14. renita on July 24th, 2009 11:23 am

    Well Kay, we had one very Very VERY happy birthday boy!!! First thing Jordan said was SWEET ~Lightning McQueen!!! He didn’t want to eat it right away. :-)
    Thanks SO much Kay for all your work and fitting it into your schedule! I definitely appreciate it and it’ll be one cake not ever forgotten. I think the other boys were just as excited and slightly jealous. They kept saying what they want for their b-days.

  15. coleensr on July 25th, 2009 5:30 am

    That is so-o-o-o-o impressive!! I made birthday cakes for my children through their 12th birthdays, but mine sure weren’t this nice. I’m sure Jordan was impressed with his mom!!

  16. Liz on July 25th, 2009 3:03 pm

    Wow, impressive! I know you say it’s not that hard, but it looks hard. I ought to try messing with fondant sometime. Never tried it. You’re going to have to start a business soon. Bet you’d be able to make some money that way. Well, until you start counting your time.

  17. Angela on July 26th, 2009 1:47 pm

    Woo-hoo, Kay- that’s awesome! Looks like you have the makings of a business here. =) I enjoy decorating cakes, but I prefer instructions! There’s no way I could have looked at that toy car and ended up with anything that looked like it! Great job!

  18. Rosalyn on July 28th, 2009 5:55 am

    Wow! :) another gorgeous cake!

  19. Carmen on July 30th, 2009 7:55 pm

    That is just so cute. You are very talented. I could try what you did, and it would not look like that. Great job. (All of your cakes have been really neat.)

    Carmen

  20. CottageGirl on August 2nd, 2009 1:00 pm

    You are amazing!

    Love your web site!

  21. Michelle on August 5th, 2009 7:13 pm

    WOW!! Good job on the cake! I’d love to make one like that for my little guy! What are the wheels made out of?

  22. Michelle on August 5th, 2009 7:14 pm

    Okay, nevermind about the above question. I saw now that they’re made out of fonduant.

  23. Emily on August 9th, 2009 7:49 am

    Wow! Kay, you are amazing and inspiring!!! Would love to watch you work. Great cake!

  24. janae on August 13th, 2009 5:19 pm

    how cute, Kay!! i haven’t been on for awhile, so it was fun to catch up!!!!

  25. Lori on August 14th, 2009 9:51 pm

    Kay, you are simply amazing! I like coolest-birthdaycakes.com but they often said they used fondant and I never saw an explanation on how to use it til now. Looks like fun. I love visiti ng your site. Keep up the great work.

  26. Theresa on August 17th, 2009 11:26 am

    Hi Kay . . .what a great cake! You’ve inspired me to make this cake in a couple of days for my little guy’s b-day party. Everything looks pretty self-explanatory, but I wanted to know if you used brown fondant color for the “Rusteze” logo, or if it was icing? If it was brown fondant, is there any way to get the color brown by combining colors . . .or do I have to buy the Wilton’s brown? Thanks, and I’ll send a picture when it’s done (if it turns out) :)
    Theresa

  27. Kay on August 17th, 2009 11:46 am

    Go for it, Theresa! And yes, I’d love to see a picture of it when you’re done! :)

    The Rusteze logo is both fondant and icing… The dark brown circle is rolled out dk brn fondant, then cut out in a circle with a cookie cutter. The tan letters and outline circle are piped on with icing, tinted with just a little bit of brown paste.

    I bought brown, but I think if you combine equal amounts of blue, red, and yellow, it makes brown. OR you could add melted chocolate or cocoa powder to the icing/fondant to make it brown.

  28. Yvonne on September 23rd, 2009 2:07 pm

    Thank you so much for the step by step. I have just made a version of this for my son’s birthday tomorrow and I am sure he is just going to love it. More than happy to email you a photo if you like.

  29. Kay on September 23rd, 2009 2:35 pm

    That’s fun to hear, Yvonne! I’ll bet your son will be tickled with it. And… of COURSE I want to see a picture! :)

  30. Missie on September 28th, 2009 10:08 am

    Ok, first terrific job. I think you did awesome. Second, your page was very helpful! My boyfriend and I have been trying for weeks to perfect a Lightning McQueen cake for my son (who’s turning 2 this Sunday)and it always seemed like we were missing something…I still have a questions though. How did u easily transfer the lightning mcqueen? Was it being that the cake had been previously frozen it was more sturdy or did you hide a board under the cake itself or what? We try to move our cake (which is bigger than your in size) and it bends like it wants to fall apart. Could you help???

  31. Kay on September 28th, 2009 10:37 am

    Missie, that’s great that you made a Lightning McQueen cake! :) I’d love if you’d email me a picture!

    Uh! Transferring it is the worst thing! I didn’t transfer this one… I did it right on the cake board. I have transferred plenty of my cakes though. It usually takes 2 people and 4 hands and a couple large pancake turners and LOTS of steadiness! I don’t have any secret techniques or anything, except grease the board/pancake turners/whatever tools you’re using to do the transfer. It’ll slide easier. And, if you get it transferred without having to do any touch-up, you’ll have done better than I ever have. ????

  32. Debbi Beard on September 30th, 2009 3:45 am

    Hi Kay
    Wow what a brillent cake. My son’s 7th birthday is coming up and my husband and I decided we would make him a Mcqueen car. Your site has given me the information I needed to make the cake. Chris my husband is the decorator so I will show him this site when he gets home. Thanks for showing how you made this.
    Debbi

  33. Debbi Beard on September 30th, 2009 4:07 am

    Hi Kay
    Forgot to mention we live in England so I will be making the cake from scratch as cake mixes over here are not that good. We have made other cakes before so the chocolate cake is not a promblem we made a Treasure Chest last year for my son’s 6th birthday we had a pirate party. It was my husbands first time at decorating and he did a great job. I had hurt my leg so couldn’t stand so I was sitting in the kitchen giving him instuctions on how to bake the cake ( first time he had made a cake). Told him what the design needed to look like and left him to it. He enjoyed it so much that we hope to go into business ourselves in the next three years we prefer novelty cakes and have made a few for family and friends over the past year.
    Debbi

  34. Ruth on November 23rd, 2009 10:09 am

    Hi. I live in Brooklyn and have been desperately trying to find a baker that will bake a cake for my nephew’s 1st birthday party. Its on December 5, 2009. I would like it a bit bigger than the one you made.Is there a possibility that would be able to do so. What is the cost? Thank you

  35. Kay on November 30th, 2009 9:38 pm

    Ruth, I am not able to ship cakes… not sure how to do it without them getting damaged. I really hope you’ve found someone who can make one for you. Or is there anyone in the family who would be up for a challenge? Have him/her make one! :)

    Debbi, how did your cake turn out?

  36. CristyLynn on January 29th, 2010 2:54 am

    Kay,
    Thanks for such clear directions on this cake. I realize you did this one a while ago, but I was just doing a search for Lightning McQueen cakes for my son’s 4th birthday next week. We live in Russia, and I’ve never seen fondant sold here. I have found a recipe for marshmallow fondant that I’m willing to try (don’t really care for the taste of store-bought fondant anyway). Have you ever worked with MMF? I had never heard of it. The recipe said that it tastes good. If you have time in the next couple of days to respond, I’d love to try this! Can you put regular icing on fondant, or does it slip off? I was thinking of doing the red with the MMF, and then doing the other details with buttercream frosting. I thought that might be a little simpler for me.
    Thanks for any advice!

  37. maegan owen on February 2nd, 2010 11:31 am

    You have helped me out so much! Thank you for your inspiration and guide! I look forard to making a lightning mcqueen cake!!!!

  38. maegan on February 3rd, 2010 6:00 pm

    Hey!

    I really want to try this Lightning Mcqueen for an upcoming birthday party. The event is on saturday and today is wednesday. If I carve the car and put icing on it…cover it with clingwrap and put it in the freezer…will it be ok for saturday?? thanks, maegan

    cakecreationsbymaegan@yahoo.com

  39. Kay on February 3rd, 2010 11:38 pm

    CristyLynn, Yes, it works great to use reg icing on fondant, but make sure it’s pretty stiff… if it’s too soft, the liquid seeps out (or that’s what it looks like happens anyway, the fondant looks wet around the base of the icing). It would sure be faster to pipe the details on! That was a bit tedious to cut all those little things out of fondant! I’ve never tried marshmallow fondant, but hey, if it allegedly tastes great, that would be a plus! :) I don’t like the taste of store-bought fondant either. When I eat a piece of fondant covered cake, I peel the fondant off.

    Maegan, I’ve never tried that, but as long as you don’t put the fondant on, I’m pretty sure it would be fine! One thing I learned the hard way is that fondant and freezer don’t mix. ???? It’s fine until you get it out, then as it’s thawing, the colors start to run. Aaaack! I wonder if you should be sure to let the cake totally thaw before putting the fondant on because maybe it’s fondant and cold that don’t mix… I’ve never put it in the fridge to see if the colors run when it gets back to room temp. Let me know how it works for you. It’s a great idea, one that I’d probably use sometime because birthdays come around whether it’s a busy time or not and sometimes it would be handy to pull a partially finished cake out of the freezer and only have to decorate it!

  40. Shannon on February 11th, 2010 12:15 pm

    Thank you so much! I made this cake for my son’s 3rd birthday and he absolutely loved it! So much that he stole the wheel and ate it before we made it to the party. LoL Here are the pics if interested.
    http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/shannonpfunk/013.jpg

  41. Kate on March 12th, 2010 3:24 pm

    I am planning to make this cake tonight. I have a question- for the Rust-eze logo which is brown, the Happy Birthday lettering and sme of the outlines, did you use the fondant or something else?

    Thanks!

  42. Kay on March 12th, 2010 4:41 pm

    Hey, good for you, Kate! Let me know how it turns out! :)

    The dark brown circle on the Rusteze logo is fondant, the light brown part of the logo is buttercream frosting piped on.

    The happy birthday lettering, the black around the lightning, and the ‘lettering’ on the tires is also all piped on. To do piping, I just put the frosting in a plastic bag and snip a little bit of the corner off. Or you could use a round decorating tip too.

    Good luck!

  43. gandygirl on March 16th, 2010 12:04 pm

    this is awesome I am making my first fondant cake ever for my sons bday – lightning mcqueen! and this is so helpful! you did a GREAT job!

  44. Bill on May 28th, 2010 9:21 pm

    Thanks for these photos. I am doing almost exactly the same thing, only I am using pound cake. A bit stiffer, and less crumbly, than sponge cake.
    I didn’t read all of the comments, so someone may have already told you this. A quick trick I have found for getting the powdered sugar off of fondant (especially an issue on black fondant), use a spray bottle filled with vodka. The vodka soaks up the sugar, and then the alcohol evaporates. Since the vodka has little, to no, flavor other than the alcohol itself, it has no effect on the flavor of the cake. This works quite well. BUT, make sure you have gotten it all smoothed out, and all, before you spray. It will moisten the fondant, like water, and make it difficult (impossible) to smooth the fondant.

  45. Darci Meier on July 5th, 2010 10:01 am

    Love this cake!!!! You made it look so simple to actually do….the step by step pictures are great! My question….how do you get teh red fondant so red???? Do you use gloves when you are mixing it??? My hands are always colored for days….any tricls??

  46. Kay on July 20th, 2010 10:51 am

    Darci, I used LOTS of food coloring paste to get the fondant so red. I’ve used gloves already, but most of the time, I just knead the color in there with my hands, then wash up right away with hot soapy water.

    Gandygirl, I hope your cake turned out well! :)

  47. Jen on July 22nd, 2010 1:32 am

    Kay,
    Thank you SO MUCH for posting this step by step with photos “how to” page! I’ve never done a fancy cake at all — I’ve never worked with fondant — but thanks to you, I’m going to give this a try next week for my son’s 3rd birthday.

    Question: How much fondant did you use? To simplify my life, I’m thinking to get some pre-made red and it comes in 2 lb containers. Will one be enough, plus I’ll get a second one of white? Also, how did you make the black? Did you just mix all the colors?

    Thanks!
    -jen

  48. Kay on July 22nd, 2010 5:50 am

    Jen,
    I’m glad you’re trying it! :) I hope it goes good for you!
    I forget what the oz are in the size of package that I used, but I think it was 1 lb. There are often 2 sizes available at the store and I used the smallest size. I got white, then mixed all the colors with Wilton food coloring paste (not liquid food coloring), the paste comes in little cans about 1 1/2″ tall. They have all sorts of colors, including black… that’s what I used.
    Not a bad idea to get pre-made red… I do NOT like mixing color into fondant! It takes a long time to get it evenly colored… something tye-dyed would take less time. :)

  49. Lori on August 8th, 2010 6:45 am

    Kay,
    Thank you! Your photos and instructions were great and made this much less intimidating, so we decided to try it. Our cake turned out fantastic and it was our first try working with fondant. Now we are ready to try another for my older son’s birthday and he wants Spongebob. Whew! At least Spongebob is square-lol. I can’t believe we were able to do this and it is thanks to your fantastic photos and tips. We found using the shortening to be much easier for us to work with the fondant and Wilton even has a coloring gel “Cars” kit now with all the necessary colors. I cheated and used a black Wilton gel frosting tube to write all the letters and outline the numbers etc., but at 3am it was helpful.

    Lori

  50. Rachel on August 17th, 2010 8:20 am

    Hello Kay
    Many thanks for posting this step by step guide. Your Cake is brilliant. My sister has asked me to make this cake for my nephew and your instructions are really going to help. I have only made 2 fancy cakes before and I normally cover them with Apricot Glaze. I see you have used a white frosting to cover the cake before the icing. what is that? Would it replace the glaze? Im still only a beginner and would love to hear from you.
    Best wishes
    Rachel

  51. Katie on August 26th, 2010 8:51 pm

    Your cake is amazing. I have never attempted anything like this before! My sons 4th birthday party is tomorrow night and he absolutely loves Lightning McQueen, so I’m going to attempt to make this beautiful cake! Here goes nothing!!

  52. Sarah on September 20th, 2010 12:12 am

    This cake is so creative and cute. I would love to try this out for my nephew’s 2nd birthday.

  53. birthday cake in car shape, lightning mcqueen car cake | Food Tale on September 24th, 2010 11:51 am

    […] . I finally ended up choosing this Lightning McQueen Birthday Car Cake…  Many thanks for kitchenscrapbook for sharing this […]

  54. Sunehra on February 8th, 2011 8:03 am

    Hi, your cake really inspired me to make one for my 2 year old who just loves Lightening Mcqueen. The cake came out pretty good too. Thanks a lot.

    Wanted to share photos of my cake – how do I do that?

    Thanks again
    Sunehra

  55. Lisa on February 8th, 2011 8:52 am

    Hi Kay i am just admiring the mcqueen cake that you have done, Awesome really. It is my sons 4th Birthday on valentines day so i was going to give this cake a go, I was just going to ask for the spoiler would you be able to tape the cardboard on to 3 tooth picks & then press them into the cake so that it wont flop.I’ll still give it a go & send you some pics of it

  56. Kay on April 30th, 2011 12:09 pm

    Rachel, I’m late in replying here, but yes, I use regular buttercream icing instead of apricot glaze. I’ve only tried glaze once. It worked fine, but I like the icing better for taste and because it does better at hiding flaws. ????

    Sunehra, I’d LOVE to see pictures of your cake! Email photos to kay@kitchenscrapbook.com I’d love to put them on my post of people who’ve made Lightning McQueen cakes! :)

    Lisa, that idea sounds brilliant for the spoiler! Is that what you ended up doing? And did it work?

  57. Donna Dolendo on June 5th, 2011 8:11 pm

    Hi Kay, Thank you so much for sharing this tutorial. I made one and followed your instructions. It turned out great! thanks! I will send you a photo of the cake I made.

  58. TOSHA on June 14th, 2011 12:14 pm

    THIS IS SO CUTE.AND I LOVE HOW U DID STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS.IM GONNA TRY THIS MY SONS BIRTHDAY IS N JULY.

  59. Niccy on June 20th, 2011 11:24 am

    Thanks so much for great instructions and ideas! I used your basic idea and instructions – made a few changes because I am a chicken! – I don’t like working with fondant, so used regular icing and hot, wet knives to make it smooth, I cut the spoiler at the back out of cake and iced that too, changed the number and name to mean more to my girl!, made the tires out of oreos and just iced over the white cream filling with black, I did still do the windows and decals out of fondant, and painted the decals with a kids paintbrush and food colouring instead of trying to mix colour in. – It was a huge success – thank you for all your help in getting the shape right and giving me so many ideas! – am emailing you with photos!

  60. Dal on June 23rd, 2011 4:50 pm

    I haven’t checked all the previous comments but if I make this the day before my son’s birthday and put it in the fridge will it be okay?

  61. Kay on June 23rd, 2011 4:59 pm

    Dal, that should work great. I put a fondant-covered cake in the fridge for 3 days just recently and it was totally fine. When I got it out of the fridge, I put it in the coolest air-conditioned room to come to room temp. Don’t put it in the freezer though… I did that one time and when it came to room temp, the fondant got all shiny and wet and the colors started running!

    Donna and Niccy, I got your pictures! So exciting! Thanks!!! :) Nice job!! I’ll add them to the Lightning McQueen Again post in the next day or so.

    Tosha, go for it! And send me pics! :)

  62. Melissa on June 28th, 2011 9:55 am

    This cake is fabulous! I too am a SAHM who loves to bake and make all of my boy’s b-day cakes! It is very relaxing and the joy of the look on their faces are priceless! Thank you for the step by step instructions. I plan on making this cake for my son’s 3rd birthday in Aug. Can’t wait to get started!!!

  63. Disney Cars Party on June 28th, 2011 3:09 pm

    […] Racing for the Snacks Table: Awesome Party Food Ideas Gorgeous Cars cake by Kay of Kitchen Scrapbook […]

  64. Two In One Car Cake « Life A Dream on July 6th, 2011 1:16 pm

    […] .. Also I got some good tips from a good friend blogger on how to design the pixar car – https://kitchenscrapbook.com/2009/07/23/lightning-mcqueen-birthday-cake/ […]

  65. Jorden on July 21st, 2011 1:50 pm

    my little nabers think that this cake is sooooooo cooollllll!you sould have sale there faces when they saw the cack

  66. jorden on July 21st, 2011 1:51 pm

    :)

  67. Tianah on July 24th, 2011 4:22 am

    Hey, Im 16 and I had an assignment to do on a ‘catering buisness’. It was for Food Technology. We were also required to make a cake for this and my theme was ‘Cars’ for a boys 5th birthday. I stumbled upon this website and thought…”Wow, this lady is talented!” So i decided to follow your instructions, and guess what? My cake turned out absolutely fabulous and I got a top mark! I’m from Australia, by the way. I just wanted to thankyou sooooo much for this cake. The instructions were easy to understand and I ended up with a beatiful cake. xoxo Couldn’t have found a better site.thankyouuuu ????

  68. Erin Lemon on July 25th, 2011 5:43 pm

    I’ve been dreading making a lightning McQueen cake, but yours makes it seem like “It CAN BE DONE”. Thank you for your step by step guide! Wish me luck!

  69. Jennifer on September 10th, 2011 12:23 pm

    I don’t know if anybody else has given you this tip but to get fondant a nice bright red without having to use a whole container of dye is to replace some of the icing sugar with a package of jello crystals (strawberry, cherry, whatever). Not only does is give the fondant a nice flavour but it will give your fondant some color and then you can add your dye to get whatever intensity you are going for. Great cake btw!

  70. Loraine on September 10th, 2011 1:55 pm

    Do ou recommend freezing the cake before carving?

  71. giddy tigress on September 28th, 2011 5:30 am

    This is gorgeous, and I am thinking of attempting this one soon! Just a quick question though…What did you use for the lightning at the sides, the orangey and yellow part? Is it fondant?

  72. Samantha Kjell on November 4th, 2011 11:27 am

    Thank you so much for taking the time to take pictures and do a step by step guide to building this cake. My son is turning 2 and is OBSESSED with lightening McQueen. I cant wait to tackle this cake and hope it looks at least HALF as good as yours!! :o)

  73. Giddy Tigers » That Cake I Made on February 1st, 2012 11:57 pm

    […] I relied on to make this cake.  If you want to reproduce this cake in any way, I highly recommend this article, with excellent pictures to […]

  74. Presha on March 11th, 2012 4:21 pm

    Hi,
    Just want to know where r u based. B’se I’m planning to order a lightining McQueen b’day cake for my son in April. Therefore would like to know. We live I’m Australia.
    Regards
    Presha

  75. Kay on March 11th, 2012 9:46 pm

    Presha, I live in Ohio. I’d suggest you’d check with Planet Cake… they are in Sydney and make AMAZING cakes! :)

Herbed New Potatoes

Posted on July 20, 2009
Filed Under Easy meals, Side dishes

If you want quick-n-easy, here you go. These would honestly fit into a “30 minutes to mealtime” category. And 20 of those minutes is the potatoes cooking, so that’s some free time to fry some chicken, make a salad, or whatever else is for dinner. All you do is peel a stripe around the potatoes, throw them in a kettle to cook, then 20 minutes later, toss them with a butter and herb mixture and put them on the table.

This is one of those recipes I clipped a long time ago. Well, I didn’t technically clip it, I scribbled it down. When I have a clipped recipe, sometimes I can tell where they came from, but when I just wrote it, it’s only a guess. Maybe it was out of a magazine in a doctor’s office or somewhere (because, you know, I’d never rip a recipe out of someone else’s magazine!). I’ve seen this potato recipe in my stash of clipped recipes pretty often, but never tried it… maybe because it’s so hard and complicated. Just kidding.

Anyway, this recipe is definitely a keeper. It’s simple enough for a regular weeknight meal, but dressy enough for Sunday company. As I wrote that part about being dressy, I wondered what I thought makes it dressy and I guess it’s because of the peeled stripe around it and the parsley garnish. ????  We ate these with sour cream, but I wish I’d have thought of Ranch dressing. I’ll bet that would’ve been really good with them too!

And here’s the recipe:

Herbed new Potatoes

12 small new potatoes
4 tsp. butter
1 1/3 tsp. dried parsley (or 1 1/3 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley if you prefer)
1 1/3 tsp. chives
Fresh parsley for garnish

Peel 1/2″ strip around center of each potato. Place in cold water in saucepan. Boil potatoes about 20 minutes or till done. Don’t overcook.
herbed-potatoes1.jpg

Drain and cover. Melt butter and stir in chives and parsley. Pour over potatoes and toss to coat. Spoon potatoes into bowl and garnish with parsley. Serve immediately. Serves 4. Variation: Can also sprinkle with bacon or finely minced greeen onions.
herbed-potatoes2.jpg

Oh, and about ripping a recipe out of someone’s else’s magazine… *ahem* … Confession: I did one time several years ago at an oil change place while waiting on my car to get done. But only that one time. Seriously. ???? I forget, but I probably didn’t have a pen and paper on me. It was a garlic biscuit recipe of some sort, but not these Red Lobster ones.

Change of subject now: This article hit the news last week. ???? By Melissa Dutton for the Associated Press: http://www.wral.com/lifestyles/story/5579539/ I guess now you’ll know what Lexi’s 7th birthday cake will be. :)

Comments

6 Responses to “Herbed New Potatoes”

  1. liz on July 20th, 2009 10:17 am

    Way to go with the news article! Wondered if you were going to leave a link on here. Are you still going to talk to us commoners?:)

  2. Jo on July 20th, 2009 10:49 am

    Reminds me of a TOH recipe from years back. On Friday, Titus dug up a few new potatoes from his garden…and I have parsley growing in my raised bed, and chives in the fridge…so I might have to try your recipe sometime this week. Nothing beats the taste & texture of new potatoes! Mmm. my mouth is watering. :-)

  3. Ruthie on July 20th, 2009 11:14 am

    Wow!! You are now officially famous!! Even to the point where they call you “Martin”!! I’m a little worried, with Liz. Are we good enough for you now? =) You might have to let us know by baking a cake for us….. hee hee The potatoes are a good example of taking a plain, easy dish and adding a few ingredients to dress it up nicely. Very nice.

  4. Rosalyn on July 20th, 2009 11:56 am

    This is interesting, finding this on here…just this very weekend I found this recipe in an old TOH magazine, the picture looked almost identical to yours. :)
    I can’t wait to make this, we love new potatoes!! :)

  5. Kay on July 20th, 2009 12:36 pm

    Ok! So this recipe must’ve been copied out of a TOH magazine!!! I have some of the TOH annual cookbooks, I should see if it’s in there. ????

  6. Charlene on July 21st, 2009 5:46 am

    I was looking for recipes to use with my new potaotes, I will def be trying this one.

No-Drip Popsicles

Posted on July 6, 2009
Filed Under Holiday cooking, Snacks

So… how many moms perked up at the ‘no drip’ part? :)

I was just going to freeze Koolaid into popsicles, but then I saw this recipe and had to try it. Really, how can there be a no-drip popsicle?!

popsicles-jas-chl.jpg
These are my friend Carrie’s twins, Chloe and Jasmine. Aren’t they just adorable? They are 2 1/2. You oughta hear them talk.

When I started thinking of how to make these popsicles, there was one problem… how to get the white part. The red is cherry, the blue is blueberry; both kinds are in the Koolaid dept and the jello dept. Well, what about white? The lightest thing I saw in the Koolaid was lemonaide, so I got that. And the lightest thing I saw in the jello section was pineapple, so I got that. When I mixed them together, it was yellow. Way too yellow. I still hadn’t put all the water in, so I thought of evaporated milk and replaced some of the water with that. Worked great! And that layer actually tastes good too. That’s always a plus. ;)

No-drip Popsicles …recipe comes from here

1 3oz pkg jello, any flavor
1 pkg kool-aid, (same flavor as jello)
1 cup sugar
2 cups boiling water
2 cups cold water
Popsicle molds (I used 9 oz. plastic cups and popsicle/craft sticks)

Pour boiling water over jello, kool-aid and sugar. Stir till completely dissolved. Pour into molds; freeze. I did this recipe 3 times (once in red, once in white, and once in blue) and it made 16 popsicles. Freeze between each layer. When the middle white layer gets thick enough, put popsicles sticks in. Making these took all day (poured the first layer in around 9 am, and the popsicles were ready to eat by 7:30 pm).
4thpopsicles.jpg

And here is our test crew to see if the popsicles are actually no-drip or not. :)

popsicles-girls.jpg

They, of course, did drip some, but I was pretty impressed. I’ve seen popsicles make alot bigger messes! I think the jello in there made it thicker… the juice didn’t run too much. They’re easy and quick to make (especially if you make them all the same color instead of layered).

What a great summertime treat! Send your kids outside with some!

Comments

4 Responses to “No-Drip Popsicles”

  1. Sharon on July 6th, 2009 10:30 am

    cute! These bring back memories of my childhood–my best friend’s Mom used to make these. And you can suck on ‘em and the juice doesn’t all suck out like the plain koolaid ones…

  2. Katrina on July 6th, 2009 11:39 am

    I’ll have to try these for sure! We’re pretty drippy over here.

  3. Shy on July 7th, 2009 3:36 pm

    These are cool. I’m making them right now…a layer in the freezer…for our garage sale this weekend. Thought it would be fun for the children as there are several of us getting together and I’m making lunch. But, the middle layer is indeed, yellow. :)

  4. Berneice on July 11th, 2009 1:33 pm

    These are the popsicles I was raised on all my life, and now my kids are eating them too. But I sure didn’t know that they were No-drip! lol, anything drips in this heat!

Happy 4th of July!

Posted on July 4, 2009
Filed Under Holiday cooking

Hope your day is filled with fun, friends, family, and good food!

On the menu for us tonight is burgers, hot dogs, beans, chips, salad, this dessert, and these popsicles for the kids.

4thdessert.jpg

4thpopsicles.jpg

It’s so easy to make food fit the 4th of July, especially if it’s dessert. Make a USA or flag or star shape out of it OR pick out blue and red M&Ms or Skittles to use in it OR sprinkle it with red, white, and blue sprinkles OR change the fruit in the recipe to blueberries and strawberries or raspberries, etc. I’ll post these trifle and popsicle recipes later.

Have a safe and happy holiday!

Comments

2 Responses to “Happy 4th of July!”

  1. Ruthie on July 4th, 2009 7:13 pm

    I think I will come just for the dessert!

  2. Jo H. on July 5th, 2009 2:34 pm

    I don’t actually NEED more dessert recipes to try but it seems thats what always lands in my recipe box. :) These look delicious! Keep the great recipes coming!

Rice Crispy Bars for July 4

Posted on July 2, 2009
Filed Under Holiday cooking

I’m going to an out-of-town birthday party for the day, but before I leave, I just wanted to let you know that I’m making a few things for July 4th posts in red, white, and blue. Here is one and I’ll write more when I get back home this afternoon/evening. :)

usa-rice-crispy-bars.jpg

Have a good day!

—————————————————————————————-

Ok, back from the birthday party.

Speaking of the birthday party…
bday-party.jpg

Yeah, Katrina, I did use the USA shape last year. It was with finger jello, pictured here and here, and recipe featured here. This year is rice crispy bars. I’m going to try to use it for something different every year. My options are a bit limited because it is plastic, so I can’t bake anything in it. I may end up asking for ideas one of these years. :)

usa-rice-crispy1.jpg

To make the rice crispy bars, I greased the mold and lightly pressed the rice crispy mixture in, then turned it out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Then, I took a bag of mini M&Ms and picked out the blue and red and filled the states with them, then put the rice crispy shape back in and pressed it down harder so the M&Ms would stick, then turned it out onto the serving plate.

So, now I have a bunch of little M&Ms left without red and blue. I just might make these Peanut Butter Dream Bars with them. ???? Everytime I think of mini M&Ms, I always think of these bars… kinda like every time you think of 4th of July, you think of fireworks.

I had some rice crispy mixture left over, so I flattened it out, then melted vanilla chips and colored half of it red and half of it blue and drizzled it over the rest of the bars. I forgot to take a picture of that part, but you can see a few of the squares at the bottom of this picture:
usa3.jpg

I’m going to make something else red, white, and blue tomorrow, so check back! :)

Comments

5 Responses to “Rice Crispy Bars for July 4”

  1. Arla on July 2nd, 2009 7:48 am

    Such a clever lady! My mom always makes Blueberry Delight that looks like our flag. Pretty neat stuff.

  2. Katrina on July 2nd, 2009 8:52 am

    Love it. I love your US cutter, you did something with it last year, also, it seems.
    Have a great 4th!

  3. Katrina on July 2nd, 2009 8:52 am

    P. S. I call Texas! hehe

  4. renita on July 2nd, 2009 7:45 pm

    That’s clever! I like anything red,white and blue. Will keep looking for the next one.

  5. Shannon on July 3rd, 2009 10:54 am

    They were good. ????

Cake Mix Cookies

Posted on July 31, 2009
Filed Under Cookies and bars

V-A-R-I-E-T-Y!!!! That’s what’s so fun about these cookies! You know in the grocery store, in the baking aisle, how there are several shelves full of cake mixes? Red ones, yellow ones, white ones, brown ones, confetti ones, pink ones, orange ones, blue ones… are there blue ones? Not sure about that now that I think of it.

And you can make even more variety! You can mix the colors too… make brown and pink (chocolate and strawberry) for your daughter’s slumber party… when you’re rolling the dough into balls, make them half the size they should be, then smash a brown and pink one together and put it on the cookie sheet.

I should’ve made a bunch of different kinds and then featured them all. But, I guess I’ll just feature them using one kind. The best flavor ever in the world of food.

Chocolate.

cake-mix-cookies-7.jpg

This recipe is adapted from the Tasteful Delights cookbook.

Cake Mix Cookies

1 cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 Tbsp. flour

cake-mix-cookies-1.jpg
Don’t you just wonder what magic that little tablespoon of flour does? Seems like it wouldn’t make enough difference for the bother. Next time, I should be really daring and omit it, and see what happens
. :)

Beat all the ingredients together. Roll into balls and put on cookie sheets.
cake-mix-cookies-2.jpg

Bake at 350 for 11 minutes.
cake-mix-cookies-3.jpg Yum. They have cracks in them. I like when cookies have cracks like that. Makes them look soft and chewy.

Sprinkle with sugar. I used powdered sugar. I just sprinkled some of them because I think I like the looks of them better without.
cake-mix-cookies-5.jpg

Actually, I think I like them best some with and some without. You know, variety.
cake-mix-cookies.jpg

Comments

11 Responses to “Cake Mix Cookies”

  1. Shannon on July 31st, 2009 3:52 pm

    Oh, this looks interesting. Maybe I should make some tonight with the girls, but I don’t think we’ll be using Chocolate cake mix. :)

    Saw your recipe on PW’s Tasty Kitchen. :)

  2. Liz on July 31st, 2009 3:58 pm

    I just saw a recipe like this on my cousins site (she didn’t have flour in hers) and it has been rolling around in my head that I should make them. Just takes more energy to do that kind of thing what with the good chance of having a 10 month old hanging on my skirt.

  3. Kay on July 31st, 2009 4:35 pm

    Shannon, that’s actually YOUR recipe on Tasty Kitchen, you know! ;) I love love love that site, don’t you?

  4. Tonya on July 31st, 2009 7:38 pm

    We like to make lemon ones. they are sooooo yummy!!!!!

  5. Rina on July 31st, 2009 11:20 pm

    I’ve made these! So easy and I couldn’t believe they actually tasted good!

  6. Lanita on August 1st, 2009 7:54 am

    I love these cookies! I almost forgot about them…I’m pretty sure my recipe doesn’t have the T of flour.

  7. Katrina on August 2nd, 2009 6:24 am

    I have a similar recipe–2 boxes of cake mix, 5 eggs and 2/3 cups oil. No extra flour. I’m sure they taste the same–and I love them. For even more variety, add pb chips to the chocolate or cc to the yellow ones, etc! It’s endless possibilities! (My favorite is probably chocolate with chocolate chips, too!) Yours look perfect.

  8. Elsie on August 4th, 2009 7:24 am

    I also have a recipe without the flour, but it calls for butter or margarine in place of the oil and adds 1 tsp. vanilla. They are so nice and fast when you are in a hurry.

  9. Heather on August 4th, 2009 9:18 pm

    These cookies look delicious. and easy. My 4 year old daughter and I are planning on making them tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe.

  10. Beth in NC on August 5th, 2009 9:19 am

    I baked these last night and they were SO GOOD!! My husband loved them.

  11. Robin on August 20th, 2009 10:41 am

    Just made some and they are delicious. Although I do have some flour spots in my cookies, but I suppose that it takes time to become a good cook. :)

Broccoli Au Gratin

Posted on June 29, 2009
Filed Under Side dishes

While we were eating this at lunch today and someone said, “I’ll take some more broccoli”, the person passing it said, “It almost seems wrong to call it broccoli”. Getting your vegetables by eating this broccoli dish is kinda like getting a fruit by eating strawberry jam. ???? Besides the broccoli, this has: sour cream, Parmesan cheese, buttered toasted crumbs, and cheese. I don’t think I need to tell you whether or not it was good!!! We’ve got a winner here. A recipe that will be repeated in this household.

Another reason that this recipe will be repeated is because it’s fast. I made it for lunch today. When we got home from church, I hadn’t done anything ahead of time for this. It took a couple minutes to cut up the head of broccoli, then during the 7 min that it was cooking, I toasted the crumbs, measured the sour cream and Parmesan cheese, and grated the Swiss cheese. It took a minute to throw it together in the dish and then several minutes under the broiler. So, from start to finish, about 15-20 minutes total. Not bad. And I could’ve even saved a couple minutes by cutting up the broccoli earlier.

I don’t know where this recipe comes from… it’s an anonymous clipped recipe in my mammoth clipped-because-I-want-to-try-it-sometime recipe collection. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever get thro’ them. The reason I wonder that is because I think I keep clipping them faster than I’m trying them! Beside the recipe, it says, “Meal Ideas: Baked ham, oven-roasted potatoes, broccoli au gratin, apricot tart”. Our meal was: Beef roast, herbed new potatoes, broccoli au gratin, crescent rolls, and fresh strawberry pie.

Broccoli Au Gratin

1 large head broccoli (about 1 1/2 pounds)
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup bread crumbs I always use cracker crumbs when a recipe called for bread crumbs. They’re tastier.
1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese

Trim broccoli; cut off florets. Peel stalks; cut into 1″ chunks. In a saucepan, bring one inch of water to a boil over high heat. Add broccoli stalks; cover and cook for 2 min. Add florets; cover and cook until crisp-tender, about 5 min. Drain.
Melt butter in small skillet. Add crumbs and stir until coated with butter and toasted.
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Combine sour cream and Parmesan. Stir in the broccoli. Pour broccoli mixture into a baking dish.
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Sprinkle with bread crumbs and Swiss cheese.
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I don’t know if you can tell it, but at this point is when I thought of it that there’s no salt in this recipe, so I sprinkled s&p over it. Oh, and the cheese… I didn’t measure it so I could put more on. :)

Broil until cheese melts. 4 servings. 4 servings is right… we had 3 adults and 2 kids and we had just a teeny bit left over.
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Comments

2 Responses to “Broccoli Au Gratin”

  1. Sharon on June 29th, 2009 7:10 am

    This looks good. We like broccoli at our house and usually eat it plain. by the way, about the salt–there’s already salt in the cheese and sour cream (and the butter & crumbs), so that’s probably why no salt.

  2. Wendell Martin on July 18th, 2009 7:39 am

    Wow how can someone even make broccoli look good?

Fresh Strawberry Pie

Posted on June 25, 2009
Filed Under Pies

I just thought it would be ideal if I’d post this BEFORE the strawberries are completely over! You know, that way you could still try the recipe without having to go to the grocery store and buy some. How many of you have fresh strawberries in little square boxes in your fridge right now? Me! *raises hand*

I made this pie last evening and it lasted only about 24 hours. We have 2 big people and 2 little people here. And we all like strawberry pie! So… I’m gonna make another one this weekend! :) It is just so refreshing and bursting with juicy-berry flavor and so pretty!

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This recipe comes from my mother-in-law. There is something about this strawberry pie that makes it stand head and shoulders above regular fresh strawberry pie. You can’t tell it by looking at it. It’s a hidden feature, until you cut it and serve a piece…

It has a cream cheese layer hidden under those strawberries! Mmmmmmm!

Fresh Strawberry Pie

Crust:
1/4 cup butter
3 Tbsp. boiling water
1 cup Bisquick
Mix and press into a 9″ pie plate. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.
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Cream cheese layer:
1/4 cup powdered sugar
4 oz. cream cheese
3/4 cup Cool Whip
Mix and spread on cooled crust.
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Strawberry layer:
1/4 cup instant Clear Jel
3/4 cup sugar
4 cups sliced fresh strawberries
1/2 cup water
Add the water to the strawberries. Mix sugar and Clear Jel together. Sprinkle over the strawberries and mix in.
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Pour over cream cheese mixture.
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Top with more Cool Whip.
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Chill. It sort of sets up right away, but it’s best if it chills for a couple hours.

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Important note ???? :When peaches are in season, please remember this recipe… it works great to substitute the strawberries for sliced fresh peaches. I wonder if it would work to substitute other fruit too, like blueberries or raspberries.

Comments

9 Responses to “Fresh Strawberry Pie”

  1. Sharon on June 26th, 2009 12:29 pm

    oh this has got to be good. We LOVE!!!!! fresh strawberry pie. I always do the cooked clear jel version, but this sounds much faster and easier. And the cream cheese–oh wow. It sure does sound like a cut above the rest.

  2. Sharon on June 26th, 2009 12:31 pm

    oh i forgot…a question about the crust. Does the boiling water kinda soften the butter so it mixes in okay. Or do you have to kinda cut it in?

  3. Kay on June 26th, 2009 2:25 pm

    I’m not sure how it’s supposed to be done (I guess we’d know who to ask ???? ), but I mixed softened butter and the Bisquick, then added the water.

  4. Arla on June 26th, 2009 5:42 pm

    Good idea, Kay. I picked strawberries again today FROM MY OWN PATCH. I now have three pies tucked in the frig for the weekend. There really is nothing quite like fresh strawberry pie.

  5. liz on June 27th, 2009 2:29 pm

    one coming up for supper tomorrow night. to bad i don’t have to make two…

  6. Jenny on June 28th, 2009 4:51 pm

    Hi Kay! I woke up from my nap and all the sudden got an urge for some fresh strawberry pie so I’m off to make some for after church!

  7. Rina on June 29th, 2009 9:37 pm

    Hi Kay – this looks FANTASTIC…am going to see if I can still get some local berries and make this on Wednesday. Do you think I could use Knox Gelatin instead of the Clear Jel? Couldn’t find it (actually never heard of it!) but I have Knox Gelatin…maybe if I cooked up the gelatin first and then added it with the sugar?

  8. Rhonda H. on June 29th, 2009 10:03 pm

    I had picked up some strawberries last week, thinking it would be a shame if June passed by and I hadn’t made a single strawberry pie. Then I found your recipe and quickly whipped it up between ball games tonight. We had it for a bedtime snack, and it was delicious; we all loved it! I’ve never made a Bisquick crust before, but it was very easy and tasty.

  9. Talita on July 8th, 2009 5:20 pm

    This looks really delish! Seems not to hard to prepare!

Burrito BLT Wraps – Cooks in Training #8

Posted on June 23, 2009
Filed Under Cooks in Training, Main dishes

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I’m trying to decide if this should even be a Cooks in Training post.

Reasons it should be:
1. Lexi and Tiffany made them.
2. The recipe comes from the Kids Cook! cookbook.
3. There is no kettle or baking involved.

Reasons it should not be:
1. What. a. mess!!!!!!
2. There is a sharp knife involved.
3. Next time we have these, I’ll make them myself.

I don’t want to give the impression that the Cooks in Training posts aren’t usually messy. ???? It’s just that this one struck me as extra messy. Maybe it was because the floor around their chairs looked confetti-covered. Maybe it was because they were handling bacon (read: grease) twice. Maybe it was because when they wrapped their wraps up, the tortillas ripped and the filling was falling out and trying to fix the problem only made it worse. :)

Oh well, we all have our bad days in the kitchen. And these little cooks are no exception. The wraps tasted great, which is what matters. And it was a nice variation from a regular BLT sandwich. Which is not a bad thing either:
blt1.jpg   Mmmmmmmm! Yum.

This recipe has everything all diced up and mixed together, but it would probably be easier and quicker to just leave the ingredients whole and layer them in the tortilla.

Burrito BLT Wraps …from Betty Crocker’s Kids Cook! cookbook

8 slices bacon
1 large tomato
2 cups shredded lettuce
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (6 oz)
1/3 cup mayo or salad dressing
6 flour tortillas (8″-10″ across)

Put a paper towel on a microwavable plate. Put 4 bacon slices on top of paper towel. Add another paper towel and put on 4 more bacon slices. Put another paper towel on top of bacon. Microwave on High for 4 – 6 minutes or until bacon is crisp. Break it into pieces (after it cools, of course).
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Chop the tomato into small pieces.

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Put the bacon, tomato, lettuce, cheese, and mayo in a bowl. Toss together. Spread the BLT mixture evenly over the tortillas.
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Fold up the bottom 1/3 of each tortilla, then roll it up.
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And here they are! In all their messy beauty. The pretty toothpicks were a bit hit. ????

Whenever I think of BLT wraps, I think of one time when one of my friends said that one day, the whole family was working outside and suppertime rolled around and she made BLT wraps and cut up some watermelon and took it out to the picnic table for them to come and get it whenever. I just thought that sounded so summer-y.

Comments

4 Responses to “Burrito BLT Wraps – Cooks in Training #8”

  1. Mary Faith on June 23rd, 2009 10:16 am

    These look so good and I’m sure will be a big hit with my boys. I’m off to make some for lunch! :)

  2. Freida on June 23rd, 2009 10:58 am

    Would it help to warm the tortilla shells before filling them? Don’t know- Just thought that might help to keep them from falling apart. I want to try these sometime. They look so delish! I LOVE BLTs!!!

  3. Michelle on June 23rd, 2009 12:24 pm

    Your girls are going to be awesome cooks some day! You are a great Mother to let them start cooking/making stuff so young. I’m afraid I’m going to be jealous of you when they are ten and all you have to do is say go make supper and it is made. :-) I guess I’ll have to do my homework… but I don’t like messes!

  4. Jan on June 23rd, 2009 1:59 pm

    looks good, think i’ll add this to leftover chicken noodle soup and suppers done!

Watermelon Cake – Take it to a picnic!

Posted on June 12, 2009
Filed Under Cakes

When you saw ‘Watermelon Cake’ in the title, did you think it would be a cake that tastes like watermelon or a cake that looks like watermelon? Well, whichever you thought, you were right. It’s both.

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I was going back thro’ some pictures the other day and found the making of this cake from last summer. I had totally forgotten about it! So, here it is now, a year later.

These pictures are dated July 4. Uh, wait, July 4?! July 4?!!!! I’m just wondering WHY in the world was I making watermelon cake on July 4th?! It’s a holiday! I shoulda been out on a pontoon on Round Lake or at the grocery store buying burgers and brats or something! But the watermelon cake was right in among the USA jello and the flag fruit pizza and the fireworks pictures (all featured here), so… I guess it was the 4th. No wonder I forgot about it!

Watermelon Cake …from the 2002 Quick Cooking annual cookbook

1 pkg. (18 1/4 oz) white cake mix
1 pkg. (3 oz) watermelon gelatin …If you can’t find watermelon flavored, just use strawberry or something else red or pink. That’s what I did.
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups vanilla or cream cheese frosting …I used cream cheese.
Red and green food coloring
Chocolate chips

In a mixing bowl, combine dry cake mix, gelatin, eggs, water, and oil. Beat on low speed just until moistened. Beat on high for 2 minutes or until well blended. Pour into 2 greased and floured round 9″ cake pans.
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Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
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Cool for 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Set aside 2 Tbsp. of frosting. Place 1 1/4 cups of frosting into a bowl; tint red. Tint remaining frosting green. Place one cake layer on a serving plate; spread with 1/2 cup red frosting to within 1/4″ of edges.
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Top with second cake. Frost top with remaining red frosting to within 3/4″ of egdes. Frost sides and top edge with green frosting.
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Place reserved white frosting in a resealable plastic bag; cut a 1/4″ hole in one corner. Pipe around top edge of cake where red and green frosting meets.
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For seeds, insert chocolate chips upside-down into cake top. Yield: 12 servings.

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Comments

14 Responses to “Watermelon Cake – Take it to a picnic!”

  1. Shannon H on June 12th, 2009 12:11 pm

    Looks way cooooool. :)
    Madison got a kick out of Lexi. :)

  2. Ruthie on June 12th, 2009 1:24 pm

    Lexi’s expression is priceless!

  3. Larena B on June 12th, 2009 1:37 pm

    What a neat idea! I’ll have to try this recipe although I’ll probably use strawberry since watermellon isn’t a favorite flavor in our house.

  4. Lisa@The Cutting Edge of Ordinary on June 12th, 2009 4:01 pm

    What an adorable cake! Would be great on a picnic!

  5. Linda on June 12th, 2009 8:22 pm

    thanks for this cake idea! i was still searching for a simple cake for my girlie who is turning 2 next month. this is perfect for a July birthday party!

  6. Rina on June 13th, 2009 2:57 pm

    LOVE this!!!!!!

  7. Arla on June 14th, 2009 4:43 pm

    Very cute, Kay, but we all said “Yuck”. “How can you put milk on a watermelon and eat it?!” Elv says. But it is cute, nonetheless. :)

  8. Traci on June 14th, 2009 7:12 pm

    You are so stinkin’ creative!!! …turning the chips upside down….AMAZING!!!

  9. Katrina on June 20th, 2009 1:26 pm

    What a fun cake! Looks great. Love the picture of your daughter holding it like real watermelon, then the picture of her messy hands! ;)

  10. aleasha on May 14th, 2010 9:22 am

    OMg thank you for being so creative !! I needed a good idea for my daughters 2nd birthday and she loves watermelon.

  11. Nici on July 2nd, 2010 9:09 am

    Such a cute idea, just wish mine looked more like yours. I’m new to decorating cakes, and overall this was fairly easy. My colors aren’t as dark as they should be, but still cute! Thanks for the idea!

  12. Rae Ann on July 16th, 2010 3:32 pm

    Looks great! I love the idea of using watermelon gelatin (I’m guessing the flavor doesn’t overpower?) My son wants a watermelon cake for his July birthday and this will be perfect!

  13. greenweddingplannerblog.com » Blog Archiv » Summer Party Themes – Polka Dot Watermelon on October 4th, 2010 8:56 am

    […] parties! What about the cake?! You’ll love the instructions and photos for this DIY Watermelon Birthday Cake by Kay at Kitchen Scrapbook: Her watermelon cake secret? White cake mix, Jell-o, icing, […]

  14. Bella on June 25th, 2011 7:32 am

    Looks cute. Took this idea and made it into a red, white and blue cake with blueberries and strawberries on top to resemble the flag of the United States of America. Nice looking and good; changed to white cake with almond flavoring and a strawberry (thinly sliced) center.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Posted on June 9, 2009
Filed Under Pies

I’ve been making this pie since before I started this cooking blog. Every time I’d make it, I’d toy with the idea of featuring it. But I never did… here’s why: I don’t have meringue down to a science yet. Sometimes it turns out, sometimes it doesn’t. I was planning to have this detailed ‘How to Make the Perfect Meringue’ tutorial when I feature it. But, instead of waiting until I’m a meringue expert, I decided to feature it now and get tips from you for making the perfect meringue. ???? So, I made this lemon pie this past weekend and the meringue happened to turn out well… which was kinda handy because it’s not as much fun to feature flops!

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I think this pie has just the right amount of lemon flavor, just the right amount of yellow color, and just the right amount of meringue. It’s adapted from the A Taste of the Country cookbook. In there, it’s called ‘World’s Best Lemon Pie’. And so far, in my opinion, it’s held true to its name. When I say it’s adapted from there, I mean that I follow the recipe, but made a few little changes:
1. Deleting the 1 tsp. of grated lemon peel
2. Insisting on fresh-squeezed lemon juice as opposed to any lemon juice
3. Adding a 4th egg white to the meringue to make a higher pile of it
4. Adding 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar to the meringue
I’ll post the recipe how I make it…

Lemon Meringue pie

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 Tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups water
3 egg yolks, beaten
1 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 9″ baked pie crust (for a pie crust tutorial, go here)

Meringue:
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar

In a saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, flour, and salt. Gradually stir in water. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat; cook and stir 2 minutes more.
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Remove from the heat.
Gradually stir 1 cup into egg yolks.
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Return all to saucepan.
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Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in the butter and lemon juice.
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Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form.
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Gradually add sugar and beat until stiffer peaks form and sugar is dissolved (if you rub a bit of meringue between your thumb and finger, it will feel smooth as opposed to gritty).
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Pour lemon filling into pie crust
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and immediately spread the meringue on, making sure to seal it to the edges of the crust. I start by taking a knife and sealing the edges, then pile and swirl the rest of the the meringue on.
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Bake at 375 for about 13 minutes. Cool.
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Store in refrigerator.

Tiffany (3) says she LOVES lemon pie… she eats the meringue off, then suddenly she’s ‘full and can’t eat the rest’. Hmmm, never thought meringue would be so filling. ???? I oughta make a meringue only pie for her sometime.

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Want a piece?

Comments

18 Responses to “Lemon Meringue Pie”

  1. Elsie on June 9th, 2009 10:51 am

    I recommend making the No Weep Meringue, it turns out nice everytime. 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 6 tablespoons white sugar, 3 egg whites.In a saucepan, cook cornstarch, sugar and a half cup of water until thick. Cool, then add unbeaten egg whites. Beat until satiny and in peaks, this can take 15 to 20 minutes. Spread on warm pie filling. Bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes or until brown.
    I don’t remember where I got this recipe, but it is the best in our minds!

  2. Berneice on June 9th, 2009 11:56 am

    Maybe Tiffany and I should share a piece of pie. I love the lemon but don’t care for the meringue. or maybe I should just stick with lemon fry pies!

  3. Sharon on June 9th, 2009 12:34 pm

    oh my! I want a piece! This is my favorite pie, and my recipe is pretty close to yours. I always leave out the lemon peel too, ’cause it makes it too strong. And I’m like you–sometimes the meringue turns out, sometimes it doesn’t. I’ll have to try Elsie’s recipe.

  4. Kay on June 9th, 2009 12:42 pm

    Elsie, thanks SO much for the No Weep Meringue recipe! I’m definitely going to try it next time! Sounds like a bit more work, but you had me at ‘turns out nice every time’ and ‘satiny’. :)

  5. Rosalyn on June 9th, 2009 2:33 pm

    Lemon pie is something that is not our favorite, but using a fresh squeezed lemon…now THAT sounds lovely! ????
    I might have to try this sometime I have a lemon on hand!

    The peanut butter pie was delicious!!! :)

  6. Rina on June 9th, 2009 2:49 pm

    This looks FANTASTIC!!!!!!! Bookmarking for sure.

  7. kri on June 9th, 2009 8:38 pm

    i make lemon mer. pies at the restaurant i work…they are my favorite kind to make..at first i had a hard time with the meringue…but now i love it! in fact i made 3 this morn! :)

  8. Elsie on June 10th, 2009 5:06 am

    Yes Kay, it is more work but it is well worth the extra time!

  9. sandra on June 10th, 2009 5:45 am

    I DREAMED of Lemon Meringue Pie last night! I was looking over your site before I went to bed. Looks very yummy. WIll have to try it.

  10. coleensr on June 10th, 2009 1:41 pm

    Lemon pie is one of our family’s favorites. As for the meringue. We love them to “weep”! The little drops of syrup on top are an added bonus!

  11. Bethany on June 10th, 2009 3:41 pm

    Oh that pie looks fabulous!!! I am going to have to make this very, very soon. Yours turned out absolutely beautiful!!

  12. Bobbi on June 10th, 2009 8:51 pm

    This is my favorite kind of pie. I’m going to try making this friday. Yum.

  13. Dorothy on June 14th, 2009 2:13 pm

    Hi Kay,
    I’m enjoying following your posts. I had to stop being a silent follower and tell you I was asked to make a Raisin Cream Pie for a customer and my thoughts went to the meringue. Then I thought of your lovely looking pie and said I’m going to look that up again and see how Kay did it. I thought the pie turned out lovely. Thansk for your timely post.

    PS we are enjoying the little Northwoods shed for our baking sales.

  14. Roxanna on June 14th, 2009 2:29 pm

    Okay. I can’t believe no one else asked about that pretty flower in picture? Did you do that and how? that is so cool! It looks like it is made from the lemon. Am I right? BTW, the pie looks wonderful too! ????

  15. Katrina on June 20th, 2009 1:29 pm

    That is a perfect looking lemon meringue pie! Love your first picture with the plating and flower.

  16. Rick Peterson on August 8th, 2009 3:01 pm

    Hi, everytime I make merengue I
    beat the eggwhites on high on my Kitchenaide until stiff peaks after adding 6 Tbsp. Sugar and 1/4 tsp. Cream of tarter with 3 egg whites. The merengue always falls once it cools. Should I increase the amount of cream of tarter?

  17. Kay on September 22nd, 2009 7:35 am

    Rick, try beating the egg whites and cream of tartar till soft peaks form, then very slowly add the sugar while it’s beating. After the sugar is added, let it beat another minute or so, and it should be perfect.

    Having said that, I’m not a meringue expert. ????

  18. Kay on September 22nd, 2009 7:41 am

    Roxanna, you asked about the rose. Yes, it’s made out of lemon peel… peel a lemon in one big long strip with a vegetable peeler. Then simply roll it up like you would roll up some leftover ribbon and tuck the end underneath and set it on the plate. Add some mint leaves or real rosebush leaves. I also put these roses on fruit trays for garnish, either among the fruit or in the corner on top of the dip.

What do you get when you mix snickerdoodles with sour cream cookies, but don’t have eggs?

Posted on June 5, 2009
Filed Under Cookies and bars

You get these cookies. Not bad, huh?

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Ok, time to dust off this site again. For those of you who have come back over the last 2 weeks to check if there’s anything new, do you sorta feel like you’re getting to know Trevor? :) And don’t you want one of his cookies?

We got a serious cookie craving awhile ago… Lexi said, “Mom, can we make cookies?” and I said “Sure!” and without another word, we both stopped what we were doing, headed for the kitchen and I went for the cookbooks and she pulled the flour out of the cupboard. That’s when you know it’s a serious cookie craving. If it wouldn’t have been, we would’ve just acted like that would be a good idea and say how we’d “sure like some cookies” and “maybe this evening we could make some” and then just went on with what we were doing.

The first problem was that we had no chocolate chips. The second problem was more serious… no eggs. There are LOTS of cookie recipes with no choc chips, but very few with no eggs. I thought of making Mary’s Cream Cheese Cookies. (The reason I thought of making those is because this exact thing had happened and after searching cookbook after cookbook, I had fiiiiiiiiiiiiinally found one without eggs.) I’ll bet you anything when Shannon reads this, he’ll wonder why I didn’t Google ‘cookie recipe no eggs’ or something like that. His brother Wendell will probably wonder that too. Now that I think of it, I kinda wonder too.  

Anyway.

What ended up happening is that we have a brand new made-up recipe. Not usually what I have in mind when I say I’m gonna try a new recipe. I looked at the cream cheese cookie recipe this time and noticed there were no secret ingredients taking place of the eggs and I had sour cream in the fridge, so I combined and deleted some ingredients and changed a few amounts on a snickerdoodle and sour cream cookie recipe and here it is:

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup shortening
1 1/4 cups sour cream
4 cups flour
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream sugar and shortening. Add dry ingredients alternately with sour cream. Add vanilla. Roll into balls. Flatten a bit. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar. Lexi was in charge of putting on the cinnamon sugar and when she started loading it on, I almost said “Not so much!”, but just in time, I thought, ‘You know, that looks kinda good!’ And it was!
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Bake for 12 minutes at 375.
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Well, they look pretty normal, don’t they?
And they tasted great! Seriously! Sometime, I want to try them with chocolate chips and omit the cinnamon sugar. Or would cinnamon be good with chocolate chips?

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Look how soft they are. They’re nice and chewy, not crunchy.

Now I hope that I’m not out of eggs AND sour cream AND cream cheese when the next cookie craving hits. If so, we’ll have to settle for No Bake Cookies, which isn’t a bad choice. At all.

Ok, I’m off to Google ‘Why do cookie recipes have eggs in them?’ Or maybe I’ll Bing it. Just this week, I learned there’s such a thing as Bing.

Comments

9 Responses to “What do you get when you mix snickerdoodles with sour cream cookies, but don’t have eggs?”

  1. Arla on June 5th, 2009 3:54 pm

    I thought I was the only one who ran out of stuff you shouldn’t ever be out of, like eggs. The cookies sound really good, but I have exactly one person in our household that even remotely needs cookies. And of course, he could care less, which is so not fair. But we do make cookies. I have a bucket of them in the freezer and Lance is supposed to know that and get a cookie craving now and then and snitch when he wants one. The other reason I like to keep cookies in the freezer is for when little children come to our house and they look up at me trustingly and ask for a snack. Do I look a grandma that much? Keep it up, Kay. My drop down kept you near the top, because I kept checking in.

  2. Amy on June 6th, 2009 7:20 am

    Oh, I’ am so glad to know this! I have the occasional no-eggs-in-the-fridge thing going on too. They look wonderful! I think choc chips and cinnamon would go great together!

  3. Audrey on June 8th, 2009 8:48 am

    Well, what I would have done is gone to recipezaar.com and put in the ingredients that I had and the ones I didn’t have (eggs) and then it would have given me a list of recipes that I could make. But, sounds like maybe it turned out better for you this way anyhow! I like baking with my kids…Kendall is my little kitchen helper.

  4. Sharon on June 15th, 2009 9:51 am

    A Story:
    Faye is going to Sharon’s house.
    Faye reads Kay’s site.
    Faye thinks, Wow, no eggs, I could make some and even Sawyer could eat them.
    Faye makes cookies and takes them to Sharon’s house. (Faye is nice, you know)
    Everyone at Sharon’s house is just THRILLED (they don’t get cookies much), especially Sawyer.

    End of Story.

    Moral of Story: Kay’s a genius. Faye’s a thoughtful auntie. THANKS! :-)

  5. Sharon on June 15th, 2009 9:53 am

    oh I forgot…
    Yeah, next time try Google. You really can find cookie recipes without eggs. Some of them aren’t so good, but some of them really are.

  6. Katrina on June 20th, 2009 1:34 pm

    Okay, so all this and now I don’t know what Bing is! Off to google!
    But wait, those cookie look awesome. My husdbands favorite cookie is snickerdoodles. I’ll bet he’ll like these! Way to create and make do.

  7. Sharon on December 13th, 2009 10:19 am

    Cookies sound great. What happened to the cooking time and oven temp?

  8. lisa on January 15th, 2012 5:58 pm

    I just stumbled upon your cookies recipe and I must say these are fantastic. Thank you so much for posting this recipe — my husband and two boys absolutely love them!

  9. Liz on September 22nd, 2014 1:30 pm

    Even though this is an old post (I came looking for it because I only have one egg and thought you had posted about making cookies without eggs) I just have to say that cinnamon and chocolate chips go great together. One of my kids’ favorite cookie is sour cream cookies. I always put chocolate chips in them. Which an acquaintance of ours thinks that it just ruins them. But obviously chocolate experts such as us should know better. :) Thanks for the recipe.

Thomas the Tank Engine Birthday Cake

Posted on May 21, 2009
Filed Under Birthday cakes

I am planning to make a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake for Trevor this afternoon. Here he is:
trevor.jpg

He’s my friend Beth’s little boy and he’s turning a big whoppin’ 3 years old! The party is tomorrow.

I’ll be taking progress pictures and hopefully this pile of miscellaneous stuff will have turned into a Thomas the Tank Engine cake by this evening. :)

thomasthetankenginestuf.jpg (Hopefully, the upside-down Whoppers don’t bug any perfectionists out there… just noticed it now and I don’t feel like taking another picture.)

Next step is to bake the cake. Or cakes. I’m actually not sure if it’ll take one or two, so I’ll probably make 2 right away so I for sure have enough. I’m planning to make the engine, a caboose, and 4 cars in between.

I’ll be back after the cakes are baked and cooled…

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Back again, but not with cake yet. For anyone who thinks I have my act together here, I’ll admit a little tidbit that I could easily hide. And the only one who would’ve discovered it is Beth, after they’ve eaten the last of the cake and she’s throwing away the thing it was on.

I was about to start and then thought, “Oh! What am I gonna put this train on?!” Usually, I buy those little cake board things or cover my cutting board with something, but a train requires something strong and long. So, I wandered thro’ my house looking for something. In the storage room, I saw a sturdy Dewalt cardboard box. So I cut it up till I had 6 rectangles, stacked them in 2 stacks of 3, and covered them with aluminum foil. Sounds crazy, I know. But the result is a sturdy cake board that’s the right size (but doesn’t all fit on my 4′ dining table!)…

cardboard1.jpg

cardboard2.jpg

cardboard3.jpg

By the way, those pieces of cardboard on there are just for an idea of how the train will fit on. Who knows what it’ll actually end up looking like or what size the cars will be, but that’s just something to go by. I’m going to leave the cake board in 2 pieces for easier moving around and transporting to the party. Ideally, when they’re pushed up against each other, it won’t be too noticeable where the crack is.

You know, I was just thinking… I don’t think I’ve EVER used the word Dewalt before in a birthday cake post! Or in a cooking post of any sort.

Now, I’m gonna go make some frosting…

Here is the frosting recipe that I always use:

Wilton Buttercream Icing

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
2 Tbsp. milk

In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

For thin (spreading) consistency icing, add 2 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk. I do this step for the frosting I use to frost the cake. Then for decorating, I either save some frosting out before adding these 2 extra Tbsp. of milk or add some powdered sugar.

thomas-frosting.jpg

After a bit of stacking cake and carving, meet Thomas:
thomas1.jpg

thomas2.jpg

thomas3.jpg

thomas4.jpg

thomas6.jpg

thomas5.jpg

Thomas the Tank Engine is done. I don’t like the face. I messed around with it for quite awhile, trying to texture it (as in 3D), but just couldn’t get it to look right, so I just made it flat and piped a face on.

thomas7.jpg

thomas8.jpg

Thomas, coal car, circus car…

I’ll post the rest in the morning.

Good morning! :)

thomas9.jpg

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Thomas the Tank Engine, coal car, circus car, tanker, boxcar, caboose.

thomas11.jpg

And now for some close-ups (you can see all the flaws better, but I’m fine with that)…

thomas-front.jpg

thomas-engine.jpg

thomas-coal.jpg

thomas-circus.jpg

thomas-tanker.jpg

thomas-boxcar.jpg

thomas-caboose1.jpg

You know that pile of misc stuff up there? Well, some of that was a total guess of what I’d need. I didn’t use all the stuff, but I used some stuff that wasn’t on the pile. Like, speghetti, a carrot, and popsicle sticks. ????

Ah, what fun this was to make! Hope Trevor likes it! Happy birthday, Trevor!

thomas12.jpg

Comments

36 Responses to “Thomas the Tank Engine Birthday Cake”

  1. Beth on May 21st, 2009 11:34 am

    What can I say? You do stuff the right way! I never dreamed it would take all that to make a Thomas train. I’ll definitely keep checking for updates. :)

  2. Freida on May 21st, 2009 11:41 am

    THIS will be interesting!! :-)

  3. Rosalyn on May 21st, 2009 12:05 pm

    wow! :) lots of interesting ingredients!! :) can’t wait to see your progress! ????

  4. Ruthie on May 21st, 2009 12:39 pm

    This should be exciting! I will be checking back to see how it is going for you! =)

  5. Shannon H on May 21st, 2009 1:59 pm

    Just checking in on Thomas. :)

  6. Cheryl on May 21st, 2009 3:53 pm

    Oh Kay…I admire you….cheers for you and Thomas.

  7. Monica on May 21st, 2009 5:45 pm

    Oh, this is so neat!! Can’t wait to him when he’s all done!! :)

  8. Beth on May 21st, 2009 7:22 pm

    It looks great…Trevor is going to be so impressed!

  9. Beth on May 21st, 2009 7:26 pm

    His exact response was, “yum, yum. That’s my Thomas cake. yum, yum.” Now he’s getting mad cuz he can’t see it anymore. :)

  10. Arla on May 21st, 2009 8:09 pm

    Wow! Kay, what a lot of time and work AND talent. I’m going to send this link to Gillian Lattin. She loves to see cakes in the making.

  11. Cheryl on May 21st, 2009 8:39 pm

    Wow….and backwards…Wow. Good going.

  12. Kay on May 22nd, 2009 6:49 am

    Great! We’ve got some positive feedback from Trevor! ????

  13. Berneice on May 22nd, 2009 1:20 pm

    I can only dream of doing something like this. I just keep wowing! :p

  14. Bobbi on May 22nd, 2009 1:47 pm

    That looks great!!! He will be one happy little boy. :)

  15. Monica on May 22nd, 2009 2:57 pm

    So very nice!! Did you come up with this idea on your own or did you have something to go by? So creative…….:)

  16. Liz on May 22nd, 2009 6:17 pm

    Wow, I am way behind the times. I am just now seeing this. Looks good. Did you have a picture to go off? wonder how long it will be till i’ll have to do a thomas one for my little guy. Maybe it’ll have to be sometime when you are around.=)ha!

  17. Kay on May 22nd, 2009 8:19 pm

    I printed a couple pictures off of a Thomas website. We are probably one of the only households in America that doesn’t have anything Thomas! No toys or books. :rolleyes: So, I just went off of those pictures to do the cake. I couldn’t find any with the back of the engine on it, so I just kinda made it however. The cars were just kinda whatever too. I think I should’ve had a passenger car because I think that’s what Thomas is mostly pulling. But, oh well, I didn’t catch onto that little tidbit in time. Now Lexi and Tiffany are all into Thomas. :)

  18. Katrina on May 26th, 2009 8:20 am

    Great job. What a lot of work! I used to make cute theme cakes, but when my kids don’t eat it and end up throwing away a lot of cake, it makes it annoying to do all that work. Awesome cake!

  19. Shannon H on May 26th, 2009 8:08 pm

    Wow wow wow. You did a splendid job. I think you could start a business.

    All at once tonight I rememebered that I hadn’t checked on Thomas again. My poor girls are looking wide eyed and saying, “Mom, could you make….” and I shut them off before they even asked. ???? No, I can’t! We’ll just call Kay! :)

  20. Shannon H on May 26th, 2009 8:10 pm

    Ok they say if that’s the case, we don’t want Thomas, we want a girly princess one. ????

  21. Anneta B on June 1st, 2009 8:28 pm

    Wow! What a lucky birthday boy to have a friend who would use her creativity to bake such a cake! I am sure it will one of the highlights of his childhood. Congratulations on a job well done! I hope you or his mother took tons of photos to memorialize this fantastic gift. You know he will be increasingly proud that someone cared this much.

  22. Mariann on June 1st, 2009 9:57 pm

    Kay, you are amazing!! That is one adorable Thomas cake.:)

  23. renita on June 3rd, 2009 8:33 pm

    Ok, I don’t think I’ll let my boys see this one. But on the other hand, maybe you just got a job for the next birthday. What an awesome talent you’ve got! I’m glad you live close to me!

  24. Judi on June 4th, 2009 12:34 pm

    I’m sure Trevor absolutely loved it!! You did a great job and your hard work really show.

  25. Kim on June 7th, 2009 6:41 pm

    What a Thomas cake! Jared had one for his bday, too, but I did mine the easy way…I put on a Thomas train toy and made the track with pretzels. I thought it looked pretty nice… till I saw yours. I won’t let Jared see the one you made, then I should be safe. =)
    I never know how much to write here that’s not cooking-related.
    Any chance you’ll be at the Midwest mtgs this summer? If not, we’d like to see you somehow. It’s been awhile….

  26. Suzanne on June 9th, 2009 12:19 pm

    I decorate cakes too and just have a question after I saw yours. How do you get such true colors of blue, red and black. I have such a problem with that and can’t figure it out. Could you please give me some tips because I can’t keep decorating cakes forever without using those colors. Thank you so much

  27. Kay on June 9th, 2009 12:33 pm

    Suzanne, I use Wilton concentrated paste icing colors. It comes in little cans about 1 1/2″ tall (there are actually some sitting around in a couple of the pictures above) and can be found in the cake decorating section at Walmart, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, etc. Also, I buy the actual colors I’m going to be using (for example, I don’t mix blue and yellow to make green, I buy green paste). I used to use food coloring (the liquid stuff) and since I discovered the paste, I’ll never go back to food coloring for cake decorating! If you use this paste and still aren’t getting the true colors, then add more… even tho’ it’s really concentrated, it’s amazing how much you have to use sometimes! Happy cake decorating! It’s fun, isn’t it?! :)

  28. Lisl Lattin on June 13th, 2009 6:52 am

    The cake is truly a work of art, Kay. I only have one question–and I suppose if I were a maker of cakes I would know the answer. But I’m not. How did you transport Thomas, and all his cars, from the surface you decorated him on, to the train track? I can just imagine the dreadful things that would happen if I were to try to figure out how to scrape him gracefully from one location onto another. Help! This shall boggle my mind until I know the answer!

  29. Kay on June 13th, 2009 11:31 am

    Ha, Lisl. You’re very perceptive. The maneuver you mentioned was VERY nerve-wracking!

    When it was time to move Thomas over, I just stared at it for awhile, not wanting to do it, and wondering what would work the best. I have a huge knife (with Chinese writing on it) that has a 4″x8″ blade. I sprayed it with cooking spray for easier sliding. That worked great by itself for the cars, but for Thomas, I had someone help me and used the knife on one end and a pancake turner on the other end.

    When we were putting Thomas over, I got a bad case of the giggles, which zapped me of my steadiness and strength. :rolleyes: Have you ever done that at in-opportune times? I was thinking, “I can’t laugh!” and that made me laugh all the more! Sigh. But miraculously, it made it on there and I only had to do minimal touch-up around the bottom edges. :)

  30. Rebecca on July 7th, 2009 4:46 pm

    Now that is a birthday cake!

  31. Larna on June 23rd, 2010 5:00 pm

    Hi, I found your blog and was inspired to try this for my son’s 3rd bday despite not being a baker! Yikes! I have one question, though, which is can I leave the frosted cake in the fridge uncovered overnight? I have to frost the cake the day before due to time constraints, and the cake is going to be too big to cover, but I am worried about the frosting drying out in the fridge overnight? Any thoughts? Thanks! Your cake is awesome!

  32. Kay on July 20th, 2010 10:47 am

    Larna, I’ve put cakes in the fridge overnight and the frosting stayed just fine!

    If you’re using fondant though, I wouldn’t put it in the fridge… I made an ice cream cake base with fondant-covered cakes on top and so it had to go in the freezer. That does NOT work!

    Regular frosting should be fine, though.

  33. Thomas the Train Table on September 9th, 2010 9:08 pm

    That is a awesome Thomas birthday cake! Great job! I am sure Trevor absolutely loved it!

  34. Shane on February 5th, 2011 9:11 am

    That is simply amazing. My son Chase loves Thomas. We are having a Thomas themed second birthday for him today. I was going to just draw the front of him on a cake. Not anymore! I have six hours to do what you did. I better get started. Thank you so much for giving me a great idea and for making my sons birthday that much better. Great job!

  35. Sara on August 31st, 2011 2:27 pm

    How creative! I made a train cake similar to this for my daughter 3 years ago, but I love how you did your track and rocks! Now my son is turning 3 and wants Thomas also. I was just going to do the tank engine, but I am inspired now to do all the cars that go with it, complete with a caboose! Great job!

  36. Helen on October 1st, 2011 8:06 pm

    That cake is AWESOME! My daughter asked me to make a Thomas cake for her son’s 2nd birthday so I was looking for ideas – yours are great!
    One question where did you use the spaghetti, carrot and popsicle sticks. Must be well hidden, can’t see it anywhere but I’m wondering if that is how you held pieces together. Please let me know. Thanks so much

Jam Bars

Posted on May 13, 2009
Filed Under Cookies and bars

Usually when I’m flipping thro’ a cookbook and a recipe JUMPS out and grabs me, it’s a recipe with chocolate chunks or melted milk chocolate in it. This time, it wasn’t though. I think what grabbed me about these bars was the cream cheese. And the fact that when there’s a brown sugar/oatmeal/butter mixture, it’s always good… like these Peanut Butter Dream Bars, for example.

This recipe comes from the Tasteful Delights cookbook. The committee behind this cookbook includes a couple of my friends, Michelle and Monica. Good recipes in there! Sometime, I want to try the stuffed mushrooms, bacon cheese chicken, frozen mocha dessert, and a bunch of others. But for now, we’ve got some scrumptious jam bars…

jam-bars8.jpg

Jam Bars

Printable recipe

2 cups rolled oats (I used quick oats)
1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Desired amount of cream cheese filling
Any flavor jam

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
jam-bars1.jpg

jam-bars2.jpg

Reserve 2 cups crumbs and press the rest in a 9×13 pan and bake for 10 minutes.
jam-bars3.jpg

Spread cream cheese evenly over crust, then jam over cream cheese.
jam-bars4.jpg I used about 1 cup of cream cheese filling.

jam-bars5.jpg I used about 1/2 cup of jam. Next time, I’d use more like 1/4 cup of jam. It was a little too sweet and the strawberry flavor over-powered the cream cheese flavor, I thought. And that’s not good when fruit over-powers cream cheese! ????

Sprinkle crumbs over jam.
jam-bars6.jpg

Bake until crumbs are golden. After 17 minutes, it looked like this, so I got it out of the oven… looks great to me!
jam-bars7.jpg

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These didn’t last long around here! They’re pretty easy too. They oughta cool before cutting and eating though. They didn’t hold their shape very well while still warm. They are THE best out of the fridge. I don’t think they’d need to be stored in the fridge, but they were extra good when they were chilled. By the way, I made only a half batch (and used an 8×8 pan) because I didn’t have enough of one of the ingredients and I wanted to make them NOW.

About the cream cheese filling, I buy it in tubes at a local bulk foods store, but if you don’t have access to it or would rather make your own, here’s a wonderful cream cheese filling recipe:
8 oz softened cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Beat till smooth.

Comments

12 Responses to “Jam Bars”

  1. amy stauffer on May 14th, 2009 5:07 am

    I love “regular” jam bars, but with a layer of cream cheese filling… they have got to be 10 times better!!! yummy! and just what I DONT need!

  2. liz on May 14th, 2009 3:40 pm

    These look good. I’ll have to try them sometime. Think I would have to make the cream cheese filling though. Good to see another update.;)

  3. liz on May 14th, 2009 8:28 pm

    Does the cream cheese filling have to be baked if it has an egg in it? I know in this recipe it is.

  4. Kay on May 15th, 2009 7:52 am

    Liz, cream cheese filling is something I’ve always wondered about and never really found answers for… Does stuff with cream cheese filling need to be baked? and Does it need to be refrigerated afterwards?

    So, here’s what I do: When I make something with cream cheese filling that doesn’t get baked (like filling in a jelly roll), I always use the stuff from the tube. If it gets baked and I don’t have the a tube of filling on hand, I make some filling w that recipe up there. And I usually refrigerate the baked bars/rolls/danish overnight instead of letting them sit out. I also refrigerate cakes with cream cheese frosting.

    If anyone has answers, please tell us! :)

  5. Wendell Martin on May 15th, 2009 9:43 am

    For your Cream Cheese question try this.
    http://tinyurl.com/q9zjeq

  6. Kay on May 15th, 2009 9:58 am

    Wow, Wendell! That’s cool! Now, I don’t care as much about the cream cheese… my question now is HOW did you do that?! You know, making it type itself and the mouse moving and clicking. Maybe I should Google the answer to that question too. ????

  7. Twila on May 16th, 2009 3:18 pm

    I bought that cookbook and gave it to my daughter for Christmas, but first I copied some recipes from it!. And btw, Michelle and Monica are my nieces.

  8. Wendell Martin on May 18th, 2009 7:27 am

    Kay, If you go to this address http://lmgtfy.com/ you can type in any search. It is really good for dumb questions. Like if someone would ask you how to get to Kitchen Scrapbook or how high you rank on the search engines (#1 by the way) you could give them this http://tinyurl.com/qk457a

  9. Barb on May 18th, 2009 12:58 pm

    i made your Jam Bars for our church ladies night and they are awesome,keep the recipes coming!!!

  10. Katrina on May 19th, 2009 12:20 pm

    Looks de-lish!

  11. Bobbi on May 20th, 2009 6:49 pm

    Yum!!! I just made 12 jars of strawberry jam I may have to make these tomorrow. Thanks.

    Bobbi

  12. Traci on June 2nd, 2009 9:35 pm

    Kay, thanks for stopping by my blog. Did you change servers or something…there are so many posts on here that I’ve missed….I re-added you to my list just in case.

    The spoons are screwed on….it isn’t what I really wanted it to look like…I wanted the screws to be smooth and not have the tale tale phillips screwdriver thing on it…tee hee.
    I added a nut behine the spoons to make them stand out a bit. I was going to use forks, but was afraid they would hang on clothing and rip stuff. I do have two forks above my microwave…would be hard to snag there.
    My spoons do not match either…some even have a story behind them. We drilled holes in the spoons first…then put them up to the doors and matched them up as best we could and put a mark on the doors for the screws. I hope this is making sense….we used long screws and had to saw them off after getting the spoons attached.
    Good luck!!!