I Love Wassail!

I am loving this Wassail recipe this season. Try it out:

12 c. Apple Juice
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp. Ground Cloves
1/4 tsp Ground Allspice
3 Cinnamon Sticks
1 Orange Studded with Cloves (this means buy whole cloves and stick 15-30 of them in an orange)

Put in a crock pot on low for 2-3 hours. (I can never wait the 2-3 hours so I just simmer it on the stove top).

It makes your house smell so yummy and tastes yummy too!

Thanksgiving Treats

In looking for cute Christmas treats, my sister came across these darling Thanksgiving treats.

They are originally from the Family Fun Magazine.

Christmas Treats

Here are some cute treat ideas for Christmas goodie plates.  The first is a Rudolph cookie from Jill's Recipes:

 The second is from Jill's Recipes too.  These are little Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites:

I love these little oreo truffles.  This recipe is all over out there.  It is so yummy!  I did white chocolate and red accents:

Last for this post is the Pretzle Hugs that I believe I posted before.  I made them w/ Rolos and regular M&M's (one per pretzle):

I just found another one:
This is yummy Peppermint Bark popcorn. 

Enjoy!

I Heart Bakerella!

I Love this woman! I also LOVE Fall and all the pumpkin foods that come along with it. These little pumpkin pies are so cute! I can't wait to have an event to make them for.

Fabulous Asian Pasta Spinach Salad

I got this recipe from my friend Kris. It is so yummy! I took it to a picnic today and everyone was raving about it!

Asian Pasta Spinach Salad
Dressing:
1 c. Olive Oil
2/3 c. teriyaki
2/3 c. white wine vinegar
6 Tbls. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper

Cook 1 box of Bow Tie pasta according to directions on box. Marinade 1 box of cooked pasta in 1/2 dressing overnight.

Other items in salad to trhow together right before serving:
10 oz. baby spinach
2 (15oz) cans mandarin oranges
1 (6 oz) bag crasins
1 cup candied almonds (see below) or 3.75 oz honey sliced almonds
1/2 cup cilantro
2-3 diced green onions
2-3 cups diced grilled chicken
and whatever else floats your boat.

Candied Almonds:
1 c. sliced or slivered almonds
1/2 c. sugar
2 Tbls. butter

Heat almonds, sugar and butter in skillet over medium heat. Stir constantly until almonds ae toasted and sugar is golden brown. (about 10 minutes) Spread on greased sheet of foil or wax paper. Cool and break into clusters.

Summer Tips

More great ideas from Parent Hacks. This time it is Summer Tips:

While my search-and-browse system isn't the best (for now! for now!), you can find lots of great hacks to keep your summer going smoothly. Here are a few to get you started. And don't forget the piles of family travel tips in the Travel/Going Out archive, including our series of family camping tips.

Instant s'mores

Clean summer toenails with a toothbrush

Tape combination to padlock so it won't be forgotten over the summer

Fill baby's high chair tray with water for warm weather splashing

Coffee sleeve makes frozen drinks easier to handle

Washing the water table is almost as fun as playing with it

Bath toys gain new life as pool toys

Old-fashioned ice crusher makes a perfect hot weather distraction

Frozen yogurt tubes stand in for ice cream treats

Baby food stains come clean in a sunbath

Put toddler girls into boys' swim trunks for extra sun and knee protection

Turn the Pack n' Play into a shady hangout for baby

Talk amongst yourselves: favorite sunscreen? (This conversation could use some updating as sunscreens have changed so much in recent years -- click through and comment!)

Apply sunscreen to kids' faces with a makeup brush

Sunscreen as face paint

Nightlight on a timer tells early risers when it's morning wakeup time

Treats to keep the kids cool for Summer

Cute Picnic idea from Make and Takes:

Here’s some yummy treats to help keep the kids cool this Summer, as it’s already a HOT one. I think even you’ll be tasting these cold concoctions to stay cool too!

• Frozen Watermelon Pops by the Hungry Housewife (pictured above)
• Frozen Grape Pops by Make and Takes
• Strawberry Sorbet by Our Best Bites
• Oreo Pudding Pops by Gourmet Mom on the Go
• Ice Cream Pie by Make and Takes
• Mint Lemonade by Make and Takes
• Ice Cream in a Baggie by Make and Takes

If you’ve been making some yummy “cool down” sweets, share them in a comment below!

Father's Day Ideas

Little Birdie Secrets shares links for father's day gifts...maybe next year. I love the golf cup cakes.

Martha Stewart has these adorable cupcakes featured on her site right now. You can get the recipe here.

She also has these corn on the cob cupcakes. Don't these look so real (and adorable)?



Martha also has a whole section of recipes that are perfect for father's day. A lot of them are recipes for the grill. How perfect! I know my man loves a good meal straight from the grill. You can also find many Father's Day meal ideas at Food Network.

Another adorable sweet treat is from Kraft Foods (they always have great stuff). They have a recipe for a "Hole-in-One Cake". Although my husband likes golf, it's not one of his major hobbies, but I think I could easily adapt this cake to be a "fisherman's cake". Here is another great cake that would go perfectly with our shirt and tie card.

So, take a few of these meal and dessert ideas and run with it! Or, you can always just whip up his favorite of your homemade meals. How about breakfast in bed? You can't go wrong with that. I am sure the Father in your life would be happy with any of these ideas. Happy Father's Day!

Start-Studded Mini Pies

These are a cute idea you can use next year from Our Best Bites:

I had a total disaster while making something I had planned for today. You don't think Kate and I have disasters? Oh, we do. You're going to hear about mine around Christmas time (when I post the blue food that magically turned green when I cooked it against everything I tried to prevent it! ) So I realized I was going to have to scrap it and come up with something else and I was pounding my brain trying to think of something new and different. I started thinking about pie, but didn't want to make a pie because everyone makes pie. Then I thought about mini-pies, because miniature versions are always cool. Then I thought about a darling little sugar-coated cookie-ish topper that would make these things the coolest thing on the party table. Perfect. Adorable. Delicious. And pretty darn easy too since you can use store bought dough and canned pie filling. You can certainly substitute homemade filling, but I love the bright artificial color of the canned stuff :) Plus, it's easy. I like easy.

Star-Studded Mini Pies

Pie Crust Dough (or buy refrigerated ones in a pinch)
canned pie filling (something red and something blue)
2 T butter, melted
1/4 c granulated sugar

Preheat oven according to pie crust recipe.

Roll out your pie crust so it's about this thick:


Don't ask me how thick that is, I don't know. I have fat fingers if that helps you gauge it from the picture. If you're using a store-bought crust 1) Don't tell Kate, she'll TP your house in disgust. 2) Don't buy generic (especially Walmart brand) and 3) Roll it out about 2 inches larger than it comes and you should be about right.

Using a cookie cutter, or a cup with about a 3 1/2 inch diameter, cut out circles of dough.


Place each dough circle center in one of the mini-muffin tin wells. The edge should over-hang a little. Gently roll the edge down with your fingers and then crimp it so it looks pretty.


They really don't have to be perfect, I like that these little guys look rustic and homemade in the end.


Using a spoon, (I don't know what else you'd use...) fill each mini pie a little over half full with filling. Don't go crazy and fill them to the top. Catastrophic things happen. More on that to come.



Next you'll need your cute little stars. My star cutter is about 2" across and it was the perfect size. If you can't find a cookie cutter you could always print out a stencil and cut the stars with a knife. You'd have to want these pretty bad though to go through that effort. Look through your kid's playdough bin. That's where I found mine!


Now the fun part. Dip your stars (both sides) in butter and then dredge in the sugar. Make sure to lick your fingers after the sugar starts piling up and making buttery sugar globs on your hands. Curse because you just finished working out and canceled it out with one lick. Wash hands and repeat.

Place a star on top of each little pie. It's okay if it sinks down, it will puff up when it bakes.


Pop them in the oven and bake 15-20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Remember when I told you not to fill them too full? This is what happens. Just so you know.


I filled the next batch only about 1/2-3/4 full and they still spilled over a bit, but I thought it was a perfect amount. I love how they spill out and look a little messy. It makes me want to just gobble them all up. And I love how festive they look with the red and blue.


You can serve them warm or at room temp. And they can definitely be made hours ahead of time.


darling, right?


2 pie crusts should be plenty to do 24 mini-pies. Depending on the recipe or brand of crust you use, you may be able to get closer to 30.

You'll definitely have left-over pie filling- make these if you need more treats (and really now, who doesn't need more treats?)

And if you're not into berries, try one of these ideas:
gooey cookie filling
quiche filling for breakfast or brunch
use shredded apples in this apple pie filling
Bake the shells and stars separately and fill with Kate's banana cream pie filling

Happy 4th of July Bakerella Style!

I loved this post from Bakerella. I am proud to be an American! My husband became a US citizen this year. It is his first 4th of July as an American citizen. Thank you to all of you men and women who are fighting, and have fought, for our freedom!
And now for Bakerella's thoughts:


Freedom, independence & a marine named Carlos. Last week I was trying to decide what kind of Fourth of July sweets to make or if I was even going to make anything at all. Then I received an email from a reader's boyfriend and I knew I wanted to… had to… do something for the holiday.

Here's his letter. And by the way, I couldn't make anything sweeter than this.

Hi there Bakerella!

My name is Carlos and I'm a United States Marine, and have been one since 1998. If you wouldn't mind just giving my e-mail some thought, I'd be grateful. Here's the story:

My girlfriend just went away to Marine Corps bootcamp not yet a month ago. She LOVES to bake, but unfortunately didn't get much time to do so because her job took up most of her free time, so she lived vicariously through you. She's a fan of photography also, so your blog was a welcome reprieve from a long, hard day at the office. As you may or may not know, bootcamp for Marines is 13 weeks long; the only contact with the outside world is through snail mail. I miss my girlfriend immensely and while I know she's doing something for her country that she's always wanted to do, it's hard on me. I digress, she loves your blog. I know the 4th of July is coming up and I ask you this not only for her, but also for the men and women in the Armed Forces who really know and FEEL the meaning behind this holiday. I think it would be very patriotic and meaningful to bake and decorate something in the spirit of the military, not just flags and sparklers like everyone else is doing - but something to show people that our military needs support and we need to remember them while we're lighting off fireworks at the family BBQ. You know?

Now, I'm asking this because I think it would touch a special place in some of your reader's hearts. I'm willing to bet you have quite a following amongst military wives and/or girlfriends. How nice would it be to show your support? I've served 3 tours in Iraq and am due to go to Afghanistan for a year in the next few months. I won't get to see my girlfriend graduate from bootcamp in September, I won't get to see her looking sharp in her uniform, I won't get to see the pride on her face as finally, at 28 years old, she joins the ranks of The Few, The Proud... so this would be my chance to show her I thought of her. This is your chance to show you think of our military, as many others should be doing. Maybe it'll get people to look for ways to support us with baked goods? During the colder months overseas, my girlfriend would bake cookies and anything else she could that would hold up to the travel and heat, and send on enough for my whole platoon. A taste of home, a taste of love... opening up a box with the smells of back home was something you just can't explain. It was magical. My girlfriend didn't stop there though, she adopted Marines, Soldiers and Airman through Anysoldier.com and sent them care packages and notes of encouragement.

I realize I'm all over the place here, but trying to get my point across is difficult without writing you a novel. I think you get the gist. 4th of July is about more and I'd love to write my girlfriend a letter and say, 'Bakerella appreciates the Armed Forces, when you get back to the real world and have access to a computer... go see her 4th of July post.' Now, I don't know if you'll do this or not and it's fine either way. I just wanted to tell you a little story and hope that maybe a tiny blurb in your blog would entice your readers into caring just a tiny bit more and thinking just a bit deeper on our Independence Day.

I appreciate your time in reading this!

Carlos

What a sweetheart. When I read his letter, I immediately wanted to make and send something to surprise his girlfriend. I thought, how cute would it be for her to open a box of colorful cake pops! Then, Carlos informed me that they can't receive food during boot camp. I pictured her being forced to eat all the pops at one time and then made to run 10 miles or something. I don't think she'd like that too much. Picture it. Cute little cake pops. Marines. Lollipop sticks. Marines. Sprinkles. Marines. Not the best idea for her sake.
Now, I can't send her anything sweet, but I can send her these sweet simple words of appreciation.



It's not much, but I hope that if you do see this when your 13 weeks of boot camp are over, that it puts a smile on your face. And know that you and all members of the armed forces were thought of this July 4th.

Plus… that Carlos… he sounds like a keeper.

What about you? Is there someone on your mind… or in your heart… this holiday?

Hope you all have a happy, safe and sweet Fourth of July!

I Love July!

30 days has a fun patriotic list.


There are so many great 4th of July ideas out there. I decided to highlight the ones I haven't seen as much. Here are my favorites:

4th of July wreath by Pampering Beki

Joy's Hope's 4th of July outfit (LOVE)
Katherine Marie's red, white & blue post

Old fashioned 4th of July crafts from Create My Event

Kids 4th of July crafts from The Crafty Crow
How to photograph fireworks from Digital Photography School

4th of July dessert round up by Hostess with the Mostess

Flag etiquette from The Finer Things

And check out my 4th of July post from last year for more ideas.

Rainbow Cupcakes

This is such a cool idea. I first found it on creative itch
using red white and blue. SO CUTE! Then I went to the link she had to Our Best Bites and saw the rainbow ones. SO FUN!

Here is the photo from Creative Itch:

I'm excited to try this same idea for other holidays too. Think how cool they'd look using Christmas colors....and Valentine colors.....and pastels for Easter! Yummy!!

Info from Our Best Bites:
My Mom is a really creative woman. I didn't realize it until I grew up and became a mother myself. Now that I look back on the birthday parties she threw and the incredible cakes she created, I'm really amazed at the things she came up with back in the day when you couldn't run to Target or Walmart and basically buy a party in a bag. Halloween costumes were no exception. We never, ever had store-bought costumes growing up. My Mom was a great seamstress and her creativity had no boundaries. I look at old family pictures and I love how she took simple ideas and turned them into something fun. Take me for example, around age 5:




That my friends, is a rainbow. And I thought it was the coolest costume ever. [Insert joke here from my husband about how I'm being prepped for my first parade. You know, as in *parade*. Now ignore joke.] I was obsessed with this chick, and if you look at every picture I ever created out of any sort of art media between the ages of 3 and 9, it undoubtedly included 3 things: hearts, flowers, and rainbows. To this day, I [clearly as a heterosexual woman] still get a little bit giddy inside when I see all of those colors together. Something about rainbows just makes me happy.

If you read the CafeMom feature from last week, I noted that my youngest son just turned one. For my first son's birthday I made an adorable cake with matching mini-cake and matching cupcakes with matching favors and decorations for the hordes of people I invited to his first party. In keeping with second-child-syndrome fashion, my second son's first birthday rolled around and all that I had collected was this:


Not much. But see the colors? I told you I love that stuff. The bright combo just made me happy and they looked as bright and happy as my bubbling little boy, so I decided to just use that as a theme. Like, uh..balloons. Ya, it's a colorful rainbow balloon theme. Or at least that's what the scrapbook pages will indicate when he's old enough to wonder why no one was at his party and it had no theme. I really wasn't in the mood to make a big fancy cake (since no one was even coming to this party... ya, I'll erase this comment when he's old enough to read), so I decided to do cupcakes and make it easy. A few months ago, I spotted a great rainbow layer cake on a food blog I love, Omnomicon, and decided that I'd make a fun cupcake version of my own. Using a doctored cake mix made it even easier.

(I would like to make a special note to my friend Britanie that I am in fact using a cake mix. See? I'm not a total snob :)


You'll want gel food colors for this, not the little bottles of liquid. Gel color adds a ton of color with a small amount of dye. You can find gel colors at craft stores like Michaels and Roberts, and in the cake decorating isle of Walmart. If using red, make sure to get the one that says "No Taste"


Colorburst Cupcakes

1 white cake mix
2 eggs
1 C sour cream
1/2 C milk
1/3 C vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients until incorporated (about 30 seconds). Scrape sides of bowl and then beat on med-high speed for 3 minutes.

Divide batter according to how many colors you are using. I used 5 colors and it worked out to a little over 1 cup for each color.

Use food coloring to color batter to desired intensity. I used a 1/4 t and they were very bright! You could easily make pastel rainbows using a little less.


To get a layered stripe like I used, you'll want to put a spoonful of each color in the cupcake one at a time. The batter is thick, so it won't spread on it's own. A great tip is to set out a little bowl of water where you're working. Dip your finger in the water and then gently spread the batter out. The water will make it so the batter doesn't stick to your fingers.

Another tip is to use a measuring spoon and some water to measure out how many teaspoons/tablespoons are going to fit in your cupcake. Then divide that by how many colors you have so you know how much of each color to use for each cupcake. For my 5 colors, it worked out perfectly with 2 t of each color in each cupcake. So I put in 2 t of blue in the bottom of each cupcake and spread it out with my finger. Then I put in 2 t of green on top of that, then yellow, etc.

Bake them according to the package directions, until a toothpick comes out dry. Check these babies out! I swear I didn't photoshop these. True crazy colors. I love how you can see the rainbow through the papers. If you want blue on top, just reverse the order (duh, right?)



I topped mine with this frosting. A double batch made enough to put crazy high tops like this on all 24 cupcakes.



Pop on another cupcake liner for presentation if you want...




And when you open that little cutie up...WOW! Check this coolness out:


What's fun is that the insides are all different just depending on how they bake. Biting into these is the best part!




Check this one out- for the last couple when I was tired of the whole layering thing, I just spooned batter in randomly all over to make it spotty. It baked up with love on top. Ahhh... that's for all you guys. I heart our readers :)


Now your turn to show some love and bake up some of these. If you're a sports fan, these would be really cool with team colors. How about black, green and brown for a boys camo party? Or holiday color combos are endless.... Have fun!