Taco Cake

 In our family, we've recently been talking about palindromes like Tacocat (and Madam, I'm Adam).  This Taco Cake isn't a palindrome, but it was a fun dessert we made for Cinco de Mayo.  While my girls continue to tease me that my favorite food is chicken, it's actually tacos . . . and taco cake!  I pinned this on Pinterest a long time ago and it's actually one of the rare times that our version met and exceeded our Pinterest expectations (#nailedit!).

It's more of a method than a recipe . . . make a cake flavor of your choosing in one cake pan (we used a boxed yellow cake recipe).  Take a white frosting (we used a canned frosting) and dye it a pale yellow (a couple drops of yellow food coloring).  Cut the cake in half, stand it on the sliced ends and put a generous layer of frosting in the middle to stick it together.  Frost the outside of the whole cake with the pale yellow frosting.  

 

Make the taco fillings.  We used crushed Oreos for the ground beef, red m&ms for the tomatoes, coconut dyed green for the lettuce, and sliced orange jelly candies for the cheese.  We sprinkled it over the middle of the taco cake and were so happy with how realistic it looked!

Halloween 2017

I've posted family Halloween photos on here every year and it's a fun place to come back and look at what the girls were into in years past.  I keep suggesting family themed costumes for the 3 of them but they each want to be what they want to be.  I think the years of my choosing are far gone.

This year, we had Moana (a popular costume since I think the movie came out post-Halloween last year), a Corgi puppy (thank you etsy!) and Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy.  Between some Halloween parties (even a Moana themed one at Kids Court), school, and our trick or treating with friends, we got a lot of mileage out of our costumes! 

Thanksgiving 2016

Happy Thanksgiving!  This has been a year of changing plans.  We originally were going to Connecticut to be with cousins but decided that with my work schedule, it was going to be too short of a trip and wasn't going to work out.  Then, I was hopeful for a trip to Oregon to be with my sisters and parents but an opportunity came up related to a piece of property my husband bought, and the Oregon plan fell through too.  For the first time that I can remember, we'll be having Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant and with just our kids.  I'm thankful for my family, for our jobs and the opportunities our work affords us, for my kids' school and education, for friends, for a healthy body, and especially for Jesus Christ and the limitless grace that I have inherited through him.

Only kindergarten did a Thanksgiving Feast this year.  The teacher's do a "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" menu (chicken nuggets, deli turkey, mac & cheese, carrots, dip, jellybeans, popcorn) which I think is perfect if you want 6 year olds to actually eat!  One of the fun ideas was this pinterest inspired Thanksgiving "turkey" that was "carved" to reveal popcorn.

 Even though I'm not eating a traditional Thanksgiving, I'm thinking of surprising my husband with his favorite - a homemade apple pie.   Here's a good recipe that I've had lots of luck with.  You can make your own homemade pie crust or buy a refrigerated one (I won't judge).  I like this Cook's Illustrated version.

Apple Pie (makes 1 pie)
from Simply Recipes

Your favorite pie crust

3 pounds of good cooking apples (I used Fuji)
1 T lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
3 T flour
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 T brandy (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg yolk
1 T cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Peel, core and slice the apples.  As you cut your apples, add them to a large bowl with the lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to prevent browning.

Combine the sugar, flour, and spices in another bowl.  Add the flour mixture to the apple slices and mix so that the flour is evenly distributed and slices are well coated.  Then, sprinkle with brandy and vanilla and stir to coat all of the apple slices.

Let the apples sit while you line your 9 inch pie pan with the bottom crust.  Arrange the apple slices on top of the bottom crust and mound them in the center.

Place your top crust over the apples, trim the edges and crimp the edges together with the bottom crust.  In a small bowl, use a fork or whisk to combine the egg yolk and cream.  Use a pastry brush to brush the egg wash over the top and edges of the pie.  Cut slits in the top crust for steam vents.

Place pie in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the crust starts to lightly brown.  Then, reduce the heat to 350 and bake until the crust is golden and you can see the juice bubbling through the steam vents.  This will take about 40-60 more minutes.  Check it halfway through baking and if it's getting too brown, place a piece of aluminum foil just lightly over the whole thing (Just set it on top - it doesn't need to only cover the edges).

Transfer to a rack to cool for about an hour before serving.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  I love Valentine's Day - what better than a day about telling people that you love them?  My girls share my love and this week made Valentines for our neighbors, for far away cousins, and friends who don't go to their school.  We also made 45 classroom valentines to pass out tomorrow.

Here are some photos of making this year's valentines (I bought the brown cutouts from Amazon) and the super cute Olaf ones we made last year:

If you want to make something for someone's birthday (like mine on Saturday - hint, hint) or Valentine's Day, here's a tried and true yellow cake and chocolate buttercream combination.  I think I've written before about how much I love my 5 layer mini cake pan set.  It makes these cute cakes that are just the right size for about 4 adults and some kids to share.  You can do all sorts of things with the layers like make this rainbow cake.  The recipe below has baking times and proportions for cupcakes but you can adjust it to the pan size that you prefer.

Yellow Cake (makes 16-18 cupcakes or one cake layer)
from Sally's Baking addiction

2 large eggs, room temperature and separated
2 1/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk, room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat 2 egg whites on high speed in a medium bowl until soft peaks form, about 2-3 minutes.  You want them fluffy without liquid at the bottom of the bowl.  Set aside.

In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Using a mixer, beat the butter on high speech until smooth and creamy - about 1 minute.  Add the sugar and beat on high for 3-4 minutes or until creamed together well.  Scrape down the bowl as needed.  Add 2 egg yolks and vanilla.  Beat on medium-high speech until combined.  Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl.  With the mixer on low speech, alternate adding the dry ingredients and whole milk, about half of each at a time.  Mix until just incorporated (do not overmix).  Fold in whipped egg whites.  The batter will be smooth, velvety and slightly thick.

Chocolate buttercream frosting (enough for 1 doz cupcakes)

1 cup (8 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
2.5 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 oz semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Use the wire whisk attachment on your stand mixer and whip the butter on medium high speed for 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl once or twice.

Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the powdered sugar.  Once it's all incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and add the vanilla.  Add the melted chocolate and whip at medium high speech until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed.

Spoon into cupcake liners, filling halfway full.  Bake for 18-21 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas

In no particular order, some photos from the ghost of Thanksgivings past:

Now onto Thanksgiving future (aka next week):

Here are some of my picks for what you should make for Thanksgiving.  I'm making an apple pie, a pumpkin pie, and a pecan pie - probably the traditional recipes.  But, this sour cream apple pie and pumpkin gingerbread pie have never disappointed me.  We're not a big "appetizers on Thanksgiving" family but if you are, these two are always a big hit.  And, make a pitcher of sangria . . . because, why not?

Appetizers
Cranberry Jalapeno Salsa
Pumpkin Fondue

Pies
Pecan Pie
Sour Cream Apple Pie
Pumpkin Gingerbread Pie

Other Sweets
Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Salted Caramel Sauce
Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread
Pumpkin Ice Cream

Side Dishes
Country Bread Stuffing with Goat Cheese & Cranberries
Wild Rice Pilaf 
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Cranberry Chipotle Dressing 

Drink

Fall Sangria

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  This year St. Patrick's Day is the start of 6 months that I get to be home from work with the family . . . hoping this also means more time in the kitchen and playing with my little leprechauns.  On St. Patrick's Day, I always think about the fun trips I took to Ireland and Oregon oin years past (let's do it again Sarah & Paula!) and also my sister in law Sonia because it's her birthday!

Tomorrow I'm planning to make corned beef and cabbage tomorrow night and probably a rainbow cake.  If you want some holiday food inspiration, here are my picks of what you should make for your people:

Corned beef & cabbage

Irish Onion Soup
Green Soup

Irish Cream Bundt Cake

Rainbow Cake

Irish "Potatoes" (truffles)

PIlgrim Hats

All right, while there's still ONE WEEK before Thanksgiving, here is an easy Thanksgiving treat.  It involves no baking (which I was mildly disappointed in, since I love to bake) but some assembly.  Buy cookies that have fudge on one (or both) side (I used Keebler Fudge Stripes), some miniature Reese's peanut butter cups, and orange icing.  Place the cookie fudge side up, put a peanut butter cup upside down, and use orange icing to adhere the peanut butter cup to the fudge cookie.  Draw a little square buckle on the hat . . . and there you have it! Even me, craft-challenged Mama with a shaky hand and poor fine motor skills (note the not straight icing) managed to pull this one off for a party tomorrow.

I thank God for this day

For the sun in the sky

For my home on the ground

That keeps me warm and dry

For the love that we share

'Cause God listens to my prayers

And that's why we say thanks every day

For a grateful heart is a happy heart

I'm glad for what I have, 

(that's an easy place to start)

for my mom and my dad, 

I'm so very very glad

And that's why we say thanks every day!

--Veggie Tales

Happy Thanksgiving!

Easter candy

This post is not where I confess to hiding and then eating 2 bags of coconut Hershey's kisses that I bought on clearance.  No, it's where I share this fun Easter treat that I made for the kids' dessert.  I saw it on Pinterest, it only had 3 ingredients (counting the jelly beans), and it seemed like something that the kids would love . . . and they did!  Hooray for homemade candy and holiday treats.

Chocolate Easter Nests (makes 16-20 small nests)
from a Pumpkin and a Princess blog

1 3/4 cup semisweet or dark chocolate
2 cups shredded coconut
jelly beans

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.  When it's melted and whisked smooth, add the coconut and stir to thoroughly combine.  Drop tablespoons into mini muffin tins and use the tablespoon to make an indentation in the middle so it looks like a nest.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until hardened.  I made these the day before and kept them in the refrigerator.  Fill with jellybeans when you're ready to serve!

Rainbow Cake for Little Leprechauns

I have these times where I feel like all I say is "no" to my kids.  It's not that I'm particularly mean or contrary, it's just that they ask me things like this:

Can we have candy for breakfast?
Can I wear pajamas to the store?
Can I skip brushing my teeth and washing my hands?
Can I drive the car?  Okay, then sit in the front without a car seat? Pour water on my sister? Give the baby some candy?  Drink a soda? Give the baby a soda?

You get the gist.  So, every now and then when it's not convenient or exactly how I had planned, I just have to say yes.  Like today:  I took all three girls to the grocery store, Target, on a bike ride and to the park.   Before noon.  Then I come home, put the baby down for a nap, start making lunch and planning how I can get the big girls to do something quietly so I can sit down and grade the last 15 papers and they ask me, "Can we please make that rainbow cake now?"

Yes.

It was worth it - they loved using food coloring and making the colored layers and I frosted and assembled it later without them so that when I cut into it to make the first slice they were awestruck.  And, shortly after, running around like leprechauns happy from the sugar high.

This rainbow cake was inspired by the rainbow cupcakes I once attempted and the new cake pans I got with a birthday gift card to Sur La Table (Thanks K & S!).  I made Little's birthday cake in the pans and was wanting to try something else.  Here's what the cake pans look like:  At 6 inches, they make the perfect little cake and the bonus is that one boxed cake mix works to fill all 5 pans.

Rainbow Cake (makes 1 6 inch round, 5 layer cake)

White cake mix
White frosting
Food coloring

Make the white cake batter according to package instructions.  Evenly divide the batter into 5 small bowls (I used a kitchen scale).  Using your food coloring, dye the batter 5 different colors.  We used 10 drops of food coloring for the red, green, blue, and yellow and then 7 drops yellow and 3 drops red to make orange.

Pour the batter into greased cake pans and bake for 14-17 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes, turn out onto wire racks and cool completely.  Layer and frost the cake.  Prepare to amaze your friends and leprechauns!  (One note:  While one box of white cake mix was enough, one can of prepared frosting was not . . . buy 2!)

Early Family Christmas

We had our family Christmas early this year and it was such a fun day.  The kids got great gifts, we played games, had good food and just enjoyed hanging out with each other.  The nice part about doing it early is that there is still some Christmas left . . . it's not all over!  Here are some pictures from the day - it was hard to choose which ones to post here and as I look them over, I think about how I always wish I had more photos but in the moment, I want to enjoy it and not be constantly using the camera.  Anyways, these should give you a little taste of the day.  I love hanging out with my family!

Today's recipe is perfect for those instances where you are all done baking & making but you still need something to take to a neighbor, party, or friend.  This is the solution!  Easy, relatively quick (putting the pan in the refrigerator will help it to harden and set up quicker), and just 4 ingredients.  It turned out delicious!

You can use whatever chocolate you like - milk, dark, bittersweet, whatever is in the cupboard.  I used a 9x13 pan (but I think a larger pan would have yielded thinner pieces of bark in the end) and it made two small boxes of bark.

Peppermint Bark

1 lb chocolate chips
1 lb white chocolate chips
1/2 cup crushed candy cane
peppermint extract

Line a pan with parchment paper or waxed paper.  Melt the chocolate chips and spread evenly on the lined pan.  Let it cool and set (this will go quicker in the refrigerator).  Melt the white chocolate chips and add some peppermint extract (a few drops to start, taste it and add more if you want).  Spread the melted white chocolate in an even layer over the other chocolate.  Sprinkle with the crushed candy cane and press on it a little bit to make the candy cane stick into the white chocolate.  Let it all set up and then break it into pieces.

Baking Christmas Cookies

I love the Christmas season. . . the carols, picking out and wrapping gifts, the decorations, houses lit up . . . all of it!  And, not surprisingly, one thing I look forward to is making Christmas cookies.  This year, I'm getting together with a friend to bake (links to two of the recipes below).  Even though we're not doing rolled, decorated sugar cookies, I still wanted to share the recipe we used all through my childhood.  Our family would add a step between refrigerating and baking - brush the cut out cookies with a lightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with decorating sugar.  They turn out so pretty and yummy!

Since I don't have a photo of these (you can sneak a peek here), I'll share some pictures of our kids from when we picked out and decorated our Christmas tree.

What I'm baking this year:

GF Chocolate Crinkles

Molasses Spice Cookies

Mary's Sugar Cookies (4-5 dozen)
from Betty Crocker's Cooky Book

1½ cups of sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. almond flavoring
2½ cups of flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar

Mix sugar and butter. Add egg and flavorings; mix thoroughly. Sift flour. Stir dry ingredients together and blend in. Refrigerate 2 to 3 hours.  Heat oven to 375°. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface and cut with cookie cutters. Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until delicately golden!

Pumpkin Tiramisu & Kids in Costume

Halloween was so much fun!  It was our first year trick or treating in Claremont; we went to the village in the afternoon and after supper with friends, around our neighborhood.  My mom made the adorable octopus legs for the baby and her costume was a huge hit . . . there's something about babies dressed like animals that's adorable.  Little kids would come up and squeeze her legs to see if they were real and one kid asked if she was a spider.  I guess we could also have done 8 black legs and made a spider!  Middle was so excited to see other costumes and when she saw another Disney princess (which happened quite a bit) she would say "Oh, look, you're my friend!"  She's convinced that the Disney princesses are all friends and hang out together somewhere (maybe Disneyland?).  Big told me it was "the best day ever" because of all the candy . . . but without being asked, she counted out her 10 pieces this morning and handed over the rest.  I let her "trade" her candy to me for a new DVD.  

On to today's recipe - "Tiramisu" is being used very loosely here - there is no espresso or coffee flavor - but the structure is similar with layers of lady fingers with a whipped mascarpone filling.  When I saw boxes of lady fingers at Trader Joe's, I was inspired to make something with them and this was the result.  It turned out delicious and I'll be making it again.  A bonus was that by substituting apple cider for the traditional espresso or rum, it's kid-friendly.  I used the Spiced Apple Cider from Trader Joe's and if you opt for plain apple cider, consider adding a half teaspoon or so of pumpkin pie spice to the cider as well.  The dessert has to set up overnight, so it's a good option to make ahead for a holiday gathering!

Pumpkin Tiramisu (8-10 servings)

adapted from Bon Appetit 11/06

1.5 cups chilled whipping cream
3/4 cup sugar
1 (8oz) container mascarpone cheese
1 (15oz) can pumpkin puree
3/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 (3oz) packages lady fingers
1/4 cup apple cider
2 oz crushed ginger snaps or amaretti cookies

Beat whipping cream and sugar until peaks form.  Add mascarpone cheese, pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice; beat just until filling is smooth.

Line bottom of 9 inch diameter springform pan with 1 package ladyfingers, overlapping and crowding to fit.  Brush the ladyfingers with half of the apple cider.  Spread half of the filling over the lady fingers.

Repeat with more lady fingers, remaining apple cider, and remaining filling.  Smooth the top.  Wrap tightly in plastic, then foil and chill overnight.

To unmold, run knife around the inside edge of pan.  Release the pan sides; sprinkle with crushed cookies.