Dinosaur Cake

Dinosaur Cake:

Okay, y'all know I don't bake...except for when one of my children has a birthday party. (See posts about my daughter's PINK FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY and my son's ST PATTY'S DAY SOCCER PARTY for proof.) In full disclosure, my mama actually did the baking part, and then I took over most of the decorating. :)

I found a template from Betty Crocker, and my mom and I set out to make this dinosaur cake. The cake was out of a box, and the icing was a simple buttercream frosting tinted with neon food coloring. We had chocolate chips on hand and I got some colored candy melts from Michael's to use for decorations.

All in all, this wasn't all that difficult. It's not perfect, but Henry knew it was a dinosaur the second he walked in the door...I will count that as a success!!!

The Dinosaur Template from Betty Crocker can be found HERE.
The Buttercream Frosting also from Betty Crocker can be found HERE.

If I can do this, truly anyone can do it!

Happy Cooking!

The Calm Before the Storm

Here we are the week before Christmas, and I am feeling incredibly calm.  This week has been no less hectic that the past few, but my attitude has somehow changed.  I think that a big part of it is that I have made list upon list upon list, and I LOVE checking things off of a list.  Last week I was living by my "head calendar," as one of my friends pointed out, and I was dropping the ball left and right.

It all started Monday night at basketball practice for the boys.  I was off my game because my husband got called into an emergency at work and couldn't make it to practice (problem because he's the coach.)  We raced around as usual before practice to try and cram some food into the children...my choice of the night was lamb burgers.  One of the boys LOVED it, the other wouldn't touch it, (although he ate it and loved it the next day...hmmm) and the baby ate a few bites and then proceeded to throw the rest on the floor, which, by the way, is her new favorite game.  Once we got to practice, I know I looked like a bug whose eyes are about to pop out of its head because I was running around chasing my one year old, who only wants to be where the action is and is constantly trying to get herself nailed with a basketball, and trying to make sure the boys were where they needed to be, participating, etc.  The five year old was fine, and the parents were awesome to pick up the slack with no coach present...the four year old was a different story.  My four year old lives with his head in the clouds and has the greatest imagination.  He doesn't actually "play" basketball, but he "pretends to play" basketball.  He has his own role plays going on in his head with coaches, refs, other players, etc, and it usually doesn't really match up with what his coach is actually trying to get him to do.  It is really funny to watch, actually, but I am trying to find the balance in letting his imagination run wild and in getting him to follow the "rules."  He's four, I think we're fine...right?

Tuesday, I needed a do-over.  I forgot to drop off a friend's stroller for her new baby.  I forgot my child's diaper bag when I dropped her off in the nursery before Bible study.  I forgot to do prayer requests at Bible study (how can you forget that?!?!?)  I forgot that I had signed up to be the mystery guest reader in my four-year old's class.  Luckily his brilliant teacher emailed me that morning and I happened to check it as I was leaving Bible study.  I made it 2 minutes late...with no book...and no entertainment for the one year old.  It was a special special day to say the least.  This is the day that my friend used the term "head calendar," and that spoke directly to how I was living last week.  I quickly added a 2014 planner to my Christmas wish list.  That night, I made a delicious and beautiful meal, gnocchi with spinach cream sauce.  It was so so yummy, but dinner was not so delightful.  The kids didn't like the pasta (I think it was the green,) and everyone was in melt down mode.  I posted a picture of our table with the baby screaming, one child standing in his chair, and the other child drinking his milk which he proceeded to dump on the floor right after I took the picture.  All we could do was hysterically laugh because it was just such an appropriate ending to the day. 

Wednesday, I decided I needed to get it together and make a plan...and when I say make a plan, I mean plan a cookie decorating party for 20ish kids.  We'll return to that in a bit.  Wednesday nights are always a bit of a disaster around here.  My mom used to say that she would "lose her religion on the way to church."  Well, that's what Wednesdays sometimes feel like for us.  The boys have choir and chimes, and we eat dinner at church.  My kids LOVE eating with their friends, and I love that they are excited about going to church.  BUT, it is always a late night, and everyone is usually crying on the way home, which makes bedtime pretty painful.  This is why we have decided to make Wednesday nights our date night in...we need it after the whirlwind of our evening.  I have talked about date nights in before, but I would highly recommend them once again.  It makes an ordinary night a little special, which is what each of us needs every once in a while.

Thursday was a breeze...I got my haircut, I visited a friend and her new baby, I made a kid-friendly dinner of chicken cordon bleu, and my best friend and her kiddos came over for a playdate and stayed for an impromptu dinner.  It was lovely.  ALL five children ate all of their food, and my friend and I got to enjoy each other's company while our hubbies worked late.  I must've needed some calm before the storm on Friday...which leads us to the oh so crazy and oh so fabulous Christmas Cookie Decorating Party...

My four year old had been begging me to decorate cookies, and I had put him off all week.  So, I decided it would be fun to have a few friends over to join us.  I was already planning on helping a friend make gingerbread houses for our kindergarteners' class, so I figured my kitchen would already be in disarray.  Well, the cookie idea just snowballed, and I ended up with three banquet tables full of kids making beautiful Christmas cookies.  I kept it simple with break and bake cookies and made buttercream frosting (recipe here...I added a little extra milk so that the consistency was a little more runny.)  I covered the tables with craft paper and bought condiment bottles from Michaels to put the frosting in.  We laid out 3 colors of frosting and several bottles of sprinkles on each table and let the kids go nuts.  It was WILD, and the kids had a blast.  We still have no rugs in our house, so I figured now was a great time to do this party and not stress out about having sugar in all forms all over my floors.  I learned a few things in the process...sprinkles are pretty but kind of a bad idea (I am still finding and stepping on them.)  Next time, I will use bigger candies and bigger cookies.  I will give the girls 2 cookies and the boys 5, and it will take them the same amount of time to decorate them ;)  The girls really were amazing with their exquisitely decorated cookies, and the boys pretty much dumped a bunch of icing and at least half a bottle of sprinkles on their cookies and called it a
day.  Luckily the weather was nice so that they could go burn off some energy after the sugar high!!  That night, we ordered pizza.

Saturday night was a holiday block party and an impromptu date night out...gasp, I know!

I want to share a link to one of my favorite blogs about slowing down during the holidays.  http://www.breadandhoneyblog.net/room-inn/  I read this Monday morning, and I think it has a lot to do with why I'm feeling more calm and at peace this week.  Have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS WEEK!!

Happy Cooking!  

On this week's menu are butternut squash ravioli with brown butter sauce, pizza casserole, kid-friendly turkey chili, some holiday treats, and a couple of breakfast casseroles for next week.

Dinners Week 4: Parmesan, Pumpkin, and a PINK Party

Baked Veal Parmesan: (Recipe found in Open House, A Culinary Tour, The Junior League of Murfreesboro)
1/2 cup cornflake crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
dash of pepper
2 eggs
4 veal cutlets
1/2 cup butter
2 (8oz) cans tomato sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp oregano
dash of onion salt
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Angel Hair pasta noodles (cooked according to package; about 1/2 of a regular sized box)

Combine the cornflake crumbs, Parmesan cheese, slat, and pepper in shallow dish.  Lightly beat eggs in another shallow dish.  Dip the veal cutlets in the eggs and then the crumb mixture to coat.  Melt the butter in a 9x13 in baking dish in a 400 degree oven.  Place the cutlets in the dish.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Turn the cutlets over.  Bake for 20 minutes.

Combine the tomato sauce, sugar, oregano, and onion salt in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Pour over the baked cutlets.  Top with the mozzarella cheese.  Bake until the cheese melts.  Serve over noodles

SERVE WITH: Arugula salad with simple lemon vinaigrette

NOTES: Don't let the "baked" part fool you.  This is really not a healthier version of veal Parmesan, but it is a lot simpler than frying the veal in a pan.  Basically the warmed melted butter in the bottom of the baking dish allows the veal to be fried in the oven.  I went ahead and prepared vinaigrette for the salad and the veal (actually I used thinly sliced chicken breasts this week because our grocery store didn't have veal, and I just can't do more than one store at this stage of my life) with the breadcrumb and Parmesan mixture in the morning so that I'd be ready to roll when the butter was melted.  DO NOT use the powdered Parmesan cheese.  Use the grated or shredded Parm in the refrigerated section.  I started boiling the water for the noodles and making the sauce when I flipped the chicken, and everything was done at about the same time.  My guys love this, but the sauce is a little sweet for me, so just beware that if you want a saltier marinara sauce, you may want to cut the sugar by about half.

  

Flaky Tomato & Mozzarella Tart: (Adapted from CovCom Cooks!)
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed and cut in half
1 yellow tomato, thinly sliced
1 Roma tomato, thinly sliced
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  On a lightly floured surface, roll each 1/2 of the puff pastry into a 9x6 inch rectangle.  Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.  Prick all over with a fork and top each half with 1 cup of the mozzarella, 1/4 cup of the basil, and half of each tomato.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper.  Bake for 10 minutes or until edges are beginning to brown. 

SERVE WITH:  Leftover arugula salad from night before.

NOTES:  This is like pizza taken up a notch.  It is totally delicious and super easy.  You do have to make sure that you set the dough out to thaw (which takes about 40 minutes) and allow the dough to set after you roll it (another 30 minutes,) so this is definitely a recipe to start earlier in the day.  This week I used the yellow and Roma tomatoes, but you can also use grape tomatoes, or heirloom tomatoes (these make it really pretty!.)  I usually cheat the recipe a little and just refrigerate it after I put all of my toppings on it.  Cook time is only 10 minutes, so it is a super simply, slightly fancy dinner to prepare on a busy night.


Black Bean Pumpkin Soup: (Recipe found in Open House, A Culinary Tour, The Junior League of Murfreesboro)
3 (15oz) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup drained canned tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup minced shallot
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 T plus 2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
4 cups beef broth
1 (15oz) can pumpkin
1/2 cup dry sherry
1/2 pound ham, diced
3 to 4 T sherry vinegar
FOR GARNISH: sour cream, toasted pumpkin seeds

Combine 2 cans of the beans and the tomatoes in a food processor and process until coarsely pureed; set aside.  Melt the butter in a heavy, 6 qt pot over medium heat.  Add onions, shallot, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper.  Cook until onions are tender and starting to brown, stirring constantly.  Stir in the pureed bean mixture, the remaining 1 can of whole beans, broth, pumpkin, and sherry.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low.  Simmer for 25 minutes or until the soup is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, stirring occasionally.  (May be prepped in advanced to this point and chilled.)

Just before serving, stir in the ham and vinegar.  Simmer until heated through, stirring frequently.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve garnished with sour cream and toasted pumpkin seeds.

SERVE WITH: Sister Schubert's Rolls!

NOTES: This is such a fun, fall soup.  It is delicious and pretty and is fun to serve on a week night for my family or for a dinner party in a fun pumpkin soup terrine.  I do not normally have sherry just hanging around, so I purchase cooking sherry at the grocery store (or substitute white wine.)  Sherry vinegar is not easy to find, so you can substitute white wine vinegar if you have that on hand.  This is great to make after Thanksgiving and use leftover ham.  If you don't like ham, you can substitute shrimp, chicken, or sausage. 


Pinterest Inspired 1st Birthday Party!!!

I found all of these recipes on Pinterest, so here they are (with their pinned images) to share :)

 
Easy Ham and Cheese Appetizer Sandwiches



Brie and Cranberry Tartlets


 
Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus



Perfect Boiled Shrimp with Ken's Steakhouse Cocktail Sauce

This is the actual smash cake!!!

Smash Cake and Mini Cupcakes made with yellow cake mix and frosted with Classic Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

 NOTES:  I LOVE a good party, and this was such a fun party to plan for.  The only theme to the party was PINK!  After having two boys, I thought I would go all out with the pink food, pink beverages, pink flowers, pink outfits, everything.  Along with the items above, I served watermelon (not the best idea for this time of year!!,) sliced strawberries and grapes, ChickFilA nuggets, and pink lemonade for the kids.  I could not have pulled it off without my family helping, especially my sweet mama, who is a party planner extraordinaire.