Face Food

My sis and I talk a lot about food here. . . and our children. . . and how we’d like them to eat healthier foods.  Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about Tony – Tony the Tiger.  Don’t most of the foods that your kids love have a face to them?  Toucan Sam, Snap Crackle and Pop, Captain Crunch, etc?  They/we love little characters that kind of tell us what our experience will be with a food.  It’s genius.  Enter CUTIES:

My kids LOVE Cuties.  And no, they do not call them clementines, or oranges – they call them Cuties.  I’d love to see more of this type of marketing of whole foods (not the grocery chain – the actual foods).

My other new favorite is Stach from Everybody’s Nuts.  Their Salt and Pepper pistachios are to DIE for – and they’ve got the cutest little spokesnut.  My son is allergic to pistachios – and my daughter likes to suck on the shells but not eat the inside. . . so my theory isn’t totally working, but I think I’m on to something.

Hello Kitty Cupcakes

A friend of mine’s daughter Allie was having a Hello Kitty Birthday. Allie requested cupcakes – but mom didn’t really have time to make them – so I did! Here are the supplies needed:

yellow and black jelly bellies (bought loose at Target)
chocolate jimmies
pastel candies for bow center (Michaels)
mini marshmallows
pink and white frosting

If you cut mini-marshmallows on a diagonal – they make the perfect shaped ears (for kitties, bunnies, pigs).

I didn’t use any piping bags or anything – just a spatula to put white frosting on.  I actually had a tube of pink frosting – that I used to put two dots by one ear – for a bow and put a pink candy in the center.  My kids helped by pulling out the longest of the chocolate jimmies for whiskers – wow – thanks kids!

If I’d baked these – in my egg mold – I may have gotten the more oval HK shape.  Space the black eyes as far apart as possible – to make it look more hello kitty-ish.

The finished product.  Lots of happy 5 year olds ate these (even the black jelly bellies).

say it isn’t so…

Headband Storage Solution

The Problem:

The Solution:

As you can see – we desperately needed a vehicle to organize my daughter’s headbands.  I kept thinking about the displays they have at places like Claire’s – and how could I get one or make my own?  Then it hit me.  I need a tall cylinder. . . and I work at Costco.  So do you recognize it?  It’s the container from the Pub Mix – found at your local Costco in the chip isle.  Once the container was empty (the mix is yummy) I took the label off – washed it out – and voila! – instant headband holder.  You could also fill it with ribbons and such.  The bottom headband has to be on there kind of tight – but most of the headbands are pretty snug on the cylinder – they’re not stretched out at all.  Give it a try!!!

tired

I am NOT tired of my kids, nor am I tired of summer. I just want to get that straight.

What I AM tired of is not being able to cook without extreme guilt over how high our electric bills have been this summer. (Or sweltering if I turn off the a/c in order to cook.) I love to cook. I love to bake. The girls are so into it too…evidence:

Rosemary Peasant Bread, made by my seven year old. She rocks, as does the bread.

But DUDE. I keep trying to wait until late at night to bake (when I’m naturally more productive) but for some reason, for the last few weeks our house has been SO. flipping. HOT ’round the clock…even with all the doors and windows open.

So I’m extra-looking-forward to fall this year, because I want to be able to cook whenever.

wordless Wednesday

Pink Poodle in Paris Cake

I know – cheater cheater. I’m using this as an entry in a dessert contest – though I did make the cake two years ago. I wasn’t a blogger at the time – so I didn’t take pics of the stages of the cake. . . but will tell you how I did it. This cake was inspired by a dog cake I’d cut out of a Gourmet Magazine article – long before I had kids – and simply loved beautiful baked goods. I believe it was about a bakery in Philadelphia – though I can’t find the original right now (I’ll give credit when I find it).

So, for the body of this poodle, I baked a yellow cake – in one 9 inch round and one 6 inch round. After cooling, I cut each of the two cakes in half and plopped them on the cut side. The two 9 inch halves are the body in the middle – the two 6 inch halves are the crouching legs on either side of the body. The picture below gives a better idea of how this happened.

The head was made with a store bought sara lee pound cake. Because they are nice and firm – I could easilly carve the head that I needed. I rounded it in the back for the neck – left it pretty square in the middle – and then chopped away about halfway down the front for the eyes and tapered the nose. I’m so sorry there’s not a pic of this step. Maybe if I ever make another. . .

The Classic Buttercream Frosting recipe is from The Artful Cupcake, by Marcianne Miller. It calls for

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter softened.
2 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
Liquid food coloring
2 T milk or fruit juice (optional)

Cream butter, gradually mix in sugar (says to sift – I don’t sift). Beat until icing is pale and fluffy. Mix in color and milk or juice if desired. I used Wilton Rose for the shocking pink effect.

I iced the whole cake with a spatula – and then used a large star tip for the poofy areas – around the legs, ears, feet and tail. This icing gave it a wonderful feathery effect – very fun.

Well Serendipity, I’ve wanted to post pics of this pup for a while – for those who may be doing a Pink Poodle in Paris Party – so thanks for giving me the push to get it done.

and so it begins…

My seven year old completely FLIPS over holidays. To preserve my sanity, I put little guidelines in place — like, no Christmas cards before December first, no Valentines before February first, etc.  Otherwise, my entire house is overrun with piles of cards and crafts and other holiday paraphernalia, months before the actual holiday. And by the time the holiday rolls around, it’s all either buried under other crafts, or scattered throughout the house and when it comes time to use them or send them to school, I have to spend two hours tracking them all down.

Two weeks is doable….and of course, at o’dark thirty on Friday morning, my four year old bounded into my room, saying that her sister insisted it was time to start writing out valentines.  She keeps me on my toes, that one….

The $14.99 difference

Behold, the craft corner from hell…

before:

and after:

I cannot even put into words how happy this makes me. And I wonder how long it will last…. *sigh*

Merry Christmas!

Our wee one’s favorite gift…

Thanks, Aunt Jodi! 😀