Tie-Dye Lemon Cake

Since Claire liked her tie-dye cupcakes so much, I decided to make a tie-dye cake for her using her favorite cake recipe.  It's the lemon cake she made a few weeks ago but with a twist.

What you'll need:

White Cake Mix
2 Eggs
3/4 C Lemon Juice
1/4 C powdered Lemonade Mix (You know, add water and you've got lemonade)
1/4 C Skim Milk
3/4 C lite Sour Cream
4 pack of Lemon Pudding
3/4 bag of Powdered Sugar
1 stick softened Butter
1 T Vanilla
1/4 C Lemon Juice
approx 1/4 C Milk

Mix the mixes, eggs, lemon juice, sour cream and milk with your hand mixer for 2 minutes. Pour into prepared (sprayed and floured) pan, she chose springform pan but any round pan will do. Bake according to box directions. Cool for 10 minutes, invert on plate to finish cooling.

You are going to make a layer cake. Slice cake in half with serated knife. Gently life cake top and place to the side. Squeeze all 4 pudding packs into the middle of the cake. Spread out to within an inch of the outside. Top with cake you removed.

Frosting...Beat powdered Sugar, butter, vanilla, lemon juice. Add milk slowly until you get desired consistency. Claire wanted to use decorating bag so we made it a little stiffer.

I divided the cake batter into 9 different cups, added food coloring, dumped them into a spring form pan willy nilly and FUN was made.  Dyed the frosting, frosted to match her plates as best I could and called it a day. 

 

   Pre oven  and                                                                                      Post oven, cooled and cut..add filling

Ready to serve

Crockpot Turkey Breast

This spring weather has SUCKED.  Max has been rained out of a few games and snowed out of a handful more.  YES, I said SNOWED.  We even had snow last Saturday for a minute.  Rain, sleet and snow all in about 2 minutes.  The umpires were laughing, I was mentally moving my family to somewhere that will NEVER happen again!!

This week is all about make up games, add his summer league starting and we will not be home for dinner all week, we won't be home until probably 9 p.m. at the earliest.  We played 51 hockey games last season and basically had practice every day and we never went a week without sitting at the dinner table as a family.  Switch to baseball and Claire is going to forget who she lives with!

Sorry, got off on a tangent.  Today's recipe is one that I use quite often for dinner because the meat is done when I walk in the door.  I boil some water for mac and cheese, throw on some green beans and dinner is served in about 15 minutes AND it tastes like you really put some effort into it.  It's a meal both of my children eat!!  Plus this was a bonus meal because the turkey breast was on sale!! 

What you'll need:

Bone in Turkey Breast..this one was almost 6 pounds
4 T butter
6 t Season Salt
2 t Cayenne Pepper
2 t Black Pepper
4 t Garlic Powder
Any other seasoning you want to throw in there would be just fine.

Mix the seasoning together and sprinkle all over the turkey.  If you want to rub it in, that's fine, I just really don't like touching raw turkey or chicken.  Put 1/2 C water in bottom of crockpot.  Put turkey into crock.  Put pats of butter on top of turkey.  You can throw in the refrigerator at this point until morning or plug in the crockpot and cook on low for 9-11 hours.

Give the turkey a poke and see that the juices run clear and it's not tough.  If it's tough, it needs to cook a bit longer.

Slice the turkey, serve and put those leftovers to use the rest of the week.  Sandwiches, hot dishes, soup, salads, the possibilities are endless.

The beauty of the crockpot is that it won't heat up your house in the summer but you have the wonderful smell of dinner being done when you walk in the door.

Cold HARD cash

My friend Kimberly gave me this idea for giving the gift of money.  I froze it.  Yep, coins and bills.  I used a large plastic cup and put in about 1/4 cup water and a few gold dollars and froze.  Added another 1/4 cup and more coins and froze again.  More water, now a few dollar bills.  Keep doing that until your at the top, put last of water and arrange bills around and freeze.  Run a little warm water on outside of cup to get money ice out.  Place in ziploc bag and bring to your favorite birthday person and enjoy the smile you'll get.

Happy Birthday Claire Elizabeth!!

I started going through old photos looking for one of Claire the day she was born.  I didn't get to that album because I was getting more and more emotional with each year and I thought by the time I got to the infant album I'd be the one in the fetal position. 

Each birthday for all the kids makes me slow down for a minute and really look at them.  I usually wipe a couple of tears that are brimming on my eyelids and light the candles.  But this year, this birthday, she's a teenager.  No more pretending that she is a child.  I have to say outloud that I have two teenagers when asked.  It's not about me, I do realize that but it's just a tough day for this Mama to admit her baby is growing up. 

Today is about the wonderful TEENAGER that we will be celebrating!   

Claire is smart, she is artistic, she is funny, she is wise beyond her years.  She is a good baker, an excellent dancer and a terrific friend.  She has the patience of a saint and her Mama's egg face when she doesn't like something.  She is strong willed, knows what she wants and how she wants it done.  I have always admired her easy, independent nature.

Here are a few of her past birthdays.

1st birthday week

2nd birthday week

Right before her 3rd birthday party was going to start

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE!

I LOVE YOU TO THE STARS AND BACK!!

Crazy Daisy Tie-Dye Cupcakes

Claire's dance team had a really good season.  At the three competitions they placed 1st twice and 2nd.  She had asked me a few weeks ago if I'd make cupcakes for the last day.  I kinda grumbled because there are 36 girls and asked if cookies would work instead.  She ignored and didn't mention it again. 

Well, she was feeling kinda sad on Sunday after the spring show.  The realization that she had one more hour with some of these girls was making her feel pretty blue.  So, I decided to make the cupcakes.  I decided to make her some cupcakes that would make her smile.  I decided to make ones that I have made before and received good results.  I just changed up the decorations.

What you need:

Cake mix prepared according to directions.
Separate mix into three bowls.
Add food coloring to each bowl
Put a heaping tablespoon of each color into cupcake liner
Bake according to directions
Decorate top with your favorite frosting dyed to match.  I used my favorite buttercream.
I picked Daisies because that was the theme of the spring show.  The good news with the cake being colored, you don't have to frost perfectly.

 

You can see how I spooned in the batter

 

This is what the inside looked like. 

 

And, this was what the finished product looked like.  My daisies were a little messy, I'm out of practice but Claire declared them "the best cupcakes I've ever made":)



Happy Mother's Day

Max asked me last night if he could have $100 to buy me a gift.  Knowing Max, my gift probably would be in around $25 and he'd get something to keep "him" busy with the rest.  At any rate, I told him no.  I told him that what I would really like is ONE ENTIRE weekend that he dropped the sarcasm and didn't antagonize his sister.  You see, he finds himself quite amusing but his sister doesn't share that sentiment.

He said, "what's my other option". 

So, who knows what I'll be getting.  To be honest, it really doesn't matter.  I took it upon myself the year that Claire was born to do "my" own thing.  I leave the house and hang out with Tina, Chantel and my Mom.  We get massages or pedicures or shop or just have lunch.  If I'm lucky, I get home on a nice afternoon and veg in my lawn chair reading a book.  The point is, my Mother's Day present to myself is TIME to recharge MY batteries the way "I" want and not spend the day taking care of my children or caring what someone else wants to either eat or not eat.  I don't run errands, I don't do laundry or grocery shop. 

It is pure bliss. 

So, this post is dedicated a few days early so you can find a sitter if you need to.  Take some time for just YOU because YOU deserve it!  Even if you have to lock yourself in the bathroom to do it;)

Happy Mother's Day!!

Smile

Chantel and Sameth renewed their wedding vows and had a ball to celebrate the event.

What fun it was to see all the pretty dresses!  Everyone showed up dressed to the nines and danced the night away. 

These two kids happen to have been my favorite.

Or maybe it was this bunch

I really can't decide:)