Guitar Cake

Another cake that I did before blogging. This one was for my niece Mara and today is her GOLDEN birthday so I thought I'd share. Mara ripped the directions out of a magazine to show me what I needed to do, a magazine that I cannot find now.

The base of the guitar was a 13x9 that I trimmed to look like a guitar. The stem of the guitar was a loaf pan, that I cut in half so it was the same thickness as the base. Cut two other pieces for the knobs off to the side. A piece of Kit Kat candy bar and some baby M&Ms attached the stings of frosting.

I frosted with a thinned butter cream because of the cutting involved. When that hardened, I used regular butter cream to frost. It was a relatively easy cake to make and she loved it.


Happy Birthday Girlie!!

Bacon Wrapped Fillets

Is there anything better than a really good steak? Before I got pregnant with Claire I could name about 100 things that I thought were better. But I swear the second I got pregnant with her, I could NOT get enough red meat. Clearly my body wasn't going the sweet route that it did with Max. I probably ate red meat a couple of times a year but in the months pregnant with Claire, I think I ate an entire cow. Her Dad would beg for chicken to be served, lol. After she arrived, I didn't lose my love of steak.

Imagine my glee when Target was having a sale and I got bacon wrapped fillets for cheap! The added bonus is they are pretty quick to cook.

First thing you need to do is season them with Season Salt, Pepper and Accent. Give a liberal shake, pat the seasoning down, flip them over and repeat. I didn't measure, sorry, but for this size steak, probably between 1/4 and 1/8 t of each seasoning on each steak. Let them rest for at least 15 minutes to soak in the seasoning.

Get a pan out and heat that baby up for a minute or two. Throw in a tablespoon of butter, give it a swirl. Put your steak in the pan and sear for about 2 minutes, flip to another part of the pan that has been heating up. Don't flip over in the same spot, you want the heat of the pan to sear in the juices. If your pan isn't big enough to have open space, no worries, just cook in batches and make sure you use a new hot spot each time.

Put the seared steak in an oven proof pan. Put in 400 degree oven. We like our steak Medium so for this size steak, about 13 minutes worked perfect. Take out of the oven and let rest for a few minutes before serving.
Season and sit for about 15 minutes
Get your pan HOT, throw in a pat of butter and then the steaks
Flip them to a HOT spot in the pan
Put them in the pan and throw them in the oven
Dinner is served

Sam

Want a low maintenance pet??

Sam is our pet fly. We've had him since my nephew Dylan was 2 and scared of the fly that was buzzing around the house.

I named him Sam, gave proper introductions and life was good.

Sam does take occasional vacations to visit his parents and relatives and he also spends his winters down South. But come spring, he always comes back home and the children are happy to see him.
I couldn't put my hands on a photo of Sam so I had to borrow one off of the internet.

Army Tank Cake

My niece Maddy wanted a Tank Cake and I wasn't one to disappoint. I looked on line and got a general idea and gave it my best.

I made this cake before I was blogging but I think I can walk you through it and since today is her birthday I thought today was a perfect day to do that. I made a 13x9 cake and another cake in a loaf pan. I colored the batter with two different colors of green so the inside was also camo.

After you've made the cakes according to directions, testing to make sure the cake is done...especially important with the loaf pan. To test the cake, stick a skewer into the middle, if it comes out without any batter, your cake is done. Cool for about 10 minutes and invert on to a cookie sheet. You'll need one cookie sheet for each cake.

Cool cakes completely. Trim the front. To do that you are going to cut around the edges, curving the front. You don't have to cut a lot of cake off. Do the same to the loaf pan. Frost you cake. I used my buttercream frosting.

Frosting the cut part can be a little tricky, so take some frosting that you've thinned with milk and skim over the cut edges. Let that set for a few minutes and then proceed with frosting the main cake. Put the loaf pan cake on top and repeat process.

I used two different colors, frosting with the main color of green and then kind of just blobbed the camo design on.

For the tracks, I used black licorice that I cut in half lenghwise and in half to cut the thickness. The "wheels" are halved Oreos. The barrel of the gun was one of Max's toys. You know those pirate scope things, that's what it was. Popped an army guy in the top and put another halved oreo behind him for the hatch.

More frosting in front with crushed oreos on top and some army guys protecting the tank. She LOVED it!




Happy Birthday Madison!!

Fridge Cleaning Dinner

I needed something quick and I will admit that I had absolutely NO vision when I started pulling stuff out of the fridge. I only knew that I was starving so I wanted quick and easy. This is what I ended up with.

What you'll need:
1 boneless skinless Chicken breast
1 C Chicken Broth
1 C cooked Orzo ~ Orzo is a pasta that you'll find by all the other pasta in a small box
1/2 lb cooked Shrimp
1/2 bag baby Spinach

Slice chicken into small pieces and pan fry dry (that means I didn't add any kind of oil or butter, just threw it in the pan) with salt, pepper and Lemon Garlic Pepper. Pour in chicken broth and bring to boil. Scrape the browned bits on the bottom of the pan, it will add some flavor. Add Spinach, shrimp and Orzo. Sprinkle with Lemon garlic Pepper and cook until spinach is wilted and it's heated through. Makes 2-3 servings.

Survey Says

It's that time of year when bridal showers are starting so I thought I'd share a game that I did a few years ago. I really did survey 60 people;)

I did it two ways...at one of the showers, we did it like the show, person to person faced off but only 2 strikes were given.

At the other shower, I asked the question and they only got points if they had one of the top 3 answers. Person with the most points won the game. Everyone thought it was a lot of fun so I thought I'd share.

Of 60 men and women surveyed, the top 3 answers are on the board...

Bridesmaid dress color...Pink/17, Blue/13, Green/8
Average Cost of a wedding...10,000/28, 15,000/8, 5000/5
Flower in a bouquet...Rose/43, Lily/9, Carnation/5
Month of ceremony...June/42, September/6, May/5
Shape of diamond...Round/33, Marquis/15, Princess/5
Size of diamond...1 ct/29, .50/11, .25 ct/6,
Honeymoon destination...Hawaii/35, Mexico/7, Bahamas/4
Traditional Gift...China/16, Toaster/11, Crystal/9
Cash received as Gifts...1000/9, 2000/8, 3000/5
How long before proposal...1 yr/21, 2 yr/18, 6 mo/8
Number of relationships before each other..3/20, 4/9, 2/8
Bride lost virginity...age 18/19, age 17/18, age 16/13
Groom lost virginity...age 16/15, age 15/12, age 17/11
How long before kids..2 yr/27, 3 yr/17, 5 yr/6

Easy Pasta

I saw a recipe similar to this on some cooking/dating show YEARS ago. I made a pan seared chicken to go with it and really liked how light it was. Tonight I made it as a side to Sticky Chicken.

You can add chicken and make it a main dish or add more vegetables to make it a bit more substantial but as prepared, it was an excellent side and I only had a small serving for left overs.

What you'll need:

Box of your favorite cooked Pasta ~ I dropped 4 chicken bouillon cubes and 2 t salt to season the water
1/2 small Onion minced
4 cloves Garlic minced
1-2 T Olive Oil
1 1/2 C Chicken Broth
1 t Thyme ~ I would have preferred to use fresh but it wasn't available
1/2 bag chopped Baby Spinach
1/2-1 C Cheese ~ I used a mix of Mozzerella and Asiago because that's what I had on hand
Pepper to taste

Saute onions and garlic in a little Olive Oil. Add 1 1/2 C chicken (vegetable if you want to go vegetarian) stock and 1 t Thyme and simmer for about 5 minutes until reduced by half.

Add chopped spinach, if you chop small when it wilts, your children won't even know it's in there..trust me, I tested this theory;)
Saute the spinach just a bit and add pasta
Sprinkle with cheese, give it a toss and serve