Firecracker Cake

Looking for a fun dessert to make for your 4th of July festivities? A few years ago I made this Firecracker Cake for my friends' party at the lake and it was a huge hit!  What makes it so fun? The cake and frosting are multi-colored, but it is also topped with sprinkles and Pop Rocks!  Have the kids in your life been introduced to Pop Rocks? Mine thought they were amazing.

I actually made the cake from scratch but it didn't hold the colors well so I would recommend just using a box mix. 

*** Firecracker Cake ***

From Cooking with Sugar

1 box white cake mix

1 cup Greek yogurt

1 container whipped white frosting

Red and blue food coloring

Red, white and blue sprinkles

Pop Rocks candy (I found them at the dollar store)

Preheat oven and prepare cake mix according to cake mix directions. Add Greek yogurt and mix well. Grease a 12 cup bundt pan. Add red food coloring to 1 cup batter in small bowl. Add blue food coloring to 1 cup batter in a separate bowl. Pour red batter on the bottom of the pan, then pour white batter, and lastly pour blue batter in a circle around the middle of the pan. Do not mix! Bake according to directions, cool slightly and remove cake onto plate.  Let it cool completely before frosting.

Divide the frosting into 3 separate bowls. Warm one bowl of white frosting for 5-10 seconds in the microwave and drizzle over the cake. Warm second bowl, add red coloring, drizzle over cake and do the same with the blue coloring.  Top with sprinkles and Pop Rocks! If you are not serving the cake immediately, wait to add the Pop Rocks so your guests can get the full effect of the “firecrackers.” :) 

Have a sunny and safe holiday!

 

 

Sugar Cookie Sandwiches

Sparklers, celebration and food!! Fourth of July is such a great time of the year. We typically head over to my parents’ cabin for the Fourth. We swim, go for boat rides, eat and be merry. There is a Fourth of July boat parade which is a blast because a water fight with water balloons and water guns is bound to happen between the boats and viewers.

Fourth of July = FUN, yummy treats and more fun and more yummy treats!

Today I have a fun cookie, along with a kick butt frosting recipe, to add to your holiday menu. These cookies are cute, fun and delicious. Like I’ve mentioned, oh I don't know... a few hundreds time, I enjoy a soft and chewy sugar cookie. The recipe that follows will leave you with just that. 

Sugar Cookie Sandwiches

• 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 ½ cups white sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla

• Blue food coloring
• Red food coloring
• Sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare cookie sheet with a baking mat or parchment paper. 

Combine flour, baking soda and baking power in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in egg and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture to sugar mixture. I usually do this in three steps… add a bit of flour, mix well and repeat two more times.

Separate dough into two even halves and place them in separate mixing bowls. Add red food coloring to one half and blue to the other. I used about 1/2-3/4 tbsp of each color.

Roll dough into large blueberry size balls. Really you can make them any size but this size makes them easy to pop. And by pop I mean… into my mouth.  Roll the small balls in sugar sprinkles and place on the prepared cookie sheet. 

Bake cookies for about 3-5 minutes, remove from oven and let them rest on the cookie sheet for another 2 minutes. I take my cookies out of the oven while they are still quite soft looking. They will continue to “bake” a little longer as they rest. (Note:  If you enjoy a crisp cookie, bake them a little longer)

These little guys are about the size of a quarter

Once the cookies are completely cool we can build our sandwiches. This frosting is amazing and very versatile. It can be used on cakes, cupcakes, cookies, you name it. It's light and creamy, but also sets very nicely and doesn't run like other whipped frostings I've tried. If you are looking for a new frosting recipe, here it is!

Whipped Cream Frosting (original recipe) :

1 8oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 cup heavy cream

Blend together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract and almond extract. Once the texture is creamy slowly whisk in heavy cream. Whisk until it reaches a stiff peak. I whisked mine for about 6 minutes.

To build the sandwiches, take one cookie and apply frosting to the top. Take another cookie and gently press the bottom side down on to the frosted cookie. There you go. Your cookie sandwich is complete.

You can eat these cookies right away or chill them. I like them better chilled.

Since I didn't 100 mini size cookie sandwiches I made some larger ones too. I combined one red doughball and one blue doughball.

 As they baked they attached to one another giving me these:

The kids LOVED these. Even more than the cookie sandwiches!

Enjoy!

Stuffed Peppers w/ground chicken

I remember attending a work party in my late teens. The host prepared the best(!) stuffed peppers. Although the party was almost 20 years ago, I still think of these peppers. I finally took charge and decided to make them myself. I figured it wouldn't be a complicated recipe, something similar to Porcupine Meatballs smushed into a pepper.

Easy Stuffed Pepper Recipe

4-6 large green peppers

1 lbs ground chicken

1 small-medium onion, chopped

1/2 cup brown rice, cooked

1 can (14.5oz) diced petite tomatoes

1 cup tomato juice or water

1 tbsp chicken broth seasoning

1 tsp tarragon leaves

½ tsp black pepper
2 eggs

Shredded cheddar cheese

Rinse peppers and remove the tops and seeds. Set peppers in a baking dish.
  

Preheat oven to 350.

In a bowl, stir together rice, onions, tomatoes and juice. Add seasonings and mix well. Add ground chicken into rice mixture. Mix in eggs, one at a time.

Now you are ready to stuff the peppers. Spoon mixture into the peppers.

Bake in oven for 50-60 minutes or until the middle reaches 160.  Top with cheese and bake an additional 5-7 minutes.

Enjoy!

 

Peanut Butter S'More Pizza

Continuing the peanut butter love, I'm sharing a recipe that I have made since I was little. I have no idea where I found this recipe when I was a young squire but it is definitely a keeper if you love peanut butter and chocolate...which we do. Peanut Butter S'more Pizza is made with a peanut butter cookie crust with marshmallow and chocolate chip toppings. It is so simple...nothing gourmet going on here...but it is oh so good. You'll see my 6 yr old helper in the pics and it warms my heart to think that perhaps she will someday share this easy recipe with her children.

Peanut Butter S'More Pizza

1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. peanut butter (either creamy or chunky)
1/2 t. vanilla
1 egg
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. mini marshmallows
1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine sugar, brown sugar, butter, peanut butter, vanilla, and egg in bowl and blend well. Add flour and mix. Spread on pizza pan - we used my Pampered Chef stone.

 

The thicker you leave the dough, the thicker the "crust" will be. Try to spread the dough evenly so it cooks evenly. Form a rim on the edge and bake for approximately 9-10 minutes. Do not brown. Take the crust out of the oven and carefully sprinkle the marshmallows and chocolate chips on the crust.

Bake 5-8 minutes more until the marshmallows are puffed and lightly browned. Cool, cut just like a pizza, and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

Our family, with the exception of Boy2, loves the combination of peanut butter and chocolate. We're tempted to test the DNA of Boy2 due to the fact that he despises peanut butter. Pretty sure we could have a real life "switched at birth" story. At school one day, the class made no-cook peanut butter cookies. I received a note, which included a smiley face, from the teacher. Boy2 told the class: "My mom made these and I don't like them". Great... the kid is giving the impression that I'm horrible in the kitchen.

Darling has a mad obsession with it. She'll eat peanut butter straight from the jar. But who am I kidding... most of us do that. Right?

Today I'm bringing you peanut butter & chocolate chip muffins with a chocolate drizzle. These muffins will quiet the peanut butter beast within anyone. Well, for a few minutes anyway. Just until you realize you must eat another one before someone else nabs it.

Muffins:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups white sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup chocolate chips

For drizzle:

1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 tbsp shortening

Combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, combine egg, butter, milk and vanilla. Mix well. Add peanut butter and mix well again. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Add chocolate chips and stir.

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a muffin pan with olive oil or cooking spray. Pour muffin mix into pan (about 3/4 full). (You could also use a loaf pan and make a bread loaf. I'm guessing: preheat 350 and bake for 1 hour.)

Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

While the muffins cool, melt together chocolate chips and shortening. About 50-60 seconds in the microwave. Stir until smooth.

Drizzle chocolate on top of cooled muffins. Adding drizzle is like bedazzling your muffin! Transforms it from "looks good" to "looks irresistible".

Enjoy!

Shrimp Tacos, Refried Beans & Pico De Gallo

**Shamefully walks into blog world**

Wowza! Has it really been over 2 months since our last post? Sorry about that! Life got a little overwhelming and unfortunately the blog was put on my back burner. I've returned now that life is slowly getting back to normal.

Quite a few years ago, Husband and I went to our favorite Mexican restaurant and by mistake, shrimp fajitas were placed in front of me. I love shrimp... but on tacos? I wasn't sure. I placed my "what-ifs" aside and dove in. To this day, it is a meal I remember very well. It definitely made my top 5 best meals.

Today I am bringing this really great meal to you! I'm also providing a simple refried beans recipe and an even simpler pico de gallo recipe.

Shrimp Fajita Tacos (adapted from Eating Richly)


1 package shrimp (medium, large or jumbo)
2-3 limes, squeezed
1/2 cup (loosely packed) cilantro, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp kosher salt

2 green peppers, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
Soft shell flour tortillas
Sour cream for taco and/or beans

Clean and remove tails from shrimp. Place shrimp in a ziploc bag and set aside.

In a bowl, stir together lime juice, cilantro, garlic and seasonings. Pour over shrimp, seal bag removing as much air as possible and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

While the shrimp marinades, steam the sliced peppers and onions with a bit of water in a frying pan for 8-10 minutes.

Preheat broiler.

After shrimp has marinaded, distribute shrimp evenly in a 9x13 pan, pour remaining marinade over shrimp. Add steamed peppers and onions to the pan and broil for 10ish minutes or until shrimp is pink.

Refried Beans (a healthier version) (adapted from Allrecipe)

2 ¼ cups dry (rinsed) pinto beans

1 onion, peeled and halved

2 tbsp chopped green chiles

1 tbsp chopped fresh garlic

2 tsp salt

1 ¼ tsp ground black pepper

1/8 tsp ground cumin

6 cups water

Combine ingredients in a slow cooker. Turn cooker to high and cook for 8 hours. Check periodically, add water if necessary. I ended up adding about 1 cup half way through.

When ready, drain beans but save the juice/liquid and set it aside. Place beans in a bowl and mash them. I used Kenny, my stand mixer, and he did a superior job. Once mashed, add some of the juice/liquid you set aside earlier. Add until you are happy with the consistency. Place refried beans back into the slow cooker (on low) until you are ready to serve.

Pico De Gallo

2 large tomatoes, diced

1 jalapeno, finely chopped & seeds removed (if you enjoy an extra kick, leave the seeds)

1 onion, chopped

1/4-1/2 cup (loosely packed) cilantro, chopped

1 1/2 tbsp white sugar (consider this an "add to taste" ingredient)

Combine all ingredients and gently stir. Really... that's it. (Note: Instead of jalapenos, I used the remaining green chiles from the refried beans). Use Pico for a side dish or a topping for taco.

There you have it... a very satisfying, delicious meal.

Refrigerate leftovers and enjoy for lunch or dinner the following day. Pico can be used as a salsa too!

Fly on the wall

Have you ever thought about what people might think if they saw what goes on behind-the-scenes at your house? Do you ever wonder what it would be like to catch a glimpse of someone else’s daily life? Here’s your chance. Today 13 bloggers are inviting you into their homes to be a fly on the wall.

 

Buzz around, see what you think, then click on these links for a peek into some other homes:

www.BakingInATornado.com

http://www.justalittlenutty.com/                              

http://followmehome.shellybean.com                      

http://stacysewsandschools.wordpress.com/             

http://sadderbutwiser.wordpress.com/                

http://menopausalmother.blogspot.com/                  

http://mooreorganizedmayhem.blogspot.com/       

http://hypnoticbard.blogspot.com/                                   

http://mybrainonkids.net/                                                                       

http://smn0409.blogspot.com/

www.therowdybaker.com

http://www.findingfelicity.com

http://caramelliving.blogspot.com/

A few nights ago husband and I were preparing the boys for bed. Boy2 was slurping on a go-gurt as a last minute snack. When it was his time to get PJs on I asked where the wrapper was. 

Me: "Where's the go-gurt wrapper?"

Boy2 brings hands to mouth and giggles

Me - scanning the room, sniffing the air, chuckling at his mischievousness: "I can smell it. Where is it?" 

Boy2 giggles more

Me: "Seriously kid, where is it?"

Husband: "Come on, tell us."

Boy2 has a major case of the giggles going on and points at husband sitting on the bed

Boy2: "Daddy is sitting on it." Uncontrollable giggles are escaping him. 

We all bust a gut laughing as husband stands up with a go-gurt wrapper stuck to his ass. 

Tip: freeze a tube and add it to a lunchbox. By lunch time they are unfrozen, but still chilled

The scene as "Ultimate Romantic Husband" walks into the kitchen...

URH: *belch*

URH: "Can I grab your boob?" 

This is real, people. I really got this lucky!

This is a short homework assignment Darling (15 y/o) did for school. The idea was to write a brief, but precise set of instructions on how to make or do something. She melts my heart at the end, it's the simple things :)

"Before when I was younger my mom would make me my favorite sandwich, peanut butter and jelly. She would start by gathering the materials. She pulls out creamy peanut butter, strawberry jelly, wheat bread, a knife and a plate. After this she would open the peanut butter and use the knife to swiftly scoop some out. Then she spread the peanut butter evenly throughout both pieces of bread. Next she would take out the jelly and spread it nicely on the peanut butter slices. After this is done she would put the two pieces together. She would then do my favorite part. My mom would cut from one corner of bread to the opposite corner making two triangles. Finally I would eat the sandwich. Now that I am older I make my own sandwiches I make them the exact same way as my mom except I leave out one part. I don’t cut them into triangles. I don’t have time to waste cutting the sandwich in half. Even if I did have enough time I wouldn’t make the triangles as great as my mom can do."

The gym is quite possibly the most embarrassing place for me. Here's just one of my episodes:

*During a lower body workout, we were working the crap out of our legs. After about 25 minutes of this, our instructor told us to do a tricky jump move. She showed us. Looked easy enough. Well, when you have weak wobbly legs... this move is not easy. I jumped and landed straight on my ass. As luck would have it, I was in the front row of class that night.

Boy3 walks up to me with the sweetest look on his face. I'm cooking lunch. I smile at him. He turns around, points his butt in my direction and blows me a toot. He giggles his little face off and runs away. Momma's smile removed. 

Naptime:

Me to Boy3: “Go lay back down”

Boy3: “No, you go lay down”

If only I could take demands from my 2 year old…

Boy1 says he can run in a circle for one hour. I accept his challenge and set the timer...
The running starts,

Shirt ripped off at 12 minutes,

Stopped at 23 minutes. He didn't make it an hour but I was still impressed.

Good job kiddo! 

And lastly I'll leave you with this thought....

Toys are constantly spread across the living floor. Some even find there way into the kitchen either on the floor, the counter or the table. A lot of days I can handle the "bless this mess" condition of my house. Other days I am so ready to be rid of matchbox cars, Legos, trains and toy remotes. 

When I have these frustrating moments I often remind myself that when the toys go away so do the little boys. I remind myself to enjoy this day, forget about the mess, because I'll never get these moments back. My little men will grow up in a blink of an eye. I will watch them graduate, move away and start their adult lives. I will think to myself how much I miss those little feet padding across the hardwood floor and the creative imaginations that explode out of them at playtime and the wonder in their eyes when they discover something new and exciting. 

For Darling, she's 15 already. The tears escape as I know she'll be leaving for college in 3 years. I already miss the little sassy version of herself. Her and I butt heads often, but our bond is incredible. She is a daughter anyone would be proud to have. She will do good things with her life. She already makes this world a better and brighter place. 

**I don't take credit for any of the photos. All photos were taken from Pinterest.