Number 3 shaped cake tutorial

I've decided that it'll be fun to always make a cake for Hannah shaped in the number of years she is turning. I made her a two last year and I hope to continue the tradition for a while. So, this past October little Hannah turned three! Crazy. How can she be three already? Anyway, I wanted to make her a three cake so I looked on pinterest and came up with a design to make a number 3 shaped cake. I asked Hananh what she wanted on her cake and she told me "blue flowers". I asked her again a week later and she said "blue flowers" so I guess since she didn't change her mind that's what she really wanted. I'm not big into having fake food coloring in my cake decorations but since it was her one request and since it would be a small part of the cake I figured it would be okay. Plus it's hard to find natural things to turn fondant blue (I even asked a pastry chef). But Hannah loved her cake so all the work was worth it. I really do love making cakes for my littles!

 I'll just let you browse through the photos rather than trying to explain every little cut. Sometimes photos really do speak louder than words! Start with two bundt or jello molds! You want doughnut shapes! This cake is pretty simple and only requires you to cut two pieces from each circle.

 This was my first time making fondant and it actually was fairly easy to do and turned out pretty good. I just did melted marshmallows and powdered sugar. I didn't really plan on eating it (or having others eat it) so I wasn't too worried about the flavor but they were okay to eat as well as pretty. It's kind of a pain to get the marshmallows to mix with the powdered sugar at first but eventually it's like working with a regular dough.

 I bought the little flower cutters at Hobby Lobby and I love the different shapes and colors of the flowers! It was a good choice because hand cutting flowers wouldn't have been so pretty.

 So, I crumb coated my cake...

 Then added a final coat of frosting.

 Here's my tip...If you are writing something on your cake use a dowel or tooth pick to write it out first!! Then if you mess up you can just smooth out the frosting and try again before you add your colored frosting to the cake!!!

 I love how it turned out and can't wait to see what Hannah will want on her "4" cake!!

 Oh and put the leftover cake to good use...make cake balls and just mix the cake with some leftover frosting then dip them in melted chocolate after they're frozen!

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Tshirts to maxi skirt

Now that I'm working outside my home I can no longer wear my "mom uniform" (yoga pants and a tshirt). So I've had to get creative with the seven pieces of clothes that I have that are actually acceptable to wear, in public, to my job...and that don't make me feel totally uncomfortable. I've even gotten brave enough to wear two different skirts. Don't drop over in shock!! I really do not generally wear skirts...ever. Okay, maybe on Easter and to a wedding but that's it. But that may change...if I continue to find skirts as comfortable as the ones I wore this week. I saw the idea for this skirt on pinterest....another shocker right (although now I can't find it, go figure)?! 

I was able to make this skirt in about 45 minutes and it cost me $9...well, actually a little less than $9 because each shirt was $3 and I didn't use any shirt in its entirety. I just cut the shirts under the armpits and cut the bottom hem off the black and green shirts. I kept the hem on the white shirt so that I wouldn't have to create a new hem! Then I sewed the shirts together using a zig-zag stitch and created a casing for my elastic, put elastic in and I had a skirt! Now, since I'm no "sewing with knits" expert this skirt does have a few areas that pucker a bit between the green and black because it stretched more than it should have but once I ran my iron over it that helped smooth it out a bit (go figure, an iron making things smooth! ha!).  

This skirt is SOOOO comfortable! It's the next best thing to my yoga pants!! I still get to wear tshirts to work...they are just disguised as a cute skirt! I have a few more shirts in my closet that I am planning on using for another skirt! At this rate, I could be wearing skirts much more often...but don't hold me to it!

What have you made lately from old or new cheap tshirts?

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Zucchini Chips

Did you plant a garden this year? I didn't exactly plant a garden but I've got a few plants in some big buckets in my backyard. I've got three tomato plants, a cucumber, a yellow long neck squash and a green pepper plant. So far we've not been able to eat anything from my plants and that's okay because I can see they're coming and I planted them pretty late. However, we are eating veggies straight from the garden...the garden of my friend! So blessed my friend Barb thought of us to bring her extra veggies too. Thanks Barb! We have enjoyed a cucumber and some cherry tomatoes in pasta salad. We've used some tomatoes in homemade salsa to go along with homemade tortillas, re-fried beans and some cucumbers in the cucumber sour cream.

She also brought me three pretty big zucchini. The people in my house do not care for zucchini...well, they didn't care for zucchini until I made it like this!! As I was cutting the zucchini into 1/4 inch "chips" the kids were like "what is that?", "I don't like that" etc. I told them they had to give it a chance and taste at least one piece once it was cooked. And they ate more than one piece!! We gave them each three pieces to start with and they know they need to clean their plate before they get anything else so Naomi did eat hers but told me later that she didn't really care for them. She said they were okay but not her favorite. However, Micah had a different story. He LOVED the zucchini and ate his three pieces and at least three more. We did serve it with ranch dressing so that may have helped a little ;) but he honestly liked the zucchini! Hannah didn't eat much that night so I'm not sure how much she liked them. Greg liked it too and he is one who normally would not eat zucchini...he does because he knows he should set a good example for the kids and for that I am grateful! He did tell me I could make it again so that's a good sign! I LOVED the zucchini this way but I don't mind zucchini at all.

So here's how I made the zucchini chips.

Ingredients:
1 large zucchini cut into 1/4 inch circles
2 egg whites
bread crumbs
parmesean cheese
garlic
oregano
(other herbs or spices that you like)

Here's the lowdown and then I'll give you a few more details.
Cut the zucchini into 1/4 inch circles. Dip them in the egg whites, cover with the bread crumb mixture and then bake in a preheated 475 degree oven.

I did not measure my breadcrumbs, cheese, garlic or oregano. For the breadcrumbs I just used three pieces of bread and put them in my food processor to make crumbs! yay! Then I added the crumbs to a bowl added a good amount of cheese (probably 1/3 of the amount of bread crumbs) then I cracked some garlic on top of that and added some oregano. Feel free to use whatever spices and herbs your family likes. I was experimenting here and it turned out pretty good. If you like a little heat add some red pepper flakes (I think that'd be good but if I did that I'd probably have to eat the zucchini chips alone!)

 So dip the zucchini slice in the egg whites and flip so both sides get coated.

 Then do the same thing with the bread crumbs.

 Then line the pieces on a sprayed baking sheet. And put in a preheated oven (475)

 Then set the timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes flip the pieces over. Then start the timer again. After another 10 minutes flip them over again and set the timer for another 10 minutes and do this until you get the desired "doneness" that you are looking for. I think (if I remember correctly) that I flipped my pieces 4 times for a total of 40 minutes. They were brown but not crispy. They were a little bit chewy and not crunchy but we didn't mind that texture. I think you'd have to leave them in there for at least 50-60 minutes to get them crispy like chips because they have such a high water content...then I'd be worried about the breading getting burned. But just keep checking them every 10 minutes until they look good.

 This is our finished product!! YUM!!

I hope that you will give this a try it's just another way to use all that great produce. There are a few other zucchini recipes that our family likes to eat (cheeseburger zucchini casserole and chocolate zucchini bread) because the zucchini is pretty good at hiding in them! Even though the zucchini is hiding it's a good way to get some more greens!

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Bleach Pen T-shirt tutorial

I've shared the freezer paper stencil tutorial before and I LOVE a good freezer stencil painted shirt with clean edges, not much mess and quick turn around time. But some shirts call for a little more spontaneity...a little more blurred edges...a little easier prep (albeit with a longer wait time).

The bleach pen shirts are so easy to do, you just have to wait a while for the bleach to work...

I have used bleach pens on shirts in the past...

and this one...link on the picture.


Those were pretty easy to do since I just made straight lines with no significant design. I knew I wanted Micah to have a flag on his shirt since the girls had a flag on their shirts so I was trying to figure out the easiest way to make that happen. Of course freezer paper stenciling came into mind and while it always turns out great it's kind of a long process with having to cut everything with an exacto knife (because I'm not cool enough to have a silhouette machine that would cut the freezer paper for me) so I decided that I'd use the bleach pen. At first I couldn't figure out the best way to make sure the flag actually looked like a stencil. But then I remembered how I would get my scripture verses onto my paintings so I could paint the words in a way that was actually legible. So...here's how I did it...

I printed out the flag stencil that I wanted to use. I got my stencil from here. Then I colored on the back of the stencil with some colored chalk (sidewalk chalk totally works if that's all you have on hand). Then (with a piece of cardboard inside the shirt) I just traced over the stencil and the chalk was left on the shirt where I traced! This method also works on canvas (that's why my scripture paintings come out just like the font most times :)...my secret it out!).

Then I just traced over the lines with my bleach pen and called it good. Please make sure to put newspaper or cardboard inside the shirt, otherwise you'll have the reverse image on the back of the shirt ;)

Then you just wait...wait...and wait some more.

Then you rinse the bleach (which has gotten crusty) off in the sink and dry the shirt. You can wash it right away too if you'd like. I didn't have time to wash it. I didn't wait long enough for the bleach to do it's magic either. I think I may go back and put the bleach on again to get a more "white" flag. One way to tell if the bleach is working or to see how much more time you might need it to look on the inside of the shirt. The thing with bleach pens is they do tend to 'bleed' a little bit so don't try to do some really detailed picture...it won't work very well.

Here's my crew in their Patriotic ensemble! 

 And here's one photo from our sparkler fun on the fourth! I will be sharing more later on my blog!!

Hope you had a great and fun Fourth of July!! Here's to more summer fun!!

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Stadium cake tutorial

I love to make my kids birthday cakes. I give them a few days to think over what kind of cake they want and then I think through how I'm going to make it. I love to try new things and I love a good challenge. So when Micah told me that he wanted a baseball cake "but not just the ball, the kind with dirt" I knew that a field wouldn't be too difficult and I thought it would be fun. Then the night before his birthday I was thinking more and more about the field and I thought, I could make this even better. I will not only make him a field I will make him a stadium. I thought about what pans to use and how to shape the cake just so...and this is what I came up with. Please remember I'm a mother with four kids not a professional cake decorator. So is this perfect? no. But I LOVE how it turned out and I'm proud that this is my first original creation!! I loved that when Greg looked at the cake and said "is this from pinterest?" I could say "NO. I thought this one up on my own" That's not to say that someone else hasn't made a cake like this it's just saying that I didn't have a tutorial to look at or any photos of stadium cakes filling my head when I made this. That's probably why I like it so much, I don't have the perfect pinterest picture to compare it to!!

Here's how I did it. I bake my homemade chocolate cake (Betty Crocker) in two 9inch round pans. I then frosted the bottom layer with green homemade butter frosting (Betty Crocker). I took the top layer and cut a big chunk out of the middle by holding my knife at an angle to get the "stadium seat" feel.


 Then I just put the top layer on and covered up the green frosting with parchment paper. Don't forget to put a little parchment paper on your serving plate too so that the frosting doesn't get on it.

 I frosted the top layer and sides with white frosting and then added sprinkles to be the crowd. Then I took some parchment paper and cut out the shape of the dirt so that I could add some crushed graham crackers to be the dirt. At this point the green frosting was getting a little hard so I had to "break up" the top part in order to get it sticky again. Then I put the graham cracker crumbs down and carefully peeled the parchment paper off.

 I frosted the sides a little more and tried to make it as smooth as possible. I could have added more detail but I really wanted the focus to be on the field since that it was Micah requested in the first place. I also added some flags and a "welcome to Micah Stadium" sign! Micah loved his cake and we all enjoyed eating it as well. Here's an obscene amount of photos of the cake...can't help myself!

Here's my sweet little five year old!! Love him!!

I'm throwing him a "friend" baseball party today so next week I'll be back with some details about the party!! Have a great week!

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