Animal cupcakes

Catching up on some my fun creations, I realized I did not have a chance to share the super cute animal cakes and the strawberry parfaits from last year.  I try to keep it simple for first birthday parties, but I always love to have celebratory dessert.  Although my daughter had her own smash cake, her first experience with real sweets.

Elsa's FROZEN Castle Cake

After attending one of the best Frozen parties ever, my daughter begged for a Frozen castle cake for her birthday.  

 

"Sew-Dreamy" Button Cake

 

For my mom's birthday this year, I wanted to make her a special cake that captured her true passion- sewing and crafting.  The button cake was created because fondant buttons are adorable.  I have Pinterest board dedicated just to button cakes.  Check it out.  There are so many beautiful tiered cakes, but since there was only six of us, one tier would suffice.

Bowling Birthday Party

This last spring we celebrated my son's 8th birthday. Since he is now officially 8 1/2 years old, I cannot procrastinate posting about his wonderfully fun party any longer. Spring in our house is always a very busy time with many family birthdays and holidays to prepare for and celebrate. And then before you know it summer arrives with more busy fun and birthdays. This year time seems to have escaped faster than before especially realizing my little baby is now 8, well 8 1/2.   

Chocolate Ganache Crepe Cake with Strawberries

This is how I say "Happy Birthday" to my hubby- luscious layers of chocolate ganache and sliced strawberries in between layers of light fluffy crepes. This truly decadent cake was a hit at my husband's birthday dinner. 

Cosmic Space Alien Glowing Cupcakes

If you do not already know, I love home birthday parties. I love all the crafting, cooking decorating, and baking that goes into creating a special celebration for one of my little ones.

Chicken Rice Soup ~5 ingredients~ Kid Approved

I wanted to share this yummy, easy, kid-approved chicken and rice soup that my mother in law shared with me.  Within the last week, I have made it two times but with different flavors of rice.  The variations are different but delicious.

Orange Raisin Scones

Today I just had to make some classic scrumptious Orange Raisin Scones to go with my freshly brewed tea.  Have I mentioned I have been having fun lately with my new Keruig?  Thanks to my in-law's generous Christmas present, breakfast has been exciting. I get to brew fresh hot or over ice beverage of my choosing.  

Easy 5 Ingredient Homemade Fresh Mushroom Ravioli

I am always on the look out for fresh and homemade dinner ideas. With weekdays consisting multiple trips to school, sports and after school activities, difficult nap schedule from my youngest, and don't get me started on making sure homework is completed, most weeknights I really need a fast healthy dinner.  Many nights I have cooked "fast ravioli" that I purchased from the freezer section or refrigerated section of my grocery store.  Many choices are delicious and this method is indeed fast, but with my kids growing (can I say 7 yr old boy!) I would have to buy many packages to feed the beasts kids, not exactly budget friendly.  Making ravioli from scratch offers the benefit of making large quantities, but homemade ravioli always seemed like something I would need to dedicate an afternoon to making.  Honestly, dedicating an afternoon to make dinner is just not going to happen right now regardless how delicious the result.

Valentine's Day inspired by Pinterest

Last year while I was sick in bed for a couple months I developed a legitimate Pinterest obsession.  I loved Pinterest before, but since I was unable to craft, cook, or really anything, I would get my fix on looking at what everyone else was doing.  February was when I started to be able to get out of bed regularly and most food did not completely gross me out. I wanted to do some special things for my family for Valentine's Day to show them how much I loved them and missed them when I was sequestered in my room.  That's when I turned to all the  Valentine's Day projects inspired by ideas found on Pinterest!

No Fuss/ No Knead Bread

I was on Facebook last week when a recipe for "Crusty Bread" floated by. Normally i would just keep surfing, but when I saw that it was "No Knead Bread", I was intrigued. I have no need to knead!  Ok-sorry for the bad pun. But it is so true right now in my life. I need simple flexible recipes that can withstand dough being neglected and forgotten on the counter for an extra 5 hours while I tend to the needs of my 7 year old, 5 year old, and 7 month old. Even with my neglect, I still need the the bread to bake consistently delicious. Is that too much to ask????  With this bread, I get a resounding NO, it is not too much to ask.  

Consistently Awesome!!!

 With this ridiculously easy recipe, everyone (yes, even sleep deprived half crazy moms) can bake up artisan style quality bread that the whole family will "Ooo and Ahh" over.  
Can you tell Mama needed a win here?  

Let it Snow- Snowflake Shortbread Cookies

 

With all the concern in California about the drought, and it being the driest year in California's recorded history, I thought I would send out some "let it snow" ju-ju vibes with these gorgeous snowflake shortbread cookies my sister in law and I made over the holiday season.  Honestly, my husband and I wished to not have too much rain this winter because we are in the process of re-siding the house and indoor waterfalls are not a feature that I desire.  But drought conditions are definitely not what we had in mind.  So I hope that Mother Nature will grant us some late in the season snow for the Sierras and some much needed rain for us Foothillers. 

Ok- back to the cookies.  My sister-in-law, Sophia, does not bake much but wanted to make something to give to friends for a holiday treat.  When she asked for my help, I was so excited. We were able to carve out an afternoon where our schedules aligned during the busy holiday hustle and bustle. 

When planning we talked about a lot of different ideas including a the idea of a cookie plate.  Although cookie plates with the menagerie of sweets are wonderful to receive, it usually takes longer than an afternoon to make the many varieties of cookies needed for a proper plate.  So then we thought maybe a bold statement cookie might work where we could do something large enough so that there would be one per person. 

Two Ingredient Banana Oat cookies- NOT just for toddlers

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I don't know if you have seen this "recipe" floating around Pinterest, but when it popped up on the Food Network Blog that I follow, I just had to try it.  The post actually originally came from Foodlets and Charity from Foodlets credits Oprah.  Who knows where it started but I just have to say this mixture is GENIUS!!!

Princess Crown Cake using Cricut Cake

Last year I offered to make a princess themed cake for my niece's 5th birthday.  I was hoping to make a castle cake, but since we were going to deliver it to the party location about an hour a way, I could not risk a cake disaster.  I opted for a simple cake in shape, but enhanced the decoration with fondant.

Special Weekday Breakfast- 2 Ingredient Chocolate Croissants

 Today my kids deemed me the "coolest mom in the world!"  I am happy to accept this title especially because it was so easy to earn .  I made an extra special breakfast before school which consisted of "freshly baked" chocolate croissants, hard boiled eggs, and strawberries.  The latter 2 items are breakfast staples in our house, but the warm chocolate croissants are what won them over.

Green Smoothie 1

I am trying to incorporate more vegetables into my diet. My goal is leafy greens with every meal. Breakfast can be a bit tricky but there is always the smoothie.

Cars Lightening McQueen Cake

If you spend anytime with my nephew, you know he loves anything CARS.  One of my fondest memories happened last Thanksgiving evening after the celebration of day was winding down.  The kids settled in to watch a movie and snuggle with their stuffed animals.   Max declined an animal.   He was set- he had his matchbox cars to snuggle with.  So, it was no surprise that when he turned three, he had a CARS themed birthday party.  My sister in law was so sweet to let me to make Max his cake.

 At the time of the party, I did something a little new for me, a character cake on top of large 16" split and filled round.  The bottom cake was covered in fondant and the top character layer was decorated with butter cream. Since then I have made this cake which is another character cake on top of a large round.

Wilton Race Car Cake

This is the cake pan I used.  I modified the race car to create "Lightening McQueen." for the top.

The party was super fun and I am so glad I was able to celebrate!

Happy Creating,
Stacey

Cookie Pops

When it comes to cookies, the bigger the better!  Unfortunately, a bouquet of over-sized cookies expertly decorated are beautiful but typically taste like an arts and crafts project- paste and cardboard.  I wanted to create a large themed cookie to be used for a cookie pop for parties or gifts but it needed to be tasty.   Sugar cookies are the traditional cookies to decorate for this purpose, but I only like sugar cookies if they are soft.  So I began exploring the quandary.  A cookie that is soft enough to taste yummy and freshly baked, but firm enough hold up when attached to a stick and vertically displayed.  

Superhero Cake

This year, my boy had a Superhero birthday party.  He loves all superheroes is fascinated about the different super powers.  I knew I had to make him a cake that would encompass more than one character.  After my friend sent me a couple of pictures of some amazing superhero cakes, I knew I could tackle my own version.    

A couple years ago, my mom and my kids made a superman cake for my husband's birthday from a vintage Wilton character pan.

Ombre Mini Tiered Cake

Happy Birthday to me!  Yes, I made myself a birthday cake, but it isn't as sad as it sounds.  I enjoy the process of making cakes.  It is delicious art!   It was a birthday treat to be able to experiment without the pressure.