Landon's 3rd Birthday Cake

This cake is for our little Rock Star who turned 3 today. I will admit, definitely not my best work. But in my defense, it was 8:00 at night after a long day of partying. Is that spelled right? Looks weird.
Anyway.... again, not a homemade cake or frosting, but I'm kind of proud of my work so I thought I'd post it. I'll have another shot at this cake next week when we have a friend birthday party and I will be privelaged enough to make it again. At least I have a better idea of what I'm doing now. Oh, and if you know what guitars actually look like, please don't look too closely. Thanks!

This was after his bath or he would have still had his mohawk done. And no, it's not a real mohawk, it's a foax-hauk but his hair is just that light and thin so you can't really see it here.

Artichoke Cups

This is a Pampered Chef recipe that I got while I was an independent consultant for The Pampered Chef.

Love Love Love these. Definitely my go to appetizer recipe.

1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
24 square Won Ton Wrappers
1 Can (14 oz.) Artichoke hearts in water, drained
1/2 medium Red Bell Pepper
1/4 cup (1 oz) grated fresh Parmesan Cheese - If I hear of any of you using parmesan out of a can, you are in big trouble!
1 Lemon
2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh Parsley
1/2 Cup (2 oz.) shredded Mozzarella
1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
1 Garlic clove, minced
Additional grated fresh Parmesan cheeese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush one side of won top wrappers with vegetable oil with a pastry brush. Press wrappers into mini muffin pan. Bake 6 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from oven, leave in pan.

Meanwhile, coarsely chop artichokes, put in large bowl. Remove seeds from pepper and chop. Grate parmesan; zest lemon. Finely chop parsley. Add pepper, parmesan, lemon zest, parsley, mozzarela, mayo, and garlic to the artichokes.

Fill won tons wtih mixture. Sprinkle with more parmesan. Bake 8 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan, serve immediately!

Cornish Game Hens

This was our Christmas Eve dinner.
I made 10 Cornish Game Hens, Stuffing, Roasted Veggies, Artichoke Cups, and Rolls. For dessert, my mom made Haddon Hall Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce and Kathie made Egg Nog.
We ate very well.

I got the recipe for the Cornish Game Hens from another blog, The Open Pantry. Thanks so much for the help, Emily!

Garlic and Herb Roasted Cornish Game Hens
Recipe by: Emily

2 Cornish Game Hens, washed and dried
1/2 tsp dried Tarragon
1/2 tsp dried Thyme
1 tsp Parsley, dried
1 tsp Chives, dried
2-3 Garlic cloves, minced
1 Orange, cut into wedges
4 tbsp Butter, softened
3/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Black Pepper

1. Combine the butter, herbs, salt and pepper together. Smear each game hen with the butter. Be sure to lift the hen skin and rub the butter underneath and on top of the skin. Lightly sprinkle the hen cavities with salt and pepper and then fill each cavity with the orange wedges. Place hens on a baking sheet and tuck the wings underneath the bodies and then tie the drumbsticks together with kitchen twine. Bake in a 450 degree preheated oven for 55-60 minutes. After 15 minutes cover the hens with foil to keep them from over browning and then remove the foil for the last 5 minutes to crisp the skin. Allow hens to rest after baking for 5-10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!!!

Ham Fried Rice

I got this recipe from my mom. My exact words when she made this were, "That's not a main dish, that's a side dish!" What did I do? Ate it as my main dish and LOVED it. But you could also use it as a side dish. And I am not a mushroom lover, but I LOVE mushrooms in this dish.

2-3 Cups Minute Rice
1 -2 Cups Cubed Ham
1/2 Green Pepper
1 or 2 Celery Stocks - depending on how much you like celery
1 small can Mushrooms, drained - sometimes I add two because they are SO yummy
3 Green Onions
4 Tbsp. or so of Soy Sauce
2 Eggs

Wash and cut up vegetables and ham. Let cook over medium heat. In another pan, start boiling water for minute rice. Follow directions on box. When your vegetables are cooked, push to the side and add the eggs in the middle of the pan stirring them.  Once cooked (like scrambled eggs) then mix in with the other ingredients. Make sure the eggs are fully cooked. Then add rice and soy sauce.

Mozzarella Chicken

The Finished Product

I got this recipe from my sister, Suzie. Except she calls it Swiss Chicken because she uses swiss cheese. I use mozzarella because my hubby is lactose intolerant and mozzarella has lower levels of lactose.
Anyway... it is SUPER easy and delicious!

2 Chicken Breasts
8 oz Swiss or Mozzarella Cheese
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1-2 Cups of Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Stuffing (Pictured Below)

You can put the chicken breasts in the baking dish whole or cube them. My husband likes it cubed because each bite is then covered in the yummy gooeyness of it all.
Layer chicken, cheese, cream of chicken soup, then sprinkle uncooked stuffing on the top until completely covered, in that order.
Cook at 350 for 45 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

You can get this in any store. There is another package that is red, but buy the blue. The red has bigger chunks.

T-Rex Cake

Carson's 5th Birthday Cake

Recipe:
1 Cake Mix (plus ingredients to make it)
3 Cans of frosting
Food Coloring
:)

I took the easy way out.
Ok, again, I had to post it just cuz I'm proud of my accomplishment.
Maybe I should have made part of it from scratch so I could be helpful.

Tree Skirt

I had to post this even though it's not a recipe or even food. But I was very proud of myself. I didn't have a pattern but I was determined to make one. I really didn't think it would be as hard as it was. If I had had a pattern, it wouldn't have been bad.
My advice? Get a pattern.