Light Saber Cake & Yoda Soda

My son, Carson, wanted a Star Wars Birthday Party.  This is the easiest cake we could come up with.

The Cake: (try to ignore the seams in the fondant)

Make a regular 9 x 13 cake.  Cut into 3 strips and lay end to end.  Frost the "light" part of the light saber and cover with Marshmallow Fondant.  Then frost the handle with gray frosting (vanilla frosting with a little black food coloring) and pipe black frosting for details. 

This was a team effort with my husband.  He is awesome!

Yoda Soda is this... green Kool Aid.  And if you can't find green Kool Aid like I couldn't last night at Walmart, buy the invisible Kool Aid and add green food coloring.  It was really cool (and simple) and the kids loved it.

Pumpkin Pancakes

I was going to do this for our Halloween breakfast, but we were dragging in the morning and let's be honest, it was just easier to have cereal.  But for lunch, I made Pumpkin Pancakes.  The idea had actually just come to me early early that morning and I didn't have a recipe.  But I figured, how hard could it be?  It was super easy and they were actually really good.  I was scared they would be awful but everybody loved them!

 If I had been better prepared, I would have tried to actually make them look like pumpkins.  My kids thought that was more of the idea vs. taste.  So after this first batch, I added red and yellow food coloring to make theirs orange.  Sorry, no pics of that.

Ingredients:

2 Cups Bisquick

1 Cup Milk

2 Eggs

1/4 Cup canned Pumpkin

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Cloves

1/4 tsp. Ginger

1/4 tsp. Nutmeg

And a couple drops of Vanilla

Mix it all together and cook on your greased griddle.  Serve with Maple Syrup. 

Chocolate and Caramel Rice Krispey Treats

 I got this awesome recipe from my sister, Suzie. 

  Rice Krispey Treats:

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp. Margarine or Butter

1 10 oz package of Marshmallows

6 Cups of Rice Krispies

Directions:  

Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat.  Add marshmallows and stir until almost completely melted.  If you let them cook for too long, your Rice Krispey Treats will be hard.  Remove from heat.  Fold in cereal until completely coated.  Spray a baking sheet with Pam and press mixture into the pan.

Caramel:

Ingredients:

1 Cup Butter - 2 Cubes

2 Cups Brown Sugar

1 Cup Corn Syurp

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 tsp. Vanilla

Directions:

Add all ingredients in a sauce pan.  Bring to a rolling boil for about 4 minutes stirring almost constantly.  Remove from heat.  

You have to watch it very carefully so it doesn't burn.  I have an electric stove (that I despise) and I turned my back for 2 seconds and mine was well on its way to burning.  So be very careful!

This makes a lot of caramel so you can use about half for this and use the rest for Caramel Popcorn, Caramel Apples, whatever. Or just cut the recipe in half!

Additional Ingredients:

1 bag of White Chocolate Chips

1/2 Bag of Milk Chocolate Chips

Melt white chocolate chips in microwave for 30 second intervals stirring after each time.  Spread over Rice Krispey Treats.  Drizzle caramel over the white chocolate.  Melt half a bag of milk chocolate chips also in 30 second intervals and drizzle over the caramel.  Let set, cut, and serve!

Chicken & Stuffing Casserole

I know this is a very basic and common recipe which you may already have, but I'm posting it anyway, even if it is just for my own use.

1-2 Boxes of Stove Top - depends on how much you like

2 Chicken Breasts

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

1/3 Cup Mayo

Cook and cube chicken.  

Make Stove Top Stuffing.

Mix together the Cream of Chicken Soup and Mayo.  Add the cubed chicken.  

Layer in baking dish half of the stuffing, then the chicken mixture, then top with the rest of the stuffing.

 Cook at 350 for a half hour or until warmed through.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

or another way to serve it...

 I made this for a Halloween party and I forgot to bring my dishes (and more importantly, leftovers) home.  Guess I'll just have to make it again!

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened 

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

salt and pepper to taste

1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a small baking dish.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, garlic, basil, salt and pepper. Gently stir in artichoke hearts and spinach.
3. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake in the preheated oven 25 minutes, until bubbly and lightly browned.

Pumpkin Cake

I got this recipe from my friend Angie, who got it from My Kitchen Cafe.  They call them Pumpkin Bars but I made it in a cake pan so then it was a cake!  Either way, it's really really yummy.  I also added some spices that they didn't have in theirs.

I made this for my friend Laura's birthday so there are sprinkles on it in case you're wondering what that is.

Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Icing:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 cube of butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350. Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda. Mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 x 9 baking pan.  Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

To make the icing:  Soften the cream cheese and the butter.  Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on the cake.

If I'm Not Baking...

... I'm crafting!
I started a new blog for my crafty side.  I hope you'll check it out!
http://blossomsofblue.blogspot.com/