Tag Archives: food

Spaghetti Pie

25 May

Spaghetti Pie FinalThere was one unusual thing that my mom would make us as kids that my friends always loved:  Spaghetti Pie.  It is a very simple recipes that offers a unique experience and, if there are kids around, will have them begging their parents to make it too.  My friend, Jane, came over on my Birthday with breakfast and a little crumb cake with a candle on it.  We decided to have Jane and her son over for Spaghetti Pie.  Not only are the ingredients simple, if you have a gluten-free diet you can use this recipe as well.

Spaghetti Pie

Makes:  3 -4 pies

Ingredients:

  • 1 box of spaghetti (You can use gluten-free is needed.)
  • 1 small tub of ricotta cheese
  • 1 lb of shredded mozzarella or Italian cheese mix
  • 1/2 lb of ground meat (We used ground beef but you can use any ground meat or Italian sausage with the casings removed.  My sister once did this step with TVP.)
  • 1 jar of marinara-based sauce or make your own
  • 6 eggs
  • 3 – 4 pie tins

Directions:

  1. Cook the spaghetti as directed on the packaging.
  2. While the spaghetti is cooking, brown the ground meat.  You can season it if you like with some garlic.
  3. Prepare you pie tins by greasing them with the oil of your choice.
  4. Beat the 6 eggs in a small bowl.
  5. After the spaghetti is cooked, drain thoroughly and divide into the pie tins.  You may need to press down with a spoon to help it fill the tin to look crust-like.
  6. Pour the egg around the edges of the pie tin coating the outer “crust” of your pie.
  7. Pour a good amount of sauce in the center of each pie.
  8. Top the sauce with the ground meat.
  9. Top the meat with the ricotta cheese.
  10. Top the ricotta cheese with a little bit more sauce.
  11. Top the pies with the shredded cheese.  (If you choose to prepare this a day ahead, save this step until halfway through cooking the pie.)
  12. Bake for 35 minutes as 350 degrees.  (If you are putting it in the oven from the refrigerator, bake for 45 minutes at 400 degrees.)

Spaghetti Pie 1Spaghetti Pie 2Spaghetti Pie 3Spaghetti Pie4Spaghetti Pie 5Spaghetti Pie 6

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Frozen Party Theme

29 Apr

Did I mention being a bit behind? Also a bit out of order? Although I just posted my son’s birthday cake for this year, his sibling’s birthday was February 2nd but I haven’t shared their special cake….or should I say cakes.

Suuki really wanted to see the Broadway musical Matilda. Instead of a birthday party, they agreed to have two friends over to watch Frozen and have a mini-party.

Frozen 1The Frozen Cupcake

Ingredients:

  • 1 box of ice-cream sandwiches
  • 1 Wilton White Sugar Sheets Edible Decorating Paper
  • 1 Wilton Blue Sparkling Sugars
  • 1 Wilton White Pearlized Sugar Pearl Sprinkles 5oz
  • 2 tubs of White Frosting

Directions:

  1. Cut a ice-cream sandwich in half.Frozen cake
  2. Frost the top of one side and place the other side on top.  This will create a layer effect.
  3. frost the outside of the layered ice-cream sandwich.
  4. Place in the freezer.  Repeat until you have done all the ice-cream sandwiches this way.Frozen 2
  5. Freeze at least 1 hour before going to the next step.
  6. Frost the outside of each “frozen” cupcake once more.
  7. Sprinkle the top with Blue Sparkling Sugars and White Pearlized Sugar Pearl Sprinkles.
  8. Serve on light or aqua blue plates.

Frozen DrinkThe Frozen Float

Ingredients:

  • 1 carton of vanilla ice-cream
  • 1 blue colored juice (Note:  If you wish to avoid “bad colors” you can color white grape or apple juice with natural blue dye from Color Garden or another natural food color.)

Directions:

  1. Place 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream into a clear glass.  (I used plastic wine glasses.)
  2. Pour blue juice over the ice-cream.
  3. Serve on white plates with white spoons.

Now you are ready to pop some popcorn, slide Frozen into the Blu-Ray, and watch 3 8-year-olds sing through the entire movie.

The Family Cake

Frozen main cakeWe live in the same town with a lot of our family.  Both of my sisters live here with their families and my parents live here as well.  Family birthday cake time is a big production in our family.  Suuki has wanted 1 cake for the last year.  They saw this cake 2 weeks after their last birthday and never forgot it.  There is a bakery one town over called Carousel Cakes.  They sell a wonderful Blue Velvet Cake accented with silver pearls and sugar snowflake.  I used Wilton Blue Ready-To-Use Icing to write on the cake.

The Blue Velvet Cake is unique because it is vanilla.  My mom is allergic to chocolate so this is a nice change of pace from red velvet.   They also come in cupcake form.

Huge bonus:   They ship nationwide so you don’t need to live here to enjoy them.  Check their site out because they have amazing cakes of all kinds including a Pink Velvet Cake during the month of October with a $1 of the purchase going to breast cancer research.  Their Red Velvet Cake is apparently one of Oprah’s favorites that they renamed it:  Oprah Red Velvet Cake.

Matilda

MatildaAs for Matilda and our Mom & Me Night in Times Square, Suuki had a blast. We browsed through a few stores before eating at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company which, sadly, I felt was WAY overrated.  Shrimp should not really be almost clear.  At the theatre, I experienced massive sticker shock when we bought 2 ordinary-sized candies, a water, and an apple juice which totaled $24.  The play itself was wonderful and amusing.  Suuki said they was fighting herself not to sing along with the kids.

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Acorn Cookies

6 Dec

Acorn Cookies PlatterI made these little acorn cookies for my traditional, unique dessert that kids love.

Ingredients:

  • 2 bags of Hershey’s Kisses
  • 1 bag of peanut butter chips
  • 1 bag of Nutter Butter Bites
  • 1 tub of chocolate frosting

 Directions:

  1. Open each Nutter Butter Bite and scrap off the peanut butter filling.  (The kids likes tasting this.)
  2. Count each cookie you have and unwrap the same number of Hershey’s Kisses.  This step may take longer than you think.
  3. Dab a small amount of chocolate frosting to the base of the Hershey’s Kiss.  Press the frosting side down centered onto the flat side of the cookie.  Do this for each cookie and Hershey’s Kiss.
  4. Scoop some frosting onto a spoon.  Take a peanut butter chip and dip the bottom onto the spoon.  Press the chip, frosting side down centered onto the textured side of the cookie.  Do this for each cookie.
  5. Chill in the refrigerator to set the frosting for at least 2 hours.
  6. Arrange and enjoy.Acorn Cookie

Note:  For peanut-free alternative, use Nabisco Mini Nilla Wafers and butterscotch chips.

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Happy 50th Birthday, Doctor Who!

23 Nov

50TH CAKEy50th picChalk Big

In honor of the big day, I am reposting how to make Dalek cake toppers.  Who doesn’t want an edible Dalek?

IMG_0258 IMG_0256 IMG_0257

Dalek Cake Topper

Ingredients:

  • 6 flat bottomed ice-cream cones
  • 1 Wilton White Rolled Fondant 1.5lb
  • 1 Black Wilton Icing Color 1oz
  • 1 Brown Wilton Icing Color 1oz
  • 1 Golden Yellow Wilton Icing Color 1oz
  • 1 Black Pearlized Sugar Pearl Sprinkles 5oz
  • 10 pieces of black taffy (sold by the piece – 15 for $1 at Party City)
  • 4 pieces of white taffy (sold by the piece – 15 for $1 at Party City)
  • 1 pieces of blue taffy (sold by the piece – 15 for $1 at Party City)
  • 1 small package of thin pretzel sticks
  • 1 small package of powdered sugar (This is used to keep the fondant from sticking to table, rolling pin and pretty much anything.)

Directions:

It is a good idea to wear gloves on your hands for steps 2 – 9 to prevent turning your hands blackish brown.

  1. Stack 2 flat bottomed ice-cream cones into each other and turn upside down on a plate.
  2. Separate the fondant into 1 lb and 1/2 lb balls.
  3. Add black icing color to 1/2 lb ball of fondant and knead to desired grey color. (Note: You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  4. Add brown icing color and just a touch of golden yellow icing color to the 1 lb ball of fondant and knead to desired golden color. (Note: You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  5. Make 3 balls of golden fondant the diameter of a quarter and place to the side.
  6. Separate golden fondant into 3 even balls and then roll out the golden fondant with a rolling pin. (Note: You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  7. Place the golden fondant ball in top of the bottom of each ice cream cone and then carefully cover the whole thing with the golden fondant. you can tuck extra fondant under and into the cone to secure it. (Note: Have a small cup of water handy to use to seal the ends by rubbing it with water.)
  8. Roll out the grey fondant ball with a rolling pin. (Note: You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  9. Cut 3 – 1/2 inch strips of grey fondant. Wet the golden fondant on fattest part of the cone and wrap the grey fondant strip around it to form the Dalek base.
  10. Pour the black pearl sprinkles into a bowl. (Good time to remove gloves.)
  11. Do these next steps one cone at a time: Using your fingers, moisten the bottom of your Dalek just above the grey base to the dent where the cone tapers in.
  12. Carefully place the pearls onto the cone in 4 rows creating columns of “Dalek bumps” on your Dalek.
  13. Unwrap 2 pieces of white taffy and knead them until they are soft.
  14. Roll the taffy and cut into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and then form the lights on the top of the Dalek’s head. Moisten the area you wish to place the lights and the bottom of the lights. Press into place.
  15. Do the stripes one at a time. For each, unwrap 2 piece of black taffy and knead until soft.
  16. Roll the taffy into a thin string and cut it into 3rds. Wrap each piece around the base of your Dalek’s head.
  17. Unwrap a black piece and a white piece of taffy. You will need to pull them together over and over to create a grey piece of taffy.
  18. Break 3 pretzel sticks in half. Wrap one end of each with the grey taffy and shape into a eggbeater. Stick the other end, downward into the left side of the Dalek above the “Dalek bumps”. (The Dalek’s left but your right.)
  19. Unwrap the remaining black taffy and knead until soft. Mold the taffy to make 6 suction cups, 3 slight larger than the other 3.
  20. Stick a pretzel stick into the back of each suction cup and mold the taffy onto the pretzel.
  21. The larger suction cups are inserted on the opposite side from the grey beater shaped pretzels. These make up the Dalek arms.
  22. Unwrap and knead the blue piece of taffy. Form 3 small balls and place them instead the 3 remaining suction cups to be lights.
  23. Unwrap the knead the last piece of white taffy. Roll very thin, almost string like, and wrap around the middle of each suction cup pretzel remaining.
  24. Insert the last suction cup pretzels into the Dalek’s head, dead center.

stackedconesfondantcoveredconedalekbaseDalekbumpsheadlightdalekstripesDalektrio

 

Here is to 50 more years!!!!

Chalk Sky

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My ADHD Plate

22 Oct

IMG_4075Note:  I know it has been a while.  I have a slew of blogs to finish and catch up on but we have been moving and life has been busy.

Over the summer I participated in ADDitude magazine’s contest called My ADHD Plate.   Many of the recipes I shared came from these great recipes blogs and sites that are written  for those looking for healthier, gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, paleo, or allergy-free recipes:

Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom GF

Affairs of Living GF

All Day I Dream About Food

All Gluten Free Desserts All The Time GF

Allergy Free Alaska GF AF

Allergy Free Vintage Cookery AF

Book of Yum GF

Cassidy’s Craveable Creations GF DF

Conscious Eatery AF

Cook It Allergy Free AF

Cybele Pascal – The Allergy Friendly Cook AF

Dairy Free Betty DF

Deliciously Ella

Deliciously Organic

Die, Food Dye!

Eagle Loft Kitchen DF EF OF SoF WF

Elana’s Pantry GF

Feed Our Families

Food and Yoga for Life

Girl Meets Nourishment AF

Gluten Free Cat GF

Gluten Free Diva GF

Gluten Free Easily GF

Gluten Free Goddess GF

Green Lite Bites

Homemade Mommy

Jenn Cuisine GF

Lexie’s Kitchen DF EF GF

Livin’ The Crunchy Life

Living Without

Nom Nom Paleo P

PaleOMG P

Part Time Health Nut

Real Food Allergy Free AF

Real Sustenance GF

Sandi’s Allergy Free Recipes AF

She Let Them Eat Cake GF

Silvana’s Kitchen

Simply Gluten Free GF

Simply Sugar & Gluten Free GF SuF

Slava’s Recipes

Super Healthy Kids

Taste of Home

Tessa the Domestic Diva AF

The Allergy Menu AF

The Gluten Free Homemaker GF

The Healthy Foodie

The Mommy Bowl GF DF

The Paleo Mom P

The Spunky Coconut GF P

The WHOLE Gang GF

The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen GF

Well Cooked

AF = Allergy Free
DF = Dairy Free
EF = Egg Free
GF = Gluten Free
P = Paleo
SoF = Soy Free
SuF= Sugar Free
WF = Wheat Free

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Dalek Cake Topper

22 Apr

My son’s 10th birthday is tomorrow and last night he springs on me that he wants a Dalek birthday cake.  So I do a search all over the internet for different types of Dalek cakes, cupcakes, etc to see what I like and nothing really looked the way I wanted.  I had already gotten him his triple chocolate cake mix with the triple chocolate frosting so I came up with the idea to make an edible cake topper instead.  For his class, we ordered a cookie cake so I made sure to have an extra Dalek to put on top of that as well.  This is the first time I have ever tried using fondant so I don’t think I did too badly for a first try.

IMG_0258 IMG_0256 IMG_0257

Dalek Cake Topper

Ingredients:

  • 6 flat bottomed ice-cream cones
  • 1 Wilton White Rolled Fondant 1.5lb
  • 1 Black Wilton Icing Color 1oz
  • 1 Brown Wilton Icing Color 1oz
  • 1 Golden Yellow Wilton Icing Color 1oz
  • 1 Black Pearlized Sugar Pearl Sprinkles 5oz
  • 10 pieces of black taffy (sold by the piece – 15 for $1 at Party City)
  • 4 pieces of white taffy (sold by the piece – 15 for $1 at Party City)
  • 1 pieces of blue taffy (sold by the piece – 15 for $1 at Party City)
  • 1 small package of thin pretzel sticks
  • 1 small package of powdered sugar (This is used to keep the fondant from sticking to table, rolling pin and pretty much anything.)

Directions:

It is a good idea to wear gloves on your hands for steps 2 – 9 to prevent turning your hands blackish brown.

  1. Stack 2 flat bottomed ice-cream cones into each other and turn upside down on a plate.
  2. Separate the fondant into 1 lb and 1/2 lb balls.
  3. Add black icing color to 1/2 lb ball of fondant and knead to desired grey color.  (Note:  You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  4. Add brown icing color and just a touch of golden yellow icing color to the 1 lb ball of fondant and knead to desired golden color.    (Note:  You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  5. Make 3 balls of golden fondant the diameter of a quarter and place to the side.
  6. Separate golden fondant into 3 even balls and then roll out the golden fondant with a rolling pin.  (Note:  You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  7. Place the golden fondant ball in top of the bottom of each ice cream cone and then carefully cover the whole thing with the golden fondant.  you can tuck extra fondant under and into the cone to secure it.  (Note:  Have a small cup of water handy to use to seal the ends by rubbing it with water.)
  8. Roll out the grey fondant ball with a rolling pin.  (Note:  You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  9. Cut 3 – 1/2 inch strips of grey fondant.  Wet the golden fondant on fattest part of the cone and wrap the grey fondant strip around it to form the Dalek base.
  10. Pour the black pearl sprinkles into a bowl.  (Good time to remove gloves.)
  11. Do these next steps one cone at a time:  Using your fingers, moisten the bottom of your Dalek just above the grey base to the dent where the cone tapers in.
  12. Carefully place the pearls onto the cone in 4 rows creating columns of “Dalek bumps” on your Dalek.
  13. Unwrap 2 pieces of white taffy and knead them until they are soft.
  14. Roll the taffy and cut into 6 pieces.  Roll each piece into a ball and then form the lights on the top of the Dalek’s head.  Moisten the area you wish to place the lights and the bottom of the lights.  Press into place.
  15. Do the stripes one at a time.  For each, unwrap 2 piece of black taffy and knead until soft.
  16. Roll the taffy into a thin string and cut it into 3rds.  Wrap each piece around the base of your Dalek’s head.
  17. Unwrap a black piece and a white piece of taffy.  You will need to pull them together over and over to create a grey piece of taffy.
  18. Break 3 pretzel sticks in half.  Wrap one end of each with the grey taffy and shape into a eggbeater.  Stick the other end, downward into the left side of the Dalek above the “Dalek bumps”.  (The Dalek’s left but your right.)
  19. Unwrap the remaining black taffy and knead until soft.  Mold the taffy to make 6 suction cups, 3 slight larger than the other 3.
  20. Stick a pretzel stick into the back of each suction cup and mold the taffy onto the pretzel.
  21. The larger suction cups are inserted on the opposite side from the grey beater shaped pretzels.  These make up the Dalek arms.
  22. Unwrap and knead the blue piece of taffy.  Form 3 small balls and place them instead the 3 remaining suction cups to be lights.
  23. Unwrap the knead the last piece of white taffy.  Roll very thin, almost string like, and wrap around the middle of each suction cup pretzel remaining.
  24. Insert the last suction cup pretzels into the Dalek’s head, dead center.

stackedconesfondantcoveredconedalekbaseDalekbumpsheadlightdalekstripesDalektrio

Tristan Cake 1Tristan Cake 2

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ANZAC Biscuits (Cookies)

18 Apr

IMG_4075For the multicultural event that I mentioned in earlier posts like Homemade Girl’s Kapa Haka, I made ANZAC Biscuits as my food sample for New Zealand because ANZAC Day is next week on April 25th. I did research online to modify the recipe to American standards. I was lucky to find golden syrup at our local supermarket because we have a large Irish presence in our town but for most Americans you will have to use the substitution. I baked 266 cookies but somehow only 240 made it to the event. My family wouldn’t stop eating them.

ANZAC Biscuits (Cookies)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup white flour
  • 1 cup oatmeal (not instant)
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
  • ½ cup butter
  • 2 TBSP golden syrup (You can substitute 1 TBSP light corn syrup & 1 TBSP molasses)
  • ½ TSP baking soda
  • 1 TBSP water

Directions:

  1. Sift flour into bowl.  Add the sugar, oatmeal, and coconut.
  2. Melt butter in a saucepan and then add the golden syrup and water.
  3. Stir baking soda into the liquid mixture.
  4. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and mixture thoroughly.
  5. Place walnut-sized balls of mixture onto a greased cookie pan.
  6. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes.
  7. Biscuits will harden when cool.

Yields:  10 – 15 3-inch cookies or 20 – 30 1 ½-inch cookies

(Note:  I used a mini ice-cream scoop to help keep my cookies the same size.)

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Lego Cakes

12 Jan

legocakeSomehow I found myself in the position of the one person who brings the unusual and fun dessert the kids all love.   In keeping up with this tradition, this past Labor Day I made Lego cakes. Using the basic recipe idea from Betty Crocker.  I modified it a little because I find the Wilton dyes to be a bit more stable in frosting.

Lego Cakes:

Ingredients:

  • 2 box of cake mix – the flavor is your choice but we used white vanilla
  • 2 cans of white frosting
  • 1 bag of standard sized marshmallows
  • 3 – 1oz Wilton icing dye bottles – Golden Yellow, Red-Red, and Royal Blue
  1. Bake the cakes according to the packaging in 13×9-inch pans.  Be sure to grease the pans well because you want it to be easy to remove without any cracks on the bottom.
  2. While the cakes are baking, cut at least 20 marshmallows in half.  You want to make sure you have enough so going a little high is okay.
  3. When the cake are finished baking, wait 20 minutes and then carefully remove the cakes from the pans and onto a flat surface.  I used cookie sheets for this.
  4. Freeze both the marshmallow halves and the cakes for at least two hours.
  5. Take two bowls and put half of each frosting can in each.  This leaves you with 4 portions of frosting.  Put 1 portion to the side.  In the other 3, add dye to each to reach the desired Lego colors(red, blue, yellow).
  6. Cut the tops of the cakes where it domed off using a serrated knife to give you a flat surface.  Cut the cakes each into rectangular portions.  (As you can see some of my cake had an accident so one of my rectangles is smaller than the others.)legobaseplate
  7. ***I made a special display for my cakes using printed images of the Lego green baseplate on top of cookie sheets and covered them with cling wrap.  You can display yours how you wish but it made the Legos look more Lego-like to be on their own base.
  8. Place the 4 pieces of cake neatly upside down on the display you are using.  Lightly frost the outside of each cake the color they are going to be and then put the cakes back in the freezer for an hour.  Then finish frosting each cake.
  9. Nolegoblocksw the fun and messy part, take you marshmallow halves from the freezer.  Carefully frost the halves to match each cake and place into location to look like a real Lego building block.   When you are finished the cakes should look like several Legos.  This step can be really messy so be careful.

Now, sit back and watch the smiles because every kid loves to eat a piece of Lego cake!

 

 

 

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Rainbow Magic Birthday Party Idea

11 Jan

Rainbow Magic PartyAs I try to get things hammered down for Suuki’s birthday this year, I realized that I really should share what we did last year.   They wanted a theme that was not really made from items you would find in your regular party store so I had to get creative.  They wanted a Rainbow Magic party.   The A.C Moore had a deal that for $50 and supplies, we could use their party room and they would clean up all the mess.  The party would transform the guests into their own style of fairy.

For those who don’t know, Rainbow Magic is a book series that comes in sets of 7 that are all written under the pen name, Daisy Meadows.   (Tip: To find the real author just look at the back of the title page for the “Special thanks to” and you will see the true author’s name.)  After learning one of our neighbors wrote one of the books, Suuki became a bit obsessed and collects as many of these books as they can.  We are fortunate that to have found many at the local library on sale as part of a “Fill-A-Bag” special for $2 a bag.

As the guests arrived, they received their pair of wings and had glittery eyeshadow applied which were bought at the Dollar Tree.   I sprayed their hair with glittered hairspray from Party City and topped their heads with wreaths that I made from silver garland from the clearance bin from Christmas items at the Dollar Tree.

Rainbow Magic WandCraft 1 – Magic Wand:

Supplies per child:

  • 1 Heart Shaped Wooden Wands
  • Opalescent Glitter
  • White School Glue
  • 2ft strand of Colored Ribbon – pink, purple, or aqua(I picked spools from the clearance bin)
  1.  Paint the heart end of the wand completely with the glue.
  2. Sprinkle the opalescent glitter all over the glue.
  3. Tie the ribbon at the middle around the base of the heart around the wand stick.

Craft 2 – Fairy Tutu:

Supplies per child:

  • 3 ft strand of Colored Ribbon – pink, purple, or aqua
  • 25 – 2 ft strips of 6″ Colored Tulle – it comes in 25 yard spools (We used Dark Rose, Wisteria, Aqua, and Purple)
  1. Fold the tulle strips in half and knot them around your ribbon strand.  You may alternate colors or do it all in one color.  It is really up to the wearer’s preference.
  2. When all the tulle is tied to the ribbon, tie onto the wearer using a traditional bow at the back.

rainbowmagicparty2Rainbow Magic Cupcake Toppers:

Supplies:

  • Small package of wooden cocktail forks
  • Wood glue
  • Color printer
  • Laminator (If you do not have access to a laminator then clear packing tape can work as a substitute.)
  • Print Paper
  1. Search and print pictures of the various rainbow magic fairies you wish to have on your cupcakes.  Great websites for this are Rainbow Magic and Rainbow Magic UK.  Paste them into MS Word making the graphics about 2 inches tall and print.  For standard box of cake mix you will need 24 fairies.
  2. Cut around the fairies leaving some of the white boarder.
  3. Laminate the fairies using the laminator.  If you are using packing tape, just place a piece or packing tape on either side of the fairy to laminate each inside the tape.
  4. Once again, cut around the fairy and leave some of the clear laminate around the edges.
  5. Glue one cocktail fork to the back of each laminated fairies.

rainbowmagicparty3Cupcakes:

  • Wilton Pearlized Silver Sugar Crystals Sprinkles
  • White cake mix
  • White frosting
  • Flowery cupcake cups
  • Rainbow Magic Cupcake Toppers
  1. Bake the cupcake according to the instructions on the package using the flowery cupcake cups in the pan.
  2. After the cupcakes are cool, frost them with the white frosting and sprinkle the silver sugar crystals all over the tops.
  3. Stick the fairies into the top of the cupcakes.
  4. They can be displayed on a cupcake tier platter.

rainbowmagicparty4Finishing Touches:

I used the same fairy images to print and glue to plain white paper bags to make goodie bags.  The plates, napkins, cups, and all other cute party accessories all came from Dollar Tree.  It seems the trend to have a meal at birthday parties right now.  Most have pizza but with Suuki being lactose intolerant that was not for us.   I simply bought 2 20-pience chicken McNugget boxes from McDonalds, a few cans of Pringles, and 2 cases of Caprisuns.

Note:  At the time of the party standard Caprisun products contained real sugar with the exception of their Roaring Waters line.  Sadly, in the last year, they have changed this to High Fructose Corn Syrup.  The  Caprisun Super V and Caprisun 100% Juice Blends are still all natural but my kids aren’t really found of most of the flavors, especially the Super V Apple.  At this time, I have yet to find an alternative that the kids like.   They hated Honest Kids juice after trying both the Super Punch and Tropical Tango Punch.

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Time to Make the Cookies

2 Jan
Peppermint Swirl Cookie

Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel Cookie

All through the holiday season my sister was on a serious baking kick from cookies to cakepops.  Her cookies came our amazing and she used a simple resource to find all of her recipes.  Each cookie was made from scratch using recipes she found at the Food Network’s 12 Days of Cookies and in their cookie recipe database.

Her top favorites that made it to Christmas Eve, Christmas, family visitors from out of the country, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day parties are:

Florentine (Italy)

Florentine (Italy)

  1. Throwdown Chocolate Chip Cookie from Bobby Flay – These cookies were the favorite of most with their light and crispy texture.
  2. Snickerdoodles adapted from Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen by Trisha Yearwood (c) Clarkson Potter 2008 – A favorite among the non-chocolate eaters.
  3. JIF® Irresistible Peanut Butter Cookies by JIF® – My mom kept sneaking these cookies when we weren’t looking.
  4. Triple Chocolate Cookies by Bobby Flay – Please note that this recipe contains pecans.

    JIF® Irresistible Peanut Butter Cookie

    JIF® Irresistible Peanut Butter Cookie

  5. Ginger Snaps from Alton Brown – These spicy cookies have a little kick to them but go great with pumpkin pudding.
  6. Coconut Macaroons from Copyright 2002, Barefoot Contessa Family Style – They were perfectly moist without being mushy.
  7. Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies from Alton Brown – Be sure your extract is peppermint as general mint extract can contain spearmint and alter the flavors.
  8. Florentines (Italy) from Food Network Kitchens – These were my personal favorite.
  9. Hazelnut Tea Cookies by Aida Mollencamp for 12 Days of Cookies 2008 – These were my daughter’s personal favorite.
Ginger Snap

Ginger Snap

Snickerdoodle

Snickerdoodle

Hazelnut Tea Cookie

Hazelnut Tea Cookie

Triple Chocolate Cookie

Triple Chocolate Cookie

Coconut Macaroon

Coconut Macaroon

Throwdown Chocolate Chip Cookie

Throwdown Chocolate Chip Cookie

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