Strawberry Time!

I just finished prepping 30lbs. of fresh~from~the~fields strawberries. My little helpers and my grandma helped make the pickings sweet:) I saw this idea on pinterest for frozen blueberries and thought I'd give it a try for the last of my strawberries (after all of the obligatory snacking, jamming, and shortcaking was complete;)
Frozen Yogurt Covered Strawberries

• fresh strawberries
• large tub of yogurt (I used Dannon Oikos vanilla yogurt)

Prep your berries by washing them and cutting off the green. Pat dry. Individually dip the berries into the yogurt and place on a cookie sheet in a single layer. (I started with skewers, but quickly ditched them and used my fingers. Messier, but quicker!) Place the cookie sheet in the freezer and freeze for at least an hour before removing the berries. Transfer them to an air tight container. Store in the freezer. I can't wait to pull these little gems out when my kids are looking for a cool, sweet summertime snack.

Sm'ookie Time

Quickly becoming a Hosmer family fave (and a must~have tailgating menu item;). I found the original recipe in a magazine and have since tweaked it to my fam's personal preferences. The combinations are endless! But basically:

• a batch of your favorite cookie dough (I got lazy smart and did premade drop and bake cookie dough this time.)
• a jar of marshmallow creme
• a bag of chocolate chips

Bake the cookie dough according to the recipe; let cool. When cool, melt the bag of chocolate chips according to package directions. Then take half of the cookies and spread the melted chocolate on the "undersides". Spread marshmallow creme on the undersides of the other half of the cookies, then sandwich a chocolate cookie with a marshmallow cookie and viola! Sm'ookies!!! Smaller sized cookies work great~ the finished product is very rich! Some of our fave combos:

• chocolate chip cookies with butterscotch and marshmallow fillings
• double chocolate: choc chip cookies with chocolate and marshmallow fillings
• oatmeal raisin cookies with butterscotch and marshmallow fillings
• peanut butter cup cookies with peanut butter chip and marshmallow fillings

Lexi's Birthday Cake

When asked what she would like on her birthday cake this year, Lexi said she wanted a purple butterfly. I thought I needed to come up with something a little better than 1 lone purple butterfly so this is what I did. I remembered seeing the cake recipe on MckMama's food blog so I successfully hunted it down. Super easy, just time consuming. But basically 2 boxes of white cake mix and food coloring. I skimped on the powdered sugar for the frosting recipe and I shouldn't have. (I was running out of room in the mixing bowl and didn't want my kitchen dusted in confectioner's sugar.) In hindsight, the extra sugar would have made the frosting slightly thicker. The cake started to droop and sag and cutting it was a disaster, the thicker frosting would have definitely helped to keep it together. Also, I took the cake out of the fridge to display it and I should have kept it cold until the big "make a wish" moment. The warmer it got, the saggier it became. I bought pre~made Wilton's fondant at Michael's in their cake decorating section. Making the butterflies and little balls from the fondant was super easy. I used a cookie cutter for the butterflies and had the kids (wash their hands) and then roll out the little balls like tiny snowmen body parts:) I also used a small paint brush to brush edible lavender sparkle dust on the butterflies. For the balls, I kneaded in some purple food coloring.

Audrey's B~Day Cake

Audrey kept telling people she was getting a "pluto" cake for her birthday party;) I got this idea from a Family Fun magazine. I was worried about getting the shape right because I had never cut cake before. But it was all surprisingly easy. I did have to angle the legs a bit because my tray wasn't quite wide enough to place them like it was shown in the example. We, of course, had to go with strawberry (pink) cake and I tinted both the vanilla icing and pink coconut "fur". Frosting the cake was time consuming as I had to dirty ice and and then re~ice the entire thing. I was trying to be really careful not to smear frosting all over the serving tray, too. I used pink and orange gumballs for the poodle's pearl necklace collar, fruit roll~ups for the eyelashes and mouth, and a malted milk ball for nose.

Austin's B~Day Cake

This was a basic yellow cake with vanilla frosting. I split the cake and filled it with chocolate "mousse" (chocolate pudding {made with less milk than called for} and cool whip mixed together), so the cake was pretty thick and heavy. I used fruit roll~ups for the keys and center court and outlined and wrote with a black decorating gel. The finishing touch was m&m's pressed into the sides to resemble fans in the bleachers.

Merry Mice

So simple....

1. drain and pat dry 24 cherries with stems
2. melt a couple cups of semi sweet chocolate chips (follow instructions on chip bag)
3. dip cherries into chocolate and place on wax paper lined cookie sheet
4. immediately "attach" hershey kiss head and almond slice ears
5. pipe confectioners sugar icing (a cup or so with a few tsps. water~ you want this icing thick so that it doesn't run down the "faces") for eyes (save a bit and mix with black and red food colorings for pupils and noses) I spooned my icing into little ziplock baggies and snipped a tiny hole in the corner.
6. refrigerate until serving
   
   
   
   

Thanksgiving Menu

Today we're starting a new tradition at home. We're staying home. Just the 5 of us. All day. Today I will attempt to roast a turkey for the very first time. I am slightly nervous something will go horribly wrong and I will ruin Thanksgiving;) I am as excited for the leftovers as I am for today's dinner. We're keeping things simple and traditional with the menu today. Most of the work is done, just the turkey awaits. Dum, dum, DUM!!! What's your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

• turkey
• stuffing (the only time of the year I nix Stovetop and go for homemade, yum!)
• mashed potatoes
• green bean casserole
• corn
• mandarin orange jell-o salad
• fresh baked rolls
• pumpkin pie with real whipped cream
• strawberry cheesecake
• Pepsi (Austin's request)
• cider (the girls' request)
• cranberry wine (mommy's request;)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!