Healthy & CHEAP Microwaved Popcorn

I had been babysitting two of one of my good friend's daughters for her during the day. It was an adventure to say the least! And you should have just seen the looks I received when I had to take them out in public. Sometimes my parade of little ones was met with admiration, like when I carted them all to the Scout store to pick up awards and Pinewood Derby cars. Other times the look was of disgust like when I had all four of them crammed into a shopping cart at Costco. I'm sure it was quite a site to see such a circus of girls (ages 5, 4, 3, and 2) on wheels.

I admit it was a little bit fun to see the "Only in Utah" look as I was checking out. The funny thing is that probably anywhere else in the country people would wide-eyed ask me "Are they ALL yours?!" (I'm just guessing because this has happened to me in at least 3 different states when I've had friends' kids in tow along with my own... well okay, once it was only just my own... ) But never here. Not once in all the public venues I've carted them along to have I ever been asked that question. Nope. Not where I live. This is Utah where it is not entirely out of the ordinary to see such a spectacle.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make here is that with all the extra kids in my house (we still did play-dates and  from time to time I'd be watching other friends' children as well) inexpensive snacks RULE! Not to mention quick and inexpensive! I used to always pop my popcorn on the stove but with a house full of little monsters there is no WAY I could devote that much time all at once to my kitchen.

This is very simple and ridiculously cheap and helps you control what actually goes into the mouths of those you love. I've long been wary of the carcinogen-laced, lung damaging microwaved popcorn snack. (I shy from just about anything with ingredients that sound more like a chemistry experiment than something that's edible.. Check out this link for more information on this snack. )

Ok enough talk already! Here's the logistics of this beautiful "new" (people have actually been doing this for years before Orville) method.

1. Put 1/4 cup popcorn in a brown paper lunch bag. Fold top over a few times and tape, staple (your microwave won't mind a couple small staples), or even just fold tightly. (I've always just folded mine since my tape usually ends up as Barbie lingerie.)
2. Place in microwave folded side up for 2 to 3 minutes or until there is 5 seconds between pops.
3. Eat plain or add flavors (such as salt, butter, sugar, etc.)

Easy enough? I promise you it works beautifully. And guess what? Since you aren't even adding oil (although you can add about 1 tsp along with the kernels if you really want to) you should be able to reuse the same paper bag for the next batch as well!  

Mellissa's Birthday Cake

I am an amateur cake artist. I like to bake. I like to draw.. so cake decorating should come naturally, right? *snort* Not so much... Here is an evolution of cakes:

Mellissa's 1st birthday

Savanna's 4th Birthday

Savanna's 6th birthday

Marsa's 2nd birthday

Yes I know there's a lot of gaps.. The missing cakes were SO terrible I didn't even take pictures! My favorite mishap was Savanna's 5th birthday cake. She wanted a Dora and Diego cake that was blue with purple frosting and chocolate... Sounds gorgeous right? Ugh!
And here is Mellissa's cake. My crown jewel to this point! It was a lot of fun to make and best of all people never guessed that I actually made it! lol Maybe some day I will look back on this cake and be embarrassed but for now I think it turned out great. :)

My favorite part of this cake was the teapot.. the one in the pictures is a plastic teapot.. but I actually made one out of white chocolate as well that I ended up not using. Last minute I decided that it looked a bit weird, plus I couldn't figure out how to let 14 4-year-olds divide it up... The plastic teapot is a bit big, I think, for the size of the cake but oh well, right?

To make the chocolate teapot, I melted 1 bag (12 oz.) of white chocolate chips that I got on sale over Christmas time. (They were $.89/bag.)
I then lightly sprayed two "balls" in a Wilton mini-ball pan and poured half the melted chocolate into each one.

I let it cool for about 5 minutes in the refrigerator. Then scooped the soft middle out of each half of the ball to make a hollow chocolate shell.

I then used the semi-soft chocolate that I'd scooped out to "glue" the two halves of the ball together. Then I formed a handle, spout, and lid with it and attached that as well. By this point the chocolate was getting pretty hard again, but I just let it warm up a bit in my hands so I could shape it and attach. The rest of the decorations on the teapot were made with tinted Royal icing.

If you're not impressed yet, then I'll tell you that I also made 14 tutus and wings for all the cute little guests as well. Did that do it? I sure hope so since that's why I do these sort of things anyway. To impress all of you folks out there! Seriously, all the hard work was so worth it just to see such a cute group of kids having so much fun!

Valentines Day Fun

I didn't make anything super extraordinary for Valentine's Day. But I made the day fun with heart shaped food all day! For the little kids anyway... My boys weren't too excited about a heart-shaped steak at dinnertime...

We had heart shaped pancakes. I even threw some strawberry gelatin into the batter for pink and flavored pancakes. But was too busy getting kids off to school to take a picture.

At lunchtime I let the kids choose what kind of sandwich they'd like and cut them all into heart shapes for them. I even cut the apples into hearts and served pink lemonade with heart-shaped strawberries.

 Then we had some non-food fun and made some Valentines. Kids love to glue things. They were entertained for MINUTES! (Seriously.. almost an hour which is amazing!)






For dessert, if I'd thought ahead a few more days, we would have had this cake. (I didn't end up actually making it until last night) So FUN!

Happy Late Valentine's Day everybody. Hope yours was as fun as mine!

Holiday Cookie Exchange

As a last minute idea, I decided this year I'd host a Cookie Exchange. I read about the idea on Msn.com and thought how lovely it would be to have my usual variety of cookies on hand for my family and friends without having to actually bake several different batches of the goodies! Because it was so last minute, I hosted it open-house style and very basic. No activities, no other goodies, not even really any socializing. For the busy holiday prepper it was perfect! We baked our cookies, we met together, we exchanged cookies, we waved goodbye. I had originally thought that if I did this again, I'd make it more of an event rather than just a simple exchanging of cookies... but I gotta say, I loved the simplicity of it all. It may just be the same next year after all!

Here are the stars of the show:

Sugar Cookies with Orange Buttercream Frosting

1 recipe Sugar Cookie dough

Orange Buttercream Frosting

(Submitted by Sheryl Rose)

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Zest of 1/2 an orange

In a small saucepan cook flour, orange zest and milk until it forms a ball, stirring constantly. Cool to room temperature. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffly. Beat both mixtures together on high speed until fluffy and smooth. Add vanilla and beat until combined. Refrigerate for about 1/2 hour, until it is of spreading consistency.

Bake cookies as directed. Allow to cool completely then frost with Orange Buttercream Frosting. Refrigerate any un-eaten cookies.

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies **wheat free**
(sub butterscotch chips for raisins to make these dairy free- submitted by Andrea Daley)

3/4 cup Soy butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/8 cup real Maple syrup
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup oat or spelt flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups rolled oats (not quick oats)
1 12-oz package butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Next, add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition so that they are completely incorporated. Beat in vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and rolled oats. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. Fold the butterscotch chips into the cookie dough.

Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet, 2 inches spaced to allow for spread. Bake for 9 minutes or until edges are lightly golden brown. Cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before removing to cooling racks.

Peanut Butter Blossoms
(submitted by Meg McInnes)

36 Hershey Kisses
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
*enough sugar to roll the cookies into

Unwrap chocolates. Beat shortening and peanut butter together until blended. Add sugars, beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in the rest of the ingredients except extra sugar and unwrapped chocolate kisses. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Roll balls in sugar and place on a slightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F for 9-11 minutes. After removing cookies from oven, immediately place a kiss in the middle of each cookie (It will crack the cookie.) Remove cookie to cooling rack and allow to cool.

Texas Governor's Mansion Cowboy Cookies
(submitted by Tamara Pilcher)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
1 T. baking soda
1 T. ground cinnamon
1 t. salt
1 1/2 c. butter, at room temp.
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 1/2 c. packed light-brown sugar
3 eggs
1 T. vanilla
3 c. semisweet chocolate chips
3 c. old-fashioned oates
2 c. sweetened flaked coconut
2 c. chopped pecans (8 ounces), optional

Heat oven to 350. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in bowl. In 8 -quart bowl, beat butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Gradually beat in sugars; beat to combine, 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Beat in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Add chocolate chips,oats, coconut and pecans. Drop dough by 1/4 c. onto ungreased baking sheet, spacing 3 inches apart. Bake in 350 degree oven 17-20 minutes, until edges are lightly browned; rotate sheets halfway through. Makes about 3 dozen large cookies. Could make 90 medium cookies, bake about 10 minutes. Use your own judgment.

Candy Cane Chocolate Chip Cookies
(submitted by Stephanie Schiess)

 
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
12 oz (2 cups) milk chocolate chips
1 package peppermint candy canes, unwrapped and crushed
 
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine butter and sugars, mix until creamy. Add eggs and mix well. Add soda, salt, vanilla and flour. Mix until well combined. Fold in chocolate chips and candy cane pieces. Drop by teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets spacing at least 1-2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes until edges are golden brown. Allow to cool on cookie sheets about 5 minutes before removing to cooling racks.
 


Krispie Cookies

(submitted by Julie Edwards)
 
1 cup butter
1 tsp. Baking powder
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups rice krispies
2 eggs
2 cups oats (regular, not quick)
2 cups flour
1 cup coconut
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 cup chopped pecans
1 to 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well. Mix flour, soda and baking soda together, then blend into first mixture. Stir in rice krispies, oats, coconut, and pecans. Drop by teaspoon full on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.


 
For the following two cookies, I used my chocolate cookie mix for the cookie itself with the following additions:

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

(submitted by yours truly)

1 recipe chocolate cookie mix, prepared

36 mini Reese's Peanut Butter cups, unwrapped

(For these I found a new thing this year- a package of mini peanut butter cups all unwrapped and ready to eat!... Heaven help us all...)

Prepare cookies as directed on mix except when time to bake, roll dough into 1-inch ball and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press a peanut butter cup into the center of each unbaked cookie. Bake 6-8 minutes in 350 degree oven until edges dry and crack slightly. These cookies are small, they don't need to bake long.

Chocolate Caramel Cookies

For these cookies, I used the same chocolate cookie mix as I used above but in the center, I added some home-made vanilla caramel. Instead of just pressing the caramel into the center of the cookie, I wrapped the dough around the caramel and then baked as directed above. I think they turned out yummy and a little different, but I have to be honest... my neighbor totally upstaged me by adding chocolate covered caramels into the center of each cookie and then rolling the cookies into sugar. Dah! Why didn't I think of that? They were DELICIOUS! (More delicious than mine..)

 
 

These weren't exactly cookies- I'm not sure what to call them except yummy! They had a mixture of nuts, cereal and marshmallows. My kids devoured them! Thanks to Michele K.!!

Gingerbread Houses

Gingerbread Houses

Gingerbread

3/4 cup molasses

3/4 cup corn syrup

1 1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

7 1/3 c. flour

2 Tbsp ground ginger

1 rounded Tbsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp nutmeg

2 eggs

In a small saucepan, combine molasses, butter, corn syrup and brown sugar. Heat over medium heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Meanwhile in a large mixing bowl, combine flour, ginger, cinmamon, baking powder, baking soda, and nutmeg. Crack eggs into cooled molasses mixture and stir until well blended. Pour molasses mixture into flour mixture and mix with dough hooks or your fingers until dry mixture is completely incorporated. Divide dough into fourths and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until dough is cool, about 1-2 hours. Unwrap dough one at a time and roll 1/4-inch thick. Cut out gingerbread shapes and bake at 350 degrees F. For cookies, bake 8-10 minutes. If you're using the dough to make gingerbread houses, bake 10-12 minutes for a harder cookie. Remove from cookie sheets and allow to cool completely before frosting or assembling gingerbread houses.

For the icing there are a couple different options. The following recipe is relatively inexpensive, but is not recommended to be eaten since it has raw eggs in it. Below that is the recipe that I use because there is no way I can avoid my kids eating their houses. This year when we were finished assembling the houses it wasn't even 5 minutes before my 3-year-old was tearing hers apart! This recipe is a little more expensive because of the meringue powder, but still not too bad. You can usually find meringue powder in the wedding cake area of the store.



Gingerbread House Icing(Inedible)

1 lb. powdered sugar
1 tsp. cream of tartar
3 egg whites

Beat all ingredients on high until stiff peaks form. This should take about 7 minutes. Use as glue for assembling house. Icing will harden as it sits, so add a few drops of water as needed. Use assorted candies to decorate house. Houses can be made a month in advance and then decorated at your convenience.

Gingerbread House Icing

3 level Tbsp Meringue Powder (dried egg whites)
1 lb powdered sugar
6 Tbsp water

Beat all ingredients at high speed for 7-10 minutes until icing forms stiff peaks. Makes about 3 cups.


For assembling and decorating, I've found that it is WAY easier to pipe the frosting from a disposable decorator bag as opposed to spreading with a knife. This also helps to keep the frosting from drying out while you are using it. You can make this ahead of time and store it in the decorator bags- just place the filled decorator bags into a gallon-sized zip-top bag. Store up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

Here is a very simple gingerbread house pattern that I use for my kids. I usually reduce the size by 75% before printing for the perfect kid-size gingerbread house.

Happy Decorating!

 



Birthday Cakes!

From September 21 until October 19 we have three birthdays in this house (and then mine is 2 weeks later, but who's counting...). I look forward to my oldest girl's birthday all year long because she always comes up with the most interesting requests for her birthday cake. It started off simple when she turned 3: I want a pink cake with chocolate frosting. Easy enough.. then it evolved into a blue Dora and Diego cake with purple frosting. And this year? She wanted a white cake with strawberry swirls, banana frosting and flowers that you can eat. And make it a My Little Pony cake, thanks. With these kind of requests, I don't think I could have bought the cake if I'd wanted to!

This cake was for my 2-year old. She has inherited her big sisters' love for princesses and loves anything pink and pretty. Last year we didn't get to have cake for her birthday because our entire family was fighting the stomach flu. It was very sad... Honestly, I don't think she knew the difference, but I really wanted her to have her very own FIRST birthday cake. So to make up for it this year, I made an extra satellite cake to her princess cake. The funny thing is... she wouldn't even taste it! She kept pushing it away saying, "Don't want it! I want cake!" ... She just wanted a slice of the big cake that everybody else was having! Sigh...

Let me just say... I am not a cake decorator. But I like to pretend! It's fun and I hope to be able to make prettier cakes in the years ahead for my family. In the meantime, my kids are young and think this sloppy mess looks "beautiful!".

Strawberry Swirl Cake

2 2/3 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1/2 cup shortening

1 tsp vanilla

4 egg whites

1 cup strawberry preserves

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl except the egg whites and strawberry preserves. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping the bowl. Beat on high for 2 minutes until smooth. Add egg whites and beat on high for 2 additional minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally. Pour into 1 greased and floured pan. Drop preserves by tablespoonfull all over the top of the unbaked cake. Swirl with the tip of a knife, first one way and then another to get a nice swirled effect. Bake at 350 F for 40-45 minutes. Cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely.

Banana Frosting

(Thanks to my friend for helping me solve the banana frosting dilemma- she gave me the great idea to use pudding for the flavor!)

1 small box banana pudding

1 cup powdered sugar

8 oz thawed cool whip

Mix the above ingredients on low with an electric beater until frosting is smooth. Spread over cooled cake or cupcakes.

For the princess cake, I used the cakes that I had in my freezer from my "teenage son helping me bake" fiasco. (I knew they'd come in handy eventually!) It was super simple and with the exception of my failed frosting recipe, it turned out great! The frosting by the way should have been a stiff buttercream frosting, but I'm really not a big fan of buttercream so I instead used my sour cream frosting recipe that is delicious! Only problem is that the frosting melted on the way to the in-laws for the little gal's party. Whoops!

Finger Paints, Face Paint, Play Dough

While Mike and Josh were camping last week I had a fun time with the girls coming up with things to do for "girls week" as Savanna dubbed it. I experimented with a few fun recipes to keep us all busy.

Finger Paints

1/4 cup cornstarch
2 cups water

Mix in saucepan and boil until thickened. Pour into a jar. Add food coloring until the desired shade is achieved. Store covered in the refrigerator.

Face Paint

1 tsp corn starch
1/2 tsp water
1/2 tsp cold cream
food coloring

Mix all ingredients together in an old muffin pan or small cups and you are ready to paint. This amount is for each color. I like to let the girls "paint" themselves just before bathtime.

Play dough

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
2 Tbsp. oil
2 cups water

Mix together all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture gathers on the spoon and forms dough (about 5 minutes).

Don't worry if the dough is lumpy and rough looking, it will smooth out when you knead it. Remove from pan and allow to cool enough to handle then knead until pliable.

Store in covered container or plastic bag. To make different colors, divide dough into sections. Make a well in the center of each piece and drop food coloring in the center. Knead dough to mix color in thoroughly.

 *For a more vibrant red, I like to dump a packet of unsweetened cherry drink mix into the center instead of food coloring.