Super-simple Spiderman Cake

This was a super-simple cake to make. We were in the process of moving over my son's birthday so all of my decorating tools were packed- hence no "Happy Birthday Dallin," no candles, nothing. I had 1 pyrex left out and some silverware... SO this is my super-simple cake idea...

My son wanted a SPIDERMAN CAKE and knowing I couldn't decorate one,

I looked for a fun spiderman toy. I found this dune buggy and created a simple idea from there.

Since there would be no frosting color, I decided to make a RED cake to help with the idea that it was spiderman colors (I just picked up a box of red cake from the grocery store).

I made the cake in a 9x13 pyrex dish (I just couldn't bring myself to leave it in the dish so I took it out, cut the bubble off the top, and put it on a cookie sheet I hadn't packed yet), you can just leave it in the dish and decorate the top only if you want an even simpler way to make it. I used 1 big container of ready-made chocolate frosting and added Hershey's squares to look like a broken road or track. Using crushed chocolate graham crackers, I added "dirt" for a little more effect. Then, I put the toy on top. SUPER-SIMPLE!!!

Chocolate covered Pretzel Sticks

1 (12 0z) pkg of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 (12 oz) pkg of pretzel rods (I like Rold Gold)

Toppings:

8 crushed Candy Canes (pictured)

Mini M&M's

Crushed Toffee

Crushed Nuts

Sprinkles

1/2 cup of white chocolate melted and drizzled over the top

Etc. - Just be creative!

Melt chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds at a time until melted -about 2 minutes (do not over cook - it will dry out your chocolate).

Using a spatula, smear the pretzel rod with chocolate -leaving about 2 inches where you are holding on. I hold the spatula steady and roll the pretzel against it to remove excess chocolate. Then dip the pretzel rod in the topping of your choice and set on a foil lined cookie sheet. Once the cookie sheet is full, put in the fridge for about 30 minutes or until chocolate is set.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Clusters

This was a SUPER EASY recipe! And it turned out SO GOOD!

In a crock pot:

2 pounds (2-16 oz jars) of salted dry roasted peanuts (can do 1/2 unsalted if you want)

48 oz of white chocolate (almond bark is what the original recipe called for, but it was so expensive I used CandiQuik vanilla).

4 oz of sweet German chocolate

12 oz of dark chocolate chips

Cook on lowest setting for 3 hours. (I only cooked mine for 2 hours because my crock pot seems to cook faster/hotter - so you will want to check it at the two hour mark - you don't want your chocolate to dry out)! Stir mixture completely. Lay out about 4 cookie sheets worth of wax paper. Drop by the tablespoon. Let harden. Store in an airtight container.

This made 130 chocolate peanut clusters for about $20.00. Not bad huh!?!

I found this recipe here on About.com. Thanks for sharing!

Peanut Butter Cookies

I always double cookie recipes, so this comes to you already doubled... makes about 60 cookies!

1-1/2 cups butter (room temperature)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar (granulated)

1-1/2 cups peanut butter

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Beat in peanut butter. Then beat in the eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the peanut butter mixture and beat until well mixed.

Roll the batter into 1 inch balls. Place on a cookie sheet. Using a fork, make a criss-cross pattern on each cookie after dipping the fork in granulated sugar.

"Cooling Cookies" Tip

With the holidays here and lots of baking taking place, I thought I would share a tip that has worked well for me...

If you place a sheet of wax paper between the cooling rack and the cookies, the cookies cool nicely without drying out!

Libby's Pumpkin Roll

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Powdered Sugar

3/4 cup Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Ground Cloves

1/4 tsp Salt

3 Eggs

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup of Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin

Filling:

1- 8oz pkg of Cream Cheese (room temperature)

1 cup Powdered Sugar

6 tbl Butter (softened)

1 tsp Vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 10x15 inch cookie sheet and then line it with wax paper. Grease and flour the wax paper. Also, sprinkle a thin, cotton kitchen towel with about a 1/4 cup of powdered sugar (you really want your towel powdered good so the cake doesn't stick when you want to unroll it).

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar until it thickens.

Beat in pumpkin. Stir in Flour Mixture. Spread batter evenly onto prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 13-15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched (for dark colored pans, check at 11 minutes). Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off wax paper and roll up cake and towel together. Cool on a wire rack.

Filling: Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla until smooth.

Carefully unroll the cake and spread the cream cheese mix over the top.

Re-roll the cake and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (longer is better, it gives the cream cheese mix a chance to really firm up).

Sprinkle with Powdered Sugar and serve.

I found this recipe at Very Best Baking if you want to see the original. I didn't make any changes to this one, just followed the recipe- it turned out great. It was yummy and the perfect treat for Fall...

BUT- I think next time I will put a little less of the cream cheese mix, it was a little overbearing. I also thought it would be really good if I added a little grated orange peel to the cream cheese so that it wasn't such a heavy taste.

Applesauce

Recipe #1

4 medium Apples

1 cup Hot Water

1/4 cup White Sugar

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

Recipe #2

4 medium Apples

1 cup Hot Water

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

Quarter and core the apples. Place them in a pot with enough water to just cover them.

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes - until tender. Drain water BUT save 1 cup of the hot water and put it back in the pot. Add sugar and cinnamon. Boil again for a few minutes.

At this point I just dumped the pot into the VitaMix and blended on 10 for about 2 seconds until all the apples were just blended (including the peels). But you can blend them in a blender or mash them with a potato masher.

I tried both recipes wondering which one would be better, and they tasted almost the exact same to me. The brown sugar recipe seems to have a hint more of the cinnamon flavor to it, but they were so close, I put them in the same tupperware to store in the fridge.

Lasts about 3 days in the fridge.

Wheat Muffins

1 cup Oil

2 Eggs (beaten)

1 tsp Salt

2 cups Brown Sugar

2 cups Milk

2 tsp Baking Soda

2 tsp Vanilla

4 cups Whole Wheat Flour

Mix all ingredients together at the same time.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Makes about 2-1/2 dozen.

Thanks for this recipe Linda, it's been a Fall favorite in our house for years!

Alternatives:

1. Use 1/2 cup of oil instead, then add about a 1/2 cup of milk to compensate.

2. Add a handful of dried fruit. We have added raisins, dried cherries, cranberries... they all work great!

3. Turn it into a pumpkin bread. Add a can of pumpkin, 1 tbl cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves.

Frozen Strawberry Lemonade

This was a refreshing cool drink on a hot summer day!

In a Vita-Mix blender, put:

1 tray of ice (about 16 cubes)

2 large handfuls of frozen strawberries

4 scoops of Smuckers Strawberry Lemonade powder

Enough water to just cover contents

Blend on high until smooth.

Serve with a rim of sugar on the glass - yum! yum!

Thanks for this great summer treat mom, it's PERFECT!

A "Dora Fiesta" Birthday Cake

My 3 year old LOVES Dora, so it was no surprise she wanted a Dora birthday cake. I decided to make Dora's house out of graham crackers, and then created an outside fiesta and forrest around it... (The forrest trees are sitting in cut paper towel rolls so they don't fall over).

The cake was made in a 12 inch round by 3 inch deep cake pan. I combined both a yellow cake mix and a chocolate cake mix to achieve a marble cake look and to fill the larger cake pan.

I frosted the cake with green frosting and then set the house in the middle. I added the Dora and Boots characters with balloons, a cake, and a present - fun. I made a path out of chocolate frosting and the stairs out of pretzel sticks. The "rocks" holding the candles are chocolate covered peanuts, and the "table" holding the cake is a twix. I added flowers and leaves with frosting tips to complete the outside look. I also brought the flower and leaves look to the bottom cake border- after I put a ring of chocolate frosting around it.

The house was made out of graham crackers (gingerbread style) using royal frosting as glue. (I also used the royal frosting to make the doors and windows - making it easy to just transfer them to the house once they were hard).

I added the porch (made out of brownies) and then frosted the whole thing with yellow frosting (trying to make it look more like stucco rather than a smooth surface). The pillars are a fat twisted pretzel stick that I piped leaves on to. The roof is frosted shredded wheat that I spread orange frosting over. I then piped orange around the roof and porch. I added the previously made doors and windows with a little dab of frosting to hold them on. And voila - Dora's house!

The trees were made out of ice cream cones and brownie cup cakes. I filled the cone with candy first. I then frosted the top of a regular size cupcake and flipped it over onto the cone. I continued by taking a mini size cupcake and doing the same thing- frosted the top and then flipped it over on top of the regular size cupcake. I frosted the whole thing green and then used a leaf tip to add leaves to the trees.

And there you have it... a "Dora Fiesta" birthday cake!

To see more pictures of this cake, check out the following slideshow...

Green Lantern Birthday Cake

My Nephew wanted a Green Lantern cake for his 6th birthday. This is what I came up with...

The Front

The Back

The Cupcakes

Using 1 box of chocolate cake mix and two 9" cake pans, I made two round cakes. I layerd them on top of each other using vanilla frosting. As a fun addition I made a brownie base. I cooked the brownies on a cookie sheet to make them really thin. I used my 9" cake pan to cut a circle out of the middle and used that as my bottom layer under the cake; adhering the cake to the brownies with a layer of vanilla frosting.

I then crumb coated and final coated with black frosting.

I pre-made a cake topper of the Green Lantern symbol out of sparkly craft foam from Michael's craft store. Making sure it was the exact size of the top of the cake...

I set the topper on top of the cake after it was all frosted.

I used green icing to put a decorative trim around the bottom, write the happy birthday message, and attach the candles to the plastic table cloth I used to cover the cookie sheet.

I then wrapped a star garland around the bottom of the cake 2 times.

And, of course, you can't forget the Green Lantern action figure - because what would a Green Lantern birthday cake be without Hal Jordan?

I also made brownie cupcakes (mini and regular). I first topped them with white frosting and then used the green frosting to make the Green Lantern symbol (using Wilton's #46 cake tip upside down). I put a ring of black frosting around the outside of the cupcake and finished it up with 3 sprigs of the star garland popping out the middle, wrapping it around a pen to give it the twisted look.

Blueberry Yogurt Shake

This has been my breakfast for the last couple weeks, I am loving it!

In a blender, I put:

5 ice cubes

12 oz-ish of vanilla yogurt

a handful of walnuts

a handful of frozen blueberries

Blend

I have to credit this idea to Sister Lloyd, one of my mission companions. She made yogurt shakes for breakfast. At the time, she let me try one and I didn't care for it - it reminded me too much of a drink that made me feel really sick when I was in Russia. Now, 10 years later, I have thought about Sister Lloyds' breakfast shakes and wanted to try one again - so this is what I came up with... of course there are hundred's of variations with all sorts of fruit and flavored yogurt - give it a try!

Pineapple Mango Salsa Chicken

This is so good, and SO EASY-

In a crock pot:

4-5 Chicken Breasts

1- 24 oz-ish container of pineapple mango salsa (peach mango is good too)

Cook 4 hours

Shred Chicken and serve with tortillas

My sister Kaylene introduced me to this, and it is delicious - I love it!

French Fried Onion Crusted Chicken

Crush a can of French Fried onions.

Firmly press a raw chicken breast into the onions until well coated.

Fry chicken in a frying pan with a little oil or butter until chicken is cooked through.

Enjoy!

Southwest Breakfast Burrito - 2

Here is my 1st Southwest Breakfast Burrito.

For this one, I used my leftover ham from Easter, cubed it, and sauteed it with some sliced onions. I also fried up some southern style hashbrowns, combined them with the ham, and then poured some raw, beat eggs over the top and cooked through until the eggs were scrambled. I heated a flour tortilla and then put in my egg combination, topped it with cilantro, avocado, and --

Sour cream with taco seasoning mixed in. It added a great flavor and a hint of spice.

Delicious!

Strawberry Shortcake Castle Cake

My 4 year old wanted a strawberry shortcake castle cake for her birthday this year. This is what I came up with...

Top

Bottom

Front

Back

Arial view

For the cake, I made 2 9x13 cakes, a chocolate and a white. I cut off the tops until they were flat and then cut off the rounded edges. I then cut them each in 1/2 so that I had 4 equal rectangles.

I layered 3 of the rectangles on top of each other, "gluing" them with frosting...

I then cut the 4th piece in quarters and "glued" 2 of those pieces to each other and then to the top center of the cake. I then crumb coated, put it in the freezer for 1/2 an hour, and then frosted with white frosting.

Hint: I whipped the frosting until it was soft and fluffy - it made it a lot easier to frost the cake.

Candy I used to decorate: Twizzlers pull n' peel licorice for the edging, pink wafer cookies for the doors and windows, strawberry whoppers around the top of the tiers, and a strawberry hard candy on top of the tower cones with green icing pipped on top for the leaves.

I also had some brownie cupcakes left over from the cones so I used them as "planters" on the sides of the castle, holding a "big" strawberry.

For the cones: I filled the cone with candy. I made cupcake brownies, regular size and mini size.

I frosted and inverted the regular cone, and then did the same with the mini cone. I then frosted them with pink icing and topped it with pink sugar sprinkles. (These were a BIG hit with the kids).

The Cones

I put a couple ideas from betty crocker castle cake, and cupcake cones - with my own twist of everything made of ice cream, candy, and cake from the strawberry shortcake movies. It was a fun creation!

Granola

Try as a cereal, a yogurt topping, or an ice cream topping

In a bowl, combine

1/2 cup butter (1 stick) - melted

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla

mix until smooth

In a large bowl, combine

5 cups of oats (I use Quaker Old Fashioned)

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tbl cinnamon

1 cup crushed nuts (I used walnuts)

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until well mixed.

Pour out on a large cookie sheet (mine is a 13x18).

Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Cool on cookie sheet.

Add :

1/2 cup of raisins while cooling.

Store in an air tight container or bag.

Other fun combinations could be:

Craisins and Macadamia nuts

Dried Cherries and Almonds

Dried Bananas and Coconut