Wednesday, June 30, 2010

And now for a moment of insanity...

I know I am an adult. I know I am a mother of two young boys. I know I bake, quilt, and make tea parties. But I can't help it. I love vampires. Always have, always will. It started when I was in college and hasn't let up. I have read every thing Anne Rice has every written. I have read Dracula, the original. I read all the Twilight books. I just spent last week watching all 12 episodes of Season 1 of True Blood (2 episodes a night). So in honor of the premier of the third Twilight movie tonight at 12:01 midnight I made these team cups for all my Twilight friends. I already purchased my tickets and will be seeing the movie this Saturday.
Each cup is in the font of that charachter. The fonts can be found at BellaandEdward.com.
I used my cricuit and vinyl. I used the SCAL program to create and cut all the names.
This last cup was for one among us who can't stand all the vampire talk.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Tea Party

The tea party was a smashing success. All the frozen desserts defrosted well and tasted great. All the fresh food was yummy and looked beautiful. The guests came dressed in tea attire with flowing skirts and straw hats. It was a lot of fun and several people asked if I did this for a living. No I told them, I work full time. This was just for fun!!
These were the party favors which contained 4 different kinds of tea. They were handmade by a dear frind of my mom's.

A very generous friend lent me the beautiful tea service to use as the center piece and the silver flower vases.

Here is the dessert table all laid out.

These are the Pastel Petits Fours. This was the hardest dessert I made and took the most time. But it was a beautiful show piece for the center of the dessert table.

The Berry Cheesecake Tart was a huge hit. I glued little tea pots on toothpicks and wrote the name of each item so guests knew what they were eating.

Blueberry scones which I served with homemade strawberry jam.

No one touched the blueberry mini muffins. Not sure why. But they looked really cute on this adorable tray.

This table had the tea sandwiches and fresh fruit skewers. We made tuna, egg salad, and cream cheese. The fruit skewers had chocolate strawberries and coconut dipped bananas. I nearly dropped from exhaustion after the party. But it was so much fun. I forgot to take pictures of the tea bar. We had 6 different types of tea with Cinnamon sticks and lemon slices.
I will post the rest of the recipes soon.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Star Wars Cookies

The boys got a great birthday gift from their best friend. Star Wars Cookie cutters from William Sonoma. These are the best cookie cutters I have ever seen. They really make the shape come out. We took a break from the tea party baking to make these fun cookies.
Ours didn't come out excatly like the ones on the box. But the boys didn't seem to mind.

When I told D today that I counld't wait to get back to sewing he said "No, I love baking with you." Ahh, that melted my heart.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Spritz Sugar Cookies

Yesterday one of the boys was home sick. To take advantage of the unexpected free time I decided to make sugar cookies using my cookie press. I did two new things this time. I substituted almond extract for the vanilla. And I dipped half of the cookies in chocolate. Sugar cookies freeze well so these went straight in to the frozen tea party stash.
Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter (or 2 sticks)
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Cream butter and sugar, add egg and vanilla. Then add dry ingredients. Fill cookies press and place rest of dough in fridge. Refrigerate your pans before you press the cookies onto them. This is a new trick that I just discovered that works well. I also use tin foil on my pans. It makes for easy clean up and the cookies don't stick.
Cook at 375 for 10/12 minutes.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Buckeyes

Hello Buckeyes. These are scrumptious little peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate. Yummy.
This is what happens when you have leftover chocolate.
Buckeyes
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups confectioners sugar (that is one entire box)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used the baking chocolate found at craft stores)
Line 2 baking sheets with wax paper. Beat the peanut butter, butter, and sugar with a mixer until well combined. This takes a while and watch out for flying powered sugar. I draped a towel over my mixer to protect my kitchen. Roll 1 inch balls and place them on the baking sheet. Place in freezer for 30 minutes. I put mine in the fridge for about 45 minutes and it worked just fine. Microwave your chocolate. Pierce each ball with a toothpick and dip in the chocolate. Place on waxed paper. Chill in fridge for 45 minutes until set. Serve and eat. I plan to freeze mine for the tea party. Note: The balls will have an ugly whole in the top where the toothpick was. I couldn't figure out another way to dip them to avoid the tiny hole.

Monday, June 14, 2010

100th Post and Blueberry Picking

First off this is my 100th Post. Thanks to everyone for reading. I love keeping this blog.
We went blueberry picking yesterday. It was so much fun. Everyone had a great time. We picked the biggest ripe blueberries we could find. Then when we got home (at 6:30pm) I started on a baking marathon. Thank goodness the kids fell asleep in the car on the way home.

Here are the berries . We filled up three of these bins. I had so many berries I had to send some next door to the neighbors. I flash froze one entire bin for later use. I made three items with the berries. Lemon Cream Scones, mini muffins, and regular size muffins. The scone recipe is a recipe I got off a C & H sugar box years ago. It is super easy and and always turns out good. I made two batches for the tea party. After they cooled I packed them up tightly and put them in the freezer.

I then made min blueberry muffins. I found these great disposable mini muffins pans which I just covered and put in the freezer for the tea party. These cuties are going to look great on a tiered serving tray. The kids really like mini muffins and they go great in lunches. You can also just pull then out of the freezer in the morning, pack then in a lunch, and by lunchtime they are ready to eat.

I also made regular size blueberry muffins with a sprinkle of sugar on top. Also good for lunch or anytime of day. We had them for breakfast this morning. I am going to post all the recipes I use for the tea party in case you want to create any of these yummies for your family.
Lemon Cream Scone
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tbl baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 cup whipping cream
2 to 4 tbl spoons water as needed
Heat oven to 375. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add in lemon peel. With a fork stir in cream. Add enough water as needed until batter comes together in a rough mass. The key is to add the water in small amounts, 1 tbl spoon at a time. Kneed dough 5/6 times on a lightly floured surface. Place on a greased cookie sheet and form into an 8 inch circle. Use a sharp knife to cut 1/2 way through to mark into 12 pie shaped pieces. Bake 20/30 minutes until golden brown.
Enjoy!

Friday, June 11, 2010

One big event down

The birthday extravaganza is over. The party was great. I managed to get the cake for the boys school birthday in time. I have decided that the best time to go to Costco is 7:30pm. I survived two hours of Chuck E Cheese on the boys actual birthday. All the presents have finally been unwrapped. All the Fort Knox packaging that toys come in has been opened. And I have already been told what my boys want for their next birthday. I am only just beginning to recover. Now I begin preparations for the next big event. The tea party. Let the baking begin.



Monday, June 7, 2010

Birthday Party

The Power Ranger Birthday party was a huge success. The kids had a great time and the Power Rangers put on an amazing show.Even though one of the boys hid inside for the first hour the Rangers were there, even though it was insanely hot, even though we ended up on my driveway almost the entire party instead of going into the back yard where all the food was, even though two kids showed up who had not RSVP'd (I hate that), it was a FANTASTIC party. My boys loved it. And I was told later by D that even though they were not the Power Rangers from the movie they were still Power Rangers!! Leave it to a 5 year old.

This is a picture of the 36" pizza we ordered for the party. The box was almost as big as the boys. Next event: Preschool Graduation.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Power Rangers

The boys 5th birthday is tomorrow. I spent the last two days making and frosting 50 cupcakes. Here is a little preview of what the cake will look like. I made all the power rangers using my cricut and the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge. That took forever. Then I made two batches of cupcakes last night. This morning we got everything out to start frosting. We wanted to have red icing. But the icing turned out pink. And the more food coloring I added the pinker the frosting got. The boys felt bad and kept telling me it was okay. But I said 5 year old boys cannot have pink frosting on their Power Ranger cupcakes. So we jetted off to the market and got vanilla and chocolate frosting.
Since we had such trouble with the frosting I decided to do a trial run of the cupcake cake. I think it turned out fantastic. I just have to add candles when we do the real thing tomorrow.
To make the Power Ranger
Body - in color of your choice
Boots - Superboy Accessories 1
Gloves - Supergirl Accessories 2
Eyes - Superboy Headwear, make two one larger then the other
Belt - Superboy Blackout, save diamond piece
Mouth - Genie Top, cut off straps
Neck piece - Nativity 1 Tabs
Neck piece diamond - Superboy Blackout, diamond piece
Sword - Prince Accessories 3
Sword crown piece - Prince Headwear

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Month of Parties

This is the month of parties and events. I feel like a New York socialite. First off we have my wedding anniversary which is tomorrow night. Nine amazing years. DH and I are going out for sushi while Grandma babysits.

Next up we have my boys Power Rangers 5th birthday party. That is this Sunday, at my house, with 15 screaming running around kids (plus their parents). I have to make 48 power ranger cupcakes. I ordered a bouncy, not specifically for the party, but to keep my kids busy while we get ready for the party. And to tire out the kids. I love bouncies. My boys also share a birthday with my grandfather who will be turning 96. He loves the bouncy too and has been known to go in it with the kids. (I am not kidding).
I get a three week reprieve and then we have the last two events of the month. First up is preschool graduation. We are having pizza and cake and all the family over. I can't wait. It will be exciting but sad at the same time. My kids have been at the same school for three years. Next year is the big K, at the big school. Yesterday one of my boys asked when he could start driving. Gulp!And the last event of June is a tea party I am throwing for my mom's birthday. I am making all the food. I have already started baking and freezing. I will have to make 2/3 items each week to get it all done in time. I am very excited about all the things I am doing this month. My family is celebrating a lot of milestones. When this is all over I think I will treat myself to a massage. I will deserve it. The only sad part is there will be no sewing. But I will be blogging about the different events and showing off some of the crafts that I have been working on for these parties.