Double Rainbow Cupcakes

Tablespoon is having Double Rainbow Week and we contributed some Double Rainbow Cupcakes! I was so surprised to open my Tablespoon Newsletter to see them front and center, what an honor! Thank you!

Click here for recipe or click on the photo below.

My kids loved these cupcakes so much that we made 72 of them to take to school and share. They were a huge hit and definitely something we’ll be making often. My favorite part is that the kids get to help mix, mash and drizzle the colored batter. There’s something for everyone to do and a great way to make some fun kitchen memories. First, gather up your ingredients, prepare the cake mix according to package directions and divide into 6 quart-sized freezer bags.

Add food coloring to each bag (one for each color of the rainbow), seal tightly and let your little helpers mix and mash until combined. After all your colors are mixed, you’re ready to pipe out your cupcake batter!
Cut a small piece of the corner of each bag and squeeze about 2 tsp into each cupcake wrapper. Don’t worry about covering the entire surface with each color, just make sure they get added in “rainbow order”. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 minutes, until done. While your cupcakes are baking, melt each color of chocolate and spoon each into quart freezer bags. Tape down some wax paper and draw rainbows! If you’re like me and need some guidelines, you can download this rainbow template and place underneath your wax paper. Let set completely, about 15 minutes. Don’t worry if they look messy on the back, when you peel them off, the smooth side will be gorgeous!
Frost the cooled cupcakes with white icing and place a chocolate rainbow on top. Now if there were only a pot of gold included! ;)

Quick St. Patty's Lunch

Need a quick and fun idea for St. Patricks Day lunch today?

The gourmet girls LOVE hard boiled eggs. So, I whipped up a batch this morning and am serving them for lunch with a plate of green crayons.
Let the kiddos draw all over their eggs--it seems "taboo" to draw on your food, so they'll love it!
Then, they can peel them and eat away.

Serve them up with baby cucumbers, green grapes, green milk, green pears, and of course lots of kisses!

For dinner, we're adding green food coloring to the water while we cook rice and some chicken. Easy! I'm also letting the girls use Grands biscuit dough to shape and bake shamrocks. What are you having (or did you have) for lunch or dinner today? I'd love to hear from you!
Happy St. Patricks Day everyone!

Irish Sweet Potato Candy

I wanted something different and fun for the girls to give out on St. Patty's day. I had heard of Irish potato candy before and thought that could be fun and festive.

After doing a little reseach, I learned that Irish Potato Candy is actually a traditional Philadelphia confectionery, is not Irish, and does not actually contain potatoes. Rats!

Oh well, we made up our own version using Sweet Potatoes (I couldn't resist one more recipe for the Sassy Sweets Cookoff) and the results were SO GOOD. You can't taste the potato, it tastes like a sweet almond treat, almost like smooth & creamy marzipan.

Irish Sweet Potato Candy
Makes 48
Ingredients:
1 large light-colored w sweet potato (about 13 oz.)
4 T. butter, softened (half of a stick)
1 (14 oz.) can sweetend condensed milk
5 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup sliced almonds
1 tsp. almond extract
10 C. powdered sugar
12 oz. white chocolate
12 oz. milk or dark chocolate
12 oz. green candy melts (if you want to make them for St. Patrick's Day)
Wax paper

Directions:
Cook sweet potato (oven, microwave, whatever works for you) and let cool. Peel and place into a large mixing bowl with condensed milk, cream cheese, butter and almond extract. Mix well. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, until mixture is thick enough to roll into balls that will hold their shape. Add sliced almonds and mix until combined. (Note: depending on your climate, you may not need this much powdered sugar or may need a little more). Roll into 3/4 inch balls and set on wax paper or baking sheets. Melt chocolate on a double boiler or in the mircowave at 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval. Dip potato candy in one color chocolate and garnish with the other color (I like to put some in a quart ziploc freezer bag, snip an end off and "draw" with it). Let set completely, about 5 minutes. You can store these in the refrigerator for up to a week. Enjoy!

Leapin' Leprechauns Finalists!

We have a winner!

Congratulations to
Bethany’s Treasure Hunt/Cake

I knew there was NO WAY I could choose the finalists myself (besides, I knew a few of them and wanted to be fair), so Gourmet Dad, myself, and 9 other neighbors reviewed each entry in detail and voted for our top favorites. Take a look at these amazing entries! If they have a blog, I linked to it so you can get the recipes and even more fun photos of their creations.

In no particular order...

Bethany’s Treasure Hunt/Cake

Amy’s Diggin’ for Gold Carrot Muffins
Heather’s Pistachio Pudding Dive
Cookie Girl’s Key Lime Bars
Camie's Over the Rainbow Treats
Gina’s Leprechauns Everywhere!
(she really did have them everywhere, visit her blog to see all the pics)
Kathryn’s Shepherd’s Pie, Rainbow Jello, & Pots O Gold

Darlene's Irish Potatoes
(I had these and they were super-yummy!)

Carolyn's Easter Crashin' Leprechauns
(homemade fondant Easter Eggs)

Bridget’s Lots O Leprechauns
(she really did have them everywhere, too! Check out her blog for more photos)

Leigh's Rainbow Cupcakes

Kendra’s Lucky Leprechaun Cake

Kellie's Pots O' Gold

Katherine’s Candy Buffet

Jo’s Green Muffin Tin Lunch

Sarah's Pork Tacos and Spanish Rice
(I had this one in person and it was sooooooo good!)

Now, I must admit, I DID have a favorite entry:
Cinni-Mexi Banana Cake
by our youngest contestant:
Mr. William Jackson, age 4 1/2.

The combination of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Taquitos, Cake, Sprinkles, and banana was genius. Pure genius, I tell you!

Here are the instructions in case you want to re-create this masterpiece:
Fill a with Cinnamon Toast Crunch, then place a banana firmly on the edge of the bowl. Arrange taquitos in a "wheel-spoke pattern" over taquitos and banana. Place cake in an empty space near the middle of the bowl. Savor.
It didn't make the finals, but I loved it so much that I'm sending you a special prize, William! You are going to be an amazing chef someday, keep creating in the kitchen!

Now, on to the finalists!!......

Katherine’s Candy Buffet

Carolyn’s Easter Crashing Leprechauns

Kendra’s Lucky Leprechaun Cake

Bethany’s Treasure Hunt/Cake

Bridget’s Lots O Leprechauns

Congratulations to the finalists! I put a poll up on my sidebar, check them out and you can vote for your favorite until 3/26! The prize box arrived today, I'm so jealous!

St. Patty's Cupcakes

Happy St. Patricks Day!

rint your Leprechauns to enter my Leapin' Leprechauns Cookoff (deadline is March 18th)

Here are a few of the fun cupcakes we made today and also some great advice from cookware.com for kids in the kitchen. Take 2 green mini-marshmallows (they come in the multi-colored mini marshmallow bags), snip in half and place on cupcake to form shamrock. Snip a small piece of another marshmallow for the stem.

Throughout the day kids are always getting into some new activity whether it is exploring the backyard, playing on the swing set, or drawing colored chalk pictures on the driveway. As parents, we try to look for ways to incorporate our children into everyday activities and spend as much quality time with them as we can. A great way to combine the two is through cooking fun recipes in the kitchen! While we’re cooking meals for our families and organizing dinnerware on the table, there are countless times where our children ask to help out with the process. Even the smallest tasks like cracking an egg or pouring breadcrumbs into a dish makes them feel proud and accomplished! With the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day holiday coming up around the corner, there couldn’t be a better time to get your kids in the kitchen and whip up some tasty green treats!

I haven't decided if I'm a total loser or a kitchen Rock Star for having leftover Valentines Day candy. Ha! However, it makes GREAT "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" cupcakes! Next year, I'm going to grab a bag of chocolate lips when they go on clearance just for St. Patricks Day!

One of the best recipes to start your culinary adventure is with St. Patrick’s Day cupcakes as there are plenty of simple steps that are great for kids to tackle in the kitchen. Teach your kids how to crack and add the eggs to the cake batter, measure the amount of water and vegetable oil that’s necessary for these delicious goodies, and how to put their muscles to the test and stir it all together. Once the cupcakes are baked and cooled, your children can put their imagination to work and design their very own festive desserts. Use green food coloring to garnish your cupcakes with green frosting or add a dash of holiday sprinkles to the mix to finish off with a glittery topping. Introducing your children to the kitchen not only will give them a chance to learn about delicious recipes but they will also understand the importance of cleaning up after themselves and washing their hands. A lesson in cooking and cleanliness can go a long way!

Put melted green Candy Melts in a quart ziploc freezer bag. Snip a small corner off the bag and draw shamrocks on wax paper. When they're dry, you can peel them off and use them for easy decorations!

Of course we had to have a Leprechaun stuck in the grass! You can print yours here.

Leapin' Leprechauns Cookoff

Check out these easy-as-pie Leprechaun decorations I whipped up. They're an easy way to dress up dinner or dessert for St. Patricks Day! Simply print the template, cut out, glue together with a toothpick, and you're ready to go. (Video tutorial below)How would you use them? Will you tell me?
No, seriously, I really want to know!
So much, in fact, that we're giving away a $100 worth of goodies from Cookware.com to my favorite idea!!

To Enter:
-Follow the instructions to make some Leprechauns of your own.

-Take a picture of your creation and either email it to me or blog about it and send me the link.

I'll pick my top 3 favorites and we'll let you vote for the winner! Winner will receive a gift basket from cookware.com with Le Creuset prep bowls (so cool!) and an assortment of Le Creuset utensils ($100 value).

If you're not the world's greatest chef, no worries! Two things will catch my eye: a great recipe or fun creativity. So, find a cool way to sneak those tricky leprechauns into your take-out pizza and you may win! You have until Midnight March 18th to enter and I'll announce the finalists on March 19th. Have fun and I hope to see lots of your ideas!

Leapin' Leprechauns!
Ingredients:
Template, download here
Glue, any kind
Toothpicks

Your favorite food

Directions:
Print template and cut out each section (there will be an image and its mirror in each section). Hold paper up to a light or a window to fold in half and match up the sides. Cut out. Spread a small amount of glue on the inside of cutout, place toothpick in the middle, and fold together. Let dry and stick them anywhere you want Leprechauns to pop up! Check out the quick video tutorial, it makes more sense.:)

A Huge Thank You to cookware.com for sponsoring our fun event. They have some serious eye-candy and fun kitchen items, I'm actually jealous I can't enter myself!

Leprechaun Lunch

I've dressed-up a lot of our quickie lunches, but I think this one takes the award for the easiest fun lunch EVER! All you need is a little icing, green food coloring, a ziploc baggie and an optional gold coin to make the cutest St. Patricks Day lunch! Leprechaun Lunch
Ingredients:
Your favorite sandwich, sides, etc. (whatever you're having for lunch)
White icing, any kind
Green food coloring
small Ziploc bag
Chocolate or toy gold coin, optional
Directions:
Mix a small amount of food coloring into icing. Put in to baggie and snip a small corner off the bag. Take a small bite or cut out a little piece of the sandwich. Using the icing, make small ovals starting at the edge of the plate and up onto the sandwich for "leprechaun footprints". Tuck the gold coin into the sandwich (optional). For extra green fun, put a drop of food coloring in your child's milk.

Here are the reviews:

Little C: "Wow! How did Leprechaun's mouths get so big?"
Big C: "That's funny!! Hmmm...It looks a lot like mommy's bite...."
Little H: "Fawsing! (frosting!)"