Mom?! There's something in my dinner...

The girls surprised me by cleaning up their room yesterday without being asked, so I figured I'd put a little surprise in their dinner.
They are big fans of the Huggly books so I made some monster eyeballs to hide in their spaghetti! It was super easy and got a lot of giggles. This would be great for a book-and-a-snack playdate!
My mom taught me to make great and easy meatballs by baking them, here's my recipe! I like to make up a big cookie sheet full and freeze some for later.
To make them into "eyeballs", simply slice a green olive in half, put the tip of a sharp knife in a baked meatball to carve out a little space, then slip the olive in. Voia! Monster eyes!

Baked Meatballs
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
1/2 c. bread crumbs
2 T. ketchup
2 tsp. mustard
1 egg
1 tsp. worcestershire sauce
1 T. grape jelly (weird, but apparently that's what Olive Garden puts in their meatballs. It's really good!)
dash garlic powder
dash celery salt
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil (for easy cleanup!). Mix all ingredients together. Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on cookie sheet, make sure they aren't touching. Bake in oven for about 25 minutes or until done.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! :)

Corn on the Cob Cupcakes

I've been wanting to try these for awhile, I saw them in my favorite cupcake book "Hello, Cupcake!" I whipped these up yesterday for a picnic, here's how they turned out:

Ingredients:

Cupcakes, any flavor
white or yellow icing

various colors of Jelly Belly candies (I used Buttered Popcorn, Lemon, and Banana)
White and Black colored sugar (optional)

several yellow Starburst Candies

Corn on the cop picks (optional)

Directions:

Frost two or three cupcakes together so they look like a giant corncob (use plenty of icing and make sure it's pretty thick to fill in the cracks). Place rows of Jelly Belly candies across the cupcakes to make the kernels. Sprinkle with white & black colored sugar for the "salt & pepper". Melt Starburst Candy for a few seconds until it is softened and place it on top as the "butter." Add corn picks on the side and serve 'em up!

Note: I didn't have any starburst candy on hand, so I used two yellow candy melts to make the "butter". One I cut into a square shape and the other I melted and spread out to make the melted part of the butter.

Mousey Pizzas

Thanks to Jenn for this super-fun, easy recipe! I love your great kitchen ideas & thanks for letting me share! You can check out her fabulous blog here.

Mousey Pizzas
Ingredients:
tortillas (or you can use pizza dough)
pasta sauce
mozzarella
mushrooms
pepperoni
olives
corn
green onions

Directions:
Cut the tortilla into a “V” shape, put sauce on it - jarred pasta or pizza sauce is fine, lay down the cheese then just start making it look ‘mouse’ like. I found that mushroom ears were the winner here. As well as beady little yellow corn eyes.
However you make your pizza, lay it on a baking sheet and broil for two minutes and you’re done. Yum!
Note: if you're using pizza dough, adjust cooking time and heat (around 400 degrees).

Cupcake Pops

Oh, how I love that Bakerella! I finally decided to give her cupcake pops a try for the 4th of July. They were super-fun to make! I was going to post the recipe, but I figured I'd send you to her blog, you can get it here. I used some heart-shaped red hots for the "cherries" and they turned out pretty cute for my first try!

As far as presentation, I recommend cheap plastic glasses (you can get them at the dollar store, 4 for $1). Some I filled with red/white/blue candy corn and patriotic tootsie rolls.

BUT, you know what I decided was even better and cheaper to put in the base of your glasses? Rice Krispy Treats! I put the hot rice krispy treats right in the glasses and put some sprinkles on top. A Double Treat!

Here they are in their glory. Thanks, Bakerella for the great recipe!:)

"P" is for Pop Rocks Cupcakes

Oh my goodness, I just found these on Noble Pig's blog and had to share. You can get her recipe with a ton of great photos and tips here. I've never thought of putting Pop Rocks on cupcakes before but it's a fabulous idea! I'm going to have to whip up a batch with the kiddos tomorrow! What a great way to celebrate the 4th of July. Happy Birthday, America! Thanks, Noble Pig!
In fact, Pop Rocks on cupcakes are a great way to celebrate any birthday....the kids will love 'em!
Pop Rocks Cupcakes
adapted from Patrick Decker

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1-1/4 cups sugar
8 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla, divided
1 cup milk
1/2 cup rainbow candy sprinkles
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
About 3/4 cup blueberries, to garnish
About 3/4 cup raspberries, to garnish
Lots of Pop Rocks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line 12 muffins tins with paper baking cups.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, then set aside.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and sugar until the mixture is fluffy, substantially increased in volume and lightened in color, about 3 minutes.

In another large bowl, use an electric mixer with clean beaters to beat the egg yolks and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla until thickened and pale in color, about four minutes.

Add the beaten egg yolks to the butter-sugar mixture and mix to combine.

With the mixer on low, add a third of the sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.

Once mixed, add half of the milk, followed by another third of the flour. When well mixed, add the remaining milk, mix, then add the remaining flour.

Use a silicon spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure all ingredients are mixed in. Gently fold in the sprinkles.

Fill the prepared muffin tins with batter. Cook until a skewer inserted at the center comes out clean, about 22-25 minutes. Do not over bake.

Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Just before serving, in a large bowl combine the heavy cream, powdered sugar and remaining vanilla. Use an electric mixer to beat until thick.

Dollop or pipe whipped cream over each cupcake, then garnish with blueberries and raspberries.
Sprinkle each cupcake GENEROUSLY with POP ROCKS. Or serve each cupcake with it's very own pack of POP ROCKS which is what I would do!

Have fun with these, they seem to provoke a good time.

Chocolate Charlie & Lola Treats!

Yes, they're all chocolate! Yum!I have a great friend turning 30 next week (apparently 28, but I'm saying 30 because most of us are and I'm bitter:)). She's an amazing artist, a fun person, has a hilarious blog, and is generally inspiring. I wanted to make something fun for her birthday, so I decided on cupcakes with some kind of artistic garnish. I asked her about her favorite illustrators and she mentioned Lauren Child, the author of Charlie & Lola. These fun characters were just begging to be made in chocolate!! So, here's a great technique for making ANY kind of chocolate garnish. It's easy and looks professional. Here we go! I'll post a pic of the cupcakes next week when I make them.:)

Ingredients:
Candy Melts (or chocolate chips. You can use semi-sweet for the outline and white tinted with food coloring for any other color. Candy melts work the best, though, since they set-up harder. You can get them at Wal-Mart in the cake-decorating section.)
Wax paper
Tape
Quart-sized ziploc freezer bags
Your imagination!

Tape down a picture you want to make in chocolate. You can downlaod my Charlie & Lola template here. Something with simple lines is best. You can draw something yourself, use one of you kids' pictures, whatever you can dream up. I think a birthday cake for Grandma or Grandpa with your kids' art on it would be fantastic! There are also some other great ideas here. The frogs are to-die-for cute!
Bakerella also did fantastic cake garnishes using her daughters drawings as inspiration (see cake above). You can check it out here. BTW, if you don't read her blog, run, don't walk, and check it out! She's fabulous!



OK, now that the creative juices are flowing, back to business. Tape a piece of wax paper on top of your template. Keep in mind that whatever you do, it's going to be "backwards" when you finish it, so if you are making letters, be sure your template has been reversed.

Melt candy melts or chocolate chips in a bowl, 30 seconds at a time in the microwave until melted. Spoon into a quart-sized freezer ziploc bag. Snip a tiny end off of the bag and use it to "draw" the outline of your shape. When the outline has hardened, start to fill in with various colors using the same technique. Don't worry, this doesn't have to be neat. The basic outline is the only thing you really need to have neatly done. You'll think you're doing a terrible job, look how messy they are from the back!


After completely set, peel off and you have a fantastic garnish! Have fun!

Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Bowls

What do you do with a crowd of hungry kiddos in the summer? Serve ice cream, of course! What do you do if you don't want to do dishes or waste paper bowls? Serve it in a chocolate chip cookie bowl, of course! This great recipe is from Family Fun and is perfect for an outdoor summertime treat. These are super easy to make so make a whole bunch ahead of time, grab some ice cream and spray whipped cream, and you have an unforgettable yummy dessert!!

Ice Cream Cookie Cups

Ingredients
1/4 c. shortening

1/4 c. butter, softened

2/3 c. white sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 c. flour

1/4 c. miniature chocolate chips

Beat shortening, butter, and sugar in a large bowl. Add egg and vanilla. Add baking powder, salt, and flour. Stir in chocolate chips. Divide dough in half, shape each half into a flat disk and wrap in plastic. Chill the dough at least 2 hrs in the fridge. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Turn two 12-cup muffin tins bottom side up and cover 10 of the cups with aluminum foil (5 on each pan--leave every other cup empty so there's some space between them). Spray the foil with nonstick spray.

Unwrap 1 disk of dough, place it between 2 sheets of wax paper and roll it out to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out 4-inch circles of dough and place each one over a cup bottom, smoothing out any cracks. Repeat with the other disk, re-rolling and reusing any scraps. Bake the cookie cups for 10-12 minutes or until light brown. Let the cool for 10 minutes then remove the foil and cookies from muffin pan. Peel off foil and let cups cool completely. Fill with ice cream or your favorite dessert and enjoy!