~Marshmallow Octopodes~

The theme for Cub Scouts this month is water based. So I thought I'd make a fun snack to share with the boys. Easy, Fun, Inexpensive, and Tasty!

Starting out you'll need 8 pieces of Twizzlers -N-Peels (pulled apart and cut in half).
A Large size Marshmallow
Toothpicks
Frosting dye
Parchment Paper

Using the parchment paper to work on, push 4 "legs" into the marshmallow opposite each other to look like this... (you may need to use a toothpick to make a hole in the marshmallow for the leg to make it easier)





Push the last 4 "legs" into the marshmallow between the first 4, again opposite each other. Should look like this...







Using Frosting dye and a toothpick you can draw eyes or a whole little face on your Octopus.

And TaDa!! A cute little Octopus to munch! You can put them on a blue plate to resemble water, or serve with goldfishes and Ocean water. (Blue drink like kool-aid)

Happy Birthday Buddy!

My Oldest Boy Orion celebrated his 4th birthday on 26th July 2010!! We had a fun family play time at the park with some friends, blowing bubbles, sliding on the slides, opening presents and eating cake. His favorite present was his new bike of course, and he refused to take the helmet off lol. Anyway so when asked what he wanted his birthday cake to be he said "I just want a slide Mom." Great! A slide, how the heck was I going to pull that one off with what I had in the house? I'll tell ya how... I made the cake he had picked out (Confetti cake) and whipped up some butter cream frosting. Crushing Gram crackers and mixing in yellow sugar sprinkles I made a "sandbox". The teeter-todder is a Gram cracker and Tootsie roll, the toy ball is a small jaw breaker. And the slide? A stick of celery with dum-dum sucker posts! And surprisingly enough both Orion and his friend ate some of the slide WOOT! He loved the cake and I was glad I was able to make his cake wish come true.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIDDO!
July 7th 2010, Elias turns 2 years old! He's no longer my little baby, he's my toddler, all grown up. *sniff sniff, wipes tear* Okay I'm good now. For his birthday he got to go to the theater to watch Surf's Up with all the other kids from the Library's Summer reading program. Shopping with Mommy (he loves to be my helper). And had a few friends meet us at the park to play and eat cake. He had a blast and hopefully he's as worn out as I am and will sleep in a bit tomorrow. :P Any who so here's a picture of him, and then a picture of his cake. He told me he wanted a car cake, it ended up becoming a little truck, but he still loved it and it was actually fairly simple to make. Now Orion is telling me he wants a Train cake for his birthday later this month *sigh* we'll see.

!! Breakfast !!

Simple quick breakfast: Ham and Cheese Omelet, French toast, and Kiwi fruit as the chosen fruit of the day. Mmmmmmmm.....

Up to my eyes in Couscous!

Here's a fun one for yas! Left: Couscous with mushrooms and herbs, two hard boiled egg eyes, carrot nose, and the eye pieces are cut out of nori.

Right: Pickle sticks, Cherry Tomato, Grapes, Mushroom, Fancy cut Banana (no it didn't go brown before it was eaten, I love cooking tricks!), A few Broccoli florets, and Carrot sticks.

Alphabet Pancake Breakfast

Who doesn't like a nice hot breakfast of Pancakes once in a while eh? And like any good mom I'm always looking for learning experiences for my boys. So when I make pancakes we make Alphabet pancakes! Pictured here is Orion and Elias holding up the pancake with the first letter of their name on them. (Those are always the ones eaten first lol) I've also done shapes, patterns, and numbers into the pancakes. Fun, Educational, and YUMMY!

Mac-n-Cheese

Okay so here it is. I promised a friend I'd put up my recipe for home made Creamy Mac-n-Cheese...

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• 2 Cups of Elbow Macaroni (or Macaroni of choice)
• 1 Can (10 oz) Cream of Mushroom Soup (or Cream Soup of choice)
• 1 Cup of grated Cheddar Cheese (more or less to taste)

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Fill pot with water bring to boil and cook your macaroni. Drain well but don't let it cool to much. Stir in Cream of Mushroom soup until it coats the macaroni well. Add and stir in cheese till it's well melted throughout. Serve and enjoy! Makes 4-6 servings.

@~ Chocolate Roses ~@

Just a little experiment with my chocolate molds.

This Rose is Peanut Butter filled and I was told it was yummy.

^_^ SMILE! ^_^

Long hours working makes for very grumpy people. So I made a reason for him to smile at work.

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I made Steak bites with wasabi dip and Sticky rice with Fresh Lemon juice squeezed over it (the smiley is out of the lemon rind). Then in the bottom we have Tomatoes, Green Onions, Diakon Radish, Carrot sticks, Tamagoyaki, Dill Pickle Slices, Pickled Ginger, Red Radishes, Kiwi Fruit and a few Lemon wedges.

Happy Mother's Day!

My husband made me this yummy yellow cake with fruit toppings. Grapes and Lemons. The flowers were a gift from my Church given to all the mothers. So bright and cheery!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!

It's my Husband's birthday and he requested a steak dinner, so of course that's what I made. We had just a quiet little family party at home but we still had fun and he enjoyed the food and gifts.

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Okay so I made Sirloin steaks marinated in char grill BBQ sauce, honey, garlic and green chili peppers, and cooked it over the grill. Slow cooked veggie mix seasoned with parsley/salt/grains of paradise. Fresh veggie options of tomatoes, pickles, avocado, radish, and lemon wedges (not pictured is the freshly made wasabi). Sesame garlic toast, (yes I cheated and bought some strawberry jello). Served with home made New Wine or 7up soda choices. And of course the yellow cake with vanilla frosting and ice cream (Schwans vanilla ice cream, some nice benefits with a husband that works for Schwans). The cake has a picture of a Neko girl smiling and says "Happy Birthday" in Japanese across the bottom. Fitting for a husband who's so into the Japanese culture :P he thought it was awesome.

Dinner for The Crew

Sunday's are the longest work days of the week for my husband. It has become a much appreciated weekly tradition that the Boss' Wife makes dinner for The Crew and takes it to them at work. Well as has happened before the Boss is away on vacation so my husband being the second in command gets to take over as Boss for the time. Guess who gets to be the Boss' wife now? LOL, I love to cook for the Crew when I can though so it's okay. On to the food! I made them Garlic-n-Spiced Hamburgers (there was buns for them too not pictured), with the fixings I had on hand of Cheese/Pickles/Ketchup/Mustard/Wasabi Horseradish, a mixed veggie blend, and Scalloped potatoes (which turned out really yummy for not having a recipe). I finished off the dinner with some smiley face cupcakes. I packed the boys up in the car with me and we shared dinner with the Crew at the depot. The boys love visiting Daddy at work, wouldn't be because Daddy works for an Ice Cream company would it? :P