Rice Krispie Peep Nests

 In an 8c microwavable bowl, put 2 tablespoon of butter or margarine.  Add 1 small bag of mini marshmallows (or 1/2 of a large bag).  Microwave on high for 1 minute.  Stir and microwave on high for 1 more minute.  Add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and stir.  Add 4-6 cups of rice krispies and stir together until well mixed. 

Grease 18 muffin tins.  Loosely fill each muffin tin cup.  Lightly grease your hands and press the mixture into the cups, making a slight indentation (like a nest) in the centre.  While the mixture is still sticky, place 3 candy-coated chocolate eggs in the centre of the nest and top with a marshmallow peep.

Let set for a few minutes and then remove to an air tight container.  Enjoy and Happy Easter!

Use a slab cake and just 4 colors of icing to make this cake

Yesterday, we had my daughter, Jamie’s 6th birthday party.  She decided she wanted a Spongebob birthday party, so we drew 7 Spongebob characters on bristol board and the kids spent the last week coloring them.

• Fruit tray (canteloupe, melon, grapes)
• Veggie tray (cucumbers, carrots, red peppers, green peppers, celery)
• Cheesies
• Pretzels; and
• Birthday cake

To make the cake, I made a double chocolate cake in a lasagna pan and a double vanilla cake in a lasagna pan.  When they were done cooking and cooled off, I sliced off the rounded corners and placed them side by side on a large tray, so that they made a large rectangle.

I put chocolate icing on the bottom 2-3 inches for his pants.  Then, I put white icing on the next 2-3 inches for his shirt.  The rest was yellow icing for his body/face.  I piped chocolate icing for the trim and facial features, filling in with white and red, where necessary.  Basically, I used pictures from a Spongebob coloring book as a guide for everything.

Spongebob Party Games

 We kept the kids entertained with the Bikini Bottom Olympics, which featured the following party games:

• Bowling (dollar store bowling sets)
• Sponge toss
• Hulahoop
• Crab walk races
• Arm de-tangling (kids stand in a circle, use their right hand to grab the right hand of someone across from them, use their left hand to grab the left hand of someone different across from them, then try to untangle themselves without letting go of each other – good for a laugh)

We had a table of coloring pages, crayons and markers for anyone wiching to do some coloring.

After the Olympics, the kids entertained each other with karaoke-style singing and dancing.

Then, after cake and presents, we sent them outside to play for the last hour of the party.

For the loot bags, we bought sand pails and put “chum bucket” stickers on them.  Inside were Spongebob stickers, work sheets, crayons, a Spongebob calendar, Joe Louis with “crabby patty” stickers on them and various other toys/snacks.

We also created an Olympic gold medal certificate for each participant.

Everyone seemed to have a good time and we declared the party a Spongebob success!

Nothing smells better than fresh bread right out of the oven!

Homemade Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 c warm water
• 2 tsp sugar
• 3 tbsp yeast
• 4 c hot water
• 5 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp salt
• 1/2 c shortening
• 8-10 c flour

Directions:

1. In a 4c container, add warm water and sugar, mix to blen, then sprinkle top with yeast.  Cover, then put aside for 5 minutes.
2. While waiting for the yeast to rise, put hot water, salt and sugar in a large bowl.  Mix to blend.
3. Add shortening and cut into small pieces while water is still hot.  Shortening should partially melt in hot water.
4. Once yeast has risen, stir with fork and add to liquid in bowl.  Stir together.
5. Rinse yeast container with a bit of warm water and add to bowl.  Stir together.
6. Add flour, 2 c at a time, stirring after each addition, until you have forced as much flour into the liquid as you can (probably about 6-8 c).
7. Add the rest of the flour and mix in by hand until dough is no longer sticky.
8. Grease a clean large bowl.
9. Put dough in greased bowl and flip upside down, so that all sides of the dough are greased.
10. Cover and let rise about 1 hour.
11. Punch down dough and divide into 5 equal portions.
12. Grease 5 bread pans.
13. Knead dough into an oval-shaped ball and place in grased bread pan.
14. Cover all 5 loaves and let rise about 1 hour.
15. Preheat oven to 425F.
16. Bake loaves for 15-25 minutes, until golden brown on top and hollow sounding when you tap the top of a loaf.
17. Remove loaves from pans immediately onto a wire rack.
18. Butter the tops of the loaves.
19. Let cool.
20. Enjoy!

Make ahead dinner for when you are out all day

Today, we had a family ski day at Mount Pakenham.  The kids had lessons while the parents enjoyed the hills.  Then, we had a picnic lunch and skiied for another hour.  We arrived home to the smell of roast beef dinner cooking in the crock pot – dinner was served!  All I needed to do was make some gravy using the stock from the crock pot.  I melted a couple of tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, added an equal amount of flour, made a roux, and whisked in the stock a bit at a time.  Bring to a boil and season with salt, pepper and worchestershire sauce.  Voila!

Before leaving for the ski hill, I prepared dinner for the crock pot as follows:

Crock Pot Roast

Ingredients:

• 1 roast (I used a 3 pound sirloin tip roast)
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
• 6 medium potatoes, peeled and halved
• a few tablespoons of flour, enough to coat roast
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

Put oil in pan on element on high heat.  Dry off roast and dredge in flour and salt and pepper.  Brown roast on all sides and add to crock pot.  Add peeled and cut up veggies.  Add 1 1/2 cups of beef buillion, garlic and thyme.  Cook on low for 8-9 hours. 

Enjoy after a fun family day!

• Veggies and dip (carrots, red peppers, celery and cucumbers with bacon, cheese and chive dip)
• Shrimp with seafood sauce
• Meat and cheese tray (kolbassa, colby cheese, havarti cheese, cheddar cheese curds and ritz crackers)
• Taco roll-ups
• Chocolate cupcakes (with #1 on them for our #1 team!)

There was more than enough food for the 9 or 10 of us with leftovers, so this menu could easily feed 12 people.

Here is the recipe for the taco roll-ups:

Easy no-cook appetizer

Taco Roll-ups

• 1 package of pesto/garlic large tortillas (or any really but the green ones look good)
• 1 tub of plain cream cheese
• 1 package of Tex Mex shreded cheese
• 1 bottle of medium taco sauce

Lay out the 6 tortillas on your counter top.  Make sure you save the bag that the tortillas came in.  Using a knife, divide the tub of cream cheese into 6 equal sections.  Spread 1/6 of the cream cheese on each tortilla.  Divide the taco sauce among the 6 tortillas and spread it out so that it covers the whole tortilla with cream cheese.  Divide the Tex Mex cheese among the 6 tortillas and sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly over the tortillas.  Roll up each tortilla and place back in the bag that they came in.  They should all just fit.  Refrigerate the rolled tortillas overnight or for at least a couple of hours.  Slice the tortillas and place on a platter.  Serve and enjoy!

Smores to make at home

My daughters, Casey and Jamie, had their friends over last night for dinner.  For dessert, I thought it would be fun to have Smores.  This is an idea I got while we were on a recent Disney vacation.  While dining at the 50s Prime Time Café, one of the dessert options was Smores.  We tried it last night for the kids and it was a big hit!

The recipe is super easy!

Smores

Ingredients:

• Double size graham crackers (don’t break them)
• Large marshmallows (6 or 8 per graham cracker)
• Chocolate sauce (I used chocolate fondue sauce that I heated up in the microwave)

Place one whole graham cracker on a cookie sheet for each person.  Melt chocolate, if necessary.  Spread chocolate on graham cracker.  Place 6 or 8 whole large marshmallows on top of each graham cracker.  The marshmallows should stick to the chocolate.  Bake under broiler in oven for just a couple of minutes until the marshmallows are browned on top.  Be sure to keep a close eye on them while they are cooking as I imagine they would burn quite quickly.

Enjoy!

Here, you will find meal ideas, recipes, bithday party ideas, entertaining ideas and more!

If you have a great receipe to share – fabulous!  Please email me at kitchen@asselingroup.com or post it on this blog.  If there is a receipe you are looking for, just let me know and I will see what I can find.

Happy cooking!

Barb