PINK!!!

You know how it goes.
The baby is napping, and you rack your brain thinking of what you can get done in that space of time.
And your Goth/Emo/Chain wearing daughter is into bright pink around her birthday.

So let's get this party started with a cake that will overload you with strawberries and PINK!
Seriously, this is the best strawberry cake EVER.

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 (3 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 4 eggs (room temperature)
• 2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup strawberry puree made from frozen sweetened strawberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and dry strawberry gelatin until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the batter alternately with the milk. Blend in vanilla and strawberry puree. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a small knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool in their pans over a wire rack for at least 10 minutes, before tapping out to cool completely.

The cup of strawberry puree is a little hazy. I just cleaned a few and zapped them.

Cuisinart. We're having puree of dinner.

It's starting to look like a crime scene here.

Homemade frosting is nothing but softened butter, a drizzle of vanilla, and powdered sugar.
The difference?
O to the MG.

Cool those cakes.

I added sliced strawberries to the layer.

To fan a berry, choose a perfect specimen and make thing slices from the hull.

See? Caterer pretty, and no fuss really.

 

Happy Birthday, Savannah. And thank you for 17 years of my biggest dream come true.

You are perfection.

Sweet Equations: Creepy Cheapie Sheepies

This is a repost by reader request. There are actually two posts today, and they will cover both the question 

1. What's a truly terrifying dessert I can make with the kids? and

2. How can I enjoy being a pyromaniac in plain sight with no one the wiser?

 

Southern Living showed up in my mailbox last week with these guys. I know. You're in love. I was too. And I thought I could pull this off.

Not.

But get the following together:

1. Mini marshmallows

2. White chocolate

3. Milano Black and White Cookies from Pepperidge Farms

4. Peanut M&M's

5. Um, zombie eye sprinkles. You don't have those? We do. The recipe actually says to put a mini chocolate chip on the end of a mini marshmallow.  If you don't have zombie eye sprinkles on hand, My God, what do YOUR gingerbread men look like??? 

By the way, do NOT expect the end result to look like this. Ours is sorta post apocalyptic. 

 

Be hopeful.

 

 Anyway, melt the white chocolate in the microwave for 30 to 45 seconds at a shot. Remember, chocolate holds its shape, so check and stir it often.

 

  

 Spread some of the melted chocolate on a cookie and use mini marshmallows as fleece.

 

y 

This isn't going well.

   

 Set the marshmallow covered cookie on four M&M's covered in white chocolate as hooves.

 Have some more wine, your sheep will start to look better.

To you.

And using more melted chocolate as the glue, make the face, and stick it to the body. Repeat. Chill.

 Zombie undead sheep.

Zombie eyes in a tube.

 

 That one's looking at me funny...

 Ack!!! RUN!!!

  

We used some sprinkles for the grass, laughed our butts off, licked our fingers a lot, and now have a strange craving for Serta mattresses...

Chef's Comments: 

I had fun creating these, It's also fun to make fun of the other people's sheep and how they are losing limbs, how they are being decapitated, and how they are shedding.  Mostly, summarizing our construction problems, but we got it right at the end.

Scroll down for your bonus treat, Mutton S'mores!

Capresse Salad

Do you have a knock out tomato recipe?

Sherri B. of The Kitchen Calls wants to know!

And if you enter her contest and win, she'd like to give you a cookbook!

Get busy, there's two days left to enter.

This is a family favorite. I'm lucky I was quick enough to actually get photos. You simply toss grape tomatoes, mini buffalo mozzarella, pitted black olives, minced garlic, and chiffonade fresh basil.

Add balsamic and olive oil vinaigrette.

Mix well...

...and hope you made enough.

I'll see you over at Sherri's!

Cookies ala Rehab

"So, like you guys really just don't eat eggs, do you?" my daughter asked on Wednesday night.

Hey, Sam and I are in our 40's. I'm almost not. We watch our diets, and eggs just aren't a frequently consumed item. 

Still, um, why do you ask?

"Do you have enough eggs to make cookies?" I asked walking into the kitchen, where I could see my husband shaking with silent laughter, hand over his mouth.

Yeah, we had plenty of eggs.

The little weirdo had drawn on them days before as a prank.

But anyway, here's our recipe for chocolate chip cookies. The nurses that are taking care of Mom LOVE them.

2 1/4 cups of half all purpose/ half whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup of softened butter (2 sticks)

1 1/2 cups of firmly packed brown sugar

2 eggs, strange faces drawn on them optional. But it does add a note of macabre glee when you break them.

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

12 ounces of chocolate chip morsels

1 cup of chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Set this aside.

Now, callously snuff your eggs and discard the shells without a second thought. Beat them with the softened butter, sugar, and vanilla.
 
Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix well. Stir in the chips and nuts.

Savannah likes to make uniform little balls and set them on a lined greased cookie sheet, because then her cookies are all the same size. OCD? why yes, thank you!

(I think it should be CDO so that the letters are in the right order. But I digress...)

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes and allow them to cool on the sheet for an additional ten minutes. Transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely, swatting your brothers and father who are all standing there milk in hand with your spatula. 

Do you see how perfectly round those puppies are?

Package a ton for Mom to take to Grandma in the hospital as nursing staff bribes.

Take some to your technical high school to impress your friends in the culinary program.

Leave the majority at home. Please?