Princess Birthday Cake

I wanted to share a few details with you from my daughters 5th birthday! We had a great time but we didn't do the whole BIG party thing since she had one last year, but I think we did a good job of focusing on her and making her feel special.

The kids birthdays in our house usually start out with daddy taking them to breakfast. This year was no exception. So Greg and Naomi went to Perkins while I stayed home with the big kids (maybe I need to get in on this deal too and alternate years with Greg). We then went to a local farm with our neighbors for lots of fall fun! You can see some of the details from that here! Then we had lunch at home and of course cake! And not just any cake but princess cake. Naomi has been talking about having a princess cake since last year (when I didn't really let her decide the theme of her party). And she says that next year she's going to have a fairy party...we'll see!

So, today I wanted to show you how I made her princess cake!

Instead of just doing one princess we bought the multi pack of little barbie/princess bodies (head and torso) at JoAnns. I was trying to figure out what pan to use in order to get the curved dress form. I did a little research and found out there was a pan specifically for the little doll dresses (of course there is!) So, I ran to Hobby Lobby on Thursday morning with my 40% off coupon to get the Mini Mold pan. Micah and I baked the cakes on Thursday and he couldn't understand why he couldn't eat it as soon as he stirred the batter.

So, I baked the mini dresses, then I put the rest of the funfetti batter into a round cake pan but I knew it was going to be really small with the small amount of batter I had left so I mixed up a choclate cake real quick and added some to the round cake pan. I knew I needed something for the Princesses to stand on so I put some wax paper in the bottom of a 9x12 cake pan and added the rest of the chocolate cake batter.

I let the cakes cool and put them in the freezer overnight. Then I had to do quite a bit of cutting on the round cake to make it look the way I wanted it to. I frosted the 9x12 cake with a crumb coat then put the round cake flush with the back of the large cake and cut it to have a square corner. I then used my biscuit cutter and cut out two places for two of the princesses to stand in front of the "hill".

Then I frosted the whole thing with a crumb coat and put it back in the freezer.

I also crumb coated the dresses before putting them back in the freezer as well.

Personally I think the freezer is my best friend when making a cake that needs to be decorated...unless you're using fondant or something similar, then it's probably not necessary.

On Friday night I pulled all the frozen cakes out and started decorating. I mixed up a total of 8 colors. You can see here three of the skirts are "finished". To get the smooth bottom to Snow Whites dress I took a piece of paper and kind of curved it and ran it up the side of the dress.

Then came the fun part of making the princesses come to life. I tried to stay as true to their outfits as possible. Here's Snow White...

 Ariel...

 Belle...(I was trying to tame her crazy hair with the rubberband)

 Aurora...she could have used more time but I simply didn't have it in me anymore (it was REALLY late)

I decorated the main cake portion to look like grass, the beach and some water.

I crushed vanilla wafers for the sand.

Back into the freezer it all went.

Saturday morning when we got back from the farm I put the whole thing together. It was thawed enough for us to eat when we finally got around to that part. I did put a skewer into the cake where the princess dresses were just to make sure they stayed put. But I'm glad they were frozen or I would have totally messed up their dresses. I didn't have any extra frosting to fix anything so it just was what it was. But...

she LOVED it and that's all that matters to me!!!

Want to see what I made her for her birthday? Check it out on my other blog!

Pizza Sandwiches

I am not in a rush for summer to be over. But I'm over the heat already.

Moving from San Antonio where it's HOT to Tennessee where it's HUMID has done a number on my love of summer.

It probably won't come as a surprise (if you know me) that FALL is my favorite season.

Jeans. Sweatshirts. Crisp cool mornings. Colorful leaves. Soup. Football. I am so excited.

And what makes me even more excited is that I'll actually be able to experience fall once again.

Now it probably won't be the same as my favorite falls in Milwaukee but it will be much better

than what they call "fall" in San Antonio!



I love a good soup. Taco soup is one of our family favorites and we make it a couple times a

month in the fall and winter...and sometimes even in the summer (that's how much we love it).

I would love for you to link up some great soup recipes...we're always looking for new ones.

I've found a few on pinterest and if you'd like to see my stash of soup and crock-pot recipes

check them out here.



I've been loving the crock-pot recipes lately and don't know why I don't cook with my crock-pot

every.single.day. I made some "beef sausage pizza sandwiches" the other day and my husband

told me that I could make that once a week...so I know it was a hit. Even Micah gobbled them up.

Naomi didn't touch the sandwich but she's been sick for a week now and hasn't eaten much

so I don't blame her. Anyway, here's the super quick, simple and delicious recipe.



I used a pound of ground beef sausage because it's what we had on hand. You could use

italian sausage links, and probably even just ground beef. Put the meat in the crock-pot with

a 26oz jar of pizza sauce, a green pepper cut into strips and an onion cut into strips.

Cook on low for 6 hours. When it's time to eat cut open some hoagie rolls, spoon on the

meat/pizza mixture and top with mozzarella cheese! DELICIOUS!!!



let me know if you try it and please send me your soup recipes. I'm itching for some soup,

a comfy sweatshirt, open windows and football on in the background! (it's been a long time

since I've been able to wear a sweatshirt because it's cold outside and not just from the AC)



Happy Weekend!

Easy Summer Treat

What you need:

Instant Vanilla (or banana) pudding

2 cups of milk

Bite size vanilla wafers

Banana

Whipped Topping

Mix the vanilla pudding with the 2 cups of milk. Pour into glasses. Let the pudding set. Top with vanilla wafers, sliced bananas and whipped topping! ENJOY!

Super Simple. Super Delicious!

Heath Bar Cake

We were invited over to a friends house for dinner last night. We asked what we could bring and they said, dessert. Yeah! I LOVE to bake. I asked my husband what he would like me to bake and he said something with Heath Bars (he's been on a Heath Bar kick for a while now). So, I googled Heath Bar cake and read through a few recipes before deciding on the one I'm going to share with you today. The jr. youth group from our church was also having an all night rock-a-thon and had asked for desserts so I decided to just make this recipe in two 9in circle cakes pans instead of the 9x13 pan that it called for. It took a little finagling on one part of the recipe but came out great. Everyone at the dinner loved it and I've heard that the jr. youth loved it as well. It's an easy dessert to make and SO delicious! Give it a try!

Heath Bar Cake:

Ingredients:

• 1 (18 ounce) box German chocolate cake mix
• 3 eggs (or as called for by your cake mix)
• 1/3 cup oil (or as called for by your cake mix)
• 1 1/3 cups water (or as called for by your cake mix)
• 1 cup caramel ice cream topping (I like Smuckers)
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (12 ounce) container whipped topping
• 3 -4 Heath candy bars, chopped
  (you can buy a bag of already chopped Heath bar for cheaper than the candy bars)

Directions:

Prep Time: 10 mins

Total Time: 40 mins

1. 1 Bake cake mix according to package directions, using a 9 x 13 x 2-inch pan.
   (if you need two cakes, round cakes pans work great)
2. 2 While still hot, punch holes in top of cake with a skewer or large fork.
3. 3 Pour sweetened condensed milk and caramel topping over hot cake.
   (This is where you need to think on your toes if you use two round cake pans. The round cakes were higher in the middle so the caramel and SCM just went to the edges....)

   

   
   So, I just used the spatula and moved the liquid around till it was almost absorbed into the cake. I let it sit for a bit and then moved it around again. It worked pretty well to do it that way too.

   

4. Let cake cool.

   

5. Spread with whipped topping and sprinkle chopped Heath bars over all

   

6. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

   

I hope you can use this recipe for your next gathering or to just make for after dinner on a Tuesday night! Have a great week friends!

Tomato Soup Cupcakes

I've got another great and easy, yummy cupcake recipe for you!

This recipe comes from Cupcake Confidential ...

There are 98 more recipes that I need to try but I really wanted to share this one with you.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup shortening

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

3 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 can (15oz) undiluted tomato soup

3/4 cup water

Lightly grease cupcake tins. Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs. In a separate bowl; mix together soup, water, baking soda. Add alternately with dry ingredients to the shortening mixture. Stir well. Fill each cup 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Cool. Makes 24.

Alternatives:

I used butter and added one more egg to make up for the fat content in the shortening (that's what google told me to do :) ). And I was able to make 32 cupcakes.

Minute Fudge Frosting

1 ounce bittersweet baking chocolate

1/4 cup shortening

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Boil one minute. Remove from heat, and beat until lukewarm. Beat with an electric mixer until thick enough to spread.

Again, I used butter and did not add an egg this time. I had to use the mixer for quite a few minutes and while it was thick enough to spread it was still runny. So, while it's called "one minute" frosting that's just because you boil it for one minute.

So, I bet you're wondering what they taste like. They're good. They do not taste like tomato soup. In fact they taste more like pumpkin cupcakes without the pumpkin flavor (if that makes sense). With the nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon in there these are good "fall" cupcakes, but really, good enough to make any time. My husband and kids really liked them and so did my next door neighbor. Give them a try and let me know what you think! It's another great way to add something healthy to something not so healthy :)

Antique Cooking Charts

My mom asked me the other day to get a couple pictures for her blog. She wanted pictures of my Great-Grandmas Hoosier (Isn't it beautiful?) and the Cooking Chart inside the door. I have been wanting to share another chart that I got from my Grandma and thought this was a good opportunity to share them. So now that I have the pictures....I can!

Below is the photo of the Hoosier. I am using it in my new craft room for all the kids art supplies. I love it!

Here is the | Useful Information | (Cooking Chart) that was tacked inside the left door. It has a bunch of really great information that any woman would love to have.

This Chart below is a Microwave Time Chart that I got from my Grandma. She has a larger version. If I remember correctly, this chart was from back in the 70's. It also has a lot of very useful information. My Grandma didn't want to part with hers, understandably, but was happy to let me borrow it for a quick scan. Thank you Grandma. I now have a cool Retro Cooking Chart!

Please feel free to copy these cooking charts and use them as your own.

I would love to see your Cooking Charts. I am kinda starting a collection!

If you have any that you would like to share, can you please share a link or email them to trendytreehouse@me.com

Cup O' Joe Cupcakes

Hey there friends, did you have a good week. My week was pretty good but not very productive (thus no photos of our house just yet). I've just now started getting to the unpacking of my things. It's too nice to not be outside with the kids most of the day, so I'll just have to slowly plug along. But not being able to sew or craft is just killing me! UGH! I needed to do something somewhat crafty related so I baked. Does that count as a craft?

I thought you all might enjoy the Cup O' Joe Cupcakes that I made...because they were very tasty and very simple to make. My dear friend Katherine sent me this "Cupcake Confidential Recipe Deck: a card deck of 100 recipes" and I've made a few of them so far. I was looking through it the other day trying to find a recipe I could make without having to go to the store...and Cup O' Joe Cupcakes it was. I gave some to my new neighbors and they raved about them so I hope you give them a try as well.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup butter, unsalted, softened
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons instant coffee granules

Prepare cupcake tins; lightly grease or insert paper liners. In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar and baking powder. Mix well. Add very soft butter, eggs, milk vanilla and coffee. Beat at low speed of electric mixer 1 minute to blend, scrapping sides of bowl. Beat 3 minutes until smooth. Fill each cup 3/4 full. Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes. Cool on rack. Makes 12.

I was actually able to make 16 but didn't have enough frosting for all 16.
Here's what they look like without the frosting.

Frosting recipe:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 semisweet chocolate chips

In a food processor or blender, cover and blend or process all ingredients together, cover and chill. Remove from refrigerator 10-15 minutes before serving.

I'm not sure if the chocolate chips were suppose to get all broken up but mine didn't and I liked that they were just chunks in the frosting, made for a nice chocolate surprise.

Not the prettiest looking cupcake but trust me, it's very tasty...if you like coffee that is! And it goes GREAT with a glass of milk!!!! Make some and let me know what you think. I'm dying to try the tomato soup cupcakes...sounds interesting enough to make me want to try it at least.

St. Patty's cupcakes

I'm totally stealing this post from myself from last year.
But if you've seen my blog and have seen photos of my house lately
then you'd understand why.

These fun rainbow cupcakes are perfect for next week...
I don't think I'll be making them, so make and enjoy some for me.

But really you could make these anytime.
What a fun birthday cupcake this would make.
A special little surprise when they bite into it!

The cupcake was very easy to make,
and just a little bit messy!

What you need:
White cake mix
Food colors
Frosting

Just make the cake mix according to the directions on the box.
Then split the mix into 5 bowls
Add food coloring to each bowl to make
red (9 drops)
orange (4 red, 4 yellow)
yellow (7 drops)
green (7 drops)
blue (8 drops)
Then drop a spoonful of each color into a cupcake liner
(I like to spray my liners just a bit for easy removal)
Start with blue, then add green, yellow, orange and red.
I spread the colors out a bit so that they would reach the sides
but you don't really have to.
I love how you can see the color through the wrapper!Then I took my white whipped frosting and added
lots of yellow food coloring and one drop of red
to try and make "gold" frosting.
Close enough!Beautiful and delicious!Would love to see your version if you try these out!
The idea came from Family Fun!
My kids really liked them, last year...
hopefully we'll get around to doing something fun like this again sometime soon.
But for now...still packing boxes and getting things in order.
We will start our drive north next week,
so you probably won't hear from me for a while!
Thanks for all your encouraging words and advice...
I really appreciate it!
Prayers are appreciated too!!