We got "BOO"ed!!!

Wait a minute!  It's not as bad as it sounds.  Actually, it's really cute.  Late Friday night we heard the door bell ring in our new house.  Zoe and I went to the door to find a ghost!  Okay, so it was made out of poster board and taped to the front door but it wast still a ghost!  Along with some goodies and a cute poem.

Apparently, nice neighborhoods everywhere have been doing this for years.  We have just never had to the good fortune to live in one until now.  So the poem instructs that we have 48 hours to "BOO" someone else who does not  have a ghost on their front door.  You are supposed to leave their goodies on their front porch, tape a poster board ghost to their door, ring the door bell and then RUN!!!

Well, of course, I started to obsess about having the cutest "BOO" basket ever.  I don't know why I obsess about these things.  I guess I want people to think I am creative.  But the whole point is that you are not supposed to know who is "BOO"ing you!  Needless to say, this didn't stop me from obsessing about it. 

But the other thing I always obsess about this time of year is my friend Rosie's Caramel Apple Heath Bar Dip.  She made it three years ago and I still haven't been able to stop thinking about it.  Seriously, I wanted to go sit somewhere in a room by myself and eat all that dip!  I wish I had a picture of it for you because it was so pretty.  But she said it really simple to make.  Just spread a package of cream cheese in a round dish.  Then add the caramel apple dip and heath bar chips.  She cut up the apples and displayed them around it for dipping.

It is such a great combination so I thought it would make a great "BOO" basket.  And here's what you need to start the "BOO" in your neighborhood!

2 pieces of poster board

2 copies of the poem and directions below

 

And the stuff for your "BOO" basket.  Here is what I used.

I had some cake pop sticks left over from the last time I make them.  I taped them to the bags of caramels and heath bar chips and put them inside red treat bags (trying to make it look like candied apples).  I put it all together in black containers and added some ribbons that I had gotten from the Dollar Tree.

Then Jamie and Zoe had the fun job.  They snuck into neighbors' yards and left the goodies and ghosts on their front porch.  I can't wait to see how the ghosts spread all over the neighborhood!

Happy "BOO"ing!!!

Zoe's Birthday

Hi All,

It's been a while since I've posted but at least there is a good reason.  We are packing and hopefully moving in 13 days!!!!  I say, "hopefully" because although this is not my nature at all, I am trying not to count my chickens before they hatch.  I want to be so excited but there is a lot that has to be done to the house before we know if everything will go as planned.  So in this case, not only do I want to wait til the chickens hatch.  I want to see them clucking around before I get too excited.

But, back to the reason for my post, Zoe's birthday.  My sweet little girl turned 8 last week.  She has been such a blessing since the day was born that I can't even imagine how I lived without her!  And she is growing up way too fast!  It seems like she was my little baby yesterday.  And with this one tiny little present (Ipod Shuffle), I think I created an instant teenager.  Seriously, she hasn't taken it off except to sleep! 

So she requested a chocolate chip cookie cake for her birthday.  I think she was imagining the ones from the mall but when I showed her a picture of this one, she was so drooling.  So I took that to mean that she wanted it.   So here is is!!!

Check out this great blog, Home Cooking Memories, where I got the recipe.

Minecraft Birthday Cake

Like most boys his age (and everyone else, apparently), Jay is really into Minecraft.  My mom always made us the most perfect birthday cakes in the style of whatever character we were obsessed with.  I remember loving my Barbie Doll birthday cake and my all time favorite was Rainbow Brite!   To follow in her tradition, I always do the same for my kids.  So, of course, I had to make Jay a Minecraft birthday cake.

I checked out all the blogs and got some ideas.  Most of what I saw were large square cakes made to look like the grass block.  But I wanted it to look like the scenes that I actually see Jay building all the time so this is what I came up with. 

Supplies:
Durable Chocolate Cake Recipe
12 x 18 sheet cake pan
Wilton Food Writers
Butter cream Frosting
Chocolate Frosting
Wilton 12 inch disposable decorating bags
Wilton tip coupler
Wilton tip #233 (grass tip)
4- 4oz. packages of Berry Jello
Rice Krispies Treats


I used this recipe for the Durable Chocolate Cake.  It was yummy and easy to cut and move around.  I doubled the recipe and used a 12 x 18 sheet cake pan.  I flipped it onto a cooling rack and let it cool for about 30 minutes.  The lines that the cooling rack made on the cake came in handy when cutting and building this cake.  This is when I had to bring in the big guns, Jamie,  because my mind just doesn't work like this.  I wanted to use all this cake and make multiple layers.  So Jamie used the Wilton Food Writers to draw where to cut and where to put the cut layers.

While he was doing that, I was making the butter cream frosting and adding the green food coloring to get it to just the right shade of green for the grass.  It dried a little darker than what it looks like here.

Once the layout was set, I used some chocolate icing in between the layers to help them to stay put.  Then I filled the Wilton decorating bag with the green icing and used the coupler and tip #233 to make the grass on the tops of the blocks.  Then added the sand blocks (Rice Krispies Treats) and the water blocks (Berry Jello).  I ended up not using all the Rice Krispies Treats or all of the Jello but I wish I had saved all the extras because the kids wanted to eat all of that too!   I also wish I had put a layer of green icing on the cake before I did the grass so I wouldn't have had severe hand cramping from trying to cover every part of the cake!

I was going to print out these 3D Minecraft Characters to put on the cake but I ran out of time and Jay ended up putting his vinyl Steve in there.  In this picture, you can see the water blocks a little better.

And here are the boys playing Minecraft together on their IPhones, IPads and Kindles.  I didn't even know that you could link up and play together!  Remember when you had to wait your turn to play the old Nintendo 64?  And you would just hope and pray it didn't start acting funky because you'd have to do the Nintendo blow to fix it!  Ahh, the good old days!

Decadent Donuts

As if donuts were sinful enough.........my kids love digging into those little mini powdered donuts so I bought in bulk.  This came in handy when a friend who always demands sweets after dinner was coming for a visit.  I softened 8oz of cream cheese and mixed 3 tbsp. strong coffee and sugar to taste

to make a no bake cheese cake then made some sweetened whipped cream to top it all off.  Slice the mini donuts in half.  Use a piping bag with tip to fill with cheese cake and then whipped cream.  Melt and drizzle chocolate chips and top with other half of donut.

Voila! Coffee and donuts in a whole new way and a dessert that's sure to impress!

Cookie night!

So if you know me at all, you know that cookies are my favorite surcie to give, receive, bake eat, bathe in...ok I can see that I've taken it too far.  But you see my point, I love them and so does my BFFL, Lori.  (Yes, I'm using a Housewives of New Jersey term and I love it)   My  other BFFL, Shannon, usually has half of a bite and says something like, 

"Ooh, that is too rich for me!"  

Huh?

I know, right!  I still think something is so wrong about that.  

Anyway, the night usually procedes in this way.  We have dinner, usually some yummy thing that my husband, Jamie, has bbq'd, grilled or smoked.  Then we get to what I consider the reason for eating dinner...cookies!

Usually the kids are hanging around in the kitchen while we are making them and dying to eat them.  So, needless to say the kids get the first couple of batches and Lori and I are just hoping there are some left for us.  But this time I got smart!  I doubled the recipe of two different kinds.

And I made the dough ahead of time!!!

What?!?!

Gasps...oohs and ahhs

I made regular old chocolate chip cookies for the kids and Triple Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies for us earlier in the day!  Results = happy moms and happy kids!

The Triple Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies were the real hit of the night!  Here is the recipe.

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup salted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup of natural peanut butter, smooth
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/4 cup water
2 cups of Reese minis peanut butter cups
1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.  Then combine the sugars, butter, peanut butter, and vanilla.  Add eggs one at a time.  Then add water.  Gradually add in the flour mixture.  Gently fold in the peanut butter cups and chocolate chips.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.

The best part is that there were plenty of cookies.  Everyone even took some home.  I always save those little containers that a side salad comes in in when you order pizza.  They make great "cookie doggie bags"!

 

 

So then Zoe decided that she needed to make a chocolate chip ice cream sandwich.  That's my girl!