Not a kitchen tool...

But it is still a cool tool! I have REALLY gotten into couponing, finding FREE and discounted ways to buy things. A couple friends have blogs about these kinds of things. I LOVE to follow them. Here is a deal I have to share- JVC BlogHer Sweepstakes- This is great for anyone who blogs! Check it out, you could win a FREE camcorder!

Easter Cake

I made an Easter Egg Cake for Easter Dinner/ Dessert. It was so easy! Which was the point. I debated weather or not to do a bunny or some cupcakes. But this was truly the easiest. I didn't decorate it with all the cute stripes and dots I wanted to. I didn't make enough icing, and I ran out of time. So... here's what I did. I mixed up a box of cake mix ( I used yellow butter). I poured it into the Classic Batter Bowl, and I baked it at 375 degrees for 50 minutes. It was a little darker on top than I would have liked, but it was done in the middle. I let it cool, in the bowl, on the Stackable Cooling Rack for 15 minutes. Then I released it from the bowl (which had been generously greased), and let it finish cooling in the freezer. When it was cool, I cut it in half vertically. Then layed it big ends together and frosted. Now that I think about it I could have baked smaller eggs in the prep bowls.

That would have been cute! Maybe next year! I colored some flaked coconut green and put it around the sides of the egg as Easter grass, and added some Easter sprinkles to the egg. This is where I would have taken the time to decorate cute lines or dots with other colors, but didn't. What did you do for Easter dinner or dessert? I would love to hear! Leave me a comment.

April Fool's Day!

You know I have to celebrate with Food! I found some fun April Fool's Day recipes and pranks at Family Fun. We had Strawberry Soda, Italian Cheesecake, and Mini Hamburgers for our April Fool's Dinner.

The Strawberry Soda was Strawberry Jell-O poored into four separate "clear" plastic cups, with straws, then set. It was hilarious! As soon as the prayer was said, both boys started drinking. They couldn't get anything to come up! It was fun. They added a dollop of Whipped Topping and ate it with a spoon. They were so sure I was treating them to Soda Pop for dinner! FUN!

The Italian Cheesecake was "spaghetti pie" The recipe I used actually called it Spaghetti Torte.

Here's the recipe:

Bet you've never had spaghetti like this before! It looks like a fancy torte, but it's still the same pasta, sauce and cheese combo that the whole family loves.
What you'll need:
· A large spring form pan, generously greased
· Your favorite pasta sauce
· A pound of pasta
· Mozzarella or provolone cheese
· Ricotta cheese or more pasta sauce for "frosting"
Toss your favorite pasta sauce with about a pound of cooked pasta.
Gently fold a couple of beaten eggs into the pasta mixture, and then spread half of this mixture into the well-greased spring form pan.
Sprinkle the pasta with shredded provolone or mozzarella cheese, and then cover the cheese with the remaining pasta mixture.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.
Allow your spaghetti "cake" to rest for about 15 minutes before un-molding it from the spring form pan. "Frost" this tasty cake with ricotta cheese or drizzle it with more pasta sauce just before serving.



Mine probably doesn't look as much like dessert as it should. But it tasted good. Except for the ricotta cheese frosting. It was cold compared to the spaghetti, since it didn't bake. I don't know how it would look if you baked it? I wonder what smaller pasta would look like?

And the other fun recipe was Mini Hamburgers.


Ingredients:
4 drops green food coloring
1/2 teaspoon water
1/4 cup flaked coconut
48 vanilla wafers
24 chocolate covered thin mints
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Red and Yellow Frosting

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. In a bowl, combine food coloring with a few drops of water. Add coconut and cover the container, shake until coconut is tinted. Set aside.
3. Place 1/2 of the vanilla wafers, flat side up, in an un-greased cookie sheet. Top each wafer with a peppermint patty. Place in the oven about 1 minute or just until chocolate begins to soften.
4. Remove cookies from oven and sprinkle each mint with 1/2 teaspoon coconut (for lettuce). On the "top" bun add a little red and yellow frosting for ketchup and mustard. Place this wafer on top and press gentle. With a clean paint brush, brush the top of each hamburger with just enough water to moisten so that the sesame seeds will stick when sprinkled on top of each cookie.

Happy April Fool's Day!

Cat In The Hat Cupcakes

In honor of Dr. Seuss's Birthday we made Cat in the Hat cupcakes. There are a few things I would do differently, if I were to do this again.

We doubled two "Funfetti" cake mixes. I figured we needed 23 + 21 cupcakes (for both classes). So... for 45 cupcakes two cake mixes should have done the trick. Because I was mixing two cake mixes at the same time, I didn't use my electric mixer. I was worried it was too small. So I pulled out my Pampered Chef 8-qt. Stainless Mixing Bowl. Which was a perfect size. But it didn't whisk as well by hand. So we only got 42 cupcakes. 6 less than I thought! I baked them in my Stoneware Muffin Pan and I used the Large Scoop to divide the batter into each cup. After baking I cooled them on the Stackable Cooling Racks.

For the frosting I bought the Betty Crocker tubs for $1. Then I whipped them with the electric mixer. They went A LOT farther!!! That is probably the best tip for ANY cake/ frosting helps. Whether it is homemade or store bought. Whip the frosting for a while. It will be fluffy, easy to work with, and frost so much more! I colored some of it red. That is always a trick. I wanted red not pink, or dark pink. Use the Wilton coloring. It doesn't take as much. The gels are a lot less messy than the grocery store liquids. And then let it sit for a little while. After the color has had time to saturate the frosting, it will become darker.

I used graham crackers for the hats. I did red and white stripes then cut the large pieces into their perforated 4 pieces. Then cut them in half. I couldn't find black licorice rope, so we used "Red Vines- Super Straws". I bought Red Hots for the noses, and decided that was enough for the eyes too. I wouldn't be so cheap next time. I would buy mini M&Ms for the eyes.

I got my idea for this cupcake from "Hello, Cupcake!" and Wilton's- "Cupcake Fun!" I combined Uncle Sam and The Cat. Next time I would add cat ears- I would use dark melting chocolate, do they make black melting chips? And a red bow tie with red melting chips, or maybe white chocolate and red food coloring? Would the chocolate clump with food coloring? If I do it again, I'll let you know.