Sugar Easter Eggs

April 4, 2018 by shelley

Sugar Easter Eggs

sugar easter egg

To make the Sugar Egg I used a Taste of Home Recipe for a guide (or download here Sugar Easter Egg). I used their recipe for the egg, which consisted of:

3 tablespoons water

food coloring

4-1/2 cups sugar

I put all the ingredients in a ziplock bag and mixed up really well and then pressed into an egg mold, turned over on wax paper. I cut the ends off equally. I let dry for a few hours then carefully scooped out the centers. Instead of putting in the oven as the recipe calls for I just let them air dry for a couple of days.

I made the royal frosting with meringue powder. I followed the recipe that came with the powder.

Making sugar Easter eggs

Gingerbread Houses

December 23, 2017 by shelley

Gingerbread Houses

Our annual tradition is making gingerbread houses. See my post from last year for the recipe.

Making gingerbread houses 2017

Slime! Slime! Slime!

September 3, 2017 by shelley

Slime! Slime! Slime!

Many batches of slime created

Henry makes slime

Caroline makes slime

Collins makes slime

We used the following recipe: (there are lots of different recipes on the internet…Elmer’s glue features lots of different one)

We used clear Elmer’s glue and *added food coloring and glitter. *If you want to add color, sequins or glitter to the slime, mix it into the borax/water mixture once the powder has dissolved.

BORAX SLIME

SUPPLIES

Borax powder {found in laundry detergent aisle}.

Elmer’s Clear Washable Glue. {use white glue and check out the recipe here}

Water.

Food coloring and nifty little items are optional.

Bowl, spoon, measuring cups

Borax-Slime-Steps-to-make-homemade-slime

Step 1: Dissolve 1 teaspoon of borax powder into 1 cup of water in one of the three bowls. I usually use room temperature water. There will still be some powder grains left in bottom of bowl. Don’t go crazy mixing it, but spend a good minute.

Step 2: In the second bowl measure out about 1/2 cup of clear glue and mix with 1/2 cup of water until well mixed

Step 3: Pour glue/water mixture into borax/water mixture.

Step 4: Get your hands in there and mix.

Step 5: You will see it come together right away. It will seem stringy and clumpy, but that’s ok!

Step 6: Spend a few minutes kneading the mixture together. You will have left over borax solution.

Step 7: Transfer your slime to the third bowl which should be clean and dry.

Step 8: Give it 5 minutes to come together. Even better the next day too!

Step 9: Store in clean container loosely covered. Again, I use the dollar store plastic food storage containers.

Traditional American Thanksgiving 2015

January 18, 2016 by shelley

Traditional Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

We celebrate what is probably the most traditional American Thanksgiving dinner possible (1950’s style)…the kind every baby boomer remembers.

Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner

The Menu:

Turkey and Dressing, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Yams with little toasted marshmallows on top, Green Bean casserole, Jello Salad, Rolls, cranberry sauce and pickles and olives and of course pies! Pies include pumpkin, apple, mince meat and pecan and this year lemon meringue and dixie with ice cream. Our only departure from tradition is no homemade ice cream but Murrays Ice Cream from Westport.

I buy a fresh (not frozen) turkey from the local grocery store. I order it ahead and then pick it up the afternoon before so I don’t have to keep it refrigerated long.

Turkey ready to serve

DRESSING

The dressing recipe is one my mother did (with my own updates until I arrived at one everyone seems to like). I stuff the turkey and make enough to also cook a separate casserole dish full of dressing. I make it the night before and let it refrigerate overnight which seems to help to make it even more flavorful.

dressing

Dressing recipe

Dressing recipe (.doc format) or (Dressing recipe-pdf format)

YAMS with little marshmallows

The yams with little marshmallows on top are the same as what my aunt Lola used to make for Thanksgiving.

Yams with little marshmallows

Yams with little Marshmallows recipe Yams with little Marshmallows recipe (.doc format) and

Yams with little Marshmallows recipe (.pdf format)

GREEN BEAN Casserole

The green bean casserole is right out of the fifties. I think everyone in America served the green bean casserole for Thanksgiving in the fifties…it was so trendy then! I decided to look up the history of the green bean casserole and had to share …so straight from the history channel!

THE ORIGINS OF THE MYSTERIOUS GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE

Green Bean Casserole

This mixture of canned soup, frozen green beans and fried onions has graced holiday buffets since the 1950s. But who came up with this trinity, and why has it become so famous?

Holiday tables are often divided over these three little words–green bean casserole. This mixture of canned soup, frozen green beans and fried onions has graced holiday buffets since the 1950s. But who came up with this trinity, and why has it become so famous? This week we’ll take a look at green bean casserole, from its humble origins in a test kitchen to the love-to-hate-it dish we know today.As anyone who’s checked out the kitchen section of an antique store can attest, recipe pamphlets were once a big business. Long before the Internet, home brands like General Mills, Cuisinart and Ball Jars regularly released these pocket-sized magazines full of tips, recipes, and instructions for their products. Glossy covers depicted the cakes or pot roasts detailed inside, and housewives loved them for their price and ease of use: why pay for a heavy cookbook when a recipe pamphlet could provide the same information for less money?The Campbell’s Soup Company had its own kitchen, in Camden, New Jersey, dedicated to pumping out recipe pamphlets. A home economist named Dorcas Reilly worked at the Campbell’s kitchen, and in 1955 she successfully devised and tested the infamous green bean casserole recipe. In numerous interviews Reilly gave years later about the invention of the casserole, she professed to not remember exactly how she came up with that specific dish. Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom variety had been around since 1934. It was widely used as casserole filler in the Midwest, popping up in enough Minnesotan hotdish recipes that it was sometimes referred to as “Lutheran binder.” But no one thought to add frozen green beans to the mix until Reilly came along. The fried onions on top were an easy way to add texture and brighten the color of a grey-green dish, and to add a certain festive touch to the proceedings.Reilly’s recipe was immediately popular. It was the perfect recipe for the holidays, as it was made with minimal ingredients that were almost always on hand, and it could easily be made the day ahead and reheated when guests arrived. And its popularity continues today, even in the face of America’s recent obsession with fresh, locally grown, artisanal foods. Campbell’s now estimates 40% of the Cream of Mushroom soup sold in the US goes into making green bean casserole.My recipe is the 1950’s version straight from Campbell Soup(I usually make it the day before.)

Green Bean Casserole

Green Bean Casserole recipe

MAKE-AHEAD TURKEY GRAVY

This year I had a recipe for make-ahead gravy. I liked having it already made so I will probably use it again. I used a recipe I found on all recipes.com. The only change I made was I used twice as many turkey wings…I like more flavor in my gravy.

Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy

make-ahead turkey gravy

Chef John’s Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy – Printer Friendly – Allrecipes.com

MASHED POTATOES

Nothing special with the mashed potatoes. This year I tried Yukon Gold variety. I also add a little canned milk and potato water and just a little butter (if I don’t have my low-fat guests attending I use cream instead of canned milk and more butter) and salt and pepper to taste.

Mashed Potatoes with Yukon Gold potatoes

CRANBERRY JELL-O SALAD

Why a Jell-O salad? I grew up in Utah…need I say more?? At least it is not green. If you don’t understand read “Jello-O and Mormonism: The stereotypes surprising origins” or Jell-O Love: A Guide to Mormon Cuisine . During the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City the most collectable pin was the green Jell-O pin.

Olympics Jello pin

(My mom’s favorite Jell-O dish was orange Jell-O with shredded carrots and if she got fancy it also had crushed pineapple in it. We had it often.)

The Jello salad I make every year for Thanksgiving is one my mom used but it has “evolved” ….it is more a fruit salad held together with a little Jello BUT it does have cranberries in it.

Traditional Raspberry Jello Salad

Cranberry Fruit Jell-O Salad

CRANBERRY FRUIT JELLO SALAD (.doc format)

CRANBERRY FRUIT JELLO SALAD (.pdf format)

ROLLS

Rolls

ROLLS

ROLLS (.doc format)

ROLLS (.pdf format)

PIE TABLE

Pie Table

PUMPKIN PIE

Pumpkin Pie

PUMPKIN PIE recipe

PUMPKIN PIE (.doc format)

PUMPKIN PIE (.pdf format)

APPLE PIE

apple pie

APPLE PIE (.doc format)

APPLE PIE (.pdf format)

PIE CRUST

Pie Crust

Pie Crust Recipe

Pie Crust Recipe (.doc format)

Pie Crust Recipe (.pdf format)

A Party for a Princess! Pink and Yellow Candy Bar, Princess Cake and Cupcakes, Celebration!

August 11, 2013 by shelley

A Party for a Princess! Pink and Yellow Candy Bar, Princess Cake and Cupcakes, Celebration!

The Princess

Princess Becca

The Brother Prince Henry

The brother Prince Henry

Our family celebrated the wedding of a close friend the first weekend of August…so everyone came home!!! Such a treat for our family, considering we have someone living in each time zone in the country. But before the wedding we had a birthday to celebrate. Becca, Jen’s daughter, turned five years old and of course she wanted a pink princess party. Having lived here, Jen had friends that had children the same age. They were invited and we had the makings of a party. Adam’s family all came and other friends came just to see everyone that came home. It was a party fit for any princess. Of course the setting for the princess party included a lot of pink (we used two shades of pink), with accent of bright yellow, a pink and yellow candy bar, a princess cake (made by Grandma Long), princess food, a piñata, princess (and a prince) crown making (with lots of sparkle jewels), and swimming. Each little invited guest got a tiara, princess fairy wings and a wand for a favor. And just to make sure brother was not left out Grandma Long made a “truck” cake just for him. I had help from “big” Becca and Jenn (B.J.’s wife)…we had fun getting the pink and yellow princess party ready.

We decorated over the table with pom-pom flowers, honeycomb fans and chinese lanterns. We added some long satin ribbons for a more princess look to it:

Pink and Yellow Princess Party decorations over the table.

Satin ribbons in varying widths and lengths in yellow in pinks added a very “princess” look to the centerpiece.

Pom-pom flowers, chinese lanterns and honey-comb fans.

A pink sparkly garland backdrop was put into place:

Pink polka dot and striped garland with a touch of sparkle and ribbon bows.

The table had its own princess tutu in tulle (pink and yellow) with a topper of pink and yellow:

Table with tulle tutu and topper of pink and yellow.

A Pink and Yellow Candy Bar Fit for a Princess was a definite hit:

Pink and Yellow Candy Bar for Princess Party

Pink and Yellow Candies

Pink and Yellow Candy Bar for Princess Party

My daughter-in-law Jenn has also posted about this pink princess party on her blog.

We also served Princess Cookies: (Oreos covered in chocolate.)

Pink Cookies Flower Chocolate covered Oreos and Chocolate Transfer Cookies

Pink Flower Chocolate covered Oreos and Chocolate Transfer Cookies

Chocolate Covered Oreos Daisy Molds can be ordered from Fancy Fours.

Instructions are also found at Fancy Flours.

Chocolate Transfer Sheets were used to make the striped cookies.

Princess Pink Popcorn

We also served pink popcorn in pink striped cones:

Pink popcorn in pink polka dot paper cones

I used pink lemonade Kool-Aid to make the pink popcorn.

Kool-Aid Popcorn

2 cups sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

2/3 cups butter

6 quarts plain popped popcorn

2 packages Kool-aid (pink lemonade)

1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F. Boil sugar, syrup and butter together for 3 minutes. On a large shallow un-greased baking dish spread out popped popcorn. In a separate bowl, combine the Kool-Aid with the baking soda. Remove sugar syrup from the stove and carefully stir in the Kool-Aid mixture. (Note: This will make the sugar mixture puff up. Be careful not to get burned.) Now take sugar mixture and pour it over the popped popcorn. Carefully mix all till combined. Place it in the oven and stir every 10 minutes. Repeat this 3 more times. Take popcorn out of the oven and when it starts to cool, break it apart into pieces.

(Instead of Kool-Aid you could substitute flavored oils and food coloring, making any kind of combination imaginable.)

The pink polka dot favor cones are from Oriental Trading Company.

Princess Cupcakes

I made pink and yellow cupcakes (divided the cake batter and made one-half pink and one-half yellow). The cupcakes had a golden Oreo on the bottom, then filled with half pink batter and yellow batter. (Sorry we forgot to take a picture of the inside of the cupcakes but the Oreo made for a nice surprise in the cupcakes.) The tops of the cupcakes were decorated by my daughter-in-law Jenn.