Wordless Wednesday

Tasty Tuesday

We had the pleasure of spending time with good friends on Friday night and our host made the most delicious soup.  I am sure she won't mind if I share the recipe with you.  Spread the love, right?

ITALIAN VEGETABLE SOUP

1 lb ground beef
1 cup diced onion
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup sliced carrots
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 - 16 oz can tomatoes
1 - 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 - 15 oz can kidney beans
2 cups water
5 tsp tsp beef bouillon granules
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp sweet basil
1/2 sp oregano
1 tsp salt
1 T dry parsley flakes

Brown beef & drain grease - add water, vegetables and spices. Cover and simmer 20 minutes.

ADD:
2 C shredded cabbage
1 C green beans (I usually add a pint)
l/2 C macaroni

Bring to boil, lower to simmer till tender. To serve, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

More Snow Days

The Long and Short of It

It was my turn to put Caroline to bed tonight.  We settled in with some books and began our nightly routine.  She picks out three books, I read and she asks ALOT of questions.  I love that about Caroline.  She is always so interested in more than the words on the page.  Our first book tonight was The Penguin Who Wanted To Be Different.  The main character penguin in the book is named Dorothy.  Sometimes her Uncle calls her Dot or Dottie.  Caroline was a little puzzled about Dorothy's other names.

"Mommy, why does her Uncle call her Dot when her name is Dorothy?"  

"Well, Dot is short for Dorothy.  It's like a nicname.  You know how your little sister's name is Makenzie?

"Yes."

"And sometimes we call her Kenzie."

"Yes."

"Kenzie is short for Makenzie.  Do you understand?"

"Yep"

We continue to read the story and some new characters  penguins appear in the book and one of their names is Rory.  Caroline immediatley stops me and asks...

"Is Rory long for Roy?"

Too funny!!!

 

Wordless Wednesday

Icing

I had some leftover blue icing from my Colts helmet cake I made last week and thought it would be fun to make some cupcakes and let the girls try their hand at cake decorating.  Plus, we had to try out their new aprons that Mauw made.  Don't they look so cute?  

I made a batch of pink icing and Caroline had to lick

the beater of course.

Yummy!

So far, so good.

Kenzie's plan of attack was to first take a huge bite out of her cupcake and then decorate. 

What is that on your face Caroline?

And your hair? 

Oh, my goodness.  Looks like a bath is in your future. 

We will have to work on their decorating technique another time.

Eating your creation is the best part anyway. 

Valentine's Day Love

The girls received a very special package in the mail this week from their Mauw and Papaw for Valentine's Day.    They both love getting mail, but getting a huge package - AWESOME.    They each received a pad of stickers, a foamy craft and these adorable, oh so cute...

Aprons.

My mama is the best sewer. {not sure if that is a real word} 

I just love these aprons.  They are so cute and adorable. 

Can I get one too?  :)

The girls loved wearing them today while we decorated cupcakes

My little beauties.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Colts Superbowl Cake

I have been seriously thinking about getting back into cake decorating.  Some 15 years ago, a friend and I took a Wilton Cake Decorating class at JoAnn Fabrics.  It was the beginner course, and we learned the basics of cake baking and decorating.  We learned trickes on  how to ice the cake smoothly, create borders, place characters on sheets cakes and make those beautiful roses Wilton is so known for.  Unfortunetly, that was the one thing I couldn't master.  I'll leave the roses for someone else.  :)  I had quite the little cake business going on for awhile.  I was making cakes for every ocassion and for anyone I knew.  I slowly got out of cake decorating because life caught up with me.  In the form of one husband Roy, and two little girls Caroline and Makenzie.  :)  I have thought on many occassions of getting back into cake decorating.  I have made the girls birthday cakes every year since their birth but that has been the extent of my cake baking/decorating the past five years. 

Well,  the cake decorating bug has hit me again.  I love watching Ace of Cakes on the Food Network and I am amazed at their abilities to creative such beautiful works of art.  I am way far off from doing anything like that but would love to learn the art of fondant and gum paste.  I have spoke of this to Roy and he even went to the links of giving my info the Culinary Arts Institute of Indianapolis.  This was very thoughtful of him, but it would have been nice to have a heads up about this.  You see, they have been calling me and I am like, how on earth did you know I was thinking of pursuing this?   I told Roy about my conversation with a respresentive from the Arts Institute and his reply was this..." Oh yeah,  I forgot to tell you, I sent them your info."  A little heads up would have been nice.  Maybe when the girls are in school full-time, I will think about heading back to school myself.  But in the meantime, I think I will work on making this dream of mine a reality.  I have been searching the web for cake ideas, how-to's and discovered that Provo Craft, the makers of the Cricut are coming out with a Cricut Cake machine, specifically for cake decorating.  Yipee!!  I saw an internet ad on this and fell in love instantly.  {Can't wait for May to get here so I can get my hands on this little machine.}  I have been to our local library and checked out books on cake recipes, cake decorating and more how-to's and have been combing the aisles of Hobby Lobby and JoAnn Fabric for new, fun supplies. 

On one of my trips to Hobby Lobby I discovered this cake pan.  And with our Indianapolis Colts in the Superbowl this year, I just had to have it. 

Here are a few pictures of my journey back in to the cake decorating world.

1)  Football helmet pan filled with Pillsbury white cake mix.

2)  All the ingredients for white royal icing. 

3)  Batch #1 of icing. 

I love my Kitchen Aid stand mixer.  Couldn't make cakes and/or icing without it.

4) Helmet cake is cooled and ready for icing.

I first put a thin layer of icing on the cake to "crumb' coat it.  

5)  "Crumb" coating is done.  Now onto the details of the helmet. 

6)  Don't forget to add the border around the bottom.

7)  Finished product. 

One Colt's Helmet cake. 

Even if we didn't win the Superbowl, I think my cake was a Touchdown. 

True Blue

Go Colts!!!

We got the fever

Toy Story fever that is.  The girls are totally addicted to both Toy Story and Toy Story 2.  My not quite 2 1/2 year old daughter can quote lines from the movie.  My husband is on the count down to Toy Story 3 in June.  I can't wait to see Roy and the girls head out for their very first daddy-daughter date.  Of course, I am sure I will have lots pictures and most definitely have to blog about it.  :)

This is how bad we have the fever.....

Our very own "Mr. Potato Head" made from Play-Doh.

Caroline wanted to play "Toy Story" before bed and insisted that Roy be "Woody".  She would be "Jesse" and Kenzie wanted to be "Zurg"   

Well, we didn't have a "Stinky Pete" so Caroline asked Roy to draw one and put it on a ceral box just like in the movie.  Of course, Stinky Pete isn't on a cereal box in the movie (he's is in his original box, mint condition), so he had to improvise.  I think Roy did a great job improvising.

Another great but crazy day here in Auba's World. 

Wordless Wednesday