Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake!

Here's another item I made for the bake sale...I was really hoping it wouldn't sell because I so wanted to take it home and devour it!  But thankfully we sold pretty much everything!  It was a huge success!  We have already raised over $1000 from tutus, the bake sale, and raffle tickets!  Then, when we got home, my cousin who lives in South Carolina called to say a bunch of the military families on the base were they live got together and bought the plane tickets for my grandma and nanny to go to Florida for her treatment!  That's $2000 down in 2 days!!  We are super excited! 

So now for the recipe:

It's just a box devil's food cake mix.  Then, for the filling, I used the PB filling from this recipe and for the topping, I used the topping from this recipe. 

Doesn't it look so yummy!!!

Turtle Cookies...

Turtles are one of my all time favorite snacks, so when I was searching for things to make for the bake sale we did today and I came across this recipe, I knew I had to make them!  They were soooo good!  I didn't have the wrapped caramels...only those little balls so I melted about half the bag and drizzled it over after the cookies finished baking.

Cannot wait to make these again!  Especially since the next batch is all mine!

DIY Laundry Detergent

I'm almost out of laundry detergent, so I am finally getting to try out this recipe.  Sophie and Breyden helped me, each taking turns pouring stuff in.  Once it was done, I couldn't wait to give it a try, so I had some slippers that were really dirty...although, I don't know why!  They are only a month old and I put them on when I get out of the tub and then in the a.m. when I get out of bed, but they were so dirty looking you would swear they were years old!  It was embarrassing!  They bottoms had turned from pink to almost black!  And they were really stinky!  lol  Anyway, I put them in the washing machine on the hand wash cycle and they came out super clean!  Not to mention my whole laundry room smells amazing!  So it's really like a two for one...laundry detergent with built in air freshener!  

I like my clothes to really smell like laundry detergent, so I added some of those bounty unstoppables, but I really don't think I would have needed too.  The detergent smelled good enough on it's own!

Have you tried any recipes you like?

PS I didn't see it in the post so I mulled through the tons of comments to find an answer.  As with the dishwasher detergent you only have to use 1-2 tblsp. 

No use crying over burnt granola...

I've seen a few recipes for homemade granola online, but none that really were what I wanted, so I decided to try and come up with my own.  Things were going really well.

It smelled amazing in the oven...just one little problem...I baked it in a 18 x 20 cake pan instead of 9 x 13 and I baked it for the same amount of time as the other recipes I had seen...so yeah, I ended up with burnt granola...

I'd share a pic but it doesn't actually look burnt...it just tastes it and it is soooo dry!  Yuck!  I guess I'll have to try again later...

At least Sophie had fun making the measuring cup stick to her face...

She took this pic herself...she's really into taking pics of herself lately...

This ones my fave!  Oh well, when/if I get a recipe that comes out right, I'll share it.  ; )

Photo of the Day ~ Homemade Ranch Dip Seasoning

The kids and I made this homemade ranch dip seasoning...I haven't been able to try it yet cause I'm out of sour cream, but it smells amazing and I thought it looked cute in my little spice bottle...got 5/$1 at a garage sale!

UPDATE:

 Really not a fan of making it right when you want it...it's okay but all you really taste is the sour cream.  I think it's one of those things that needs to be added to the sour cream ahead of time and sort of let the flavors mix together and soften the dried herbs.  Plus the garlic and onion powder all feel to the bottom of the spice jar so I didn't hardly get any of it...I think I am going to try mixing it with the sour cream and leaving it in the fridge to see how it comes out.  I am also thinking I want to put the herbs into the food processor and turn them into more of a powder...we will see.  Anyone got a recipe they love???  Please share!  

S'mores Pie ~ yum!

It was my bff's b-day yesterday.  She turned the big 3-0, so when she came for a visit, made her a s'mores pie. (Find the recipe here)  And it was ah-mazing!  Plus, it's way easy and fast!

I only put three candles...I kidded her that I didn't want to set off the fire alarm, so I just put one for each decade...I know, mean, but she knows I love her...not to mention she'll be giving it to me in a few months!  

This is Breyden and her daughter, Ana.  We always joke that they'll have crushes on each other when they get older.  I said "aw, these pics would be perfect for their wedding"  lol!  I especially thought it was cute that his shirt matched her flower.

Aren't they cute!  And both a mess!  lol

Cherry Crunch

So here is one of my absolute favorite dessert recipes!  It's easy to make and I could probably eat a whole plate in one sitting!

Ingredients:

2 cans cherry pie filling

1 box yellow cake mix

1 stick butter/margarine (softened)

Preheat the oven to 350.  Grease pan. I only had one can, so I used a pie plate but typically I would use a 9" x 13" cake pan

Stir together butter and cake mix until well blended, then use your hands to squish it together until it looks like crumbles like this.

Cover the pie filling with cake mix. 

Bake for about 35 minutes until the topping is golden brown and crunchy!  Loooovvvee it!!!  It goes really well with vanilla ice cream....

Creamy Italian {Crockpot} Chicken

I have been wanting to start meal planning FOR-EVAH!  But, I am sooooo not a creative cook!  Rice and gravy and spaghetti are pretty much all I can ever think of cooking.  Not to mention I am a huge perfectionist and every time I would try to get started I would get overwhelmed because I was so obsessed with it being perfect.  But being a perfectionist, I love having a checklist!  It makes me feel like I'm not gonna miss anything...kwim?  So I was super excited when I found this 30 Meal Plan by Nannygoat.  It's laid out for you in 4 easy steps and they even include a few recipes!

But there was still the problem of finding quick, easy, and most importantly kid friendly recipes.  So I was even more excited to find Confessions of a Homeschooler's Monthly Meal Plan.  Monday was supposed to be Italian Beef Roast.  Only problem...I didn't have any of the ingredients, so I improvised.  Here's what I came up with....

2 bone-in chicken breasts (you can really use whatever you want)

1 can cream of chicken

2 cans water

dry Italian dressing mix (I used this recipe. I suggest reducing the oregano to only 1 tbsp)

Whisk the cream of chicken, water and dressing mix in a crockpot.  Add the chicken and cook on high for 4 hours.

It was a huge hit with me and the kids!  This one is definitely going into the recipe book.  I also plan to add at the end of each recipe ideas for what to do with the leftovers...

Chicken spaghetti

Mini chicken pizzas

Got any other ideas for the leftovers?  Leave a link in the comments section so I can check them out!

  

Yummy Homemade Ice Cream Cake

I posted it a while back, but since it's summer and I just made one for B's b-day party and it's delicious and I can't stop eating the leftovers I figured it was worth reposting...

I made this cake for Ian's 3rd birthday. 

I got most of the decorating ideas on Coolest Homemade Cakes.  And I submitted it to the site after Ian's party. 

Go check it out they have some really amazing ideas!

You can find my cake here.  Here's how I made it.  Let me know if you have any questions. 

First, I baked a  dark chocolate cake in a Wilton 12" x 18" cake pan (roughly 32 mins @ 325) After it cooled, I put it in the freezer, while my ice cream softened in the fridge, for 30 minutes. I then spread two half gallon cartons of vanilla ice cream on top of the cake and put it back in the freezer to harden. In the meantime, I mixed together a large contatiner of whipped cream, 2 boxes of chocolate pudding, hot fudge topping and crushed up oreo cookies. I had found the recipe here but changed the proportions a bit.

I then iced the cake with whipped cream and let it harden. I used crushed up vanilla wafers for the sand, with a few chocolate teddy grahams thrown in to give it some color variation and make it look like real sand.

I printed a giant "3", cut it out and used it as a stencil for the number on the cake and a strip of cardstock as a stencil for the road. Once the cake was covered with its sand-like coating, I removed the stencils and used crushed oreos to fill in the road and the number "3". I dyed grated coconut green by tossing it in a ziploc bag with green food coloring and filled in the blank corner.

I then printed signs on cardstock off the computer and used Ian's toy cars to decorate. He loved it and I had a great time doing it. The frozen coconut was a surprise hit with the kids. They loved it.♥

♥Homemade Cars Ice Cream Cake♥

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I made this cake about a year and a half ago for Ian's 3rd birthday.  Since I haven't been able to post to many crafty things lately, I figured I'd share this with ya'll.  It is sooo good.  My family still asks me to make this cake even if it is 20 degrees out!

I got most of the decorating ideas on Coolest Homemade Cakes.  And I submitted it to the site after Ian's party.  You can find my cake here.  Here's how I made it.  Let me know if you have any questions.  I think I stored my exact recipe somewhere when I made this year's cake.

Go check it out they have some really amazing ideas!

"First, I baked a chocolate cake in a Wilton 12" x 18" cake pan then put it in the freezer, while my ice cream softened in the fridge, for 30 minutes. I then spread, in all, two half gallon cartons of vanilla ice cream on top of the cake and put it back in the freezer to harden. In the meantime, I mixed together whipped cream, a box of chocolate pudding, hot fudge topping and oreo cookies. I had found this recipe online but I don't remember where. I think it was called oreo fudge ice cream cake. I adapted it to my needs.

I then iced the cake with this whipped cream mixture and let it harden. I used crushed up vanilla wafers for the sand effect, with a few chocolate teddy grahams thrown in, to give it some color variation and make it look like genuine sand.

I printed a giant '3', cut it out and laminated it, using it as a stencil for the number on the cake. A strip of cardstock was used as a stencil for the road. Once the cake was covered with its sand-like coating, I removed the stencils and used crushed oreos to fill in the road and the number '3'. I dyed the grated coconut green and filled in the blank corner.

I then printed signs on cardstock off the computer and used my son's toy cars to decorate. He loved it and I had a great time doing it. The frozen coconut was a surprise hit with the kids. They loved it. One tip: if you freeze the cake overnight, take it out 20-30 minutes before you plan to cut it. We didn't take it out earlier, thinking it would quickly melt in the 100 degrees outside temperature, but, even with the heat, it was a good 30 minutes before we could cut through it, even with a hot knife. Once we did, though it was delicious!"♥

Linked to: Tatertots & Jello; CraftOManiac; Keeping It Simple; Me Making Do; Mad in Crafts; Texas Monkey; Sumo's Sweet Stuff; Making the World Cuter;