Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop

Some of the most creative ideas on the internet can be found right here at the Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop. Bloggers from all over the world come by every week to share their best recipes, creative crafts, kids activities, home decor, DIY's, tips, ideas and inspiration. Every week we feature the most popular posts from the previous party. Last week's grew to 377 posts of awesomeness!

Most Viewed

Pumpkin Spice Cookies by Katherine's Corner

Very Popular

Faking A Tidy Home by Mums Make Lists

Homemade Whipped Chocolate Buttercream Frosting by Recipes For Our Daily Bread

How To Feed a High School Football Team from Recipes For Our Daily Bread

Apple Pie Fries from Wheel 'n Deal Mama

Editor's Pick

This entry was number 357 at last week's party. See, it pays to show up even if many others arrived ahead of you. This post jumped out at me. I would love to have a calendar just like this one. It is so bright and pretty and NEAT. 

Washi Tape Dry Erase Calendar from Kim at Made In a Day

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Sweets for the Sweets ... Sweet 16 Cupcakes (Hot Pink Zebra)

Next on my list for Birthday Dreams (Charity delivering Birthdays to Homeless Kids) was for a 16 year old girl.  She requested Zebra and her favorite color was Hot Pink.  I did some google searching and came across a few different ideas.  I found this idea on Flickr and ran with it.

I picked up a Wilton Sugar Sheet in Zebra Print.  I happen to buy a sugar sheet cutter earlier in the year when Michael's had them and the inserts marked down on clearance.  I tinted the frosting to hot pink.

What you Need:

Baked Cupcakes (see Recipe below)

Frosting (I used my sturdy buttercream)

Hot Pink Coloring (Americolor Electric Pink)

Wilton Zebra Print Sugar Sheets

Wilton Sugar Sheet Punch

Wilton Fondant Silcone Number Mold

Wilton Silver Pearl Dust (Edible)

Zebra Print Cupcake Liners

I took my Sheet Punch with the sugar sheet to make different shapes and sizes to punch out the toppers.  I used one sheet and was able to cover almost all the cupcakes.  To finish them off I used some White Candy Clay (click for recipe) and some silver shimmer dust to mold 16.

For the cupcakes I used a Moist and Fluffy Vanilla Cupcake recipe I found on Life Love and Sugar.

 Ingredients

1 2/3 cups (240g) all purpose flour

1 cup (200g) sugar

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup butter (170g), room temperature

3 egg whites

3 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup (120ml) sour cream

1/2 cup (120ml) milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.

3. Add butter, egg whites, vanilla, sour cream and milk and mix on medium speed until smooth.

4. Fill cupcake liners a little more than half way.

5. Bake 18-20 minutes.

6. Allow to cool for 1-2 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to finish cooling.

Thanks for stopping by!

If you're looking for a GREAT charity please check out Birthday Dreams,

You can send them donations through Amazon if you would like.

They always need plates, wrapping paper etc!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

Sweets for the Sweets ... Rex the Dinosaur Cake

A signed up for a Dino Cake for Birthday Dreams (A charity that brings birthday's to homeless kids).  The cake was for a VERY sweet little 5 year old.  When I went to the shelter to deliver the cake, I walk up and I hear it's the cake lady.  This is one of my favorite shelters and usually do one cake a week for one of their residents. The little boy was so stinking cute and so happy with his cake.

He had requested a confetti cake and the theme was dinosaurs.  I started with making the cake.  I found a Fluffy Confetti Cake on the Food Network.

Ingredients

• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pans
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for the pans
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons rainbow sprinkles

Directions

1. For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of two 9-inch round cake pans; dust with flour, and tap out the excess.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
3. Beat the butter, sugar and oil in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light in color and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla until combined.
4. Alternate folding the flour mixture and the milk into the batter with a spatula, adding the flour in three additions and the milk in two, starting and ending with the flour, until just smooth. Add the sprinkles, and fold 3 or 4 times until just blended to prevent the colors from bleeding too much. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
5. Bake the cakes on the same oven rack until golden on top and the centers spring back to the touch, 35 to 40 minutes. Rotate the pans about halfway through if they seem to be browning unevenly. Let cool in the pans about 10 minutes, then turn out onto cooling racks and let cool completely.

After the cakes were cooled I started to carve out my dino!  It was super easy, 2 round cakes made this dinosaur.  I found a T-Rex Dino cake with template on Betty Crocker.  I fixed it up with a few of my own tricks.

All Boxed up and ready to be delivered

Ingredients:

1 box Betty Crocker™ SuperMoist™ devil's food cake mix (Homemade Cake)

Cake Board

2 containers Betty Crocker™ Rich & Creamy vanilla frosting (or Homemade Frosting)

Betty Crocker™ gel food color (AmeriColor Green Color)

19 milk chocolate candy drops or pieces, unwrapped (Green Candy Clay)

Assorted round chocolate candies (candy-coated chocolate candies, miniature candy-coated chocolate baking bits, coating wafers, chocolate chips)

Betty Crocker™ white decorating icing (from 4.25-oz tube) (White Candy Clay)

• Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Spray bottoms and sides of two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans with baking spray with flour. Make and bake cake mix as directed on box, using 1 cup water, the oil and eggs. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans to cooking racks. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Refrigerate or freeze 30 to 60 minutes for easier handling.
• For body, cut 1-inch slice from edge of one cake. From cut edge, cut out small inverted U-shape piece. Place body on tray. From remaining cake, cut head and tail. Arrange head and tail pieces next to body.
• Spoon frosting into large bowl. Stir in enough food color until desired green color. Spread thin layer of frosting over cake pieces to seal in crumbs. Refrigerate or freeze cake 30 to 60 minutes to set frosting.
• Frost cake pieces with remaining frosting. Use milk chocolate candies for spikes along back of dinosaur. Decorate body with assorted candies. Use 2 candy-coated chocolate candies for eyes and white decorator icing to make centers of eyes and teeth. Store loosely covered.

ALEXIS NOTES: I used a homemade cake instead of the cake mix. I used some green Candy Clay (Very simple to make it's Candy Melts & Corn Syrup click link for recipe) I had on hand with a bunny cooker cutter, I used the ears to make the spikes for the dino.  I inserted a tooth pick into the spike and then into the cake. I used brown candy melts for the dots along with brown Reese's Pieces for the smaller circles and the toes.  I used white Candy Clay for the teeth.

Thanks for stopping by!

If you're looking for a GREAT charity please check out Birthday Dreams,

You can send them donations through Amazon if you would like!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

The Woe's of being a Mom ....

Here we are 3 weeks into school!  At this time we've run through almost all our new clothes, I've tried to either bleach or spray away the stains on these new clothes.  We have had melt downs over homework and having to brush our teeth.  

By this time last year I was starting to see the wear and tear on the backpacks I picked up. Oh yes you would think that they would last but they didn't.  Yes I bought them on sale but I bought them from a popular store in the mall. Then you think to yourself oh yes I remember that time I thought they had everything in the car before we took off only to see in my mirror we were dragging something from the car door.  Or the time you watched your child pull their backpack across the pavement because "MOM my arms are so tried after a LONG day of school. Or how about the time you're waiting for the bus to see your child drop that said backpack on the ground INTO a mud puddle.

This year I learned my lesson no cheap backpacks yes I saved in the beginning BUT when I had to replace said backpack it really wasn't a saving!  This year we hit up Staples for some nice a sturdy backpacks!  A know the habits of the boys are not going to change so as they say if you can't beat them join them.  And I will join with well made items!

And for the times the boys let me make a lunch instead of a hot lunch from the lunch lady. We love lunch ladies and all but wouldn't you want a fun bento box lunch? Yeah I thought so to but boys rather have the pizza.  On the other days we do fun lunches in our lunch box from staples. And our lunch box is no exception to the rule of what happens to the backpack also happens to the lunch box.  OH yes but what we see come home in lunch boxes is juice boxes that weren't drank the whole way and squeezed all over.  Or my favorite is left over apple sauce that is squeezed out all over the inside. For this I must have a lunch box that can go through the washer with our falling apart!

And for the quiet moments mom can sit back and read a book on the Kindle Fire I found at Staples.  Yeah those are rare moments, most of the time I find the boys playing Minecraft on it.  And the best times is when the boys and the tutor are reading books and googling how to do a math problem!

So we are back in the swing of things here!  I'll be up to my eyeballs in laundry, maybe hiding in a closet to read my book on the kindle with coffee.  But as Mom's we wouldn't change any of it for anything, we just will learn and buy better items .. and maybe stock up on wet ones to help clean some of the germs away!

Thank you again Staples for the amazing opportunity to spread the word.

Disclosure – The product featured in this review was provided to me free of charge, by the manufacturer or representing PR agency. Opinions expressed are my own and are NOT influenced by monetary compensation.

Skinny Meatloaf ... Juicy Meatloaf (FMD - Fast Metabolism Diet)

Another Sunday Supper Meal Idea ... yes I was on a Meatloaf kick for a while. The boys are meat eaters so I'm always on the hunt to find ways to bring it to them on the lighter side!

Next on my hunt for a yummy meatloaf (or in my case a Turkeyloaf) was found on the Fast Metabolism Diet website that I made, it can be used for phase 1 and 3.  This was a simple dinner to make I steamed some broccoli to go with mine, the boys of course had scallop potatoes (no carbs for this girl this time).

Phases 1 and 3
Serves 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Total time: 40 to 45 minutes

1 pound lean ground beef
2 egg whites
1/2 cup old-fashioned or rolled oats
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbls. sugar-free ketchup (or Homemade Sugar-Free Ketchup)
1/4 cup finely minced onion
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix all ingredients (except the 2 tablespoons of ketchup) in a large mixing bowl until well combined. Lightly press the mixture into an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan. Spread the remaining ketchup on top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes (the inside will no longer be pink). Let the meatloaf rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

Serve with Phase-appropriate veggies. For Phase 1, serve with 3/4 cup brown rice per person. For Phase 3, be sure to add a healthy fat, like a side salad topped with 2-3 Tbls. salad dressing.

ALEXIS NOTES: I used Turkey since that is what I had on hand, I found organic ketchup that I used and a red onion (again what I had on hand).

Not your Mama's Meatloaf!
Do you do Meatloaf?

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

Watermelon Cookies Featured Again ... So Excited!!!

I was so excited when I stopped over at Joybee, What's for Dinner and saw my Watermelon Cookies were featured on her Great Idea Thursday's!  Thank you so much for featuring my cookies I'm tickled that they were featured.

Have a GREAT weekend!