Summer Dessert Fun with Kids

It is so hot....sometimes I can't bring myself to even think about food!  However, this week I had some fun with my daughter and all my nieces and nephews with some fun summer cupcakes and a cake.
The cupcakes were a blast to make and even the 15 year old nephew had fun decorating the Teddy Grahams.
I'm going to start with my final pictures this week....because they are so cute....and hope you have fun making some of your own.
Swimming Teddy Graham Cupcakes 

The things you will need to make these fun summer desserts are......

Any kind of cake mix for the cupcakes (We used strawberry and lemon)
Teddy Grahams (Don't get the bag in the picture...they were mini...had to go back and get full size)
Frosting (make your own....or cheat like I did and add blue food coloring to it)
Decorating gel tubes....for the eyes and swimsuits
Gumballs (beach balls)
Gummi Peach rings (for the teddy floats)

Don't fill the cupcakes very full.....the easiest cupcakes to decorate were the small ones that didn't have huge domes.

While they cool....start decorating your Teddy Grahams....we made some with sunglasses, some with bikinis and one of my nephews made a Borat swimsuit :-)
This really was easy and tons of fun.  I took them to a pool party and the kids went nuts for them.

The other fun dessert we made this week was Pink Lemonade Cake......I had bought the cake mix and then found a recipe for Lemonade Icing.  The kids loved this cake...it was gone in one day!

1 Pillsbury Pink Lemonade Cake Mix
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
3 eggs
Mix above ingredients and pour into a greased 13 by 9 pan

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until done in the center.

While the cake cools make the frosting

2 cups whipping cream
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/3 cup frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed

Beat all ingredients with hand mixer until light and fluffy. Spread on cooled cake. 
You can also use other frozen drink concentrates such as limeade, grape, orange, etc. 
Add a drop of matching food coloring for more color.

Put the cake in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
Enjoy a fun cool summertime piece of cake!

Breakfast scramble with steak fries

On the weekends, I love to make a big breakfast, to make up for the yogurt and banana throughout the week.  Don't get me wrong, the yogurt is great when you are on the run, but I'm not a waif of a girl, so there are times that I really just want a hearty breakfast.

Have you tried one of the scramble packages that you can find in the frozen section at the grocery store?  They are great, but I'm the type of person that likes to try to replicate items.  So, I thought I would make up my own recipe. Of course, when I started to make the scramble, I found out that I didn't have hash browns like I thought...instead, they were steak fries.  So I figured, why not just cut some up...it's all potato!  Well, I actually like the steak fries better!

Here's the recipe for the breakfast scramble with steak fries:

Ingredients:

1 lb. sausage

1/2 and onion (I love onion, so you may want to use less)

2 cups of frozen steak fries cut into bite size pieces (let them thaw a little)

1/4 cup half and half 

4 eggs

1/2 tsp paprika 

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup of shredded cheese

Directions:

Brown the sausage and drain; then add onion and cook until translucent.

 Cut the steak fries up into bite size pieces...

Add to the sausage and onion and cook until the fries are no longer frozen.

Add eggs and milk into a bowl (or liquid measuring cup), and whisk together

Pour egg mixture over sausage mixture in skillet and season with salt and pepper; add paprika.  

Stir egg mixture and cook thoroughly.  Turn off heat and add cheese on top of scramble to melt a little.  Then serve and enjoy! 

Let me know what you think about the steak fries.  I like that they are bigger bites, so you get more of a potato flavor!

The picture at the top of the blog includes the crepes that I wrote about in a previous blog.  You can follow this link to read more about the crepes blog.

Get Scrambled!

Dee

Nutella Rice Krispie Treats

Ok....my second attempt at making Rice Krispie Treats that I think are edible. The last blog (carmel sea salt Krispie treats) turned out too sweet. As I looked for a recipe I just decided to try making one myself with what I had on hand....

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter (I think I would use 3 next time)
4 Cups mini marshmallows
1 Cup Nutella
3 Cups Rice Krispies

Melt butter and marshmallows on Med Low heat.....major mess!!!! Remind me why people love these?
Then add the Nutella and stir......

Add your Rice Krispies...stir and pour into a 9X9 greased pan (I use Baking Pam).


Now the next is maybe the only reason I'll try this again....use parchment paper to spread the Rice Krispie mix into the pan. This is the only way to get them even without making a bigger mess.

Spread until nice and even all around......

Refrigerate for 30 minutes...then cut and enjoy.

So my verdict....I'm still not crazy about Rice Krispie treats....however, if you drizzled a little caramel on these I think they would be quite tasty.
I'm sure my nieces and nephews will gobble them up. Overall, I think they are better than the traditional treats......but I'm still searching for the best ones........
Have fun making them :-)
And the husband that loves Rice Krispie Treats...............thinks they taste like a
1000 Grand candy bars......

Crockpot Pork chops with Stuffing

I LOVE my crock pot!  I make a meal in it every week because it is so easy to put together and turn on in the morning when you leave for the day, and then when you get home, your house smells wonderful and dinner is ready.  It's like having a personal chef!...except for that part where you have to put it together yourself, but that's a minor detail...ha!

Pork chops and stuffing are one of our favorite meals, so I figured I would throw it in the crock pot and see what comes out.  The results...delicious! 

I made this recipe because I had the stuffing in my pantry and needed to use up the vegetables.  The stuffing gives it a casserole feel, and the vegetables give you lots of flavor.  Plus, cooking in the crock pot helps keep the pork chops juicy! 

Here's the quick and easy recipe:
1/2 a red pepper (diced)
1/2 a green pepper  (diced)
1 medium onion (diced)
2 whole garlic cloves (peeled)
2 stalks celery (diced)
2 cups spinach
1 box stuffing mix (including the seasoning packet...I used Stove Top...see pic above)
6 - 8 pork chops
1 can chicken broth
1 T paprika 
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

Directions:
Dice the vegetables, except spinach, and put them at the bottom of the crock pot.  Layer the spinach over the vegetables. 

Shake the bread crumb contents of the stuffing over the vegetables.

Layer the pork chops over the vegetables and stuffing. Pour one can of chicken broth over pork chops.

Top the pork chops with the seasoning packet (I saved a few bread crumbs to put on top too), and sprinkle paprika, garlic salt and pepper on top.

Cover and set crock pot on low for 8 - 10 hours.  I served this with a fresh salad to offset the heaviness of the dish. 

Happy eating!
Dee