Picnic treats

I did a little baking again today:) we are having a picnic at my in laws to celebrate Father's Day. Yes I realize that was last weekend but we decided to celebrate this weekend instead. Anyhow I bake for mothers/fathers day every year and give it as gifts. So for Father's Day I baked pineapple upside down cakes for my father in law and brother in law. Unfortunately I didn't remember to take pics of them but i think everyone already knows what they look like anyway :)

For the actual picnic I called on my Pinterest account for ideas and came up with Oreo Rice Krispie treats and pecan pie bars. 

The kids and I tried a little sample of each and they are super yummy!! I also plan to make loaded baked potato salad which sounded really good too but I haven't had a chance to make it yet. Instead of traditional potato salad this one has bacon, cheddar cheese, green onions and sour cream mixed in.  

I also baked a cherry Danish for breakfast tomorrow. Nicky and I saw it on the hungry girl cooking show this morning and even he said that it looked good and wanted to know when we could make it. At least it's low calorie/low fat. I think I glazed it before it was cool enough because as you can see it kinda ran off the sides but I figured it was just for us to eat so no big deal. 

Am looking forward to trying it out in the morning! It has a cherry and cheesecake flavored filling. 

Oreo cake

My friend Tom had a birthday on Father's Day so today I made him a cake to take to work tonight.  He loves white cake and as yummy as it is, I felt like I needed to jazz it up a bit. I decided on an Oreo cake. It is white cake with a layer of fudge and crushed Oreos in the middle. Crushed Oreos were also added to the buttercream with a chocolate drizzle on top. I must say I am looking forward to having a taste of it later this evening :) 

Father's Day 2013

This Father's Day we made daddy breakfast in bed. We decided on French toast and bacon. The kids helped flip the French toast and were so excited to help. After breakfast we gave daddy his presents. He got a dress shirt and new cooler to use on the boat. The kids and I also made him a bunch of crafts.

 We sure do love our daddy!

We made him his favorite dinner.. Chicken francaise. Fia helped me cook :) 

Happy Father's Day Daddy!! 

Homemade balloons

I think my mother sent the kids these kits in their Easter baskets. Of course it was too cold to try them out and they were definitely an outside thing, so today we tried out our make your own balloon kits. Here's what they looked like

 You had to squeeze a bit of the colored plastic onto the little straw thing then you blow and it makes a balloon.

You are supposed to then "tie" them off and presto you have a balloon. Well tying them off translated into pinching them shut and maybe it was the sunshine but they shriveled up pretty quickly. They kids still had a great time making them.

 It was a fun summer activity. Glad I only opened one pack so we can make them another time.

Sidewalk paint

As some of you may know i am a Pinterest junkie. Recipes,craft ideas you name it. Recently I have been pinning summer ideas to keep the kids entertained this summer.  I found a pin for homemade sidewalk paint.  We are big fans of sidewalk chalk so I thought we would give this one a try. 

The recipe was simple and cheap one part cornstarch to one part water. Mix together and pour into cups (they used a muffin tin but as my muffin tin is used for cupcakes I decided to use an old ice cube tray which worked nicely).  Next you add food coloring to the cups. Then paint. 

The colors go on wet and dry looking like brightly colored sidewalk chalk. We loved it and the kids had a great time painting!  Here are pics of some of our work. We even painted our big rock.

Camouflage cupcakes

So a friend of mine from work said it had been awhile since I baked any treats for work. He jokingly said I should bring some cupcakes and make them camo. Well I gave it my best and this was the result...

I decided to make my moms banana cake recipe with my own little twist of adding toffee chips to the batter. It is a truly a yummy addition! I found a technique on Pinterest, my not so secret addiction, for using 2 piping bags in one coupler. I then made three different colors, brown and two shades of green and filled the bags. This was the result. I was pretty pleased with them and look forward to trying the same technique with some different colors. 

I took them to work last night and they were enjoyed by all. Yay!