Rainbow Pinata Birthday Cake

Dalton requested a rainbow birthday cake and I thought this pinata one would be fun.  Fun it was, though not exactly perfect... Sienna helped, we'll pretend it was that.

Filled with his favorite candy, Mike and Ike's

Cheese Rolls

I've made another use of my pizza dough recipe. I've been using it to make cheese rolls - basically pizza dough with a piece of string cheese inside. They're good. Certain brands of cheese work better than others - probably fake kinds, so it doesn't melt out of the roll, but I haven't quite figured that out yet. Also, I keep forgetting the garlic and that makes them way better.

Cheese Rolls
1 T yeast
1 c water
1 T sugar
1 t salt
1 t minced garlic
2 T oil
2-3 cups flour
About 9 string cheese, cut into fourths

Mix up the dough and roll into balls. Hide a piece of cheese in each, sealing as best you can. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes. 

Crockpot Beef Stew

This was easy to put together and John and I both liked it.

Crockpot Beef Stew

1 lb stew meat
2 potatoes
2 celery
2 carrots
1 onion
1/2 c. corn
1/2 c. peas or green beans
1 can beef broth
1 can V-8 (11 oz)
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. thyme
1/2 t. chili powder
1/4 t. pepper

2 T. cornstarch
1 T. cold water

Mix everything but the cornstarch and water. I doubled the recipe and put half in the freezer.  Cook on LOW 6 hours.  Mix the cornstarch and water, stir in and cook another 1/2 hour.

5 Minute Black Bean Soup

This soup is so fast and easy to make, and amazingly, my kids all love it. It literally takes five minutes, if you have cooked rice on hand.

Black Bean Soup

2 cans black beans (not drained)

1 can chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups cooked rice

Blend the beans and chicken broth in a blender until smooth.  Add the salt and heat on the stovetop until warm.  Serve over rice in bowls.

Garnish with toppings like:

sour cream

shredded cheese

tortilla chips

avocado

diced tomatoes

sliced green onions

lime

My favorite toppings combo is tomatoes, lime, and a little cheese.

Minecraft Cake and TNT Cupcakes

On Maggie's actual birthday, I surprised her with red velvet TNT cupcakes.

For her party, we attempted a Minecraft cake with lava (red jello), water (blue jello), sand (Rice Krispie treats), and grass blocks (chocolate cake.  I made 2 large packages of each flavor jello, in a 8x8 pan. Cut up the 9x13 cake into blocks and stacked them with grass frosting. I was especially proud of the waterfall (I cut the jiggler in half so it was thinner.) However, my grass blocks were unstable and this was the best picture I got before it started slipping.

We also had a creeper figure, TNT block and Alex keychain to add to the cake.

The kids were very impressed with all the different treats, and didn't seem to notice it was toppling, so all was good!