Lego Birthday Cake

I made a Lego cake for Maggie's 6th birthday.  I used the "recipe" and instructions from BHG and I'm happy to say it turned out great.  Pound cake, marshmallows and frosting made from 2 lbs powdered sugar and 3/4 c. milk.  Plus, lots of Wilton food color gel.

The frosting felt a little like finger paint as I was dripping it on, but it turned out really nice looking. It hardened up, making the cake pieces easy to move onto the platter.

Sweet & Sour Meatballs

This is one of Maggie's all-time favorite dinners. I use IKEA frozen meatballs, and serve it with jasmine rice.  I got the sauce recipe from the Our Best Bites cookbook, via Jodi.

Sweet & Sour Meatballs

3/4 c. brown sugar
3 T. flour
3/4 c. pineapple juice (1 small can)
3/4 c. water
1/4 c. vinegar
3 T. soy sauce

Whisk everything together (I find it easy to mix the brown sugar and flour before adding liquid) in a saucepan.  Add the meatballs and boil for 20 minutes.

Pork Tacos with Sweet Lime Slaw

This recipe is from Every Day with Rachael Ray, except I changed up the pork a bit.  It's really good, and the kids love it.

Pork Tacos with Sweet Lime Slaw

1 lb boneless pork loin

1 t. chipotle rub

1/2 head cabbage, shredded

1 carrot, shredded

2 limes, zested and juiced

1 t. sugar

1/2 c. sour cream

Sprinkle chipotle rub on the pork, and grill it.  Slice it into strips.  Mix the coleslaw ingredients together.  Add the lime zest, lime juice, and sugar to the sour cream.  Mix the dressing on the coleslaw.  Serve everything on tortillas!

72-Hour Kit Menus

I'm working on putting together our 72-hour kits.  For the food, I made each of us 3 gallon Ziploc bags.  Each bag has 3 meals and some snacks.  There are not a ton of calories here, and extra water is required, but it's certainly better than nothing. Maybe I need to throw in a few extra Clif bars. I'm going to try for 3 16 oz bottles in each backpack itself. Here's the menu I used for our 72-hour kits.

Breakfast Day 1

oatmeal

Instant Breakfast

fruit cup

Lunch Day 1

Easy Mac

V8

Dinner Day 1

soup

Crystal Lite

Snacks

granola bar

pudding cup

hard candy

Breakfast Day 2

Poptarts

applesauce

chocolate milk

Lunch Day 2

peanut butter

crackers

fruit snacks

Dinner Day 2

ramen

juice box

Snacks

almonds

Clif bar

hard candy

Breakfast Day 3

breakfast on the go

fruit snack

juice box

Lunch Day 3

ravioli

raisins

Dinner Day 3

peanut butter

crackers

Crystal Lite

Snacks

granola bar

pudding cup

hard candy

Brown Sugar Carrots

I don't make a lot of side dishes, but this one is really simple and it's great.  I used to make a fancy glaze, melting butter and bringing to a boil with brown sugar. Too fancy, plus it made an extra pan dirty. Can't have that.

Cook carrots until soft.  I steam mine in the microwave in a Pampered Chef microcooker.

Drain, and add a few tablespoons of brown sugar, stirring to dissolve.  That's it! Yum.

Beef Stroganoff

Here's my easy version of my Aunt Jeuney's Beef Stroganoff recipe.  It's basically unrecognizable from her original recipe, but it's easy and delicious!  I usually serve it with egg noodles, but you could use any pasta or even rice or mashed potatoes.

1 lb. ground beef

Brown beef and remove from pan.

3 T butter
1 c. chopped onion
1 clove garlic
1/2 lb. fresh sliced mushrooms

Cook in butter until onion is golden.

Add and stir until smooth:
3 T flour
1 T ketchup
1/2 t. salt
1/8 pepper

Gradually add 1 can beef broth. Bring to a boil. Simmer on low 5 minutes. 
Add:
1 T. red wine vinegar
1/2 t. dill
1 1/2 c. sour cream. 
Stir. Add beef. Simmer just until hot.

Elephant Pretzel

Maggie still loves to help make homemade pretzels.  She made this adorable elephant pretzel during our last batch. It even stayed together through the boiling and baking steps.