Forth of July Week, Day 7

HAPPY FORTH OF JULY YA'LL!!!

Today we made cupcakes (the girls chose a blue Funfetti cake mix) and decorated them flag-like.

(Daddy doesn't like blueberries, so we didn't make a lot with them.)

Here's the action shots:

Icing the cupcakes. 

Decorating the cupcakes. 

KK's cupcakes, she was a little better at making the lines. 

KL had no patience for making lines and just threw the strawberries on.

Super easy, pretty quick, and cute if I may say so.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Forth of July Week, Day 5

Today we made Cookie Parfaits (at least that's what Pillsbury calls them).

They're really more of cupcake parfaits. But they were fun to make (although a little messy, as you can see above).

I linked the recipe above so I won't go through directions. Pillsbury has them in rainbows, which is cute but I knew I could easily change them to red white and blue for this week.

Here's the action shots:

 (Stirring the batter)

 (Adding colors)

 (Crumbling they're cookie cupcakes)

(Showing off their hard work)

They were pretty good, although nothing special. We made ours a little (okay, a lot, probably twice as big) bigger than the recipe which ended up being too much for KL, but they had fun and enjoyed the snack.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Forth of July Week, Day 5

Today we made red, white, and blue potato salad.

This one I'm not too sure about, but that's because we're not big fans of potato salad in my house. But it fit the theme and wasn't dessert and it's always worth trying something new right (plus how cute are those blue/purple potatoes).

We actually started with red, blue/purple, and all purpose potatoes. But you can see in the picture above that there's bacon to help with the red. You peel all but the red skins, but the skin kind of darkens when you boil them anyway so the added color is perfect.

If you're curious about the blue potatoes (as I was), first of all, they're kind of hard to find. We found them at Shnucks (after trying Wal-Mart, HyVee, Aldi's, and local organic produce shops). I googled it and found they can also be found at Meijers, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and a couple online stores. They look very dark purple in the skin, and when you peel them they look more blue.

We haven't tasted yet, so I don't have any eating pictures, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to knowing it might not go over well.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Forth of July Week, Day 4

Today we made a patriotic fruit pizza.

Since I didn't want anything too sweet we used a shortbread crust instead of sugar cookie. Then a cream cheese "icing". Decorated with strawberries and blueberries, because it's the easiest (and most accepted by my family, they're not big raspberry fans) way to get the red and blue.
The recipe I used also had a pineapple glaze (not shown in this picture but made an optional topping) that was pretty good.
(In case you're interested it can be found here.)

That's all for now,
Jo!

Forth of July Week, Day 3

Today we made a fruit salad for our lunch.
I found the recipe in my Woman's Day Cookbook, in the 4th of July Picnic menu, and although it's the only recipe not red, white, and blue this week, it sounded really good. (And it was!!)

Today we made: Watermelon and Nectarines in a Lime Syrup.

It was really easy. Dice the watermelon (about 6 cups) and refrigerate.
Boil 4 Tbsp. water with 1/3 cup sugar until the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and add 2 Tbsp. of lime juice. Let cool. When ready to serve, cut tangerines and add to watermelon. Add 2 tsp. lime zest to the lime syrup and pour over the fruit. Shake/toss and enjoy!

Here's the eating pictures:

(KN) 

(KM) 

(She said, "Mom I wasn't eating it yet, take a picture now... Hold on, let me get some on my spoon.)

My favorite part was the syrup, combined with the watermelon juice. I actually strained some out and added a little pineapple juice and had a nice little fruity drink.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Forth of July Week, Day 2

It's really easy to find red, white, and blue desserts, which are great don't get me wrong, but I wanted more than that this week. Luckily, I found this recipe in my Taste of Home magazine.
**I tried to link the recipe but it requires a log in- it's really simple: blend 1 c. lemon juice, 1 c. sugar, and 4 c. ice. Pour over blueberries, add cherries on top.)

It's a frozen lemonade, with blueberries on bottom and cherries on top.
It was super simple but a little more sour than we expected. We did decide we'd make it again but with less lemon juice/more sugar.

It made 4 so the twins got to share one. However, I only got cute pictures of one (where 2 straws are better than 1).

That's all for now,
Jo!

Forth of July Week, Day 1

This week we're cooking! (Which is kind of a mix of science and math- and it's fun and tastes good!)

Since we end this week on the Forth of July I decided that made for a great theme this week. So most of our food is red, white, and blue, but there is one that is just a great summer picnic food.

We started Sunday night, after my Big Ks were returned from their grandparents, with a poke cake.
If you don't know what a poke cake is, it's pretty simple. Start with a white cake (box or scratch whichever you prefer), when it's dry you poke holes in it and then pour jello (mixed but not set) over the top. The jello soaks into the holes and makes a nice marbled look.

We used a strawberry jello so the cake was white and red, and then we put a frosting (made from mixing cool whip with pudding mix & a little milk) and added blueberries for some blue.

And here's the eating shots:

(Even the twins got in on the cake action!)

That's all for now, 

Jo!