Birthday Cake!

My niece is turning four today! We are heading to her little party half an hour or so. I made her a birthday cake! :D I always make her cakes. 

Last year she wanted a Hello Kitty cake and then this year when I asked her what she'd like and with a giggle she said, "Uhmmmm....a TIGER!" The first thought that went through my mind was, of all things...a TIGER?? I figured it would be very challenging but it was what she wanted and it was my job to make it happen. 

I stalked Pinterest for a few hours, looking at ideas. Fondant, fondant fondant! Yuck...I my other niece's birthday cake with fondant a few years ago. It was butterflies and the fondant was very UNappetizing and me being the way I am, I had spent hours forming each tiny detail. I was exhausted and NOT about to do it again. 

I finally gave up on Pinterest and brainstormed on my own. I thought, man...tiger stripes in the actual cake cake would be EPIC! I looked it up and it was possible. I was hyped and on a roll of inspiration then. I decided on the inside cake being striped and the outside....well? Here.

I drew out a few safari animals and a "4" on paper. Cut them out and found an epic sugar cookie recipe!

I traced around the paper to cut the dough then after they baked up I made a paint-like frosting and went to town "cookie painting". 

It's quite fun! :D Hahaha.

They turned out pretty good so I set them aside and I tried the tiger cake technique. Worked pretty good....I think. I'll find out for sure tonight when we cut cake slices. :p (So stay tuned for the birthday party pictures!!)

Now with making cakes in the past...they were good but....I have always had frosting issues. They all seemed hard to work with and I really didn't want to deal with that again so again...I checked Pinterest. Chocolate Whipped Buttercream Frosting. Hmm, it sounded good and after looking it over, I decided, yes. I do believe I will try this one.

BEST DECISION OF THE MONTH!!

This frosting is the best frosting in the whole world!!! I'm not even joking. Heavenly texture, phenomenal taste, and a DREAM to work with.

This has become my official chocolate frosting, why try anything else when you have perfection! :D

I'm VERY happy with how this turned out and check out those animal print candles! EPIC!! :D Hahaha, now for taking it and cutting it and tasting it. Wish us luck! ;)

Wheat Challenge

Hello my faithful readers! Am I doing better on posting? I'm trying my hardest. ;)

Ok so after my fun summer of naughty eating I'm back home and starting up healthy meals again. This afternoon I made a REEEALLY good one. 

My first time trying spaghetti squash and trying to cut the thing in half was quite the experience. I tried about four knives before finally finding one that SORT OF worked. Who knew a veggie could be so hard??
I managed to get it cut and in the oven. Then while I waited the 30 minutes for it to cook, I sautéed some onion, yellow squash, and broccoli. I only let them just become tender in olive oil and garlic salt and parsley. I wanted that "crunch" to still be there. Haha.

The squash came out of the oven and I had a great time mashing it...is that the word? It wasn't "mashed" just spaghetti-ized! :p I cooked up some ground beef and tossed everything together, adding fresh baby tomatoes cut in half. It looked really pretty actually. I sliced half an avocado for go on the side to finish the look.

I don't know about y'all but that looks SUPER to me. Haha, and it tasted even better than it looks. 

If I really take time to prepare veggies and meat in creative delicious ways, it's actually pretty easy to eat good. So I must keep motivated and not get back into the lazy "grab a sandwich" mode. Haha.

Not that sandwiches are "BAD" but they do include bread usually and grains these days are so hybrid they do nothing for you except gather in little rolls on your body. NOT cool. And not only that, they just make your body feel "ick". 

I'm making a pact to cut ALL WHEAT out of my diet. Maybe even for just a trial basis the rest of September. It will be a challenge seeing as I love yummy things like cinnamon rolls, pumpkin pie, cream-cheese danishes, Subway. Ah the list goes on.

I shall prevail the temptations though and I'll write about the differences I feel when this month is over. And I'll decide if it's worth continuing the loss. So here I go - WHEAT FREE!

I Am Alive!!

Yes, I know. It's been ages since I've posted and I'm sure some of you may have taken me for dead! BUT!! Never fear, for I am still alive and well. Very well actually.

We have moved from Sarasota down South to the little town of North Port. Our new house is beeeautiful and I shall post pictures soon.

For now though, I'll post a few randoms:

I love baking. Like seriously. Cooking, baking, anything where I can make something yummy AND creative. Here's the cookies I made for Thanksgiving. Eggnog cookies and icing, then drawn templates from parment pper. Lets just say there so few of them because ach one was cut with a small knife. Haha!

We didn't have any platters fitting for the occasion, so I took an old metal baking sheet and wrapped it in wrapping paper...it worked quite well. :)

(Leaves, Pilgrim Hats, Turkeys, Acorns, and Pumpkins)

Last week I went and stayed with my friend Hannah. Oh my. I had so much fun with her and her sisters. The Doucette's are an amazing family!!

(Love you, Han! <3)

Owl Things Owl!

Owl, this, owl that. I guess it's phase I'm going through right now. But seriously, "whoo" doesn't like them? ;)

Last night I was feeling quite seasonal and listening to Christmas music! So I was in the mood to bake something.

This is what happened:

...I love owls... :p

So while I was decorating these, I looked over and saw this:

Sleepy boys! <3

Puppy woke up as soon as the camera clicked and I just had to share with y'all his Drop Dead Gorgeousness. :D

Birthday Fun

Here are a few pictures from last night! :)

Autumn

Fred, Paula & Autumn

Abby, Michelle, Sis. Sue & Sis. Diana

Isaac and I helping Autumn open her gifts

There was a cow on the card and I asked her "What do cows say??"

 Together we answered, "Moooo!"

What's inside?? Socks! :D

The newly weds

Beautiful Gabriella

Autumn looking at a piece to one of her games

Wow...this is my nephew...he's...

special

BUT! We all still love him. ;)

Birthday Cakes of October

So my nephew and niece had their birthdays last month but we are celebrating tonight! :D

Here are the cakes!

Three year old Autumn's Hello Kitty:

The cake is strawberry lemonade. I used a rectangle glass pan and just cut out the round shape of her head, then with the corners left over I made the ears and bow.

The eyes are special dark chocolate melted down, shaped then frozen to save the shape. :) The whiskers are straws covered in the same chocolate as the eyes. :)

For frosting it's a light vanilla spread. I made some frosting from my head then added a container of Coolwhip. It just just made it light and fluffy-ish.

The bow and nose used simply the same frosting, just colored with red foodcoloring. :)

Thirteen year old Isaac's Prowling Gator:

I wasn't sure what to make for Isaac, him being a teenager now and all. I thought of a guitar maybe, but to be honest, the idea of all that complecatedness scared me!! 0__o

So then I remembered how he's a huge fan of the Florida Gators so LIGHTBULB! I didn't really think I'd do a Gators cake but I thought I'd just browse online to see what they had out there. I found a really cute website with a bunch of cakes people had shared and I looked through. It was nice. But mom's the one who thought this idea was a good one. 

Now the original was a cartoon gator. We went for a more realistic touch though. 

The cupcakes are chocolate, and the frosting is Hello Kitty's leftovers glorified and colored.

You may have to use your imagination to see this so I've put an actual picture of a gator in the water so you can maybe relate the two better. 

Behold, real gator.

This jokers got some CREEEEPY eyes. 0__o

Behold, cupcake version.

See? 

blue cupcake = water

green cupcake = gator

It's got eyes and nostrils too...

See it?

No? Maybe?

LOOK HARDER! 

-____-

Hehehe! Anyways, that's what I've been up to lately so...YEAH!

I'll post again soon. :)