'11 Happy Dance #37: Snowmen stick ornaments

Blockette and M had a short day last week.  I've been trying to find little crafty things for us to make on the days that M is here for more than 2 hours. This time we made these Popsicle stick snowmen.  I saw this idea over at A Day of Wonders.

I love how they are all so different! 

Blockette's has a pink dress on and M's has on a dark green sweater.  I guess that means mine is naked!  Poor cold naked snowman.

One really cool thing about doing craft projects with Blockette and M is that once we've completed the projects they are still in craft mode.  They keep on making funky creations with the craft supplies, which is awesome.  That way they are not bickering or fighting over what to do, well, mostly anyhow!

Thankful Thursday 49.11

1. Making it through another hour long Christmas Pageant with squirrely 3 and 4 year olds...on risers.

2. Blockette seeing a kid who rides her bus at church.

3. Getting 95% of the Christmas shopping done and wrapped!

Doesn't this picture creep you out!?

4. I didn't break my best friend's sewing machine.

5. Only almost cutting my finger off this morning.

6. Chats with grown ups waiting for choir.

7. Not missing the bus this morning.

8. Finishing sewing projects.

9. Getting all that stupid cleaning done.

10. Cheapo craft projects at Michaels.

Baked Gingerbread Donuts

Oh man. Gingerbread flavored cake donuts? Ngaaaaaaaaa. The moment I saw this recipe over at Pinch of Yum I knew they were going to be super duper yumtastic.

Was I right?  Of course I was.

Who doesn't want a legitimate reason to eat gingerbread for breakfast!  They were so tasty, but very sweet.  Consider yourself warned.

In order to save time in the morning, the night before I combined all the dry ingredients and all the wet ingredients. This way all I had to do was combine the two and pipe the batter into the donut pan.  By the the time the batter was in the pan, the oven was preheated.

Speaking of putting the batter in the pan, I used this trick my friend Julie told me about.  I took a large zip bag and put it inside my large glass measuring cup.  I folded the edges over the rim so it would stay in place.  Then I poured the batter into the bag.  This way, I didn't spill any batter on the zipper closure (or even on the counter) while I was putting the mix into the bag.  Yeah baby! (You rock Julie!)

While the donuts were cooking I made the glaze.  I could eat this glaze by the spoonful.  Ok.  So I did.  It was sinfully scrumptious.  I highly recommend it.  Unless you are diabetic.  Then don't as it is very very very sweet.  No one goes into a diabetic coma on my watch.

I also advise that you wait more than 30 seconds to take the donuts out of the pan.  Give them 5 min to cool in the pan and then another 5 min to cool on a rack.  If you try to take them out too soon they will fight you.  No one wants to fight a donut.  Trust me on this one.

Also, if you dip them into the glaze when they are too warm, they soak up bunches of the glaze.  If the glaze is so yummy, then why is this a bad thing?  Well, it is delicious, but the glaze won't set up nice.  The texture of the donut becomes a bit spongy.  It's a tasty sponge, but the classically hardened glaze is better.  Just have a moderate amount of patience and you will be rewarded. I'll let you have a teaspoon of mine.  It's all I can spare.

Baked Gingerbread Mini Donuts from Pinch of Yum
1 cup flour (I used white whole wheat)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
pinch of allspice
pinch of cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar, divided
1 egg
1/4 cup applesauce (remember fruit = healthy!)
2 tablespoons maple syrup (I used the fake stuff)
3 tablespoons milk, divided
4 tablespoons butter, divided
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all dry ingredients, using 1/4 cup brown sugar and setting the rest aside.
Whisk in moist ingredients, using 1 tablespoon milk and 2 tablespoons melted butter.
Pour batter into a gallon-sized plastic bag and cut the corner off. Pipe the batter into a greased mini-donut pan, filling each donut space about 1/2 full (for me, this was about 22 mini donuts). Bake for about 7-8 minutes. Remove from oven and take each donut out of the pan.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter with 1/4 cup brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and boil for about 2 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon milk and bring back to a boil. Add powdered sugar, using the last tablespoon of milk to help thin out the frosting if needed. Keep over low heat (otherwise it will start to crystallize) and dunk each mini donut into the frosting. Frosting should set almost immediately.

BBQ Turkey Penne Skillet

I found this recipe for BBQ Chicken and Penne on Real Mom Kitchen.  As I have an over abundance of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, I used shredded Turkey instead of Chicken.

This meal could not have been easier to whip up.  And it was super speedy as the meat was already cooked.  It only took about 20 minutes.  AWESOME.

Wanna know what's even more awesome?  My family LOVED this.  Yeah!  Even Blockette raved about this dish.   She actually liked the little bit of spicy from the Rotel.  What is up with that?!  Whatever this change is I'll take it.  She even happily ate the leftovers (and there were a LOT of leftovers).  Not a single complaint.  I felt like I was in The Twilight Zone!

Of course Mrblocko had to add hot sauce to his.  If I was making this dish just for him I would have used the HOT version of Rotel. 

I'll definitely make this recipe again!

Barbecue Penne Skillet from Real Mom Kitchen
1 package (16 ounces) penne pasta
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups leftover shredded bbq chicken or Turkey
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes with mild green chilies, undrained (like Rotel)
1/2 cup diced roasted red pepper
1/2 cup beef broth (I used beef bouillon)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3 chopped green onions (I didn't have any so I omitted this)

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute onion in butter and oil until tender. Add garlic; saute 1 minute. Stir in the meat, tomatoes, roasted red pepper, broth, cumin, pepper and salt; heat through. Drain pasta. Add pasta and cheese to pork mixture. Sprinkle with green onions. Serves 6-8

Pumpkin Lust Cake

Why is this dessert called "Lust cake?"  I'm not certain, but it must have something to do with the fact that once you finish one slice, you lust after more. 

I came across the pumpkin lust cake recipe over at Sweet Treats and More. Apparently, the original recipe calls for chocolate or vanilla pudding. This particular version has you using the seasonal Pumpkin Spice flavor of Jello Instant Pudding.

One word of caution, the Pumpkin spice pudding is only available seasonally. The seasonal pudding flavors (Turtle, Gingerbread, Pumpkin Spice, Dulce de leche and Peppermint) are not always located in the regular pudding aisle. At my store, they were in a special area in a center aisle along with other seasonal baking items.  If you can't find them at your store keep looking, or better yet, ask!

This dessert tasted like a silky, slightly cheesecake-y version of pumpkin pie. I think I might just like this dessert better than your basic pumpkin pie. That could just be the Cool Whip talking. There's lots of Cool Whip in a Lust Cake.

Another win for this dessert is that the crust didn't get soggy on day two like a pie crust does. I love pie crust, but frankly, it's kind of gross when it gets mushy. The Lust Cake's crust is more like a Russian Tea Cake/Mexican Wedding Cake Cookie. That's probably why I liked it so much. Russian Tea Cakes are like crack for people.

The down side to the Pumpkin Spice Lust Cake is that there is no actual pumpkin in the dish.  You can't even pretend that you are being healthy eating a vegetable for dessert.  The Lust Cake is all garbage.  Yummy scrumdiddlyumptious garbage.

I thought this cake would be difficult to slice and get out of the pan.  The crust didn't stick at all, even though I neglected to spray the pan.  The pudding and Cool Whip held their own too.  

The layers got a bit smeared when I cut into the bars, but you can clearly see all the different strati. 

I also feared the cake would collapse once out of the pan.  Nope.  The remaining cake did not fall when slices were removed from the pan. Everything stayed exactly where it should be without proper support. 

Hey, maybe this cake is the secret to keeping a trim body.  I mean, everything staying where it should be without support?  Isn't that what we're all striving for as we lose our fight against gravity?  Move over Spanx, here comes Pumpkin Lust Cake!

Anyhow, Mrblocko convinced me to make a half batch of this cake. I am both happy and sad that he did so. Happy because we do not need a 9x13 pan of this dessert hanging around the house for just the three of us, and sad because I wanted to eat the entire 9x13 pan myself.

Pumpkin Lust Cake - Half Recipe from Sweet Treats and More
1/2 stick butter(1/4 c), melted
1/2 c flour
1/2 c chopped pecans
1 tbs sugar
4 oz cream cheese (1/2 a package), soft
1/2 c sifted powdered sugar
one 8 oz container cool whip
one 3.4 oz package Jello Instant Pumpkin Spice Pudding
1 1/2 c cold milk
Nutmeg for sprinkling

Crust: Combine butter, flour, chopped pecans and sugar and press into 8x8" baking dish. Bake at 375 for 10-15 min. Let cool completely.

Cream Cheese Layer: Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and 3/4c cool whip until smooth. Spread over cooled crust.

Pumpkin Layer: Mix pudding mix with cold milk, whisking for several min. Set in fridge 5-10 min to thicken. Spread over cream cheese layer. Top with remaining cool whip. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

Cut into squares and serve. Keep refrigerated.

'11 Happy Dance #35 and #36: Art Projects with Blockette

I saw this weaving art project on Pink and Green Mama.  Blockette and I made these over Thanksgiving Break. I made a turkey and Blockette made a Christmas Tree.  I traced my picture to get the same type of image.  Blockette drew her two pictures free hand.  I think she did an awesome job getting both pictures to be really similar.

The second art project was also from Pink and Green Mama.  This time it was a watercolor resist project.  The black lines are "drawn" on with a mixture of black acrylic paint and glue.  I don't think I had the right combination of the two, as it was a bit too runny.  Next time I'll have a higher ratio of glue to paint.

Blockette did the mermaid aquarium and I did the space scene.  I like Blockette's picture better!

'11 Happy Dance #34: Another Patch for Jeans

This time the patchy jeans are for me, not Blockette!  Since The GAP decided to discontinue the cut and style of jeans that seems to be the only jeans on the planet that actually fit me, I had to find a way to mend the hole that erupted in the knee of my jeans.

I had purchased this little fish patch years and years ago and it was the perfect size. 

I also had the exact right amount of green ribbon to put around the ankles of the pants as well.

Blockette was jealous I didn't save these things for her next pair of patchy pants. She said the jeans were super cool. At least I'll be fashionable amongst the first grade set.