Baking: Anatomy of a wedding cake

My sister-in-law got remarried this summer, and I made the wedding cake.  Although my kids didn't help out much besides eating cake scraps, I did try to explain the steps and talk them through the process.  Here's the anatomy of my sister-in-law's (and brother-in-law's) wedding cake:

A trip to the nursery instead of the florist provided the succulents she wanted.

The the baking process: their request of Funfetti, though very light, was fine for the top layer.  They'll freeze and eat on their 1st anniversary. 

A dense coconut cake formed the base.  I made it hollow so that they would be able to cut the cake at the reception and still have the stability of something structurally stronger to support the top three layers (see below).

The middle layers of the cake pre-made, wrapped and waiting in the fridge.  Yes, that is rice crispie treats. My mother made my wedding cake with the middle layers made from rice crispie treats and after peeling off the frosting (unwrapping the plastic wrap), my hubby and I took it on our honeymoon and ate it for breakfast and as a car-snack.

They wanted an off-centered stacking of the layers.  Since it was an outdoor, more rustic-style wedding, I used a round pine board from the hardware store cleaned and oiled with vegetable oil as the cake plate.

Back to the structure.  Nothing works better in a wedding cake than rice crispie treats.  It is strong, yet light weight.  Plus, it generally gets eaten more readily.  Just form the rice crispie treats in a cake pan lined with plastic wrap and frost as you would any other layer. 

A simple cardboard round leveled the rice crispie treat center with the cake.  The middle layers were simply frosted rice crispie treats. 

Off-white butter cream.

Burlap and orange were themes for the wedding, so I pre-oiled the burlap ribbon, wrapped and tacked each seam with pins.

Ah - my least favorite part - transporting the cake.  Luckily it was an uneventful 30 minute drive, but still I did get a good bicep workout compensating for all the curves. 

Adding the succulents and orange flowers (from my backyard daylilies and trumpet vine) was too tempting for my daughter to not get in on the action.  I guess being a flower-girl had a double meaning for her that day!

The finished product!

After a couple hours of looking pretty, every wedding cake meets it's demise.  They actually ended up serving the cake at the reception, and to be honest - I chose a piece of rice crispie treat! 

Entertaining: Party Planner Age 13 = Chaotic, Messy, Science Fun

This summer I paid my 13 year old boy $20 to plan, carry-out and clean-up the annual Science party.  It was a bit of a leap of faith for me as a control-oriented mom, but it was a smashing success (and the grass spots have since recovered).  So if his future wife isn't a natural-born party planner, he can throw fun parties for my grandchildren.  *wink*

He made himself a list of what activities, how long they would take and in what order they should happen.

His accumulated supplies the day before the party.

Day of the party he made the treats: dirt cups and homemade root beer were on his menu. 

Who doesn't like a little fun with dry ice?

Helping the kids with the first experiment.

Making slime.

Homemade bubble concoction.

Cleaning: Freezer Fun

Ah, the beauty of a clean freezer!

I know that this hardly looks like a good time, but it's amazing how much better you feel after having dejunked and cleaned the freezer.  I still have to attack my chest freezer in the garage, but at least the kids get to help me baby step by starting with the freezer above the fridge.  Don't just wait to tackle all the cleaning and organizing projects once school starts and kids are no longer under-foot.  Tempting though it may be to do a quicker, better job yourself, the fact is that someday they'll be facing a cluttered freezer themselves and if you want your grandchildren to grow up in a home with a clean freezer, you've got to bite the bullet and involve them in the chores. 

Amazing that all this fits on into my fridge freezer!

Still a bit full, but trust me - it looks much better than before we started!

Gardening: Even The Dog Helps Out

I love involving my kids in harvesting - since that is where the real payoff of gardening comes into play.  However, my dog thinks he needs to get in on the action as well.  His pea-picking turns into a doggie salad bar, and sometimes leaves pea vines strewn across the lawn.

Cooking & Entertaining: Emma's Hollywood Cafe

This year my girl decided to make it a Hollywood themed neighborhood cafe.  Here's a photo-explanation of this crazy tradition:

Her Hollywood Cafe sign is a bit hard to read, but it guides customers to the back yard.

Here is the menu she came up with - complete with cutesy, movie-themed names.

Finally had a reason to use my favorite movie poster! (Thanks Ang!)

A couple days of cooking - maybe 8-10 hours total prep time.

Lots of food!  She'll use the leftovers on her nights to cook in the coming weeks.  Thank heavens for freezers!

With 5 tables, hopefully the wait time wasn't too long!

Cousins make great wait staff.

Every countertop was covered with assembly-line food to fill orders.

Love the chance to visit with old friends.

Emma chose wisely when making her menu - the food was delicious. 

The price for eating at the cafe was a generous donation for the local food bank.

We had a ton of food to drop off and it made the folks at the food bank pretty happy.

All in all, it was a successful cafe.  It teaches my kids to donate time and effort to help others in need.  It teaches planning, cooking and food-service skills.  Most of all, it teaches them what I call, "motivation for higher education" as they decide that working as a server, or cook may not be the way they want to spend the rest of their life.   Are there cheaper ways to donate food to the food bank?  Sure, but few are as fun!

Summertime: Deliberate Training

Admittedly I'm a bit type A/list-aholic about some things.  But being raised by a professional homemaker, I was taught to approach homemaking as professionally as any paying profession.  Summertime is an ideal time to do a little deliberate training on skills that otherwise fall through the cracks during the hectic school year.  Each year we make up a summer plan and we usually get almost everything done on our list.  We schedule in one "lazy day" each month of summer vacation where we don't have any chores or activities planned so we can just lounge around.  Otherwise, we're living out our summer checklist. 

Aren't you glad you don't live at my house?  *grins*

Entertaining: Raising Party Planners

I'm starting to see the fruits of my party-planning all these years.  My daughter spent over an hour last week planning out her Summer Cafe menu, theme, decorations, etc.  This doesn't surprise me about my daughter.  However, what does surprise me is my 13 year old boy's increasing ability in the party-planning department.  Since he's too old to be an enthusiastic participant, last night I proposed to hire him as party planner for one of the summer parties this year.  He jumped right into the role and spent 2 hours last night writing down ideas, looking through books and Pinterest pins, mapping out areas in the back yard, writing a supplies checklist and making a timeline/flow-chart for the activities. 

At one point, my son said to me late last night, "Mom - when I get going on this planning I get so OCD.  This is all your fault."  Yes.  Yes it is.  The more your kids see your efforts, the more it piques their own creativity.  Not sure we'll ever conquer the handwriting, but at least we are well on our way to teaching some entertaining skills.  Stay tuned for updates on how my daughter's cafe and my son's science party turn out. 

Cooking: Trying 24-hour Cajeta

I saw this recipe in Family Circle Magazine, and thought I'd give it a shot. 
http://www.familycircle.com/recipes/desserts/ideas/rick-bayless/
Here's what mine looked like from start to finish (it was more like 18 hour cajeta):

9:00 pm 2 quarts milk, 2 cups sugar and 1 cinnamon stick

6:30 am

10:30 am

3:00 pm

Since it was very lumpy, and my immersion blender is on the fritz, I blended it in the food processor.

Here's the final result.  Makes a great thick caramel sauce, but my husband said the cajeta he ate in Mexico wasn't so cinnamon-flavored.  Next time I'm going to try the can of sweetened condensed milk cooked in the can recipe.

Gardening: Explaining the Odious Task of Thinning

You kids won't learn all gardening tasks first hand at a young age.  I still find myself looking forward to gardening alone while the kids are in school.  But I always make sure that I talk to them about everything I do in the yard -- from pruning, to weeding, to planting, to sprinkler adjustment.  I try to give them as much exposure and especially explanation on as many gardening tasks as possible in the hope that someday, some of it will 'bear fruit' in their own yards and gardens. 

As you can see by the photo - my most recent garden task was my most odious: thinning the peaches from my peach tree.  I hate this - mostly because being such a fruit lover, I hate killing potential fruit.  Still, it is an unavoidable job if we are to get any decent peach harvest whatsoever.  So even though I did this while the kids were at school, I showed them how many peaches I took off the tree and explained why it is necessary to thin fruits and occasional vegetables (carrots, etc.).  My kids know that I hate this job and they usually tease me about it this time of year, but at least they are learning about orchard care and the price one pays for a decent harvest. 

Cleaning: Earning a Bedroom Makeover

My daughter is 10 and is getting antsy for a new look for her bedroom.  I agree that it would be nice to patch, and repaint the battered, scribbled-on walls.  However, the last thing I want to do is to repaint and redo her room just to have her deface, damage or pig-sty-ify it.  Plus, I'm not a "give your kids something for nothing" kind of mom.  So I drew up a little contract for her to sign which involves a 2 month probation period to see if she can be trusted to care for a new room.  We'll see if it really happens this summer, or if she needs a bit more maturity and drive before she gets that room makeover. 

Official Room Makeover Contract

In order to qualify for a room makeover, the recipient must fulfill the following requirements for a minimum period of 2 months:

·      Bed made neatly every morning

-       sheets pulled up

-        straightened mattress

-       folded blankets

-       decorative pillows in place

·      No clothes on the floor

-       folded neatly in drawers

-       hanging in closet

-       truly dirty in clothes hamper

-       no wet towels on the floor

·      No garbage on the floor (papers, wrappers, etc.)

·      No slamming doors or kicking walls, doors or furniture

·      No toys, dress-ups, or other items left on the floor, under bed, under chair, behind bed, etc.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

Each day your Mom will check your room.  These checks will be at different times of the day so as to assure that your room is kept clean at all times of the day.  If your room passes, you will receive a  ✓.  If you fail in any part of the inspection, you will receive a ✗.  You are allowed 5 ✗.  Any beyond that will disqualify you for a room makeover.  At the end of the 2 month probation period, if you have qualified by keeping a neat room, you will receive: new paint, a new desk and a new dresser. 

You will be expected to participate in wall-patching, prepping and painting as well as any other work involved with the makeover.  If you fail to qualify, you may make another 2 month attempt next spring/summer. 

Mom signature: _______________________________________________  Date: ___________________________________

Emma signature: _____________________________________________  Date: ____________________________________

Cooking: No-bake Key Lime Pie

I love to teach my kids to think creatively when it comes to cooking.  Sometimes with delicious results, others with a bit more disastrous effects.  But the more creative cooks they are, the more likely they'll want to cook throughout their lives.  So when I saw the cute key lime pie-in-a-jar recipe in Pinterest, I was intrigued.  However, I prefer no-bake key lime pie and I thought the serving size of a pint jar was a bit large.  So here's my variation:

No-bake Key Lime Pie-in-a-half-pint:

Makes 10-12 half-pint jars, or one generously filled pie

Ingredients:

Graham cracker crust ingredients for one pie
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cold water
1 envelope gelatin (Knox)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup (or more) key lime juice
2-4 drops green food coloring

Crust:

Regular graham cracker crust recipe for one pie - (see http://nutritiousintent.blogspot.com/2013/05/graham-cracker-crust-boosting-nutrition.html for my nutritionally boosted variation)
Divide evenly between 10-12 half-pint, wide-mouth jars.

Filling:

Whip 1 1/2 cups whipping cream with 1/4 cup powdered sugar until stiff.  Put half in a pastry bag with a large star tip and keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Fill small bowl with 1/4 cup cold water.  Add 1 envelope gelatin (Knox) and let soften for a couple minutes.  Then microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute until completely dissolved.  Pour this liquid gelatin over cream, add 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 1/4 cup (or more to taste) key lime juice, and a couple drops green food coloring.  Beat until soft peaks form.

Using an ice-cream scoop - divide the filling among the jars.
Pipe whipped cream on top and refrigerate 1 hour or more until ready to serve. 

Entertaining: Guest Baskets

My oldest sister is a very gracious hostess.  Every time someone stays at her home (even her little sister), she prepares not only a guest room for them, but a basket of goodies.  She always provides items to facilitate the comfort of your stay and lets you know that she's thinking of you.
So when we had guests planned this past weekend, I set up a guest room and prepped my guest basket.

In my basket I usually include:

• hand towel and washcloths
• reading material (magazines)
• water bottles
• granola bars (for those nights they get in late, or leave early before breakfast)
• small bathroom cups
• kleenex (tissue) packs
• chocolate
• hand sanitizer

Our guests were going to include some good friends of my daughter that were going to stay in her room.  Much to my amusement, my 10 year old daughter disappeared into her room for about 20 minutes or so, then called me in to see her handiwork.  She had prepped blankets, cushions and pillows for their beds on the floor, and on top was placed a small guest basket that she'd modeled after mine.  

In my daughter's basket she included:

• reading material (American girl catalog and Highlights magazine)
• bathroom cups
• kleenex (tissue) packs
• gum
• hand sanitizer
• bath gels
• yo-yo (don't ask me why a yo-yo - but it fit well in the basket

Does offering a guest basket automatically make you a great hostess?  Heavens no, but it does start you thinking about how to accommodate your guests and how best to meet their comfort needs.  So never underestimate your example -- I learned it from my sister, now my daughter seems to be learning it as well. 

Cleaning: Attacking the Makeup Drawer

I don't know about your house, but one of the hardest spots to deep clean is my makeup drawer.  In the past I've tried 409, magic eraser, even running it through the dishwasher.  Here was my latest breakthrough:

 Wiping off the lipstick, eyeliner and blush residue was a breeze!  However - Almost anything that Goo Gone takes off, I can remove with just a little olive oil.  So whether you want to use orange scented oil-based cleaner, or just a little olive oil on a paper towel, cleaning the makeup residue is a cinch.  And now my makeup drawer looks a lot more respectable!

Spring Cleaning: One Room at a Time

At my house, spring cleaning is a bit of a misnomer.  Basically, by the time spring hits, I'm going to be busier with outside projects than wanting to spend my Saturdays indoors cleaning house.  So starting in January, we choose a room each Saturday to clean - and by we I mean myself and my kids (against their will).  Occasionally we miss a week due to extenuating scheduling circumstances, but generally the goal is to be finished with the house by the end of March.  Each room takes 2-5 hours to clean (and that sure beats 35 hours of straight cleaning).  This makes each Saturday's job doable - challenging - but doable.  Hopefully, my kids will at least not only know what to deep clean, but have the practiced skills to do so once they leave the nest.  

We start at the top of the house and work our way down room by room:

1. Kid bedroom
2. Kid bedroom
3. Kid bathroom
4. Upstairs hallway & linen closet
5. Living room & entry
6. Kitchen (top of soffets & outside of cabinets)
7. Kitchen (inside of cabinets)
8. Dining room/area
9. Family room
10. Laundry room & guest bath
11. optional areas: unfinished basement & garage

You'll notice that the master bedroom, closet and bath are not listed since those areas I clean on my own instead of as a family. Also, We do all the windows and blinds on another Saturday and clean the carpets once we're done spring cleaning. 

Here are some of ways we clean each room:

• empty, dejunk, clean & replace all items in all drawers, closets and cabinets
• wipe down all furniture
• wipe down all walls (only using a damp rag so as not to affect the paint)
• wipe down all trim (baseboards, doors and door jambs)
• vacuum underneath furniture and inside all couches, chairs etc.  
• clean all light fixtures
• polish all wood 
• wipe out all window sills
• scrub all tile and grout with serious elbow grease
• clean all vents and cold air returns
• remove, clean and replace all pictures (it's amazing how much dust collects on the back of a frame)
• polish all plants (live or artificial)
• wash out all wastebaskets

So as you might imagine, we collect a bunch of things to throw out or donate so our garbage can stays fairly full and we make a few donation trips.  

Every time I help someone move I always feel like there is a lot of benefit to the deep cleansing that comes from a move.  But as I'm not so insanely motivated to do a pseudo-move in order to achieve those results, I use spring cleaning as the next best thing.  So that at any given time, if I do have to move, I at least know that there is no more than at most, one year of hidden dust to deal with if I ever (heaven forbid) had to move. 

Cleaning: The Quarantine Sweep

Today I get to do the dreaded Quarantine Sweep clean.  You know the drill, you have a sick child that you have to keep home because he's vomiting or has some dreaded "gombu" (odd how you have these colloquial terms that you never know how to spell).  So I pull out the lysol and after going over pretty much every spot this child has been, I turn to the disinfectant wipes.  What a marvelous invention!  Here's a list of the things that feel the wrath of my wipes:

• doorknobs
• edges of doors (we all close a door by grabbing the actual door)
• light switches
• bannisters
• newel posts
• piano keys
• instrument cases
• every touchable surface in kitchen and bathroon
• cabinet and drawer handles
• fridge, dishwasher, and microwave handles
• faucets and faucet handles
• washing machine and dryer doors and controls
• keyboards & mouse
• game controllers
• telephones
• lamp switches
• car door handles and seatbelts 
• books possibly read in the past week

I think that just about covers it.  All the while the child is relegated to a bathroom of their own and their bedroom (and all offending linens are subsequently laundered) and all toothbrushes get a clorox soak (I do that weekly as well).  It's not a guarantee, but whether or not it protects us from catching and spreading the bug, it at least gives me a little peace of mind.  Paranoid?  Probably, but I'd rather be paranoid and healthy than lackadaisical and sick.  So what sick-day cleaning tips do you have?