Heart and "Sole"

I mentioned in my last post that I made footprint crafts with the kids to give to my mom as a gift for her 60th birthday. Here are the step by step instructions for each one. Sorry there are not more pictures, but I was not planning on blogging about them while we were making them. It wasn't until I saw my mom's reaction that I realized what a great any-occasion gift these make for a kid to give to their grandparents...or anyone.


The first one was from DS (who's 6) to his Nana:

What you'll need:

• Colored Card Stock Paper ( I didn't have any, so I actually cut an old folder in half!)
• White Printer Paper 
• Photo Frame (this one is from the 99 cent store)
• Finger Paint (Again, I had none so I made my own with flour, water, and food coloring...my son got a kick out of making his own paint)
• Scissors
• Glue
• Black marker

What to do:

1. The first thing you want to do is the footprints as it may take a couple of tries to get them just how you want them. Make sure your little one's feet are clean and free of any lint or dirt. Next have them sit down on the floor with both legs bent and feet on the floor. Take one leg, and dip it in the finger paint and then place the foot on the paper at a slight angle (I found that it is easier to angle the paper than the foot). Wipe that foot off with a wet paper towel and return it to the starting position (knee bent, foot on floor). Then, do the same thing with the other foot, this time placing the heel on top of the heel of the other foot, angling the paper the other direction to form a heart shape. Clean the foot, and set the paper aside to dry.
2. Once the paint is completely dry, use the marker to draw a heart around the feet. The heart can be as thick or thin as you like, I made mine thick because I think it created a nice contrast as well as allowing more room for error when you cut.
3. Use the scissors to cut out the heart you drew and glue heart to center of colored card stock.
4. Here is where you can be creative. Come up with a caption to write around your heart. On ours I wrote: "I love my Nana, from the bottom of my heart to the tips of my toes." And then have your little one sign their name at the bottom. Frame it, wrap it, and you have the perfect gift!

This is the one that DD (7 months at the time) gave to her Nana:

What You'll Need:

• Plaster
• Clay
• Disposable Plastic Tray (about 3 inches deep)

What To Do:

1. Take the clay and press it into the plastic tray until about 1 1/2inches thick. Take baby's foot and make a clean, deep imprint right in the center of the clay. This will be your mold.
2.  Follow the instructions on the package for mixing your plaster. Once plaster is mixed, pour it in to the mold, filling the plastic tray to just below the rim and let dry completely (over night is usually best, just to be sure).
3.  Once dry, carefully remove the plaster from the plastic tray.You may need to cut the plastic a little (this is why you want the tray to be disposable). Decorate the footprint however you like. I went with just a simple border around the edge because I really wanted to highlight the footprint itself. Be sure to write baby's age somewhere on there too! That way when the recipient looks back at it, they can remember how old their little one was when they had those tiny toes.

Annnnd....I'm back...for good this time

Well my life has been crazy lately. As you can probably imagine...DD is just a few weeks shy of 9mos and DS has just begun playing for a new baseball team. But summer is over,  and with DS back in school I've got a little more me-time (aka blog time) on my hands.

So here is my summer recap:

DD learned to crawl, stand (assisted), simultaneously learned to wave and said her first word, "bye-bye," went to the beach for the first time (accompanied by her first mouthful of sand), and has just begun finger foods.

Mom turned the big 6-0 and DH and I treated her to a Disneyland vacation to make her feel young again. But the cherry on that cake was the surprise dinner we had planned for her at Catal in downtown Disney. She was so floored when she walked in and saw her close friends and family (the ones that live in Los Angeles, ofcourse) yelling out "SURPRISE". I wanted to make it her best birthday ever and I think it was a success. Here are a couple of pictures from our trip:

This is the amazing cake I ordered for my mom for the surprise dinner, and her reaction.

DH, Me, DD, and DS in the hotel room, just before heading in to the park...outfits inspired by Disneybound as Donald, Daisy, Minnie, and Mickey.

DS and I (with my baby sis in the background) on King Triton's Carousel

World of Color...SO INCREDIBLE. This makes the Bellagio look like a lawn sprinkler.

Enjoying some Mickey-shaped deliciousness...Pretzel on the left, Waffle on the right

PCH Grill Character Breakfast Photo

Me and DH relaxing at the pool

It was an incredible trip...especially for a Disney addict such as myself. But I think of the whole experience, my mom's favorite things were the gifts I made with the kids to give to her as a birthday.

 They were both really simple to make and practically free since I was able to use supplies I already had, but since they had such a huge impact I wanted to share what I did. With the holidays coming soon, these make great "from the kids" gifts for any mom, dad, or grandparent. So you can see the step by step instructions on how I made these here.

Banana Baby Cakes

Anyone who has ever had a baby knows that bananas are the best baby food ever! I'm always catching my 6-year-old son sneaking bites of the baby's bananas so I couldn't resist experimenting with it in cupcakes. The results were amazing! I hope you enjoy!

Baby Food Banana Mini-Cupcakes 

w/ Banana Buttercream 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick, softened)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup banana baby food 
• 2 eggs (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup whole milk (room temperature)

Banana Buttercream Frosting:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick, softened)
• 1/4 cup banana baby food
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• pinch of salt (about 1/4 tsp)

• Banana Chips (optional)

Recipe:

1. Start with the frosting. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together butter, banana baby food, salt, and powdered sugar until completely smooth (about 2-3 minutes). Set aside someplace cool. 

      **Note: It is ok to put your frosting in the refrigerator, just be sure to bring it back to room temperature     

          before icing the cupcakes.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line mini-cupcake tray with mini-cupcake liners.

3. In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, and banana baby food. Mix until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

4. Slowly add flour mixture in to wet ingredients, mixing in a little at a time and adding a little bit of milk in between each addition. (In other words: a little flour, a little milk, a little flour...and so on until all ingredients are incorporated). Be careful not to over-mix.

5. Fill each cupcake liner about 3/4 full and bake for 10-12 minutes (until a toothpick can be inserted and comes out clean).

6. Let cool completely, and then frost. Add a banana chip to each one for garnish.

Crispy Ricey Freedom Treats

Did anyone else wake up this morning and realize they forgot to plan on something to bring to a 4th of July bbq, potluck, picnic, etc.??? I knew the 4th was coming...but being the procrastinator (not to mention super busy mom) that I am, I totally spaced on something to bring.

I knew that the grocery store would be ridiculously crowded so I went straight to the pantry to see if I could pull something together. I knew I had all the fixings for cupcakes because I like to keep them on hand; but I made patriotic cupcakes last year and I'd hate to be redundant. Still looking in the pantry, I spotted the rice krispies. Immediately, I began to chant to myself, "please have marshmallows, please have marshmallows..." and what do a see but a big bag of unopened marshmallows! Rice Krispy Treats it is!!! I was happy with just that, but I was also delighted to find that I had some food coloring and sprinkles to make them more patriotic. 15 minutes later, they were cooling in the pan!

Here's what I did:

4th of July Rice Krispy Treats

Ingredients:

• 8 cups Crispy Rice Cereal
• 12 cups Mini-Marshmallows
• 7 tbs Unsalted Butter
• Red and Blue Food Coloring
• Red Sugar (optional)
• Red, White, and Blue Candy Sprinkles (optional)

1. Use wax paper to line a 15" x 10" pan, then butter wax paper and sides of pan. Set aside.

2. In a medium sized pot, melt 3 cups of marshmallows and 2 tbs of butter over medium heat, constantly stirring with a rubber spatula. 

Once smooth, reduce heat to lowest setting and add 6 drops of blue food coloring and continue to stir until color is uniform. Next, fold in 2 cups of crispy rice cereal until cereal is completely covered with marshmallow mixture. Pour in to 1/3 of pan, add sprinkles and use and additional piece of wax paper to pat smooth.

3. Repeat step 2 using red food coloring instead of blue. (Tip: Adding too much red food coloring can cause treats to taste bitter, so instead of 6 drops, I used 4 and added red colored sugar until I achieved my desired color.)

4. In a larger pot, melt 5 cups of marshmallows and 3 tbs of butter, stirring constantly until smooth just as before. Remove from heat and add in 4 cups of cereal and 1 additional cup of marshmallows (because there is no white food coloring, the un-melted marshmallows help add to the "white" part of  "red, white, and blue"). Add to remaining part of pan, add sprinkles, and pat smooth with wax paper.

5. Let cool completely and cut in to small squares. Best if served the same day.

Patriotic Cupcakes

So here we are. It's Memorial Day weekend, I've got family coming in from out of town tonight, the house is still a mess and I've got absolutely nothing planned. Fortunately, living in Las Vegas, there's never a shortage of things to do...even with kids. But if you know me, you know that no trip to my house is complete without cupcakes. This is a simple (but fun) recipe that I came up with last 4th of July. Its easy and inexpensive but festive enough for any patriotic holiday...thus, perfect for Memorial Day.

Red, White, and Blue Americakes

Ingredients:

• White Cake Batter (How much depends on how many cupcakes you're making. If using a box mix, you each box will make about 24 cupcakes).
• Unsweetened packet of Red Kool-aid Drink Mix (for this, I recommend Cherry)
• Unsweetened packet of Blue Kool-aid Drink Mix (note: Tropical Punch comes in a blue packet, but it is NOT blue. The contents are RED)
• Vanilla Frosting in red, white, and blue (hint: use food coloring to make your own red and blue frosting)
• Cupcake Liners (red, white, and/or blue)

1. Preheat oven and prepare white cake batter according to the recipe of your choice. (Boxed cake mix works just fine with this recipe and will save you time. But if you are making a lot of cupcakes, homemade mix may give you more control). Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners.

2. Separate batter in thirds, placing each third in to a separate bowl. The first bowl will be your "white" batter. To the second bowl, add half of the red kool-aid mix. To the third bowl, add half of the blue packet of kool-aid mix. (These measurements are assuming you are making a total of 24 cupcakes, if you are making more, add more kool-aid until you achieve your desired color. Drink mix will slightly change the texture of the batter and batter may expand, but it will bake the same).

3. Take a spoonful of each color batter and layer them, alternating colors in the cupcake liner until it is about half full. Repeat with each liner until the pan is full and bake according to the recipe you are using (or box instructions). As usual, cupcakes are ready when a toothpick can be inserted to the center and comes out clean.

4. Let cupcakes cool completely. Frost them with a layer of white, then use pastry bags (or ziplocks) filled with red and blue frosting to pipe patriotic stars and stripes on to each cupcake. 

Quick and Easy Cinnamon Buns

I make it a point not to make dessert with every meal. Though I love to make desserts more than anything (and my 6 year old loves to eat them more than anything), I want my kids to grow up understanding the difference between "sometimes foods" and "anytime foods."

Well... last night was a "sometimes" kind of night. We've been eating healthy all month and I felt that my family deserved a little surprise indulgence. But I didn't have time to go the store or make something from scratch. So I looked deep in to the pantry and came up with this:

Easy Cinnamon Sticky Buns

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• Can of biscuits (no need to be fancy, store brand is fine and about 1/3 the price of name brands)
• Bag of Large Marshmallows (actually, you only need as many marshmallows as you have biscuits)
• 1/4 cup cinnamon 
• 1/2 cup Melted Butter  
• 1/2 cup cinnamon-sugar mixture
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 400º.  Use hands to flatten a biscuit to about the size of the palm of your hand.

2. Drop marshmallow in butter and roll until coated on all sides and then coat with cinnamon.

3. Place cinnamon-coated marshmallow in the center of flattened biscuit and fold biscuit so that the marshmallow is sealed inside. (This is important because if too much marshmallow leaks out, it will burn and/or become too crunchy)

4. Drop (or sprinkle) marshmallow-filled biscuit in cinnamon-sugar mixture and place biscuit on a greased or nonstick baking sheet. Repeat process, placing each marshmallow-filled biscuit on the baking sheet about 2 inches apart from one another. 

5. Place in oven and bake 10-13 minutes, until golden brown. 

6. Combine powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla in a small bowl until smooth and fluid (if icing is too thick, add a little more milk...if it's too thin, add more powdered sugar. Drizzle desired amount of icing over each bun.

7. Serve Warm. Buns will be VERY hot when they first come out of the oven, but they cool quickly. Let them cool for about 2-3 minutes and enjoy!

While I probably wouldn't serve this to guests or take them to a bake sale, this recipe is perfect for a family such as mine on a school night. It's a quick and easy treat that your kids can help you make and most (if not all) of the ingredients are already in your pantry! 

Mom. Wife... BLOGGER!

Why is the first blog always the toughest?

It seems like I always have so much to say about...well, everything; so I think to myself, "I know, I'll start a blog!" Yet here we are, blog-starting and I'm not quite sure what to write about. That's not for lack of things to say, but more so that I have too much to say seeing as how no one knows me yet. Which is why I'm beginning with an introduction. I hate describing myself, but I feel that it is necessary for my soon-to-be readers (fingers crossed) to understand where I'm coming from and from what perspective all future blogs will be written.

So here we go:

I'm Erika, 29 year old stay-at-home mom (aka domestic goddess). I'm a huge geek. I never take myself too seriously. I have an almost unhealthy obsession with everything Disney-related, I love books (especially those of the "comic" persuasion), art, theatre, music, and technology. I love life in general, live in the moment, and see each day as a gift and a new adventure...all amidst getting my son to baseball practice, changing diapers, getting dinner on the table, spending time with friends, and making sure my husband (who's incredible, btw) is happy.

I'm starting this blog because I love creating and sharing new and easy recipes and crafts that make even an ordinary chick like me feel like a domestic goddess.

And along the way I'll be sharing recipes, crafts, stories, and more. Thanks for joining me in the day-to-day chaos I call my life.  :)