Rainy Day Fort

This was a rainy Saturday morning and since we couldn’t play outside I decided to keep the tv off and find something fun to do inside.  Well, what’s more fun than a fort? 

A perfect hang out for a father & son.  Just needs a sign like this:

Except for Mom, of course!

Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

My coworker and his wife are from Louisiana and served gumbo one evening for us.  His wife passed along this recipe and we have since made it several times  Here’s the exact recipe she sent and below are some of our slight modifications:

Sauté one package of Gumbo mix frozen vegetables (there are several brands – just make sure that you buy one with onion, bell pepper, celery and okra – anything else added is just lagniappe).  I like to sauté in about 1/2 stick of butter.  In a separate pot, melt 1/2 stick of butter and add one cup of water.  If you can obtain it – whisk in one cup of Tony Chachere’s Instant Roux (if not whisk in one cup of flour seasoned with salt, pepper & garlic powder).  Whisk this continuously until it thickens a bit and remove it from the heat.  Add two cans of chicken stock to vegetables and over heat whisk in the roux (flour mixture).  Add one pound of polish sausage and one de-boned rotisserie chicken (no skin, just meat).  If it looks too thick add a can of water and cook over low heat until everything begins to become unrecognizable.  Season to taste.  Serve over rice.

We like to make chicken and shrimp gumbo (my coworker has a seafood allergy).  We have used the rotisserie chicken and also make it by boiling 3 chicken breasts in chicken stock.  The liquid from this is used in place of water in the recipe.  We buy celery, onion, frozen okra & bell pepper separately instead of a frozen mix.  We have not found Tony Chachere’s Instant Roux so instead use the flour method. 

Best to make this several hours in advance or the night before and let sit in the refrigerator overnight.  The longer it sits the better the flavors.  Enjoy!

Sweet Green Grass

Some of you are probably complaining about our wet rainy Spring, but I’m loving it and so is our grass.  I must say that we really do have one of the nicest lawns in the neighborhood, but there have been a few bare patches. 

Late March I started trying to grow grass.  First I tried just putting grass seed down and watering it.  Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way.  Then I bought some grass seed with pellets that soak up the water and also has a starter fertilizer.  That did a little better, but still not growing well.

Finally I think I figured out the recipe for growing grass.  I mixed 0.5 cu ft. of MiracleGro soil, 0.5 cu ft. regular topsoil, 0.5 cu ft. peat moss, the remaining grass seed with the pellets and another small bag of grass seed.  I spread it in all the bare spots and then covered them all with a thin layer of the remaining 0.5 cu ft. peat moss. 

I’ve really lucked out with the rain this past week and I’ve got sweet green grass growing!  Yeah!

Arbor Day Foundation

I have been a member of the Arbor Day Foundation since 2004.  I became a member when I decided to give trees as wedding favors.  I’m not sure if anyone was able to grow their tree (ours didn’t grow), but I continue to renew my membership every year. 

Each year they give me the opportunity to receive 10 free trees.  I did take them a few years ago, but none of them survived.  This year I decided to give it another go.  Earlier this week I received a Colorado Blue Spruce, White Pine, White Flowering Dogwood, Pin Oak, Sugar Maple, Silver Maple, Red Maple, Northern Red Oak, River Birch and Eastern Redbud. 

They arrived while I was out of town, so Jamie stored them in the refrigerator for about 3 days.  The trees have a small painted area above the roots to distinguish them but I like to make tags so I don’t forget which is which.  I soaked the roots in lukewarm water for about 2-3 hours. 

I found these cute colorful plastic pots at Walmart for $2 each.  I filled them with topsoil and then added a tree to each one.  I added a layer of mulch to help keep them from drying out.

I gave the White Pine, Blue Spruce and Flowering Dogwood to a friend and I have one to give to my BIL to celebrate his new home.  Let me know if you would like to plant one in your yard.  They can stay in these pots for 1-2 years before finding their permanent home in the ground.

Spring Cleaning

These past 6 weeks I’ve been Spring cleaning so we can get the condo listed again next week.  Here’s a list of things we’ve been doing:

De-cluttering

• Bedroom closets
• Hallway closet
• Under sinks
• Kitchen cabinets
• Storage crawl space
• Garage 

A lot of things were thrown away or donated to Goodwill.  I sent some of Jake’s clothes and toys to work for some co-workers.  The rest went to a storage unit we are renting.  We also removed some furniture from the basement, bedrooms, and living room.

Painting

• One bedroom was still the same since we moved in, so that is now a nice cream color called Sand Trap (Ace)
• Stained the deck which only needed it on all horizontal surfaces and took about 2 hours

We still need to touch up the trim outside and do the hallway down to the basement.

Cleaning

• Jake’s bedroom wall with crayon marks was cleaned with the Magic Eraser, worked great!  Luckily the crayon was on the wall behind the door.
• The vertical blinds for the patio door were so dirty and grimy.  They are cloth, so I figured before throwing in the towel I would see what happened if they went in the washing machine.  They look brand new!  Should have done that years ago.
• All windows inside and out were cleaned with Windex Foaming Glass and Multi-Surface Cleaner and it worked amazingly well! 
• Wiped down all ceiling fans
• Basement carpet was cleaned with Resolve High Traffic Powder.  This worked okay, a steam cleaner would probably make it even better.
• The shower stall in the basement was all Jamie.  He removed all the doors, re-calked the inside, and did his best to clean all the doors.  Not as good as we would like, but about as good as it will get.
• Cleaned up two flower beds and planted some wildflower seeds.  I know it’s early, but I can always try again later.

Fixing

• Jamie bought and installed a new entry door and a new door to the garage.  They are so much better than the old ones.
• I put in a new screen for the front door and Jamie helped me with the patio screen.  Advice: buy fiberglass screen, not aluminum screen.
• I re-glued some wallpaper that Jake liked to pull on.
• I replaced the ugly brick retainers under the deck with some better bricks.
• Grass seed was put down yesterday to try and patch some bad spots in the lawn. I hope this works.

We still need to fix/replace a corner piece of siding and also a downspout.  

We have done so much and I really hope that we are able to sell the condo.  The hardest part is just keeping it clean all the time which is hard to do with a 3 year old.

Cake decorating tips & tricks

If you are interested in learning more on how to decorate cakes like the one’s I’ve blogged about, this post is filled with my tips and tricks. 

My first tip is to take a beginner cake decorating class.  I have only taken the beginner class at Michael’s and I keep meaning to take the second one, but I just haven’t gotten around to it. The beginner class will help to familiarize yourself with how to use the frosting tips and give you some good frosting techniques. 

My next tip is to invest in the Wilton Master Tip Set.  I did have to buy the grass tip (233) separately, but below are the tips that are included in the set.  I haven’t used all of them yet and I like to play around with them to see if I can get the effect I’m looking for.

To get great coloring with your frosting be sure to use gel food coloring.  But to really get a good red or black, it’s best to buy it at a cake supply store. 

Invest in good cake pans.  For Christmas I received a 6x2”, 8x2” & 10x2” round aluminum cake pans and I also just bought a 9x13x3” aluminum cake pan all by Fat Daddio.

For the most recent cake I baked I used Bake Even Strips.  These strips are soaked in cold water and then wrapped around the base of the cake pans.  Without them the center ends up baking taller than the sides and you have to cut the top off to make it level.

When baking a larger cake I also put a flower nail in the bottom of the pan to help distribute heat into the middle of the cake. 

I line the bottom of the cake pan with parchment paper.  If you have a more decorative bundt pan or a molded pan be sure to spray with baking spray (has flour in it so you don’t have to grease and flour separately).

I don’t remember what this tool is called, but it cuts the cakes in half for you without having to eyeball it. 

To add equal amounts of frosting between layers I use a piping bag with tip 12.  After piping the frosting like below, I spread it out with a frosting spatula.

I also do a crumb coat before doing any colored frosting.  To do this you coat the cake with a thin layer of frosting.  You will get lots of crumbs mixed into the frosting but it’s supposed to do that.  After the cake is coated you freeze it for 30 minutes or so.  If it doesn’t fit in your freezer you can put it in the refrigerator for at least an hour or if it’s Winter in Wisconsin you can just put it outside for a while (I’ve done this multiple times).  Now you can frost with your colored frosting without worrying about getting crumbs in your frosting.

The most recent frosting recipe that I’m in love with is Rick’s Special Buttercream Frosting I found at allrecipes.com.  I took the advice in the multiple reviews to use 1 cup butter & 1 cup shortening instead of the listed 2 cups shortening.

I hope these tips and tricks help or make you more confident that you too can create amazing cakes!

From pictures to cakes

I really enjoy decorating cakes, however, I often don’t have the creativity to think of an idea on my own.  So most of my creations come from a picture I found online.  Here are two cakes I decorated based on pictures.

My son’s 3rd birthday was a couple months ago, and I wanted to make him a Thomas cake.  Here’s the picture I found online:

 

I baked two 9” rounds and kept one as is and cut the other one in half.  I flipped one half onto the other half and put those halves on one side of the other round that I didn’t cut.

The boulders I used were chocolate covered peanuts.  The train is from a Thomas book that came with tiny Thomas and Friends trains. There wasn’t a picture of the back of the cake, so I used my imagination there.  I used tip 233 for the grass and my smallest leaf tip 65 for the leaves on the trees.  

My niece wanted a fairy cake for her birthday.  Here’s the picture I found online:

This one looks a little more daunting, but in reality it was also pretty simple.  This was two 9x13” cakes.  Leave one as is for the bottom layer and cut the other one in half.  Place one half on one side of the bottom layer and from the remaining half cut it from corner to corner to make a triangle and place it on top of the half.  There should still be one corner left which should be cut into a cupcake size circle and place it on the bottom layer next to the second layer. 

To make the vines I used tip 4 and added purple dots with tip 2, to make the green boarder I used leaf tip 67, the pink flowers were made with tip 21, the small white flowers were with tip 16 and the larger white flowers in the water was with tip 22.

The fairies are from the Disney Tinkerbell Fairy Friends Signature Cake Topper set.  They have stamps on the bottom and come with a stamp pad.