Doodle's Rainbow Birthday!

I have been so excited for Doodle's first birthday party! I mean she has no idea what's going on, so I'll just go ahead and admit now that this party was completely because I wanted to throw a rainbow birthday party. She definitely enjoyed it, but really, I think she would have enjoyed a balloon and Cheerios party without out the fuss...but where's the fun in that?

I've been secretly pinning rainbow ideas since she was three months old, and everything came together this weekend. We had a wonderful gathering of family and friends and everything from the food to the toys were a burst of colorful rainbow happiness!

I started by making a banner with each picture of Doodle from each month and rainbow paper chain, which I then hung all over the house.

I used gum balls and put baby's breath in vases around the house as well (no water, just the flowers). I used a little tissue paper I had to help add a little something to the otherwise boring white table cloth. The tissue was from a Martha Stewart tissue poof-making kit.

The gift bags were white lunch-style bags that I already had. I cut them down, used a paper punch around the edge, and ran them through my printer for the "Thank You" labels. The bags were filled with rainbow candies, a ribbon wand, crayons, bubbles, play dough...you know all the usual colorful junk that kids love :).

I bought some mini water bottles and printed the labels out on my home printer. I used "brochure paper" for a glossy effect. The font is called Budmo Jiggler.

Paper straws are always a must. I'm obsessed with these. I found the straws and the bottles on Etsy and ordered the bottles with holes in the lids for straws. They were supposed to be for the kids, but I discovered that they held wine just as well.

The veggie tray is pretty self-explanatory; however, I will say that I was ridiculously excited to find purple olives at Whole Foods. I had no idea what I would use for blue or purple veggies. I meant to put out blue tortilla chips, but there wasn't room so I just let it go.

The adorable paper cups were also from Etsy and held servings of my famous Chex mix.

Even though, I really don't like Jello, these have to be one of the favorite things I made. They took forever, but they were so worth it. I ordered the cups from Amazon, but then I found them for cheaper in my local Party City - oh well. I just purchased 6 flavors of jello, made each color/layer according to the package directions, and let them set before adding the next layer.

Sprinkles in votives also added a colorful touch.

Balloons in a rainbow of colors were also well-received.

This picture doesn't do these marshmallows justice. The are HUGE! Like 3 inches by 2 inches. I dipped them in melted chocolate chips and then mini M&Ms.

Sugar cookies (this recipe sans lemon) rolled in sprinkles were also a big hit with the kids.

However, the best part was, of course, the cake.

I followed this recipe almost exactly (see tips below) and it turned out wonderful! I only had one pan so I had to bake 6 separate cakes, but it was definitely worth it. 

The topper was make from paper straws and stickers I printed on my computer. Real simple stuff.

A couple tips:

1. Spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray, cut a piece of parchment paper and put it in the bottom, and spray that piece.

2. Put the cake layers in the fridge for a while before icing, it makes them easier to work with.

3. You'll need a LOT of icing. I doubled this recipe and still didn't have enough for the outside; however, we also decided that it looked better un-frosted.

4. I got a lot of compliments on the cake and people wanted to know what made it so good. This is what makes it so good. Something called "Cake Enhancer." Don't know what it is, don't really know what it does, but it makes homemade cakes taste awesome. I assume it adds back in all the chemicals that boxed cake mix has that I'm trying to avoid by making a cake from scratch.

5. Definitely use gel food dye. Your colors will be just as vibrant.

And gum balls for more pizzazz.

So bright!

I made her a cake to ruin as well. I forgot to add the cake enhancer to this batch and I can tell you that this one was a little drier. For the candle, I glued sprinkles onto a store-bought candle. I can tell you from experience that hot glue works best for this. I got better sprinkle coverage when I used Modge Podge, but it made the colors on the sprinkles run and my first one turned into a brown mess.

To make her cake, I used the same recipe as above and used a small ice cream scoop and a jumbo cupcake tin. I had to cut the mini cakes in half horizontally, then we trimmed the edges using a cookie cutter.

 She didn't quite take handfuls and smash the cake as I had hoped, but once we gave her a spoon, she went to town.

Happy birthday, Doodle!

Homemade Oreo Ice Cream Cake - with Crunchies!

Because I'm the best wife ever, I wanted to make sure that my husband had the best birthday cake ever. So after I made his his Favorite Buffalo Chicken Lasagna, I made him an Oreo Ice Cream Cake. But the best part? An extra-thick layer of homemade crunchies!

You know, those little chocolate cookie-like things that they put in between the layers of an ice cream cake? Yeah, I made those. I made a damn thick layer of those. Why? Because crunchies are the best. My husband things that the ice cream is the best, but he's just wrong. It's crunchies for the win!

See that cross-section?

Just try to tell me that crunchies aren't the best

(just like me, the best wife ever).

Ice cream cake seems like one of those daunting, how-the-hell-am-i-supposed-to-make-that kind of foods, but it's actually REALLY easy AND requires no baking! Especially when you know the homemade crunchies (not so) secret recipe.

I used vanilla ice cream, Oreos, and store-bought icing. Basically you just layer everything into a springform pan and put it back in the freezer until you're ready to serve.

I used a 9-inch springform pan, but I think next time I will use something smaller. I may also use 1.5-2 pints of ice cream to make it a little thicker. This cake ended up being wide and thin.

Oreo Ice Cream Cake

1 package Oreos

1 bottle magic shell chocolate sauce

1 pint ice cream flavor of your choice (I used Edy's French Vanilla)

1 can chocolate frosting (I used a can of Duncan Hines, but if I had homemade available, I would have used that)

1. Spray a springform pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. To make crunches, start by crushing two rows of Oreos in a food processor until they're finely crushed. It will probably take a few batches. Place crushed Oreos in a large bowl and add the entire bottle of magic shell. Mix with spoon (or hands) to meld ingredients. Set aside.
3. Place the last row of Oreos in a single layer on the bottom of the pan. I didn't have enough to cover the whole bottom, but that's fine. You can also skip this step and just crush all the Oreos or use some as decoration on top.
4. Spread half the ice cream over the Oreos. I used a spoon and my hands. The Oreos shifted around the pan when I tried to spread the ice cream, so it was more of a "plop and push" method - a spoonful and push it into the pan with my hands.
5. Add a layer of the crunchies and push into pan. I just did one layer of crunchies, but if you use a pan with a smaller diameter, you may want to make several layers. You'll need to distribute accordingly.
6. Add the rest of the ice cream using the same "plop and push" method. 
7. Place pan in freezer and allow to freeze for at least an hour. It will make frosting the cake easier.
8. Once ready, take the cake out of the freezer, release it from the pan onto a platter, and frost as you'd like. I only frosted the top because I found it difficult to frost the sides since the ice cream was melting and the frosting wasn't sticking. It looked a little messy, but that didn't matter.

My Husband's Favorite Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

November is quite the month in my family. My birthday, my Mom's birthday, and my husband's birthday are all within the first two weeks. 

November also sees the end of diet season. 

My husband's birthday was the other day. He's been working late a lot lately so I wanted to make sure that I made it special.

Enter: My Husband's Favorite Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

First, I pretended to leave for work at normal time.

After dropping Doodle off at daycare, I headed over to Starbucks to wake up/drink a skinny peppermint mocha latte, and waited for him to leave for work. Two hours later, he finally left and I headed home to start working on dinner.

Now, don't let that last statement worry you. This mean doesn't take a lot of effort, but I make the chicken used in this recipe in the crockpot so you either need a big chunk of time or leftover chicken in the fridge/freezer.

I should pause here and first, explain that most of my cooking involves the freezer. I'm a big fan of making a giant batch of something (e.g., pie dough, roasted chicken, tomato sauce, etc.) and freezing portions. That's how this recipe first started. I had a TON of left over buffalo chicken and wanted to use it up. We'll make a batch, then use it for pizza, sandwiches, paninis, and lasagna. Since this was a special meal, I started from scratch, but my recommendation is to make buffalo chicken lasagna with buffalo chicken you made previously. p.s. This recipe makes enough chicken for 3-4 lasagnas, so you could make it from scratch and THEN have left overs.

Buffalo Chicken 

one 16-ounce bottle of wing sauce (we used Ken's Brand)

6 large chicken breasts

one large onion (optional, but we like onions) chopped

1. Place chicken in crockpot cover with onions and the entire bottle of hot sauce. I usually add a little water, shake the bottle, and empty again. 
2. Cook on high 4-5 hours or low 8-10 hours.
3. Shred chicken. Stirring it with a fork usually does the trick.

Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

9 - 12 lasagna noodles

one 15-ounce container of ricotta cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 egg

salt and pepper to taste

2 teaspoons oregano

1 pound mozzarella (I get the pre-shredded bag)

~ 3 cups of prepared buffalo chicken

1. Cook noodles according to package directions.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Meanwhile, combine ricotta, parmesan, egg, salt, pepper, and oregano in a large bowl.
4. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and spoon a little of the sauce from the chicken into the bottom of the pan. 
5. Layer three noodles in the bottom of the pan. Add a layer of the ricotta mixture (probably about 3/4 cup). I don't measure here, just take a small handful and spread the mixture over the noodles. Add a layer of the chicken. I don't add, like, a solid layer of chicken, since it's shredded, I more sprinkle and even layer. Top with a large handful of mozzarella.
6. Repeat layering until you run out of one of the layers (or the pan). I usually run out of pan space after three layers.
7. Top with mozzarella and sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top (if you'd like - it gives the top a nice crust)
8. Cover with foil and bake until hot and bubble (usually about 40 minutes). Uncover and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, to give it a crusty top.  
9. Serve to a hungry, tired, appreciative husband on his birthday. 

Because I love him so much, I also made him an Oreo ice cream cake with homemade "crunchies" and chocolate frosting, but that will have to be another post.

Seriously Adorable DIY Felt Hair Bows

I'm a total sucker for cute little bows on babies, but I tend to like the simple, go-with everything type and was having difficulty finding something that I liked. So many of the bands out there were the wrong shades or had multiple colors that didn't match her outfits - which annoyed me more than it should have.

So I decided to make my own!

See that cute, little, lop-sided felt bow on that cute, little, round head?

How about this one?

 

Or this one?

 

 

They match perfectly and are small enough that she's not bothered wearing one. 

So, I made one in every color.

Because that's how I roll. 

Want to know how to make some for your self? It's actually really easy.

First, gather your supplies. You'll need:

- Felt (I just used felt sheets from Michaels)

- Glue gun and glue

- Elastic

- Template

- Kitty (optional)

So I downloaded the pdf template from How About Orange and printed three copies (one  scaled to 75% size, one at 50%, and one at 25%). So I could make three different sized bows. The bow in the photos are the 25% scale.

I cut the template out of cardstock so it would last longer.

And used those templates to cut pieces of felt.

This piece will be the bottom. So add a little glue.

Press the ends of the "loop" piece into the glue so that the center is on top.

Use a little more glue and press the center over where you just glued the ends.

Take the small rectangle piece and wrap it around the top of the bow.

A little glue on back will keep the ends together.

Ta-da!

I cut another small rectangle (no real measuring, just a guess) and a piece of elastic that will comfortably fit around Doodle's head. For her, it was probably about 12 inches, but be sure to measure your own Doodle to get the measurement right. Remembering that you want the elastic snug, but not tight. These are tight enough so that the headband doesn't fall off, but loose enough so they don't "dent" her head.

Glue the ends of the elastic to the rectangle. Don't worry about the mess, it will be covered up.

Fold over the felt and glue it together.

I used some cuticle clippers to trim the extra glue when it dried. It works great!

Then, glue the side with the seam to the bottom of the bow.

Ta-da!

You could also use other shapes and colors for the center. Here we have our Daddy's three favorite sports teams' colors.

Like, I said, I also made simple ones.

In every color to be precise.

Doodle seems to like them.