9/30 ~ Words

9.30.22: trailer trash

9.30.21: ham butter/ham salad

9.30.20: german chocolate bars

9.30.19: confetti gift wrap

9.30.18: 🔥
9.30.17: drying herbs
9.30.16: cauliflower pizza
9.30.15: photo vase

My Sis Tried It: Tortilla Pizza Rolls

Continuing on the theme of “sis tried it” I saw another recipe on social media.  This one was on Instagram and looked so good!  It’s a little similar to the one I tried before with the tortilla pizza’s (yum) but this one the toppings went directly in the pan first. Including cheese.  SO. MANY. QUESTIONS. How does the cheese not stick?  How am I flipping this without making a mess?  Who is cleaning the pan when I’m done? Haha. 

Directions: 

Pepperoni (I used turkey pepperoni)
Mozzarella cheese slices (i only had shredded cheddar- weird I know)
I sprayed the pan with non cook spray first, laid the pepperoni’s down then laid the cheese on top like the directions said.  I added a layer of spinach and a little feta as well (their recipe didn’t have that).  After that I laid a low carb tortilla on top of that per the directions.  I pressed the tortilla to get it to “stick” to the cheese and cooked about a minute that way then flipped it over. I let that side cook for a couple minutes to “grill it”.  The entire thing shockingly came out all in one piece on my plate and the pan was CLEAN!  I put a little pizza sauce on top and rolled it up. 

Honestly this was great.  My only real negative is that one wasn't filling enough for some reason.  When I put the exact same ingredients as a pizza tortilla in that last post it was enough food so not sure why the same thing in a different form just didn’t feel like enough food. LOL. Anyway.. glad I tried this one- it was yum! 

Here are the pictures from Instagram:

And here are mine!:

9.29.22: beachy painted table

9.29.21: oatmeal chocolate chip cookies 

9.29.20: TT - accessory organizing 

9.29.19: 🔥 week 39

9.29.18: rhubarb pudding

9.29.17: cool clipboards  by Brooke

9.29.16: chalkboard doors

9.29.15: rhubarb bbq sauce

Shag Cake

Yesterday I showed you the mermaid scale cake I made for L's birthday and mentioned that I had a leftover layer. Well I also had quite a bit of frosting left as well and I remembered seeing a 'shag cake' somewhere and thought I'd practice the technique with the extra cake and frosting.

Fit the decorator bag with a grass tip and fill with your choice of colored frosting - squeeze the bag and pipe out the 'grass' frosting in different areas on the top of the cake. 

Change colors and add more areas, repeat with different colors until it's all filled in. It reminds me of making a camouflage pattern - irregular areas of frosting touching each other totally filling in the top of the cake. 

the grid marks are from my cooling rack

This was the first time I've done this so it isn't as good as I'd like - next time I'll lightly frost the cake with one of the colors before piping on the grass, I can see bits of cake thru the grass. With some more practice I'm really going to like this design - so fun!

9.28.22: ice cream cookie bites

9.28.21: TT- make a paper plate bowl

9.28.19: banana coffee ‘ice cream’

9.28.18: chicken parmesan stuffed portobello mushrooms

9.28.17: my baking center

9.28.16: pumpkin nutella cookie bars

Mermaid Scales Cake (Using Buttercream Frosting)

Tesha asked if I'd make a cake for L's "Little Mermaid" birthday party - I googled for inspiration ideas and hadn't settled on what exactly I wanted to do...maybe rubber figures, or bubbles, ombre...and then I saw mermaid scales and loved it. Most of the inspo pics used fondant for the scales but I'm not a fondant fan - it's how cake decorators get the super professional look (you color the fondant, roll it out and cut shapes or form it into 3D shapes) but it just doesn't taste good. I saw a couple that did it with buttercream frosting which doesn't look as sharp but I knew would taste better - so I went with not as professional but pretty enough, and tastes good too!

For the cake: I baked 2 boxes of white cake mix in (4) 8" pans. I did doctor the mix like I usually do - add a teaspoon of vanilla, a pinch of coarse salt, an extra egg, a box of dry vanilla pudding, substituted melted butter for oil, and this time I replaced most of the water with pina colada mix. Bake according to package directions. Cool completely. Note: I used 3 of the 4 layers for this cake because I wanted the cake tall enough to have more rows of scales. I'll show you tomorrow what I did with the extra layer :)

looks like a turquoise 'naked cake'!

For the decorating: I made 4 batches of my standard buttercream frosting to make sure I had enough. Before coloring all of the frosting I scooped out what I thought would be enough to color medium turquoise to fill the cake, frost the top, and do a light coat around the sides. Once I frosted the basic cake and knew I had enough of that color, then I divided the rest into 6 bowls and colored them dark turquoise, medium turquoise, light turquoise/pale green, light purple, light pink, and left one white in case I ran out of one of the colors and needed to color more. Put each color except white into decorator bags fitted with a round tip. 

To make the scales: starting with the dark turquoise, pipe large dots around the bottom; using the tip of a rounded cake decorating spatula knife draw the top of the dot up creating a 'scale' shape. Repeat all the way around, then add the next row of dots offsetting between two of the first row scales - look at the pics to see what I mean. I guess you could make the dots right above the previous row but I liked how they look offset. The bottom row is all using the darkest shade, for the second row I did a few of the dark and then finished with the medium turquoise and one dot of purple. Continue adding dots and making them into scales, changing colors as you make new rows. When I got to the last row at the top edge of the cake I didn't know how to finish it, the top scales looked kind of messy and unfinished so I piped a thick wavy border on the top of the cake. 

Because I had it on hand, I added edible glitter to the sides - you couldn't really see it tho and I don't think it made much difference. Then I added candy balls in different shapes to the sides here and there. 

9.27.22: pumpkin bread review

9.27.21: Kyle's charcuterie board/centerpiece 

9.27.20: 🔥 week 39

9.27.19: how to make a flip book

9.27.18: morse code and other bracelets

9.27.17: hawaiian cake

9.27.16: organizing socks

Buttercream Frosting

I have posted a lot of cakes and frosting in 8 years - a lot, a lot. And I've shared how I make my standard buttercream recipe a bunch of times but always in a post about the cake, it doesn't have its own post. So I'm fixing that and you won't have to search cake posts for it!

• 1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
• 3 1/2 - 4 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of coarse salt (don't add salt if you are using salted butter)
• enough milk or cream to give the consistency I want, maybe 2-3 tablespoons. I don't measure, just pour in a tiny bit at a time.

Beat the butter until fluffy. Mix in 1 cup of powdered sugar, add vanilla and salt. Gradually add the remaining powdered sugar (if you add it all at once it's gonna fly out of the bowl all over the place - trust me hahah)  alternating with a little milk or cream each time and mix on medium-high until the frosting is light and creamy, and the right consistency to spread or decorate. 

Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes, an 8 or 9" layer cake, or a 13x9" cake

• It's ok to leave buttercream frosting at room temperature for about 3 days. After that you should refrigerate it. 
• If you don't immediately frost your cake it's ok to store the frosting in an airtight container at room temp for up to 3 days - I keep it in the fridge tho and then when it's time to use it I let it come up to room temperature and give it a quick whip to get it light and fluffy again.
• you can freeze buttercream in a ziplock freezer bag or air-tight container; you can also frost your cake, cover it, and freeze it decorated. 
• you can substitute other extract flavors for the vanilla; add cocoa powder to make it chocolatey; replace the milk with other liquid like pina colada mix, lemonade, juice, etc. 
• use clear vanilla to keep the frosting whiter

9.26.21: 🔥week 39

9.26.20: anniversary drawing

9.26.19: alfredo and pink sauces

9.26.18: german chocolate cheesecake

9.26.17: paper sunflowers

9.26.16: wood display box 

9.26.15: how to use a hulk sized zucchini

Ursula Costume

We had a fun surprise birthday party for LeDonna last weekend, she loves The Little Mermaid so we made that our theme (side note: when I was decorating the banquet room at the restaurant I kept getting asked how old the birthday girl is - I hung up banners and balloons, etc. that I found on Amazon - and when I replied 60 they all laughed and said they expected me to say 6 LOL). Anyway, we said to dress in a character if you chose (and L was made up to be Ariel of course), so in support of her having to walk into the restaurant in full-on Halloween costume Ariel I decided I'd do a somewhat toned-down Ursula.

I made invites using a free template found here

Found a t-shirt that has Ursula on it, black mermaid-y looking pants, and a gold shell necklace all on Amazon. I put the shell on a black silk cord and made her earrings from 2 shells I had on hand that I painted purple and wrapped wire around them to attach to ear wires. I tried to do Ursula makeup by layering blue and purple eyeshadow, drew on dark eyebrows shaped into her mean looking sea witch brows, red lipstick, and added a black mole. I bought white hair paint but decided not to use it and just stuck my hair up with got2be glued hair spiking glue which is really strong - your hair will not be soft once you apply this stuff, it's stiff and crunchy hahaha, but it works.

I took a couple pics but they aren't great, if you decide to be Ursula for Halloween (or your friends birthday party) just Google for images of her face and hair, there are lots. 

Funny story - when LeDonna's great-niece saw me she said to her mom ''Mom! I told you Uncle Jill should be Ursula because of her hair!!! And she is!!'' LOL. Oh, and yes, she calls me Uncle Jill :) Another funny story...

this is at the end of the night so my makeup is a little faded. I have purple 
under my brows, bright blue on the lids, black liner and mascara. I used black
powder eyeshadow on my brows but liquid liner would have been more dramatic!

9.25.21: chocolate sandwich cookie

9.25.20: broccoli casserole

9.25.19: banana poppy seed muffins

9.25.18: framed photo collage

9.25.17: wine and design fall tabletop

9.25.16: veggie and white bean bake

9.25.15: soccer keychains

🔥 Around the Campfire (week 39)

Dear Campers ~

Here's a quick recap in case you missed anything at camp last week:

Posts ~

9/17: 🔥 week 38

9/18: and the winner is...

9/19: TT front loading washer

9/20: chocolate chip cookie pie

9/21: butterkin squash

9/22: MSTI TikTok egg sandwich 

9/23: words

What's Cooking  ~

• grilled boneless chicken thighs, leftover fried rice mixed with cooked white rice and mixed veggies
• crockpot country ribs over pasta, steamed green beans
• burgers, steak fries, microwaved corn on the cob
• baked walleye, coleslaw 
• grilled chicken breast, seasoned rice, roasted carrots, green salad
• grilled salmon (put on aluminum foil, don't turn over), parmesan couscous, wilted spinach

Miscellaneous Stuff Keeping Me Busy ~

• read 'The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue' by V.E. Schwab, a fantasy novel about a young woman who makes a deal with the devil to live forever but is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets...for the next 300+ years. The story is told in present day and flashbacks - it's a little long but it's so different and kept me intrigued to see what was going to happen. Don't love the ending but I enjoyed the story enough that I can live with it haha! ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

See you next week with more projects, crafts, recipes, tips, whatever I think of to make at camp! Bye :)

Sincerely ~

Jill

camp counselor

9.24.22: thru the years

9.24.21: sprinkle sandwich cookies 

9.24.19: TT: power outage

9.24.18: jute wrapped candle

9.24.17: 2 cheese balls

9.24.16: ice cream carton tip

9.24.15: crochet bracelets

9/23 ~ Words

 

9.23.22: thru the years 

9.23.21: necktie pillow 

9.23.20: mounds cake

9.23.19: driftwood art 

9.23.18: 🔥 week 38

9.23.16: painting pottery 

9.23.15: candy coated marshmallows

My Sis Tried It: TikTok Fried Egg Sandwich

I understand the kids get their recipe’s from Tik Tok.. I get it.. but as an adult is it weird if I do the same?  I saw this super interesting video of someone making an egg sandwich- but like French toast?  Ok, hear me out.  

First, they made it look super easy.  They rolled the eggs around, laid the bread on top, cooked for a minute, flipped it over and cooked another minute.  Put the toppings inside, flipped it over and voila! Egg sandwich.  I’m making it sound more complicated than it was.  Let me break it down and add some tik tok pictures (that I don’t own so no one sue me..)

Ingredients: 

• 2 slices bread
• 2 eggs
• Toppings (I used cheese and spinach)

Directions:

1.      Whisk the eggs in a bowl, pour into a pan over medium heat. I added cooking spray to be sure they didn’t stick.  Swirl the eggs to cover the base like you would do when making an omelet.
2.      Place bread on top of the eggs. Cook for a minute then flip bread over (not the eggs, just flip the bread that you laid on top)
3.      Cook for another minute then flip the entire eggs/bread over to cook the other side.
4.      Top with fillings, tuck the edges of the eggs in and fold over to make a sandwich.
 

So.. again, sounds more complicated than it is.  One issue with step 3.  How do I flip the ENTIRE thing eggs/bread over all together?  Couldn’t. Had to flip in halfs.  But whatever.  Still worked.  This was oddly delicious.  I know an egg sandwich isn’t complicated- I get it- but this one was super different and interesting.  The bread had egg on the outside as well as inside, had to eat it with a fork but was quite tasty! Give it a try!

 Below are my pictures (the tik tok pics are above)

9.22.22: thru the years

9.22.21: crockpot London broil stroganoff 

9.22.20: TT- baby washcloths 

9.22.19: ugh computer problems 

9.22.18: Cassie’s flower arrangement 

9.22.17: chocolate covered banana by Brooke

9.22.16: corn husk wreaths

9.22.15: decorate your outlet covers

 

Butterkin Squash

When you see hard squashes appear at the store do you look at the pile and think "ahhh, it's Fall"? I do! 

I saw this Butterkin squash at the grocery store and don't think I've ever seen it before...so I googled what is it? I found that it's a new variety of butternut squash that blends butternut and pumpkin squash together. It has a sweet, smooth texture - I think it tastes more like butternut than pumpkin but you try it and see for yourself! 

I roasted it the same way I would any other hard squash - poke holes in the whole squash and microwave for a few minutes to make it easier to cut. Holding it with tongs (because it might be hot after microwaving), remove the stem and bottom, and cut in half. Remove the seeds and pulp, roast in a 400' oven until the flesh is soft. Then do whatever you want with it - I usually just scoop the soft flesh out and eat as is, you could add butter and/or maple syrup, puree it for soup, however you want. 

9.21:22: thru the years

9.21.21: TT - microwaving couscous

9.21.20: face mask with clear front 

9.21.19: antipasto pasta

9.21.18: rhubarb bbq sauce

9.21.16: sprinkles no-bake cheesecake

9.21.15: german chocolate cupcakes

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Hmmm, how's that for a name? I don't know what to call it - it's a pie made out of cookie dough!

• 1 tube chocolate chip cookie dough (or make your own dough, whatever you want!)
• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened (1/2 block)
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 t. vanilla
• 8 oz. cool whip
• toppings - I used what I had on hand: reese's, mini marshmallows, mini chocolate chips, sno-caps, funfetti chips, cookies and cream candy bar

Spray a pie plate with non-stick spray. Press the cookie dough into the plate and bake until done. Note: I tried pressing the middle down a little lower than the edges to create an indent for the toppings before baking it, but it puffed up equal to the edges. So when it came out of the oven I pressed the center down a little bit using the bottom of a glass. Cool completely.

Once cool, top with the cream cheese mixture, add toppings as desired. 2nd note: I chopped the reese's and candy bar into smaller pieces. 

9.20.22: thru the years

9.20.21: 30 minute tomato sauce 

9.20.19: hairy pretzels

9.20.17: funfetti cake dough brownie layer cake

9.20.16: finish what you start

Tip-sy Tuesday: Front Loading Washer Tip

LeDonna came up with this tip and if you have a front loader washing machine you're going to like it (ok, well at least I find it very helpful and hopefully you will too!). I really like the practicality of a front loading washer but there is one big problem - if you shut the door moisture builds up and mold forms on the rubber seal. And it's gross. And really hard to clean. But if you leave the door open it's in the way. Enter L's solution - she stuck a small suction cup hook on the front of the washer, and another on the dryer next to it, then attached a small bungie to the hooks to keep the washer door slightly ajar; now it's out of the way but open enough to allow air to enter. Problem solved! 

9.19.22: thru the years

9.19.21: 🔥 week 38

9.19.20: meaty minestrone

9.19.19: card stock gift box

9.19.18: strawberry swirl cheesecake

9.19.17: paper mugs

9.19.16: Steve's mac and cheese

9.19.15: dog crate cover

And The Winner Is...

Thanks to everyone who entered to win the 8 year blogiversary drawing! I put everyones name on pieces of paper, threw them down on my desk and picked one - congrats goes to...

Drumroll please.........

NATALIE ELKINS!!! Woohoo for you!! 

9.18.22: 🔥 week 38

9.18.21: Crocheted Afghan for Brook

9.18.20: kid craft: painted mason jars

9.18.19: German chocolate poke cake

9.18.18: plant hanger

9.18.16: Steve’s Mac and cheese

9.18.15: laundry room tip