Sunday, September 26, 2010

Mission Birthday Week a Success!!!

Happy Sunday rockers! This week was a whirlwind of chaos, metal and birthday cake! As I think back to the last handful of days, parts are a blur, but I wouldn't have done anything different.
Monday started out pretty typical. School, housework, kids, you know, the usual. Then, just about dinner time, I popped on Facebook and found out that Hinder was playing at a club in the Sacramento area. Within an hour, we got the kids squared away and were on the road to the show. We had one hell of a time! I even got to be the chick in the pit that caught a drumstick!
Tuesday, I consumed A LOT of coffee and recovered just enough so that I could pull off...
Wednesday which was my older son's birthday. I got the cake bombs done and pack up a lovely heavy metal picnic dinner that consisted of beef sticks, cheese crackers, PB&J's and water to take t0 the Uproar Concert. We sang Happy Birthday and had the boys blow out their candle in parking lot before going in. The kids were so excited to see Stone Sour and Avenged Sevenfold and I'm happy to report that they totally rocked. Everyone was still so amped up that we even stuck around for Disturbed, which wasn't part of the original plan (we've taken the kids to see them numerous times and knew we wouldn't miss much, in our opinion) but we weren't ready to call it a night! Hubby took the kids down to get a better view and I hung out with some friends and played "pit patrol" to pass the time. It was a blast!
Thursday was another recovery day. Getting up in the morning and getting the kids to school was a big enough job. Yes, they go to school after a concert day. We're trying to teach the kids that it's totally acceptable to goof off and have fun as long as it doesn't interfere with our responsibilities. Plus, there is the added threat that concerts on school nights will stop (for them) if they flake on school. Needless to say, we all crashed pretty hard that evening. Honestly, I can't even remember what we had for dinner that night.
Friday we ran around like crazy people getting everything done for Saturday's birthday party. Housework, cooking, wrapping, goody bags, decorating and last minute shopping stops took over the whole day. The nice thing was, almost everything was done when I got up Saturday morning. I put four pork roasts in the slow cooker before bed to make BBQ pork sandwiches. I made a huge batch of macaroni salad and got the cake baked, filled and iced.
Saturday all I needed to do was shred the pork and put it back in the slow cooker to keep warm. Then, I put bell peppers and onions from the garden into the second cooker. In the third cooker, I put a bunch of baked beans. In case you're wondering just how many slow cookers I have, the answer is five. Since I had made most of the cake decorations last Saturday, finishing up took me all of about 15 minutes. I love, love, love the way the sugar skulls turned out. I plan on using some of my Christmas candy molds to make holiday sugar shapes to give away with little coffees and teas for gifts.
As far as today, I thought we would take it easy, but it's not working out that way. The guys are pulling the last big useless (meaning you can't eat from it) tree out back to make room for a baby fig tree that our friend gave us this week. I also went to a yard sale and was able to score two more canning jars for fifty cents. Now, I'm getting ready to start some seeds to get the winter garden under way. The nice thing is, there is so much food leftover from yesterday, I get the day off from cooking :)
Until next time, rock on my friends!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Baking Day 9/18/10

Happy Saturday rockers! I must admit that it feels a bit odd that today's baking load was so small. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a light work day just as much as the next gal, so I really shouldn't complain. I also know that this week and next weekend are going to be super busy. On Wednesday we're taking off after school to have a Headbangin' Household concert adventure. Wednesday is also my older son's birthday, so we'll have a mini parking lot celebration before the show. Then Friday is my younger son's birthday. There won't be a concert that night, but I think we'll go out for something fun. Saturday is the big birthday party bash for the boys with lots of friends and family.
I planned out today's baking on the light side because I know that the week is going to be filled with all sorts of chaos and odds and ends that really just can't be done too far ahead of time. Plus, because I knew this week was quickly approaching, I over did it during the last two Saturdays and filled the freezer, so there really wasn't a need to go too crazy today. Here's today's list of goodies:
1 batch oatmeal raisin cookies (for snacks and lunches)
2 tubes of refrigerator croissants (not my favorite, but the kids love them and they were stupid cheap at the discount store. If the kids don't finish them by tomorrow, they'll have them with ham and cheese for lunches this week.)
1 bowl cake bomb filling (I'm purposely not dipping these until Monday when the kids are at school. They'll be for Wednesday's birthday celebration at the concert.)
1 batch sugar skulls (when I saw these, I knew they were going to make it on top of the boy's birthday cake this year. I'll be decorating these while the kids are at school, too. I have made it pretty clear that we are a heavy metal family, right? 'Nuff said.)
2 white chocolate bones (Also for the birthday cake.)
And that, my friends, was all she wrote. Since I finished up so early, I may go hit a couple yard sales and enjoy the rest of this awesome Saturday. Have a great rest if your weekend!
Until next time, rock on my friends!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Baking Day 9/11/10

I can't believe how quickly this week flew by! I hope all of you rockers are having a great weekend. Good thoughts and prayers go out to all of the victims and families affected by 9/11.
Here's the run down for today:
15 little stuffed bell peppers (for the freezer)
1 batch burrito filling (for the freezer). I used this Stuffed Pepper recipe as a guide.
1 batch Down in The Dumps Pudding (desserts this week)
1 batch banana chocolate chip snack bars (lunches and snacks)
1 batch Cake Mix Cookies (lunches and snacks...if they last)
1 double batch pizza dough ( pizzas are going in the oven in a few for lunches)
I need to finish making a batch of salsa to use up some garden goodies. I'm also making a couple pork roasts for dinner tonight. The leftovers will be shredded for dinners throughout the week. Pork tacos and BBQ pork sandwiches sound pretty good. Not having to do much cooking this week sounds even better!
Until next time, rock on my friends!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Baking Day 9/4/2010

Happy Saturday rockers! I woke up this morning knowing I was about to make a ton of lasagna. What I had conveniently forgotten, however, was that we only have enough sugar for coffee. Yikes!
I really didn't feel like running out the store around the corner and paying twice as much as I would at Winco, so I knew I needed to get creative.
I made the four lasagnas ( two for tonight and tomorrow's leftover night and two for the freezer). I knew I didn't need to make much for breakfasts after last weeks crazy insane bake fest. I did need to make somethings for lunch snacks. Without sugar.
Usually, I know at least a few days in advance what I'll be making on any given Saturday, but this week I couldn't think past the lasagnas. As I was rummaging through the cabinets for inspiration, I found four open boxes of random cereal and a bag of marshmallows. Peanut Butter krispy treats it was!
Then, I was staring at a stack of yellow cake mixes and I thought about making pineapple upside down cake. That wouldn't work, though, because we finished up the oil last night for taco shells.
Wow, no sugar AND no oil!! Maybe we should have grocery shopped this week, after all.
While I was going about the morning, I remembered reading a recipe a while back for Cake mix cookies. That might work! I jumped online, did a quick search, found the recipe, and went back to square one because oil did not magically reappear in the cabinet over the course of the morning. Awesome!
Finally, I thought about a Christmas cookie I make that starts with a cake mix and uses butter instead of oil. Houston, I think we may have lift off!
All I did was mix a yellow cake mix with an egg and 1/4 cup melted margarine. Then, I added about a half a cup of drained pineapple pieces because I still had the upside down cake on the brain. I dropped TBSP sized scoops about two inches apart on the baking sheet and baked them for about ten minutes at 350. After they were done, I pressed a chocolate covered macadamia nut into each one. The only thing I will probably do differently next time is make them a little smaller. I had a little trouble getting the baking time just right with them as big as they were. Other than that, Hubby declared them a keeper and said I need to make a double batch next time. I love when experiments have a happy ending!
Enjoy the rest of your Saturday rockers! I know I will :)
Until next time, rock on my friends!