Ramblings
Mason Jar Birthday Cake !!!
Don’t you just love Mason Jars????
Well, I do. I must have a million of them. Between all the empty ones from canned goods I’ve used, to all the ones I decorate with, I might have to change that number to a BILLION!
They are pretty much a staple here in the South, mostly because they are so versatile.
Well, the other day was no exception!
Em turned a Big Ole’ 8 over the weekend and decided she wanted a slumber party. Yes, I still have all my hair…… BARELY!
I thought it would be fun to change up her Birthday cake. So, instead of doing one big cake, I did several smaller mason jars for all the girls.
First, I made a boxed chocolate cake (Em’s favorite).
Then I took one of my biscuit cutters that I knew would fit into the mason jar and cut holes out ….
The cake was a little thick, so I cut those in half and layered them in the bottom of 1/2 pint mason jars.
Then, I took the buttercream icing I made. (* I used this homemade recipe here , but store bought is fine. I mean, come on…. I used a boxed cake mix. )
Added a swirl of it to the top of the cake.
Then topped with some rainbow sprinkles.
Yummmmmmm.
Now, at this point, I realized that with the amount of buttercream icing I made and the amount of mason jars I still had to do, I would never have enough to keep going at the thickness I originally cut the cake. So, I decided to keep the cake as thick as the biscuit cutter cut it this time. If you do less jars than I did, you can always keep the thickness of the cake the same.
Then, I repeated with the buttercream and topped off with more sprinkles. Once I was finished, I felt like they looked like little milkshakes, so I stuck these cute blue and white polka dotted paper straws in them I found at Target.
TIP: Stick them in the fridge for 5 minutes and serve. There is something about giving them a slight little chill that makes them better in my opinion. 😉
My favorite part of the whole thing was that Em decided she wanted everyone to be able to make a wish that night, not just her. So, every girl got their own mason jar with their own candle to blow out!
I love her sweet heart!
Just a little side note: I had a lot of leftover cake. If you do not want to waste the cake, it would be great to break up the remaining cake and either freeze for later or use it within a day or so in a trifle.
Everything is better in a Mason Jar! These would be great for entertaining a large crowd too. Not to mention, they could be technically considered portion control, right?
XOXO,
Esther
Reconnecting with Old Friends………. AND A FREE GIVEAWAY!
You know I love you, right?
Well, because I love you and I care about the way you look, I’m going to share a great find with you!
But before I do that, I just want to say I love reconnecting with old friends. I especially love reconnecting with old friends and finding out that they have an Etsy Shop!
BUT…….
Even more than that…. (get to it Esther!)….. I love finding out that their Etsy Shop has tons of things in it that I, myself would use. So, I know you will too!
And your sister and your mom and your mom’s sister! 😉
Look at these adorable headbands! Liz has been making them for a while and just recently decided to start her shop so she could share her cute designs with everyone else. You can check out Liz’s shop, at Your Mane Squeeze. If you don’t see something there you like, she can do custom orders as well.
It was so hard to choose a favorite.
This is probably the only time you will catch me taking “selfies” of myself! It feels very awkward! LOL! I just had to let you see them on though. I love the cute look this pink one gives. They have a “No-Slip” interior fabric that allows them to stay in place and they REALLY DO!
Or the Retro Vibe this one gives off. I have a passion for polka-dots!
My oldest loves them too! She has wanted to wear them to school all week!
I absolutely LOVE this Chevron pattern. See! Told you! Can’t pick a favorite.
She loves them just as much as I do!
I hope she understands that all of these DO NOT belong to her!
Now, remember how much I love YOU? Well, I have some FANTASTIC NEWS!
I am going to pick one lucky reader and give them a FREE HEADBAND of their choice!
Just go to Babies & Biscuits Facebook page and leave a comment of this post. Tell me your favorite Halloween Candy! Tomorrow morning at 10am, I’ll put everyone’s name who commented into a hat and draw one name at random!
GOOD LUCK!
I don’t want you to miss out on the opportunity to win one of Your Mane Squeeze’s Headbands, so if you haven’t already done so, go to my Facebook page and make sure you “Like” the page so you don’t miss any updates on the Giveaway!
ALSO!
Because Liz loves you just as much as I do, she has lovingly agreed to give a sweet little discount to all of Babies & Biscuits’ Readers!!!
For Today through Sunday only, she will be offering FREE SHIPPING on all orders! Her headbands move FAST, so make sure you get the one you want NOW!
Just enter BabiesandBiscuits into the coupon code for your free shipping! Please make sure you do not use any spaces and please be sure to also note whether it is for an adult or a child, as she can make them smaller for children.
*Liz has new fabric coming in all the time, so make sure to check back often as her inventory grows!
XOXO,
Esther
Don’t “Be Afraid” of Halloween Decorating
It’s that Ghostly, Ghoulish, Wonderful time of the year again and I can hardly contain myself. I absolutely love Halloween!
Who doesn’t? I mean, it’s like the launch party for a new Album!
Halloween is the kickoff party to the Holiday Season!
I always do a few things around the house. A little here and a little there. Last year, I did a similar post that showed a few of the decorations I did. If you missed that one, you can check it out here.
I reused most of my decorations from last year and added just a few new ones.
It occurred to me after I decorated, that I must REALLY be into skulls.
I contribute that to the 2 weeks that I sat in a room by myself and did nothing else but watch Sons of Anarchy.
(*Enough Said)
Hey! Who is up for a little game? Let’s see how many skulls I used in my decorating…… (ANSWER AT THE END OF THIS POST!)
I love this in the front entry way. This is the “kid’s center” with all their craft supplies and books that they like to read (when I make them).
The cute “Be Afraid” vinyl stickers with bats, I picked up at all places, Kroger’s, for only $4.99 for the entire set.
I already had the other decorations. I picked them all up at Walmart last year.
The Entertainment center has a few surprises too! Again……. more Skulls…..
(Further Away Look)
(Left Side)
Can’t forget the legs of whatever my house “fell” on. Would it be creepy to put some ruby red slippers on the feet? Pretty sure my children would forever be scarred and never be able to watch The Wizard of OZ again. 😉 *I might do it!
My coffee center never looked so festive.
Bats, Spiders and All!
However, I do have to admit that I have been a little slack on the housecleaning as of lately.
I’ll have to work on that.
😉
*By the way, if you guessed 5 Skulls, you got it right!*
Did you miss the one on the tombstone in the entertainment center? I almost did!
XOXO!
Esther
Beef Orzo Skillet
Now that school is back,
I really want to utilize my time and be more productive during the day. I have all these wish lists of things I want to accomplish. Like for instance, simplifying MY LIFE! LOL! That will always be #1 and most important on my list. However, I will probably NEVER accomplish it……. and I’m ok with that……… most of the time.
One thing I can probably, maybe, sort of do that with is dinner. You always hear about 30 minute meals and while some of them are good…… others are GREAT!
I happened to find one of those the other night when I was scouring the internet for some culinary inspiration. I ended up finding this one on my Calendar site I use, www.cozi.com.
It was SOOOOOOO good! The best part was that my kids gobbled it up and my little one didn’t even realize that there was Spinach in it!
It’s so nice to only mess up one pan when cooking and not a million bajillion (is that a word?) of them. I honestly do not know how my fingers do not shrivel up and wither away from all the pots and pans I wash????
You MUST give this one a try!
Recipe: Beef Orzo Skillet
Ingredients
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can (14.5 ounce) diced tomatoes ( I use the garlic, basil, oregano flavor)
- 1½ cups low sodium beef broth
- 1 tsp minced fresh oregano or ½ tsp crumbled dried oregano
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 8 ounces orzo pasta, dried (1 cup) – try whole wheat if you can find it!
- 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
- ½-¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
- Sprinkle salt into a 10 to 12 inch frying pan over medium-high heat. Crumble beef into pan and cook, stirring often, until meat begins to brown, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium, stir in onion, and continue to cook, stirring, until onion is soft but not brown, about 5 minutes. Drain grease from meat in a colander and return to pan.
- Add garlic, tomatoes (break them up with a spoon) and their liquid, broth, oregano, and pepper. Bring mixture to a boil then stir in pasta. Reduce heat, cover and simmer gently until pasta is tender to bite, 10 to 12 minutes.
- Meanwhile, squeeze as much liquid as possible from spinach. Stir spinach into pasta mixture just until heated through. Serve with cheese to add to taste.
*By the way, if you like a spicy kick, do what my hubby and I do and add cayenne pepper to yours!
ENJOY!
XOXO,
Esther
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
You must be logged in to post a comment.