Party Menu (Chocolate Cake!)

Since this blog is/used to be? primarily about food I feel like I'd be remiss if I didn't give you a quick recap of our birthday party menu along with the all-important cake recipe review.

As I've said, this was a small event and considering the guests of honor were 2 year-olds and that we had several house guests, we really wanted to keep the menu simple and easy to prepare.

The only munchies we set out before dinner were chips and fruit salad.  My little guys love fruit!  Last year, they chose watermelon over cake.  Not this year!

For dinner we made Mr Pear's amazing Pulled Pork which was amazing as usual.  We don't usually eat it with bbq sauce but we did provide a couple of different kinds for our guests along with some small soft rolls in case anyone wanted a sandwich.

The boys both love pulled pork but I wanted to make sure there was something super kid-friendly for our other small guests.  I decided to try this beefy mac and cheese and it was a huge hit!  I doubled the recipe and I'm so glad I did. This stuff was so good' we will definitely be making it around here often.

image from foodnetwork.com

The only other side we served was a simple coleslaw similar to this one.  Instead of  using all green cabbage I always use one green and one purple.  I also like to grate my veggies in the food processor along with half of a sweet onion.

Dessert was cake of course!  As I mentioned the other day, I decided to go with Pioneer Woman's Big Chocolate Birthday Cake recipe.  The recipe looked good and the cake looked very easy to make.  Another plus was that it was "Big" (she bakes hers in 4 nine inch round pans) which was great because I was going to be making an 11 x 15 inch sheet cake.

The cake was super simple to make and the instructions were very clear.  The only change I made was to stir 1 tablespoon of instant coffee granules into the chocolate after it had been melted in with the butter.  I think instant coffee really helps deepen the chocolate flavor and I promise you can't taste coffee in the cake!

I greased my cake pan with vegetable shortening instead of my usual butter, and floured it, and despite my huge fear of this big cake getting stuck in its big pan, it came right out!

I dyed a double batch of Wilton buttercream frosting light blue (though I didn't use nearly the amount of icing sugar called for in the recipe) and decorated the frosted cake with cherry flavored decorating candy string (also by Wilton, found in Target of all places) to make a railroad track in the shape of a 2.  A few train set props and we had our train cake!

Unfortunately I made one mistake.  I kept the cake in the refrigerator during the party (since it was still 100 degrees out) and the cake was cold.  Instead of being light and fluffy it felt a bit dense.  The flavor was still really good and the cake was more than edible, but it tasted even better the next day when I put the left overs on a covered cake plate on the kitchen counter.  Delicious and light and fluffy.  Arg.  Lesson learned, but thankfully, not the end of the world either.

So that is it!  The birthday is over, now on to a third great year with two great little boys.  :)

My babies are 2!

It is amazing how much my little boys have grown in the last year, developmentally as well as physically.  On their first birthday Alex was walking but Aaron wasn't; he walked a few weeks after.  Now they are both running, kicking a ball, jumping and learning to ride the tricycles their Grandparents got them for their birthday.  They both eat well and are pretty handy with their utensils.  They have even begun drinking from open cups without (much) spilling. They aren't very verbal yet but they are constantly communicating in some way, shape or form and they love to play together.  They are lovable and cuddly and they give great kisses and hugs. It has been a great year and I really think this third year is going to be even more fun.

Stats

Alex
birth- 6lbs 2 oz, 18 inches
1 year- 25lbs, 33 inches
2 years- 34lbs, 37 inches

Aaron
birth- 6 lbs 6 oz, 19 inches
1 year- 28 lbs, 33 inches
2 years- 34 lbs, 37 inches

The boys had quite the birthday weekend.  On Friday, which was their actual birthday, Daddy came home from work around 2pm so we could break out their birthday gift up after the kiddos got up from their nap.  They love their bounce house!

We had a very relaxed afternoon/evening opening presents and eating pizza and cupcakes.  And bouncing. :)

On Saturday more family arrived (along with more presents) so we had a nice time playing outside.  My poor cousin is trapped in this box...you can see her legs sticking out, lol!

And Sunday, of course, we had our little party.  A couple of our pint-sized guests were sick and couldn't make it so we were a small party indeed but we had a really great time.

We decorated with balloons, banners and crepe paper....

The boys' t-shirts came out great!!

We had lots of delicious food (some recipes I'll share soon!) but, uh, I didn't take any pictures of food, oops!

The kiddos bounced and played with trains, chalk, bubbles and crayons....

And we had cake!

It was all a lot of fun and I'm so glad the boys really enjoyed themselves the whole time.  We are really grateful, not only for our amazing little boys but also for our friends and family that were there to celebrate with us. :)

Halloween Potato Stamping

Yesterday the boys had a lot of Halloween inspired fun with some potato stamps I carved up.  I have been wanting to try potato stamps with them for a while since they seem to enjoy stamping even more then finger-painting. They are surprisingly fastidious little guys when it comes to getting their hands dirty.

So I'm sure I saw this idea somewhere on the great wide web but since it was such a simple idea I didnt "pin" it or anything so I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes.  Potato stamps are inexpensive and easy to make and the big potatoes are a nice size for chubby toddler hands.

To make your stamps simply cut the potaoe in half across the middle. Draw a (fairly simple) shape on the surface then cut away the potato around the outside of your shape.  Cut about a quarter inch deep so you have a nice raised surface for your stamp.

Each potato makes two stamps so I made one a regular pumpkin and one a jack o lantern.  I gave each boy a large piece of paper, a stamp and a paper plate with a bit of orange paint.  As with all painting projects, I strap the boys into their boosters and cover the kitchen table with an old bed sheet to contain the mess.

My guys loved the stamping and their pumpkins came out really well!  The trick is not putting too much paint in the plate, you only need a little to make nice prints.

Halloween has never been a favorite holiday of mine but it is easy to get in the spirit of fun while doing little projects with these guys.  I've even managed to find an Orchard in Las Vegas so I'm looking forward to picking apples and pumpkins soon too.  So many fun ways to celebrate fall.  I hope you are making the most of it too!

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It's almost time for a Party!

Hard to believe, but the twins will be 2 years old on Friday. They are such great little boys and full of energy and fun these days.  We are really looking forward to throwing a little party for them on Sunday.  Two sets of Grandparents will be there (they have 3) and a couple of their friends.  We'll have two three-year-olds, a four year old and the birthday boys.  6 toddlers/preschoolers should make for a great time I'm sure! :)

Since the boys are young, and really still don't understand what a birthday even is, we won't be in full out party mode.  We asked that no one bring gifts and we won't be doing favors or party games but we will be eating some good food (and cake!) and playing our hearts out.

The party theme is Thomas the Train. The boys love all things transportation, especially Aaron, and they were so lucky to receive an enormous amount of trains and tracks and etc from their older nephews.  We'll have a train table (or two!) set up for the kids to play with indoors and for the rough and tumble outdoor crowd (that would be Alex) there will be a bounce house that we got them for their birthday. I am super excited about that bounce house because I am really hoping some bounce sessions will burn up some of the excess energy around here on a daily basis. :)

So here's a little of what I'm planning:

A few store-bought Thomas decorations and some fun straw cups

A "Mommy-made" Happy Birthday train banner

And, hopefully, some appliqued Thomas the Train "2" shirts for the boys

I say hopefully because although I've cut out my "twos" and added fusible web and pinned them to the shirts...I can not seem to get them sewed on.  I've got some backup coming over tonight to help me try to sort through my sewing machine issues but let's just say that just because you bought a sewing machine two months ago....it doesn't make you a seamstress, sigh.  I've got a long way to go on that.

Here is my cake inspiration from Pinterest....unfortunately the link to the original photo is broken.

I'm obviously going with a 2 shape, though I may not cut the cake into a two if I feel like we need the extra cake for eating. I may just do the train tracks in a two shape on the full sized rectangular cake, but I'm really just not sure yet.

So!  That is what I'm up to this week.  I'll be sure to share pictures of our little party next week along with recipes from our menu.  I am going to use this recipe from Pioneer Woman for the cake, I sure hope it comes out!

Party stuff aside it should be a really fun weekend filled with friends and family celebrating two special little guys who have made our life really wonderful these past two crazy years.  :)

This post is linked to Multiples Monday over on Capri +3

Crocheted Pumpkins

Well despite the fact that temperatures are still in the 90's (upper 90's), the Pears' household is officially moving into fall.  You can tell the official season change by the changing of the seasonal wreath on the (inside) front door.  I whipped this simple one up in 30 minutes!

(foam wreath form wrapped in bulky brown yarn with a pumpkin "spray" twisted around it)

I only have a few other fall decorations gracing the house so far, but a trip to Hobby Lobby has been scheduled, woo hoo!

The other night, though, I decided that what I needed were a few crocheted pumpkins.  Of course, right?  Not a ton of options on Pinterest but I found this really great and really easy pattern and churned out three of the little babies immediately for a small coffee table centerpiece.

Could a crocheted vegetable get any cuter????

To make your own festive softie squash, click on over to this pattern at hip2thrift.  The smaller two pumpkins I made according to the pattern and they measure about 1 1/2 inches tall and 3 inches wide. For the larger of the mini-pumpkins I used an H hook and increased an additional time on round 6 so that my largest row was 36 sc around.  I repeated that 36 sc row 7 times rather than 5.  That pumpkin measures about 2 1/2 inches tall (not including the stem) and 4 inches wide.

Tomorrow I'm headed to the farmer's market to look for some pumpkins of the edible variety, so check back in next week for some great pumpkin recipes!

Salted Caramel Brownies

So about those brownies I mentioned on Monday....  They were awesome.

Last August (like 2011!) I mentioned in a post that I had been attempting various homemade brownie recipes without success.  I was/am shocked by just how difficult making a pan of chocolately chewy and moist brownies can be!  Luckily this recipe makes it much much easier.

Apparently Ina Garten is putting out a new cookbook (yay!) and this is a recipe from it.  On the basis of these brownies alone, I'm thinking I need a new cookbook. :)  The book is called  Foolproof and it is out October 30.  (No one paid me to promote this...in fact if anyone wants to send me this book feel free!)

Brownies are just one of those irresistible type of desserts.  Dense moist chocolate.  Gooey when warm.  Yum.  These are all that plus caramel and sea salt, gah!  I love the combination of salt and sugar....so so good.

image source

Salted Caramel Brownies, from Ina Garten's Foolproof
1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter
14 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
3 oz unsweetened chocolate
3 extra-large eggs (or 4 large)
1 1/2 tablespoons instant coffee granules
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
5-6 oz caramel sauce
2-3 teaspoons flaked sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Butter and flour a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

In a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt the butter, 8 oz of the chips and the unsweetened chocolate.  Once melted and combined, remove the glass bowl from the heat and allow it to cool for 15 minutes.

In a large bowl stir together the eggs, coffee, sugar and vanilla.  Once the chocolate has cooled 15 minutes, stir that in as well.  Let stand an additional 15 minutes to bring to room temperature.

Meanwhile in a small bowl mix together the 1/2 cup of flour, baking powder and kosher salt.  Mix this into the room temperature chocolate mixture.  Now put the remaining flour into the small bowl with the remaining chips and toss to coat.  Stir the chips into the batter.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Once the brownies are out of the oven, pour over the caramel sauce and sprinkle on the salt.  (If your sauce is hard to pour heat it in the microwave for a few seconds) Cool completely and Enjoy!

Monday Monday

Oh boy.  I've been busy busy lately.  Again with lots of doing and not a lot of documenting, sorry.  We had a couple of great meals last week but I never took a single photo!  I've got to get back in my bloggy groove.

Here's a little peek of what's on our menu for this week, some of our old favorites and a couple of new ones that look pretty great.  (I'll be sure to share if they turn out amazing!)

Monday: Pineapple Fried Rice   I typically make this with shrimp and a bit of bacon but this time we are doing sausage.  I love the sweetness of the fresh pineapple and it is such an easy recipe.  The kids love sausage so I'm thinking this variation is going to be a huge hit with them.

Tuesday: Quinoa and Bean Pilaf  This is a new vegetarian recipe I found in this month's Food Network Magazine....only 394 calories and it looks so yummy!

Wednesday: Pad Thai  My MIL picked this one out.  Mr Pears loooves pad thai and I love that this new vegetarian recipe is full of veggies.  We are going without a few items like the baby corn but adding in some spicy sprouts.  I'm looking forward to that one for sure.

Thursday:  Shrimp Pasta with Chili and Lime   Another quick and easy favorite.  This pasta dish is light and very flavorful but only includes a handful of ingredients.  And it only takes 15 minutes to make!  You can not beat that.

Friday:  Take Out/Dine Out

We've recently begun taking the boys out for dinner on Fridays.  Sometimes we do carry out but we try to do dine-in family friendly places most weeks so the boys get some experience in restaurants and so we get a night off from cooking and dishes.  Of course taking them out to dinner is not exactly a relaxing experience.  This past Friday we went for pizza at a local place and just as it arrived one of my boys threw up about 12 ounces of milk, curdled of course.  He wasn't sick, he just drank a cup and a half of milk in 3.2 seconds which was apparently more than his little tummy could handle.  It was somewhat horrifying (and very smelly) and the pizza was promptly packed up to take home.  Luckily the cold pizza was delicious later with an even colder beer but I am hoping this week goes a little better.  It has to though, right?

Anyway, I'll try my best to do some documenting this week.  (My MIL is going to be making some brownies that sound blog-worthy, I'll keep you posted on those too.)  In the mean time, happy Monday!

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