Wheely Special Cake

I found a great cake in Parents magazine to make a that looks like a ferris wheel. All you need is a cake mix (I did 2), frosting, food coloring (they recommended paste for more vibrant colors, but I used what I had), Runts candy (2 boxes), gum drops, Rainbow Twizzlers, 20 Dum Dums suckers, 7 C. Rice Krispy Cereal, 4 Tbsp. butter, 1 c. melted white chocolate chips, 10 oz. marshmallows, 4 wooden skewers, 4 blue paper cupcake liners, a 9 inch round cake pan, and pyrex bowl to bake the cake in. I placed the domed cake on top of a 9x13 cake for extra stability & more servings.

So, put wax paper in the bottom of the round cake pan & grease the sides well. Melt the butter & marshmallows on low heat in large pan. Remove from heat. Color orange w/ food coloring and stir in. Add 1/2 c. melted white choc. chips & 7 c. Rice Krispies Cereal. Stir well. Put into cake pan, pressing firmly to make a solid wheel. Refrigerate at least 30 min. to set up.

Bake cake in greased & floured bowl - I used 2 qt. Pyrex. Must be ovensafe. Bake in 350 preheated oven for 40 - 50 min. Test w/ cake tester or toothpick to make sure it is done. Let cool in bowl several min. Run rubber spatula around edges to loosen from bowl. Place cooling rack on top of bowl & flip them both together. I also make a 9x13 at the same time. Baked 9x13 according to directions on the box.

Remove cereal treat from pan and put on a plate. Cut Twizzlers into 12 4 1/2 inch strips. Melt remaining white choc. chips (1/2 c.) and put into sandwich zipper bag. Snip sm. piece of bag at corner. Use it to attach Twizzlers into spokes. Place a gum drop (I used Dots candy) in center of wheel. Pipe white choc. dots on edge to attach Runts. Put in fridge to set up for 5 min. Carefully, flip & repeat on other side.

Tint vanilla frosting w/ red food coloring. It will come out pink unless you use paste food coloring. DD's favorite color, so I didn't mind the pink. Frost cake on cake plate or serving platter. I frosted the 9x13 first, then transfered the dome cake to the top using a spatula. Before transferring the dome cake, cut a notch out of the top to hold the wheel 2 inches wide by 3 inches long by 1 inch deep. Frost cake. Arrange runts around the edges. The sample in the magazine only had orange and green pieces around the base of the cake and had red, yellow, and blue around edge of the wheel. DH only found Tropical flavors, so we made do w/ different colors.

While wheel is on plate, attach 4 cupcake liners w/ dum dums suckers (5 per cup). We attached the cupcake liners w/ a small pieces of wooden skewer first, since it is tapered at the end. It was much easier to attach. After you get your people in their seats, attach 4 skewers in bottom of wheel about 1/2 inch apart from each other. Leave 3 inches of the skewers showing. Stand wheel into cake notch. Frost any imperfections around the wheel if your notch is a bit too big.

Attach wheel to cake. I recommend you do this after your guests arrive, since the humidity or wind in our case, may make it hard to stay up more than 30 min. Oh, walk very slowly w/ cake to the display table, because it feels like it will fall off.

And the winner is..

mistigoguen is #14 & she is the winner. I do not know how to get a random # generator, so I had DH pick a #. Please give me your address. email me at shaykarena@yahoo.com

Sorry for the delay, but w/ storms, and prepping for dd's b-day party, I had no chance for computer time for 3 days.

Blog Candy is here

I hope you like the blog candy. There is a spool of striped grosgrain ribbon, a card made by me, a round accordian album ready to be altered, dragonfly embellishments, and a set of clear flower stamps. I will draw a number from all those that post on this post. Please include email address or check back for the winner. I will draw a name on Fri. June 27 @ 10 PM EST. While you're here, please take a look around. I love comments on my work and pictures. Good luck!

Blog Candy

It is DD's 3rd birthday, so I will try to add the blog candy this weekend. I thought it would take longer to get 400 visits.

Blog Candy Coming Soon

I decided I want to offer blog candy, so when I get 400 visits, I will post some.

Sausage Veggie Casserole

4-5 potatoes, peeled & sliced
sm. onion, diced
can corn, undrained
can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 lb. breakfast sausage, sliced

Grease 13x9 casserole dish. Place potatoes in bottom, add onion, pour cans over. Slice sausage and add to the top. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F for 1 hr.

Dips are Special

Homemade Gourmet has a special for 15% off all dip mixes, so if you would like to order Mock Spinach Dip, Grandmother's Sunday Roast, or any of the other great ones, please let me know ASAP. Email me at shaykarena@yahoo.com

Joyful Gardener

This is a pic of DD taking a break from helping in the garden to be a ham for the camera. She loves to garden and loves to read her book, The Surprise Garden, so she calls our garden a "purise"

Crock pot Pizza

The quantities are up to you, so use as little or as much as you like to suit your family size and taste buds. Omit or add something if you prefer.

1 lb. lean ground beef or ground turkey, browned and drained (add onion and bell peppers to skillet and cook together, if you like)
1 pkg. pepperoni slices, separte each piece
can mushrooms, drained
spaghetti, cooked and drained ( I break into sm. pieces to make it easier to eat)
2 c. mozzarella (we love cheese and use more)
1 t. (or more) Homemade Gourmet Garlic Basil
jar of favorite spaghetti sauce or make HG Homestyle Spaghetti Sauce

Dump all ingredients into large crockpot. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on low 4-6 hours.

Harvest Pork Chops

I have a simple recipe for you. It is not Homemade Gourmet, because I realize you may not have anything from HG to make the recipe. All you need are 3 ingredients and a crock pot!! I buy boneless chops and put them in the crock pot. Pour 2 c. apple juice (no added sugar like Juicy Juice) and a dash of cinnamon. Cook on low 4-6 hours. I got this recipe from a church cookbook. Serve w/ applesauce or apple cobbler for dessert to tie the flavors together nicely. Even my picky DD eats this up.

Baby Beauty Pageant 2006

This was the baby beauty pageant at the county fair. It was very hot and they had us right in the sun for lining up and for judging. The judges decided that in order for a baby to win they had to smile. DD was not in the mood to smile, because it was hot (around 95 or 100 degrees) and she wasn't used to being in full sun during those temperatures. She was good, but didn't show off for the judges. This was just a few days before her 1st birthday, and she wasn't quite walking on her own. She won in my book! She is the one in the middle.

BC Before Children

I forgot to put a title on my page! I am a late night scrapper or I try to scrap on the weekends while DH can entertain DS. He is still quite clingy, so I even wear him in the sling to scrap. I was probably tired when I did this.

The base of the page is Wild Wasabi, the patterned paper is from SU, the mats are choc. chip and bashful blue. I used a flourish stamp set I got from my friend, Tessa that is from TAC. I even used a little envelope from her. I used a scrap of silk ribbon to tie around the stitched Wild Wasabi grosgrain and a large gold eyelet. I stamped flourishes in Close to Cocoa and also inked up the envelope that holds the tag I made. I have journaling on the tag that reads: This is one of my favorite pictures of us. This was taken in the fall of 2004 when I was not pregnant or too early to tell. I had just lost 30 lbs. and my hair

was looking good. I do miss getting my hair highlighted.