My hormones made me do it.

Do you ever feel the need to make something because your body is physically craving it to the point it is the only thing you can think about?

Well, I do.

I needed icing.  Homemade buttercream icing. 

And, I needed it baaaaad.

So, knowing I was having my work colleagues over for a planning session -- this in my mind gave me all the permission I needed to take some scrumptious butter, mix it with some sugar and love and nip this craving in the bud.

It was good.

It was, sooooo good.

I decided to do the icing justice, I should probably make some chocolate cupcakes to pair it with.

I didn't wanna have to, but logic got the better of me.  Icing + cupcakes = pure goodness.

This is probably why I'm fat.

Here's the recipe:Sinfully Perfect Buttercream Icing2 sticks of butter (I only had salted butter, so that's what I used)
4 cups of powdered sugar
1 TBSP of clear vanilla extract (you can use a non-clear version, but your icing will be more off than white)
2 - 4 TBSP of milk

Take your softned butter and cream it with your mixer.  Add the vanilla.  Then, add in and mix the powdered sugar...a cup at a time.  Add 2 TBSP of milk.  If you are happy with the consistency, you're done.  If you would like it thinner, add the rest of the milk one TBSP at a time.

This should be enough to ice and decorate a two-layer cake...depending on how much taste-testing you do during this process.  :-)
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My proudest culinary moment!!!

I am excited to say, that I was the winner of this year's ISU Chili Cook-off!  While, this may not be a big deal to some, to me it was like the equivolent of earning a Michelin Star.

The recipe is original.  Makes a bunch.  My son helped me (he pretended we were playing "Toy Chef").  And, .... my inspiration was Elvis.

Here's the recipe!

Hunka Hunka Burning Love Chili, by Annette
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
2 lbs country sausage
3 1/3 lbs hamburger
2 containers of spicy vegetable juice
2 bags of red, green, yellow, and onion mix (in your freezer section)
2 bags of vegetable soup mix -- has okra, carrots, potatoes, corn, green beans, lima beans, peas (in your freezer section)
2 cans of diced tomatoes with seasoning
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of chili beans
1 jar of chili sauce
2 tsp of cumin
1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper
1 TBSP chili powder

Brown your sausage and hamburger then drain and rinse the grease off.  Add this to your large stock pot on low heat.  

Add minced garlic and your vegetable juice.

Take the pepper/onion mix bags and chop the pieces in 1/2 (or good bite sizes) then add them to your pot.

Add the vegetable soup mix, diced tomatoes, beans (drain kidney beans, but use the sauce in the chili beans), and chili sauce.

Let this all cook for a while until it gets warm on medium - low heat.

Add your cumin, and half your chili powder.  Let it simmer a bit and give it a taste.  If you feel it needs more 'burning love' add the rest of your chili powder and get brave with the 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper.

Let this cook on low to medium heat for few hours and give it a good stir now and then.  You'll want to watch it from getting too hot -- so the sugar in the chili sauce doesn't scorch.

This ends up making about 7 qts of chili.  The chili freezes beautifully, or the recipe may be halved if it is too much for your needs.

Jedi Training Academy - Use the Force...to create a Star Wars Themed Birthday Party!

As mentioned in my earlier post about the Yoda cake...I mentioned that we held a Jedi Training Academy party for my son's 6th birthday. 

I've had some questions about what we did, and I've tried to compile it all for you.

Jedi Training Academy...what is this?  Well, we weren't all that sure, but we did a lot of internet research and ended up basing it off of some videos we found about this on YouTube and the actual trainings they do at Disney World.

We made Jedi tunics/belts for each of the kids out of felt and they got one as soon as they got to our house.
We watched a bit of "The Clone Wars" until all the kids got there.  Then I, as Jedi Master Mommy, totally embarrassed my son by talking about what it means to be a Jedi, using the force, their behavior expectations for the day, yadda yadda.

Then we moved to the garage for our training exercises.  (I would have prefered to have the children outside, but the weather did not cooperate). 

We broke the kids into two teams, and their exercise was the "Save the Princess".  We had placed pictures of Princess Leia inside a couple of balloons and the kids had to to a balloon pop relay by busting the balloons on chairs and seeing if their was a picture inside of it.  Note of caution -- 6-7 year olds had a hard time popping large balloons.  Sometimes the Master would secretely help them.

Then we practiced 'using the force' by trying to destroy a Darth Vader pinata.  If I would have had time, I would have made a Death Star one, but I opted to go for the time saving, already made version from the party store.

I think we might have also played "Master Says" (basically Simon Says).

Then, we went back inside and watched some light saber duels on DVD.  This allowed us to prep for the next scene....

We brought the children to the garage, where then Darth Vader (my fiance) appeared and try to sway the children to the Dark Side.  He then challenged the birthday boy to a duel to which Darth lost and the good side prevailed.  At some point all the kids attacked Darth Vader and then we did a group picture.

We then went inside for ice cream and cake and afterwards the kids had free play and did Star Wars coloring sheets until their parents came to get them.

We gave each kid a light saber (from the $1 store) as they were leaving.  Their parents were thrilled.  :-)  Initially we were going to give them to the kids earlier and do exercises with them, but when we had over 18 kids coming, we thought for our sanity -- it would be smarter to skip that portion of the party.

There's a bunch of fun food ideas on this blog, and a section were you can download and print off stuff for kids:
http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/index.php/category/food/
Happy planning!! May the force be with you!

The Yoda Cake

My son is a Star Wars freak. 

And, I'm soooo proud of this!  I have loved Star Wars since I was a little girl, and it is so fun to relive the excitement of saving the galaxy with him.

For this birthday this year, we held a "Jedi Training Academy" party which involved a lot of activities and even a visit by Darth Vader (my amazing fiance) trying to persuade the children to come to the 'dark side.'

The food for his party was nothing special.  When you have 18 kids under the age of 8 in your Ranch-style home -- its just about survival at that point with ice cream and cake. 

But, for his actual birthday dinner -- I made him.....a Yoda cake.

It didn't turn out too bad.

I used a Wilton mini-teddy bear pan for the base of the cake.  Some pretzels...and A LOT of icing.

May the force be with you!!