Tank Birthday Cake Tutorial

For my oldest's 7th birthday he wanted to go with an Army theme and have a tank birthday cake. I must admit, at first I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do to pull it all off. However, in the end, it turned out just perfect and was fairly easy to do.

For this cake you will need:

• 2 cake mixes; your flavor preference
• 9x13 pan
• Oven proof circle pan; I used a metal bowl.
• Icing; I use a basic Buttercream icing recipe
• Green Food Paste
• Peanut Butter
• Cocoa
• Black Licorice
• Chocolate and Vanilla Oreos
• Coffee Wafer Sticks
• Army Men

Prepare the cake mixes as directed on the package. Bake one in a 9x13 pan and the other one in a circle, oven proof dish. I had cake mix left over, so I made some cupcakes that I later used as hills on my cake board.

While the cakes are baking you can go ahead and mix up your icing. I separated mine into 3 different bowls so I could color them. I used the green paste to achieve the dark green color, cocoa to make brown chocolate flavored icing, and peanut butter to achieve the tan color.

After the cakes cooled, I assembled them and began decorating them. All I did was eyeball the cake, and I would spread a blob of icing on in a random shape. Once the whole cake was finished, which didn't take much time at all, I added the "wheels" using oreos and black licorice.

On top of the cake, I separated a chocolate wafer from the cookie, and placed it on top for the lid to the man hole. I even added an army man coming up out of the cake. For the gun in the front of the tank, I used a Chocolate Coffee Wafer stick. The really neat thing about using this is they are hollow. When we lit the cake, my husband stuck a candle into the gun. The boys got a huge kick out of it!

To cover the cake board and make it look a little more like a desert, I crushed up vanilla and chocolate wafers and spread them around. I also added my cupcake hills, covered in boulders of Raisinettes.

Nicholas is now 9, and his friends still remember this birthday party fondly. To go with the Army theme, we did a "Boot Camp" sleepover party. We had different drills for the boys to do, complete with code names and goodie bags almost completely supplied by the Army Recruiting office. I told them what I was planning on doing and asked if they had some stickers or something they were willing to donate. I walked out with water bottles, stickers, pins, pencils, and some other things. When the boys were leaving to go home, I printed them off Certificates of Completion for surviving Boot Camp.

For some more cake inspiration, be sure to check out the Birthday Cake Roundup.

Boredom Buster

A few months back we decided to cut some of our costs, and cancel our satelitte dish. At first it was a bit of an adjustment for the kids, but they've not looked back. After noticing how easy of a transition it was, we've slowly cut almost all of our television viewing out.

Instead of our days being filled with cartoons and complete and utter filth, they are filled with conversations, laughter, imagination filled building projects, enjoying the outdoors, reading and good old fashioned games!

Noah and Kait playing Blokus, which has quickly become a family favorite. We first played it on New Year's Eve, and we've not stopped! I love that this game does take some thinking, yet it is simple enough for my 4½ year old.

Connect 4 is another game we play constantly. It's a classic, what's not to love??

Since turning our television off and finding other things to do, we've opened up communication and learned to just really enjoy each other's company. In addition, we aren't continually exposed to the newest fancy gadgets and contraptions. Meaning, the kids aren't always begging for the newest toys, and neither are the adults.

We're content with our surroundings, and that works for me just fine. ;)

This post is linking to Things I Love Thursday

Have You Thanked Him?

Today I was in a mad dash to whip my house into shape. Someone was on their way to our home to look it over with a fine tooth comb. Many things hinge on their visit, and it was very important to me that my house be perfect.

In the middle of my frantic cleaning, I found myself becoming very bitter inside.

Frustrated at my children who do not seem to ever put their dirty clothes in the hamper. Or even put their shoes in their closets.

Frustrated at my husband for leaving his muck every single place I turn.

Frustrated because no body had the desire to help.me.out.

And then...

I heard these words coming from the radio. "We rarely thank God for those little things. For giving us a family to do laundry for. For blessing us with a home to clean."

Whoa.

I'm thankful my husband left me his muck. I'm thankful my children forgot to put their shoes and dirty laundry up.

They're healthy. They're doing what they do, day in and day out.

With the recent tragedies in Haiti, I am reminded, not everyone has the pleasure of doing those mundane chores.

Have you thanked Him today?

This post is linked to Gratituesday.

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

If you are looking for the perfect, not just a run-of-the-mill biscuit for dinner, look no further. These biscuits are so flavorful and compliment various dishes, including soups, stews and the every day dinner. Cheddar Bay Biscuits are buttery and cheesy with a hint of garlic. Yum!

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

2 ½ cups Bisquick (I use my homemade version)

1 cup milk

4 Tbsp butter; softened

¼ tsp garlic powder

Roughly 1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

In a medium bowl cream together the bisquick, garlic powder and softened butter. To this add the milk and cheddar cheese.

Roll dough out on a floured surface. Using a biscuit cutter, cut into biscuits. Place on a greased pan. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes; or until golden.

While the biscuits are baking melt 2-3 Tbsp of butter. Add ½ tsp parsley and ¼ tsp garlic powder the the melted butter. When the biscuits are finished baking, brush the tops with melted butter mixture and serve immediately.

This post is linked to:

• Tasty Tuesday
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Menu Plan Week of Jan 24th-30th

I'm finally to the point in this pregnancy where both my energy and appetite have returned. Definitely makes it easier to come up with a menu plan!

Sunday:

• Breakfast: Cereal
• Dinner: Pork Roast.($2) Roasted Potatoes.($1) Roasted Veggies.(.75) Cheddar Biscuits (recipe coming soon!) ($1) ($4.75)(5 servings=.95/ea)

Monday:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal
• Dinner: Chicken Noodle Soup. ($3.50)(8 servings=.44/ea)
  

Tuesday:

• Breakfast: Toast with Apple Butter
• Dinner: Warm Layered Sandwich w/olive tapenade ($4.00) Salad. (.50) Parmesan Fries ($1.50)($6)(8 servings=.75/ea)

Wednesday:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal
• Dinner: Pulled Pork Sandwiches ($2.50) Salad.(.50)($3)(5 servings=.60/ea)
  

Thursday:

• Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, sausage, toast.
• Dinner: Chicken/Black Bean/Onion/Green Pepper Stir Fry Thingy. (got to love that original name!). Served with warm tortillas. ($3.75)(8 servings=.47/ea)

Friday: Pizza/Popcorn/Movie Night

• Breakfast: Oatmeal
• Dinner: Buffalo Bacon Ranch Pizza and a Veggie Lovers ($8)(10 servings=.80/ea)

Saturday:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal
• Dinner: Leftovers
  

Total Cost: $25.50 Average Price Per Serving: .58/ea

This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday.

Headed to Nashville!

I still can't believe it's actually happening! I'm headed to Nashville in 2.5 weeks to attend my first ever blogging conference, Blissdom.

Ah! I'm SO excited.

And nervous. What does a pregnant woman wear in front of 500 other women?!

Thankfully, MomsTravelTales is heading up a linky for all of us to show what we are wearing. I have a very small wardrobe, which only gets smaller when I'm pregnant. There are a few pre-pregnancy clothes that I can still fit into, but my choices are still limited.

I've not completely finalized my plans (hoping to get some maternity clothes back from a friend soon!), but this is pretty close.




Oops, the first picture is blurry. Sorry! It's a green, scoop neck sweater--and one of my favorite shirts ever! Next is a dressier outfit, that I will more than likely pair with my $1 Tommy Hilfiger heels I scored at a yard sale. The last picture show three shirts that I'm considering. I just need to figure out what sort of bottoms to wear with them.



What are you wearing to Blissdom??



Oh, and if you are going to Blissdom, I would love to meet you! Let's talk.





This post is also linked to Works for Me Wednesday.

Easy Meatball Recipe

My family loves meatballs, however I forget about how easy and versatile they are. As part of our New Year's Eve snacks, I made meatballs with a homemade barbeque-like sauce. We devoured them! Not only do we like them by themselves, but we also like to serve them on french bread baguettes, as a pizza topping, or in our spaghetti.

You can buy frozen, bagged meatballs or you can easily make your own and freeze them for later use. Having homemade frozen meatballs, exactly how we like them is what we prefer. Not only does the homemade meatballs taste better, but it comes out a lot cheaper in the long run. Especially if you use venison and pulverized homemade croutons in place of the bread crumbs.

Easy Meatballs

1½ to 2 lbs. Hamburger Meat (could also sub in venison)

1½ cups bread crumbs (I used some homemade garlic and paprika croutons & pulverized them in my chopper)

2 eggs

1 medium onion;chopped

Salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste

Add all ingredients into a medium bowl. Using hands, combine thouroughly.

Using a cookie scoop, or hands, form meatballs. Place into a baking dish. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes, or until meat is no linger pink. Let cool. You can either use them immediately, or flash freeze for later use.

This post is linked to:

• Recipe Swap
• Tasty Tuesday
• Tempt my Tummy Tuesday