Avenger's Cake: What's it worth to you?

I have always enjoyed searching for new and exciting recipes and ever since being a mom, finding that perfect DIY how-to for cakes that impress.

My son, my delightful firstborn, has turned eight and we are eagerly anticipating his party.  In preparation, since we are living with my in-laws, I have begun work on it quite early to ensure maximum success with minimal interruption or being in the way of a herd passing through the kitchen or random items being thrown on the counter space I find so vital during these things.

The process began when my son chose to have an Avenger's cake.  Then came the research on my part for a cake that was equally "cool," but also doable for my limited skills.  It was nearly instantaneous...Sunshine and Summer Breeze blog.  It looked really neat and all the other moms would be jealous with envy at my skills, while also being so. totally. simple.

According to Michelle, the super-blogger mom who gave a blow-by-blow on how to make this cake the first step was finding a picture to copy.  She happened across a coloring book page (how fortuitous!).  My search was not that easy.  I spent hours... days searching for a picture that would be easy enough to follow.  The black outline couldn't be too detailed because after all we're dealing with frosting, but the choices found on Google picture were everything from glossy pictures from movies and the professional renderings of comic book artists (which were beyond my skill) to crude child-like drawings which would have made me the laughingstock of all the moms (and my beloved husband).  I had to find just the right combination of elements... and I did.

Now, our super-blogger mom touted the glories of how cheap this cake was (less than $5).  And I'm sure it was for her because she used cake mix and frosting from a can (blech!).  I pride myself on homemade deliciousness... not the easy way.  Mine was still pretty cheap considering I made a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and the decoration is made from homemade buttercream frosting (less than $10).

On Monday, I made the two cakes.  Yes, two.  I used a 9x13 glass dish because my son invited around 30 people to join him at his celebration.  Chocolate cakes with added cocoa powder for richness.  Yum.  And then put them in the freezer to wait until Saturday.

Tuesday, my beloved husband helped me out by coloring the picture I had chosen (since I am not familiar enough with the characters to do it myself... it would have taken an inordinate amount of time) and he even used his computer to make the picture larger than it was... that is an important detail to note for later.

Wednesday, I was busy... so I did nothing concerning the cake.

Thursday was the day I set aside to work on the decoration portion of the cake.  I had purchased a $4 cake platter from Walmart since I didn't have one that would fit a two-layer 13x9 cake, so I used this as my "cardboard" and taped the picture onto it.  Michelle uses wax paper, but in the comments on her page, someone mentioned plastic wrap being much easier to peel off at the end; so I used plastic wrap making sure it was pulled taut from every direction and taped it securely.

I made two batches of buttercream frosting and tinted a large dollop with the gel colors I found in the baking aisle (I guess the drops are way outdated now).  It took a little while for the color to go from grey or steel to black.  One of the difficulties of living in my in-laws is that I don't have any of my kitchen tools to use, so I went with Michelle's way (the plastic bag with a tiny slit in the corner).  In theory, that method should work, but I encountered a few issues.

Even with the outstanding job my husband did of enlarging the picture, some of the lines were still too thin and detailed (like the A on Captain America's helmet and the detail lines on Iron Man's arms).  Otherwise, minus the newbie mishaps like air pockets in the bag and smearing fresh lines with my arms, it turned out fairly well.

As Michelle progresses her tutorial, she explains how to "color in" the different sections with colors. This is where it got dicey.  As I worked on coloring in the upper portions of the picture, my arm naturally got tired, so I rested it down.  But then I noticed my arm felt a little moist and sticky.  I had rubbed off part of Hulk's arm and leg!!

Another difficulty I faced was making sure I colored in all the areas for one color before moving on. The next photo you will notice one of my goofs... I forgot to fill in Captain America's face and I had to re-tint more frosting after the fact (along with two other sections you likely won't notice because they're so small).

I thought I was in the home stretch and so excited about being nearly done.  But the worst was yet to come.  I decided to do red first.  After getting over the pink stage, I got a semi-decent red (my husband says I'm being too picky; but I think it's still too muted).  I eagerly colored in the red portions of Captain American and then moved on to Iron Man.... but in my haste, I rubbed out Hulk's arm and leg... again!  Off to make more black to redo it.

But no worries. Next came blue.  It turned an ugly teal.  I tried to darken it, but it still looks too bright (maybe more picky-ness?).  As I was coloring in Hulk's pants, one of those ugly air bubbles got out of control and a blob of blue buttercream bubbled out of the bag (my son would love my use of alliteration!) and fell right onto Hulk's body.  More rubbing out and re-doing the black outline.

By the time I reached the green, I was desperate to finish.  No longer was I carefully filling the space.  I was squeezing that bag as hard as I could and minimally directing it into place and smudging it into the cracks.  By all appearances, however, it looks pretty good. One tip I got from Michelle's comments was to use a knife to smooth the back.

 It has been in the freezer for about 8 hours and I practiced peeling off a corner of the plastic and it came off cleanly.

The finished product came out very nicely... though I must say for all the comments on Michelle's blog about being able to maneuver it into place, that didn't work for me.  I nearly decapitated Capt. America since it thawed immediately upon contact with the fresh frosting on the cake.

Thanks to Michelle.  For all my griping, she really does have an ingenious method.  Maybe all my troubles are just mine because I'm simply not that good at all this crafty stuff.

Until next time... decide what your children are worth to you and aim higher than you think you are able.  The results may surprise you!

Summertime

Every summer, my goal is the same.  Rest. Have fun with the boys.  Stay in town.  This years is no different.  We are not taking music classes in Waunakee which cuts down on travel time (40 minutes each way) and we are staying around the house and finding things to do within biking and walking distance.

The boys, yes both, are taking swimming lessons.  This is a huge deal, especially for the older, who is afraid of the water.  He has progressed tremendously and was dunked (by me) several times without getting hysterical.  Jonah is just having fun.  Learning safety in the water and so proud of himself for kicking and blowing bubbles.  He has never had trouble getting his face wet.

Next week, Jeremiah starts soccer practice.  He really wanted to be on track so he could run, but our community sports does not offer it... so soccer was his backup plan.  I am so excited to see how he deals with the team and coach aspect and running a lot in the heat.  He can be a wimp sometimes.  :-)

My own personal goal this summer is to ride my bike everywhere we go, while pulling the boys behind me.  Serves a few purposes.  One, saving gas money and two, probably the most important for me, losing weight.  I went a whole week riding my bike, except for the large shopping trip and dropping off huge boxes.  But everything else--swim lessons, library visits, general errands around town-- were completed using my bike.  The boys are having lots of fun with this new aspect of summer transportation.

I will try to track my progress here on the blog.

Current weight: 230

My Son, my Firstborn

My child had a birthday last Saturday.  He is five.  The wonder of being able to hold up an entire hand of fingers and say, "I'm five, you know."  He said he feels bigger and stronger and absolutely better about everything because he's five now... and it only happened a little while ago.

He is the brainy child.  He is my intellectual.  Watching nature all around him.  Naming all the different kinds of birds, insects, trees, flowers and fish... who ever wanted to know all those?  But he can tell you... and takes great delight in surprising you with his knowledge.

My boy wanted a superhero party.  Last year, it was a cake picnic with four different kinds of cake.  This year he wanted a strawberry cake... which turned out his favorite color:  PINK.  Adding blue piping around the edges and a Happy Birthday Jeremiah with multi-colored sprinkles and candles made it absolutely perfect.

He and his three friends ran all over the playground pretending to build a cake from sticks and sand and played house and chased each other.  Miss Elizabeth (aka.. Mrs. Spiderman) said Jeremiah could be her husband for the day.

My boy, who looks just like his Daddy and Poppy, who was induced ten days early and caused me 36 hours of labor, four hours of pushing and attempting to come out forehead first, is now five years old.

Happy birthday, Mr. Moo.

Fighting Fair

Rather than just sticking to the facts and make yet another article about how to resolve conflict and fight appropriately with your significant other, I will share a personal anecdote of our last fight.

It started well before the words started flying.  Doesn't it always?  I mean, what actually started the argument was something so stupid.  He interrupts me.  I hate that.  It wasn't just this one time, it is a consistent pattern and I was already "up to here" with it.  He sat down beside me to discuss our finances, which lately is a rather sticky topic anyway.  Every time I opened my mouth to say something, I was unable to finish.  And rather indelicately, I began yelling at him because, if you recall, I was "up to here" about it.

Naturally, my Beloved assumed I was getting angry because of the topic of discussion (which I wasn't... honestly) and things naturally progressed from there and he started yelling at me, getting really close to my face and, horror of horrors, touched my face while he was yelling two inches from me.  Well, that just blew my lid off... he better NOT touch me when he's angry because that just highlights my distrust of anyone when I am in that situation.

Then came the mocking and laughing and taunting and "I'm stronger than you are" which doesn't allow me to have any space to calm down and think rationally.  What to do?

If you're sticking to the "how to fight fair" topic, we both failed miserably for several reasons.  First, we have very opposing views on what is acceptable during a fight, which (even at this time) are unresolved; but even more than that, of those things which we can agree upon, we lost our cools collectively and let things get really personal and started yelling.

Recently, a friend of mine helped me think of a picture that will help me keep myself reined in when being provoked.  My picture to help me (which is different for everyone) is that of a board room to keep the professionalism present.  I was raised in a sterile environment and was not encouraged to use or express any emotion and when I worked in the outside world (as opposed to being a stay-at-home mom), I was quite comfortable with my role as an employee and showing decorum in a professional setting.  You would never yell and scream at your boss, right?

Anyway, the board room in my head will be attended by our two sweet boys.  If I have my children watching, I will be so much more motivated to watch what I say to their father and how I say it.  Keeping things in a quiet tone are supposed to help keep things calm rather than heightening everything.  That is my goal.  If we can actually do that and talk about our issues at the same time, BONUS POINTS.  Most likely, though, it will just be a segue into setting a time to discuss the initial topic later when we're both ready for it.

My goal before our next big fight, which is scheduled for sometime early next year (possibly between February and April 2013), is to study and learn different tools to help me, at the very least, keep my end of our "fight" sterile and calm.  Learning to use my tools can only happen if I have tools to begin with.

Until next time, keep the peace as much as is possible with you and learn to "fight fairly" for the sake of others.

Meat Loaf Patties with Pan Gravy

It seems like I have been cooking things I really don't care for lately, but I am convinced if I can find that superstar recipe there will be absolutely nothing my family and I don't like.  I guess it doesn't always hold true, but meat loaf is another one of my nemeses.  Don't like.  Don't want to.

I did, however, find a recipe that makes the meat loaf bearable.  It is a little involved, but really quite easy.

Meat loaf patties

1 1/3 lean ground sirloin (or just regular beef, as I used)

3 T. bread crumbs

1/8 cup milk (just a splash)
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp. grill seasoning blend

1 rounded T. tomato paste

1 med., finely chopped onion (reserve 1/4)

Place ground sirloin into large mixing bowl and create a well in the center.  Fill with bread crumbs and dampen with milk.  Pour egg over bread crumbs and add grill seasoning, tomato paste and 3/4 of the onion.  Mix until combined.  Form into four large oval patties (or as many smaller ones as you wish).

Pan fry meat loaf patties in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 7 minutes on each side under a loose tin foil tent.  This reflects the heat and allows steam to escape.  Removie patties to a platter and follow recipe for the gravy.

Three-condiment Pan Gravy

Pan drippings from meat loaf

2 T. butter

1/4 onion (reserved from meat loaf recipe)

2 T. flour

1 - 1 1/2 beef stock

1 T. ketchup

1 T. steak sauce

1 rounded tsp. spicy brown mustard

After removing patties from skillet, add butter and onion to pan drippings and reduce heat.  Cook for two minutes, then sprinkle with flour (watch carefully to not burn up drippings).  Cook for another minute, then whisk in one cup of beef stock.  Bring to a bubble.  If gravy is too thick, add stock.  Stir in ketchup, steak sauce and mustard.  Remove from heat and drizzle over meat loaf patties.

Serve with mashed potatoes drenched with the gravy and your favorite green vegetable.

A Brisket (or roast)

One of my least favorite things to eat has been any kind of roast.  The taste is dry and has a "roast-y" flavor I have never enjoyed.  It ends up rolling around in my mouth, chewing and chewing and then a big wad in the side of my cheek that never gets swallowed.

My Beloved husband has always loved a good roast, however, and in trying to be a model wife I have searched out recipes I thought he would enjoy and hoped I might be able to tolerate.  The following recipe is one I found in my Jewish cookbook for brisket.  Since I didn't have a brisket, I swapped it out for a chuck roast.  In serving it for our shabbat meal, even I had to say that I really and truly enjoyed it.  It was tender, falling off the bone, and for the standard "roast-y" taste, the sauce covered it up and made it into an almost bar-b-que flavor.

Try it out!

Beef brisket (or a chuck roast)

1 (10-ounce) bottle teriyaki sauce

1 envelope dry onion soup mix
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Place the brisket in a baking pan (or I used a crockpot).  Cover with ketchup and pour entire bottle of teriyaki sauce over it.  Pour onion soup mix on top of meat and sprinkle over it with brown sugar.  Cover and bake at 350 degrees (2 1/2 hours for 7 pounds of meat) (for about 2 to 3 pounds, cook for about 1 hour).  In a crockpot with about 2 to 3 pounds of chuck roast, as I used, cook on low for about six hours.

Please note, a brisket takes longer to cook than a roast, so make sure you account for that.

Do Politics Matter?

Have you heard the retort, "Well, this world is gonna burn, anyway!"?  I know I have.  And, I would have to say that until yesterday I had a very apathetic attitude about politics and how our government works.  Yes, I had a big day yesterday.

Our church has missions' month every March and one of our speakers (three years in a row, now), was Julaine Appling, a strong-minded, clear orater about the importance of legislating values.  Now, don't get me wrong... I am all for getting "good" laws passed into our system; it just hasn't seemed likely or possible.  What I realized yesterday was that it takes regular people, like myself, to change laws.  It takes one or two people to make a phone call to their representatives.  It takes one or two people to share their thoughts with like-minded friends who will then share the passion to get things changed to better our own lives.

God has been priming me, I think, for a little while by sending messages via Facebook and email through friends who are passionate (maybe?) about certain causes.  One of them was a 30-minute video talking about how parental rights are being violated.  That caused me to sit up and take notice for once.  I am a mother.  That is my job.  I value being able to make decisions for my children that I deem "in their best interest".  What if that was taken away from me?  It already is.  People around our country have experienced it.  Being arrested for not wanting your child to have "Sexual Tolerance" teaching in Kindergarten, being court-ordered by a judge that you are only allowed to take your child to church one service a week, being told by a family physician that you must get permission from your underage child for the results of a drug test YOU paid for.

IT IS HAPPENING.  TODAY.  In our Free and Liberated Country.

So, what are you going to do about it?

Sitting in church, hearing Ms. Appling talk about her role in Wisconsin Family Council and realizing that you CAN and SHOULD legislate morality was eye-opening.  Everyone else is making laws based on what they believe is right, why not me??

Were they legislating morality when they legalized gay marriage?  YES!
Were they legislating morality when they legalized abortion? YES!

The candidates you want to put into office are those that closely mirror your values and beliefs when it comes to upholding marriage and family.  If your candidate does not have those in line, nothing else they try to fix (jobs, economy, etc) will turn out properly.

God puts up kings and takes them down.  He has given each country and people their own set of government and laws.  Ours is a republic (or was)... and is so close to being ruined.  It is our responsibility to keep things the way God intended until He decides to "let it burn".

If we aren't legislating our biblical ethics and morality, it will be someone else's views and opinions.  Stand up and start talking!

Until next time, review the issues in your area and get ready to VOTE!