Peanuts (Charlie Brown) Photo Board

For the Peanuts 50th Anniversary special tomorrow night, we decided to create a photo board of our favorite Peanuts characters. I started with a tri-fold display board and free-hand drew the characters with pencil. Then I outlined the characters with black Sharpie. I painted most of the characters with acrylic paint. (Although, I did some of it with Sharpie.)

Rachel's favorite character is the little red-haired girl, so we had to incorporate her somehow. (So, Charlie Brown is thinking about her.)

Gingerbread Arena (The Palace)

After turning Ford Field into a Gingerbread Stadium last year (http://workingmomwonders.blogspot.com/2014/12/gingerbread-stadium.html), the boys decided we had to try the Detroit Piston's arena. Making gingerbread houses is a lot easier than I thought it would be, and for the sports' enthusiasts in our house, this is a perfect recipe you won't find in a kit at the stores. 

We made the gingerbread dough first (I got a recipe from simplyrecipes.com): 

Ingredients: 

6 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

4 teaspoons ginger

4 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks butter (softened)

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup molasses

1 Tablespoon water

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside. 

Using a mixer, beat the brown sugar and butter together until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, molasses, and water. 

Add half of the flour mixture to the molasses mixture. Beat until well combined. 

Add the remaining flour mixture and knead with your hands or the dough hook of a mixer. Wrap dough with plastic wrap and let sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the dough to the size you need for your stadium. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured piece of wax paper. I did two longer sides, two smaller sides, a court, and two basketball hoops with stands and backboards. We also did mini gingerbread men for the players.  Bake the dough for 8-11 minutes on a greased cookie sheet, or until it starts to brown. Let cool before constructing. 

For the icing on the court and the stands, I mixed two egg whites with 1 1/3 cup powdered sugar. Whisk that until it is smooth. Then add another 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar. Beat with a mixer on high speed until you get the consistency you want. You may need to add a little more powdered sugar. 

For decorating the players and anything else that is red or blue, I mixed 1 cup of crisco, 4 cups of powdered sugar, and 4 Tbsp milk. 

The court...

David's favorite part was helping with the roster. 

Here is last year's stadium. I am guessing Comerica Park will be next year :)