New Orleans Pelican Jersey Cake

David's favorite basketball players are Zion Williamson and Lonzo Ball. Ironically, their jersey numbers are 1 and 2 and he turned 12 this year, so it made sense to make him their jerseys into cakes for his birthday.

I made homemade fondant and colored it the day before making the cake. To make the fondant, put 1 bag of 16 oz mini marshmallows and 1 Tbsp water in a glass microwavable bowl. Heat for 30 second intervals. Stir after each one. It took about 1 1/2 minutes for my marshmallows to melt. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar (1 cup at a time, stirring after each addition). Use Crisco to grease your counter. Pour the melted marshmallow mixture on the Crisco. Knead in about 3 more cups of powdered sugar. Make sure you grease your hands with Crisco as well. When the dough is no longer sticky, separate and add food gel color. Cover with Crisco and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in an air-tight container and refrigerate for a few hours before rolling. 

For one of the the cakes, I separated a white cake and colored it purple, green, and yellow before baking. 

I trimmed the cakes to resemble a jersey, then covered it with regular white frosting before decorating the rest of the jersey with the fondant. 

May the 4th Be With You Activities

We always celebrate "May the 4th Be With You". Rachel loves Star Wars, so it is definitely a day she looks forward to. We started the day with BB 8 doughnut sticks. 

I created a photo backdrop out of tablecloth and construction paper stars for her to do a photo shoot. She dressed up in her Rey costume and had fun with poses. 

We also did a Star Wars Scavenger Hunt: I found the clues from playpartyplan.com

I wrote the clues on construction paper and hid them around the house. She loved it! 

First Day of Summer Activities

To celebrate the first day of summer, we did some fun activities together. I made up a basket that contained a lot of "blue" themed things, along with the treats they would need to do our activities and snacks. 

We made blue jello cups and added life saver gummy for pool rings, gummy fish, and teddy grahams. In the vanilla pudding cups, we crushed up vanilla wafers for sand and added little drink umbrellas, Airhead Extreme strips for beach towels, and more teddy grahams. 

We also did Coke and Mentos experiments and played in the slip n slide and did some obstacle courses outside. 

O'Henry Bars

Ingredients: 

1 cup sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

6 cups cornflakes

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

Start by melting the sugar and corn syrup together in a saucepan. Let that boil. Remove from heat. Add the peanut butter and cornflakes. Press into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Pour the chocolate and butterscotch chips on top of the cornflake mixture. Bake at 300 degrees for about 3 minutes. Use a knife to spread the melted chips together. Let that set for a little bit before you cut and serve. 

Trolls World Tour Movie Night

For our at-home Trolls World Tour Movie Night, we added some colorful treats, crafts, and a scavenger hunt. 

I had some extra cardboard boxes, so I turned one into a punch rainbow. I just added treats inside the plastic cups before I covered them with tissue paper. Each kid got to take turns picking a color to punch. 

This was also the end of the scavenger hunt. The gifts were some trolls figures and a Trolls Monopoly Jr. game that we played that evening. 

We made some fun Trolls treats (sugar cookies and Trix marshmallow treats)

We also had colorful Jello trifles. 

 #1: You are looking for Red. It is where one of you lays your head. 

#2: Orange is next. Its name is your clue (I put it under the bag of oranges). 

#3: Yellow is where you might say Hello. (front door)

#4: Green can be found in a machine where you put your jean (s). Washer

#5: Blue will be in one shoe

#6: Violet is by a Lego space pilot (I put this in our Lego space rocket)

Final color sheet: You did it. Your World Tour beings at the end of the rainbow. (The kids found the gifts at the end of the cardboard rainbow board pictured above.)

Cowboy Caviar

Ingredients: 

1 can black eyed peas

1 can black beans

1 can corn

1/4 cup jalapeno peppers, diced and seeded

1/2 red onion, diced

2 peppers (colored and/or green)

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup canola oil

1 Tbsp water

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Drain and rinse the black beans and black eyed peas. Drain the corn. Add all three to a bowl. Chop the jalapenos, onion, and peppers and add to the bowl. In a measuring cup, add the apple cider vinegar, canola oil, water, sugar, salt, and pepper. Whisk together and add to the bowl. Stir all of the ingredients together and serve with tortilla chips. 

One Hour Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

I found a variation of this recipe on Delish Recipes: https://delishrecipes.net/outnumbered-one-hour-cinnamon-rolls/?fbclid=IwAR1dLEpqZwkg9H6T2zV41fo6oA4kN9rgy9sL2eAO4pYabpqrsWuG5i8NOK8

Ingredients: 

2 3/4 cups flour

1 Tbsp yeast

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp butter

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup milk

1 egg

Filling: 

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbsp butter, melted

3/4 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp milk

Put the flour, salt, and yeast in a stand mixer. In a glass measuring cup add the butter, sugar, milk, and water. Put it in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. Add to the flour mixture. 

Add the egg and mix. Let the dough mix with the hook attachment for about 5 minutes. 

Place the dough on the counter and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mix up the filling. Put the brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla in a bowl. Stir. 

Roll the dough out into a large rectangle. Top with 1/4 cup of softened butter. Then add the filling mixture. 

Start on a long end and roll into a log. Cut in half and then cut each half into half. 

Divide each quarter into three pieces. 

Spray a 9x13 in. pan with cooking spray. Place the 12 rolls in the pan. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees and then turn it off. Cover the pan with tinfoil and let the rolls rise in the heated over for 25-30 minutes. 

Bake the rolls at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. 

When you take the baked rolls out of the oven, flip them over onto another baking sheet.

In a bowl, mix the glaze ingredients together until they are smooth. If you want it thicker, add more powdered sugar. If you like it thinner, add more milk. Top the rolls with the glaze. 

Instant Pot Taco Quinoa

Ingredients: 

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 red onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic

1 jalapeno

10 oz diced tomatoes with chilies

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp chili powder

3/4 tsp salt

pepper

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

1 1/4 cup chicken broth (or water)

Set your Instant Pot to Saute and add the oil, onion, garlic, and jalapeno. Cook for a couple of minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir. Close the Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 2 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes before opening the lid. 

Fluff the quinoa and it's ready. This is also really good in burritos or mixed with taco meat. 

General Tso Chicken

We made this for our Hamilton Party--"Here Comes the General" Tso Chicken. It was so good! 

Ingredients: 

1-1 1/2 lbs chicken breast cut into cubes

2 eggs beaten

salt and pepper

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

canola oil for frying

Sauce

2 tsp canola oil

2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

3/4 cup chicken broth

2 Tbsp hoisin sauce

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 Tbsp corn starch

Scramble the eggs in a bowl. Mix the flour, cornstarch, and salt and pepper in a separate bowl. Dip the chicken cubes into the egg and then into the flour/cornstarch mixture. Fry the chicken in 350 degree oil for about 2 minutes, or until the internal temperature is 165 degrees. 

While the chicken is cooking, make the sauce. Heat the 2 tsp canola oil and garlic and red pepper flakes in a saucepan for about 30 seconds. In a measuring cup, combine the chicken broth, hoisin sauce, brown sugar, soy sauce, and cornstarch. Whisk that together. Add to the saucepan and whisk until the sauce thickens. You can mix the cooked chicken immediately with the sauce, or dip the chicken pieces if you prefer the sauce on the side. I topped ours with sesame seeds as well. 

Hamilton Party and "un"Escape Room

We saw Hamilton live last year and absolutely loved it. When we found out it was going to be made into a movie and released this year, we were all beyond excited.

We have come up with a lot of fun activities and food for our family streaming party. 

The first thing is a photo board that I created using a piece of black foam board. I just free-hand drew the star and Hamilton body. I cut out a little piece where the head would have gone. I painted the background with a mixture of our different gold color acrylic paints. 

Our menu includes the following: 

A. Ham Burr gers

History has its Fries on you

Washington on your SIDES

Eye of a Hurricane punch

Here Comes the General tso chicken

Talk Less Smile s'mores

You'll Be baby Back ribs

The Apple Cake Turned Upside Down (The World Turned Upside Down)

Rise Up (homemade bread)

For activities: 

Squirt Gun Duel

Burning Letters (campfire)

Drawing a "Mind at Work"

Writing Like We are Running out of Time (write a short story in 5 minutes)

Make cookie shot glasses

We will be decorating with gold and black table coverings and paper plates.  

I decided to do an un-Escape room for the party too. We need to get into The Room Where it Happened! 

I placed clue cards on the table. There is a shape on each of the clues. When they figure out the answers on each of the clue cards, they have to use the decoder to see what number is the answer. (51)

The second thing they have to do is figure out the word that is hidden in the maze. 

The two clues will reveal 51 and the word Wrote, which will finish the phrase that will get them into the Room Where it Happened. 

I created this poster to hang up in the living room too. 

And made some paper tags that resemble the playbill. These will be put on toothpicks that could go in the food. I just did these in Google Slides.