French Toast Fun

I recently HAD to try this recipe for french toast roll-ups from pincookie.com... and let me tell you they were simple  and delish!

After slicing the crust off some Wonder white bread (my favorite cheap bread), I filled some for Kirsten with mixed berries . . .

some for Julia with blueberries . . .

and THE BEST of all . . . some with cream cheese and raspberries! 

A quick egg bath and a romp in a buttered skillet . . .

A roll around in a sugar and cinnamon mixture and . . . HEAVEN!

If you LOVE french toast like I do, you might also like the Pound Cake French Toast I made for Mother's Day!

Easter Would Not be the Same Without Cadbury Eggs

This year Easter and my sister, Madelyn's birthday collided, which was the perfect opportunity for some crazy baking!  You see, Madelyn is a huge fan of cupcakes... and one thing I do well is cupcakes! (It also helps that she loves Funfetti cupcakes right from the box).

Each year for her birthday, I set out on a quest for the perfect cupcake for the birthday girl.  Over the years we have experimented with cotton candy and red velvet... but this year while on my search for the newest concoction, I came across this recipe and HAD to try it.  I mean cadbury eggs inside a cupcake... are you kidding me!

So although this seemed like to perfect recipe, I did have to revise, given that the birthday is partial to vanilla cupcakes.  Then just open some Cadbury eggs, insert in some cake batter, top off with a bit more batter and bake!

An All Rainbows & Unicorns Birthday Bash

Kirsten would have had a fabulous time in the 80’s… it’s too as she was born 20 years too late. Since rainbows and unicorns are two of her faves, we combined them into one fabulous party theme!

We set the stage for this extravaganza with a drawing of a rainbow unicorn created by the artistic birthday girl!  

A quick scan, a download of some fabulous new fonts, some playing around in Adobe Photoshop… and Kirsten’s magical invitation!

 

We printed the same unicorn on cardstock and cut it out, along with a white super puffy cloud and number 5. They were then mounted on slightly larger cutouts in bright colors with foam mounting squares to give it a three-dimensional effect.  Insert some skewers (no time for cutting dowels); place in a glass jar of brightly colored bubblegum and a simple, but fantastic centerpiece!

Two rounds of cupcakes were needed for the double birthday celebration (round #1: a party with her friends and round #2: family fun).  Our go-to Funfetti cupcakes baked in shiny silver cupcakes liners topped with my favorite butter cream frosting, of course tinted in the shades of the rainbow, debuted at the first party.

Since the second party involved adults and not just five year olds who like the frosting and throw out the cupcake, I invested a bit more time in our cupcake creations.  I really wanted to make the infamous Martha Stewart rainbow cake, but I knew I did not have nearly enough time. (I did end up making it this year for Kirsten’s 6^th and it was so well worth the effort.)  Tie-dye cupcakes baked in those same shiny silver cupcake liners were the choice for this party with white butter cream frosting and some rainbow nonpareils to fancy them up.

Add one fabulous five year old in a super bright rainbow pillowcase dress from mama runs with scissors and you have your self one fabulous rainbow unicorn birthday party!

And if this wasn't enough... check out the unicorn cupcakes we whipped up for her birthday celebration at school!