This is a mid day post, but I figured its better late than never. My kids actually weren’t that interested in decorating eggs this year. They made Ukrainian Easter eggs at school on Thursday and I guess that was enough for them. We ended up decorating a few just before we left for dinner last night.
We tried two different processes both of which required no prep (other than having boiled eggs). Here is what we used:
Hard boiled eggs
Sharpies
Bingo Dabbers
paper towel
I had seen some Sharpie decorated eggs on-line and for those, we basically just doodled. The bingo dabbers were something I thought of on my own. One egg was just “dabbed” to create polka dots and the other was used to draw a random design. I used a paper towel to lightly blend the colours and the result is quite cool. The Sharpies take a steady hand and lots of patience, but really allow you to get creative. I loved the blended effect of the bingo dabbers. Perhaps some ideas you might try next year. I am guessing I won’t even bother boiling eggs next year as the interest at my house was pretty low.
My original post for yesterday was supposed to be the recipe for this awesome Mocha Torte that I made for my Dad’s 78th birthday. However, I ended up sharing how to rescue what seemed to be a ruined cake because I under baked it and it sank in the middle. So, as promised here is one of my all time favourite cake recipes. My friend Kirsten passed this cherished family recipe on to me a few years ago and like her family, it’s now one of my go to recipes as well! This is easy to make, looks great and tastes decadent. I love that you can make it the night before and it keeps perfectly!
Kirsten’s Mocha Torte:
Ingredients:
Duncan Hines Fudge Marble cake mix (I often bake a chocolate cake from scratch instead)
1 cup margarine
1 Tablespoon instant coffee dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water
1. Bake cake mix in 2 round pans. Split into 4 layers by cutting each cake in half horizontally.
2. Mocha Filling: Put the softened margarine in a bowl. Add the coffee/water mixture, 2 cups of the icing sugar and cocoa. Beat until smooth.
3. Whip 2 cups of whipping cream. Add 1 t. vanilla and 1/4 c. icing sugar.
4. Assembly: Spread mocha filling on first layer, followed by whipped cream. Repeat 3 more times. Cover top and sides with whipped cream. Decorate as desired. Make one day ahead.
It wasn’t until I was typing out this recipe that I realized that I actually messed up when building my cake. That’s two major errors on the same cake. Yikes! (It has been a stressful week.) First I under baked the cakes and then I assembled it wrong. I actually never even thought about the assembly, as I was so consumed with salvaging the cake. I completely forgot to add a layer of whipping cream on top of the layers of mocha filling. I should have clued in when I went to complete the cake with the whipping cream on the top and sides. I generally feel there is not quite enough to do the sides nicely and end up giving the top a nice thick layer and then let it flow slightly over the edges, but with the sides and layers of the torte revealed. I was surprised when there was ample whipping cream to cover both the top and sides nicely – dah! Oh well, the flopped cake tasted great and no one knew the difference. (Including me, the gal that has made this exact recipe more times than I can remember!)
Here’s a shot of the finished cake.
This is how the torte looked with my blunders.
This is recipe is a sure hit! If you enjoy Mocha, you’ll love this.
Last night, I got home from work and had to muster up every ounce of energy I had to whip up a cake and pop it in the oven. We are having my dad over for Easter dinner tonight (Good Friday) and I’m making birthday cake for dessert. April 19th will be my dad’s 78th birthday! I decided to make a Chocolate Layer Cake. This is one of my favourite recipes, and it always works! Except for last night. What a perfect time for a cake to flop – it coincided perfectly with another rare and untimely event – I ran out of flour! Yep, I was so relieved when I scraped up just enough flour from the jar to make the recipe in the first place. I literally have no more than a few teaspoons of white flour in the house and its Good Friday, one of the only days in a year when stores are actually closed for the entire day. I’m famous for having to “re-do” things, but I simply didn’t have the time or energy to pull it off this time. Instead, I thought of a creative solution to my predicament.
Birthday Cake Disaster:
I had whipped up a double recipe of my favourite chocolate cake recipe and popped it in the oven.I knew that a single recipe was not big enough for two round pans, but the double was a bit too much. I should have taken some of the extra batter and made a few cupcakes, but I was honestly just too lazy. I knew the cakes would need additional time, because of the additional batter, so I wasn’t surprised when the cakes weren’t cooked in the suggested 30 minute bake time. I have always felt that my oven is a bit out of sync and that the actual temperature is a lower than the setting. I sometimes set the oven a few degrees higher to compensate, but I was too tired to think of this.
After the first check at 30 minutes of baking time, I proceeded to set the timer in 5 minutes intervals to stay on top of things and not over bake the cake. I continued to bake and check regularly for what seemed like forever. I was totally exhausted and just wanted to go to bed. Finally,after what I am guessing was more than an hour of bake time, I tested the cakes and the poker came up clean – finally! It was not until I went to remove them from the oven that I realized that the oven really didn’t seem that hot. Well, that’s because sometime between the original 30 minute timer and the time I removed them, I must have turned the oven “off” instead of the timer. Ugh! Within 10 minutes both cakes had sunk ~ one not so bad, as it must have had slightly less batter to begin with, but the other would have made a a great cake if the party theme was “sink holes”! I decided to cover them with a towel on the cooling rack and deal with it this morning.
Steps to Recovering a Ruined Cake:
Starting over really was not an option as I had no flour in the house (like that has ever happened before!) I could have borrowed from a neighbour, but I feel like I have done that a few too many times already. It seems I am often over looking a necessary ingredient. So, I decided to proceed and see what the interior of the cakes looked like. My plan was to make a 4 layer cake by cutting the two round cakes in half. When I cut them open, I realized that one cake really was fine. It had only sunk slightly and was cooked all the way through. However, the second cake was basically a pile of mush in the middle with a ring of cooked cake around the outside. I came up with a plan. Here’s what I did:
I used the bottom of the “good” cake as the base for the layer cake. I frosted this layer.
I then took the “bad” cake and scooped out the center of both pieces.
I took the cooked outer “ring” of cake and placed it on the bottom frosted layer. I frosted the top of the ring.
I then took the other outer cooked ring of cake and broke it into pieces.
I mixed the broken cake pieces with the remaining filling/frosting and filled the center of the ring.
I then added the final layer which was the top of the “good” cake and completed the cake.
When all was said and done, I had to toss about 1/4 of the cake or the equivalent of one layer. My final cake is a 3 layer cake with this yummy filling in the middle. You can’t tell at all from the outside and no one would ever know this was not the original plan. (I don’t think my dad reads my blog, so I’m pretty safe.) So, Good Friday birthday dinner will take place after all!
Here is the cake with sink hole in the middle.
This is the bottom of mushy cake.
Here is the top with the mushy middle that I had to scoop out and toss.
The frosted bottom layer.
Here is the salvaged outer ring of cooked cake.
Mocha filling ~ yummy!
Other outer ring was broken into pieces and added to the remaining filling.
Mix cake with filling.
Frost ring and then fill inner ring with mixture.
Add final layer.
Here’s a shot of the finished cake.
This white chocolate bunny provided the chocolate curls needed for the finishing touches.
I had originally planned to post the recipe for this Mocha Cake and will eventually share it. It has a whipping cream frosting and I added white chocolate curls for a simple look. Just because things hadn’t gone so smoothly with this cake, I was sort of expecting to come up empty when I checked the crisper for white chocolate. I was only disappointed for a moment and then got a twinkle in my I remembered that my kids “smugly” informed me they no longer believe in the Easter Bunny. This ended up being a life saver! I didn’t even feel bad when I opened up the white chocolate bunny and sliced off the bottom of it for chocolate curls. I wonder if they’ll notice that the bottom of the bunny is missing and that the bag has been taped up?
Okay, this might be my most embarrassing recipe share yet. This chicken dish doesn’t look like anything special, and that’s because it’s not. This is nothing more than a survival recipe that meets all of the most important criteria. It’s healthy, has only 3 ingredients, takes seconds to prepare, is easy to cook and is liked by the whole family. Presentation is of no significance when you’re in survival mode!
10 Second Chicken:
Ingredients:
chicken ~ any cut
olive oil
Montreal Steak Spice
Directions:
Spread olive oil on the chicken. Sprinkle with seasoning. Bake. (We usually bake it for about 45 minutes at 375 depending on the cut of the meat and on whether it has been defrosted or not.) Don’t let the ease of this dish fool you….although it’s super simple, it is also very tasty. I love eating this chicken chopped up over a salad or with roasted veggies. Mmmm.
I found this idea on Pinterest and love how it draws a connection between Jesus and the candy/goodies that have come to represent Easter to so many. I want my kids to have a fun Easter and be able to indulge in treats and little gifts like other kids, but not at the expense of our faith and beliefs. It’s often hard to keep the true message of Easter alive amidst the commercialized flare of the season.
This jar is the perfect addition to those family traditions you already hold sacred. Originally, I thought I would make jars for both of my kids and put them in their baskets, but then I thought it would make more sense to have a family jar that we could bring out each year. I love the idea of having a physical symbol to remind us that we have a role in Easter as well. It helps the kids to understand and remember that Easter can be about giving as well as receiving. I made a jar for our family and hopefully we can work together to fill it up with “bunny tails” through this Easter season and keep the message of Christ close to our hearts. Such a great idea from the Happy Home Fairy! Check-out the site for a full tutorial.
I modified the original poem slightly to meet my needs.
Bunny Service Jar
Here is what I did for our Bunny Service Jar.
Materials:
old rose bowl vase
burlap
hot glue gun
needle and twine to gather the ears
cotton balls for bunny tails
button eyes
First, I cut out an ear shape from burlap scraps and then used the first ear as a template for the second. I made them with quite a wide base. I then added a bit of podge around the edges to prevent them from fraying. I made the ears extra wide so that I could slide a needle and twine through the bottom to gather them. I then glued on the ears using my hot glue gun.
I liked the burlap look and decided to cover a glass bead in burlap for the nose.
I pulled several strands from the burlap and used them for whiskers. I then glued the whiskers and nose on.
I added two button eyes and a cotton tail.
I typed out the poem with a few modifications and added a few embellishments before attaching it to the jar.
I have a supply of cotton balls that can be added to the jar as acts of service are performed!
I added a few cotton balls to show you how it will look as it is filled up.
I added a bit of Modge Podge to the edges to prevent fraying.
I gathered the bottoms of the ears using a needle and twine.
Here is the finished poem with a few minor embellishments.
I was searching for new Easter egg decorating ideas over the weekend, as we like to experiment with a variety of techniques from year to year. This wasn’t “eggsactly” what I was looking for, but I loved the concept and just had to try my own version. This idea was adapted from “The Better Half“.
Wool Wrapped Plastic Eggs:
For this project, I used:
plastic eggs
wool
hot glue gun
I actually tried doing these eggs two different ways. For the first egg, I hot glued the end of the wool to the bottom half of the egg and then began to wind it tightly around the glued piece following a circular path. I used the hot glue to secure the strands every few rows, in random spots. This helped to keep the rows fitting tightly against each other. I worked from the bottom of the egg, beginning with small circles and after the first few rows I was able to flip the half egg over so that I had gravity on my side. This helped to keep the rows fitting snuggly together. Once I got to the middle, I slid the other half on and glued it in place (it can’t be opened). I have to say this was the WRONG decision. Don’t do it this way. When you get past the centre point and are working towards the smaller end of the egg, you are in a constant battle to keep the rows tight. I had to use lots of glue at very regular intervals to make it work. It looks fine, but took me about 3 times as long to do the second half.
I followed the same process for the second egg, but instead of joining the halves together, I completed each separately and then slid them together at the end. I didn’t glue the halves of this egg together. If you decide to do this project, do one half at a time. This still allows you to open/close the eggs to place little goodies in them and would be especially nice in a little gift basket. You could also leave them closed and use them as part of an Easter centre piece. I had this wool on hand and just love the look of the multiple colours!
I have only made two eggs so far, but naturally I’ll be making a third, as I don’t want to break any decorating rules!
I was looking at Pinterest over the weekend and found this cute idea for Easter snacks. I picked up some disposable icing bags at the dollar store and a bag of Goldfish crackers. Fill the “cone-shaped” bags with fish crackers and tie the end with a green ribbon. One bag of crackers fills 3 icing bags. It can’t get much easier than this! I thought I would stick these in the kid’s Easter baskets along with the sweet treats I picked-up for Easter. They both love fish crackers and what a simple way to “Easterize” them!
So often I am asked how I manage to do all the things a good mom does as well as work, blog daily and do all those projects I write about. The answer in a nutshell is LISTS!! I have lists everywhere for everything. I have sublists of lists and sometimes even sublists for the sublists. It’s crazy! If I have not committed “it” to paper there is no chance I will ever remember it. I have so much on my plate, I am barely staying afloat some days. In fact, I have so many lists that I decided to develop a list for my lists. I just seem to write and re-write the same things over and over again, and find myself wasting time looking through my lists for the right list. I finally decided to try something new. It’s a new system and I’m hopeful that it’ll work.
A List with a Twist:
Basically, the same things seem to appear on my lists over and over again, so I thought, why not streamline all of my lists onto one page. I created a Weekly Planning Sheet that is customized to meet my own personal needs. I am hoping that I can work from this one, single list for an entire week. Of course, we will continue to have a Grocery List, but other than that, my goal is to see if I can keep it to one paper.
I created a basic template on the computer and will plug-in events from the calendar every Sunday, before printing it off. The template provides the framework for my whole week and that I don’t have to write scheduled items like “piano lessons” every week, as it is already on the master template. Obviously, I will need to update the little calendar portion at the beginning of each week and plug-in any special appointments or meetings. I created a space to keep track of my workouts, blog posts and I have made several categories for my ongoing lists. For now, I plan to “pencil” in the items on my lists, but if I am finding that they are regular items on my “to do list”, then I may just type them right in to the master template. A great example would be laundry. That is always on my list of things to do over the weekend, so I may decide to add it to the permanent template. I am also not sure if I will have enough room to add everything I need to do, over the course of the week, but as long as I use pencil, I can erase my accomplishments to make room, if need be. My general feeling is that with the separate categories, I should have room, but we’ll see. I am so excited to see how the new system works this week.
Here are the lists from last week.
Weekly Planner Template
New List
You can see the pile of lists I started with and how I combined them all onto my new template. I hope it all goes as planned ~ we’ll see!
Having lists does help me to stay organized and on top of most things, but the bottom line is a list without action is futile. I too get overwhelmed at times and push the worst jobs to the bottom of the list, but what I have found is that action actually creates motivation and momentum. When I am feeling tired and out of gas, I will often scan my list and look for two or three items that will take: Little Time & Little Effort.I take action immediately and knock off those items that require no more than a couple of minutes of my time (making appointments, placing an order, RSVP to an invitation, send an email, etc.). By taking immediate action, I feel like I have accomplished something and the result is often a “second wind” and motivation to take on a bigger task. However, even if I go no further down the list, I have done something and something is always better than nothing at all!
Obviously my template won’t work for you, but perhaps it is something you could use as a guide to create your own weekly planner. Just what every busy mom needs ~ another project!
In thinking back, I realized that I first became interested in home decor and design when I was in elementary school. I was a member of the local 4H Club and one year I joined the “Home Design” unit. I am not sure what you know about 4H, but if my memory serves me correctly (which would actually be surprising), members got to pick which group they wanted to join based on their own personal interests. You would study that unit for the entire year. I can’t remember all of the cool things we did and learned through 4H, but it was really fun. The groups were usually small and focused on a specific set of skills, lessons and activities that fit with the theme of the unit. I really don’t remember all of the choices, but it was based on volunteers from the community offering to lead particular units. It was great! You don’t really hear much about 4H in the city, perhaps it’s more of a small town thing?? Anyway, I think this particular unit was called “Home Design” (or something like that). Over the course of the year, your group would meet regularly to complete your unit of study. At the end of the year, you would create a final project that would be displayed at the culminating event called Achievement Day. I chose to create a flower arrangement for my final project (remember, this is back in the 70’s). Of course, this decorating tip is based on a childhood memory and is most likely skewed to some extent, but somewhere during the course of this unit, I learned about the power of odd numbers in design and specifically how to decorate in 3’s. It is just something that stuck with me.
Decorating in 3’s:
So, when preparing for this post, I thought I might just Google “decorating in 3’s” and sure enough, its an actual design principle. Did you ever wonder how to pull a room or space together? Why not consider the Rule of 3’s?
If you want to add a pop of colour to a room, but don’t want it to look out of place, the key is embedding it in 3’s. You might have one more dramatic piece and the others just added subtly to the background through a painting or fabric print. Check-out this post on Mr. Kate to see how colour is used in 3’s. This image is an example taken from the post.
Mr. Kate’s example of how the light green can be seen in the bench, chair and bowl of apples on the table.
The Rule of 3 is often evident in the architectural design of homes and buildings. Here is an example of how this was applied in the design of our 1921 home. Notice the architectural design of the windows in sets of 3 on either side of the front entrance.
The Rule of 3 can be seen in lighting as well. How often have you seen 3 wick candles or 3 tiered candelabra? How about pictures that are mounted in 3’s? I did a quick tour of our house this morning and included a collection of pictures that reflect the Rule of 3.
Furniture Design in 3’s ~ notice the three drawers across the top and 3 levels of drawers from top to bottom.
3 Shelves/3 stacked books
Avery labels can be spray painted with chalkboard paint.
Accessorizing in 3’s
Architectural use of 3’s
3 bulb light fixture
3 Panel Screen
Hang Pictures in 3’s
Hang Pictures in 3’s
When you are thinking about decorating a space regardless of whether its big or small, consider the Rule of 3’s. By applying this rule, you can create a visually appealing look that flows and appears balanced. For more great tips on the Rule of 3, check-out houzz or 21 Rosemary Lane. Happy decorating!
