School Bus Cake

My husband and his school bus cake

I made this school bus cake in honor of my husband's new gig as a school bus driver. Today's his first day, my son's return to school, and the start of fall semester at the university where I work.

The cake, a surprise for my husband, was easy to make. I made it from 2 pound cakes, mini nilla wafer cookies for the kids' faces, mini chocolate doughnuts for the tires, and white chocolate chips for the center of the wheels and the headlights. I decorated it using orange and red M & Ms for safety lights and used black and red icing gel to create outlines on the bus and the children's features. I searched "School Bus Cake" on Google to get inspiration and decorating directions.

Here's hoping that students, teachers, and staff everywhere have a safe, enjoyable, and educational school year ahead.

Baking with a Pie Bird

Have you ever used a pie bird to bake a pie? Pie birds are ceramic and used to vent steam from pies to prevent juices from bubbling over the pie dish and spilling in the oven.

There's a debate over which came first the pie birds or the nursery rhyme about four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie as they're obviously connected.

I recently baked an apple pie using a pie bird. Here's a video I created to show you how I did it.



Enjoy!

Fall Treat: Concord Grape Pie

Concord Grape Pie

My son and I baked this on Saturday. It was our very first grape pie. We enjoyed making this pie together. The basic recipe directions we followed can be found at Cooks.com.

Concord grapes

This project started when I bought some luscious looking grapes at a farmers market. I had never purchased Concord grapes before. When I bit into them, the juice tasted sweet but the skins had a bitter taste. I knew my family wouldn't snack on them like we do the less flavorful seedless green grapes. I decided to look online for recipe ideas.

I found a recipe that I had all the ingredients for except an unbaked pie shell. So we quickly rolled out some pastry dough ourself. Most of the work making this pie came from separating the grape skins from the pulp and then later pressing the cooked pulp through a sieve to remove the seeds.

This pie smells heavenly while baking. Your hands will also have a nice fruity scent from handling the pulp. While the pie was in the oven, I got out two grape motif heirloom plates from my grandmother to serve my son and me the first pieces of our dessert. Cooks privilege and no one else was around the house at the time.

I think this pie looks as delicious as it tastes. This just may be a new annual fall tradition at our house.

St. Patrick's Day Dessert

St. Patrick's Day Themed Trifle

Angel food cake
1 small package lime Jello
2 large cans mandarin oranges
2 small boxes pistachio Jello instant pudding
1 container Cool Whip thawed

Cut angel food cake into 1" cubes and line bottom of glass serving bowl with them. Put a layer of mandarin oranges on top. Make lime Jello using 1 cup hot water but only 1/2 cup cold water. Pour the Jello over the oranges and cake. Place in the refrigerator to set for 2 hours or in the freezer to set for 45 minutes.



Prepare pistachio pudding. After the Jello is set, spoon half of the pistachio pudding on top, followed by half of the Cool Whip, then add remaining oranges (keeping out a few for decorating the top), then remaining pudding, then remaining Cool Whip. Decorate the top by making a circle with oranges. [I used a small cookie cutter to shape my pistachio pudding shamrock in the middle.] Place in refrigerator for 30 more minutes.

A Heart-y Recipe* for Sausage Lovers

Sausage Bread Ingredients:
1 pound ground sausage
frozen pizza dough
1 bag shredded mozarella cheese
parmesan cheese
sweet basil
oregano.

Thaw frozen pizza dough and roll out.
Preheat oven to 350° F.


Brown the ground sausage. Drain the fat from the pan.
Transfer the sausage from the pan onto a plate lined
with paper towels to absorb a bit more grease.

Spread the sausage out onto the rolled pizza dough.

Next add the shredded mozarella cheese.

Sprinkle sweet basil, oregano, and parmesan cheese on top.

Roll up the dough.

Tuck the ends under and pop into oven.

Bake at 350° F until golden brown 20-30 min.

Slice and enjoy!


*I called this a heart-y recipe since I'm sharing it
near Valentine's Day, not because it's heart friendly.

Pumpkin Bread

This is one of my favorite recipes my mother taught me. It's moist and delicious.

Pumpkin Bread
3 cups flour
1 1/4 cups oil
2 cups pumpkin (I use Libby's in the can)
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg or ginger
4 eggs
Mix together all ingredients and bake for 1 hour at 350. Makes 2 loaves.

This year, I'm hosting a Thanksgiving gathering for 10 at my house. I'm looking forward to it very much so that's where I'll be putting my effort this week, cleaning and cooking. See you around the blogosphere after the holiday.