Madelyn's Creation: Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake

My daughter and I had an entire day to ourselves and I asked her what she wanted to do.  "I want to create something new for Cooking Creation!"  One of the greatest joys that I have experienced from this food blog is seeing my daughter get excited about cooking.  We went through the fridge and pantry to see what ingredients we had to work with and she came up with a plan.  After some brainstorming, she drew a picture in the living room, came back in the kitchen with her hat and apron on, and said, "I want to make chocolate cake with strawberries and strawberry-flavored jello."  We gathered the ingredients and went to work.  Chocolate cake wasn't quite enough - she wanted whole chocolate chips in it, too.  After the cake was done baking, we poked holes in it and poured some liquid jello on top so it could seep into the cake.  Yum!  We then chilled the cake in the fridge.  The last step was to top the cake with strawberries, whipped cream and chocolate syrup.  The results?  Amazing.  My little 8-year-old sous chef really has a knack for this baking stuff!  

Cheese and Mustard Snowflake Sandwich

I think I created a little foodie monster -- be still, my heart! It was time for lunch today and I ran some options by my daughter. She wanted a sandwich but not in the usual fashion. She told me she had an idea and asked me to pull out some ingredients for her to "play around with". She then proceeded to make her favorite cheese and mustard sandwich into a cheese and mustard snowflake sandwich. I was very impressed and thought it would be a great idea for an appetizer. Then, she asked me to share this recipe on my food blog for everyone to see. I now have a special category on my blog called "My Daughter's Creations" and I am hoping that it will encourage her to use her imagination for cooking more and more. My hope is that she will be making another guest blogger appearance in the near future! So, without further ado, here it is!

Ingredients:

• 2 slices 100% whole wheat bread
• 2 slices cheese
• Mustard, to taste
• Snowflake cookie cutter

Directions:

• Lay out the two slices of bread on a cutting board. Carefully press the snowflake cookie cutter into the center of each slice of bread, until it cuts all the way through.
  
• Lay out the two slices of cheese on the cutting board. Carefully press the snowflake cookie cutter into each slice of cheese as well, until it cuts all the way through.
  
• Place the snowflake-shaped cheese onto one piece of the snowflake-shaped bread.
  
• Spread mustard over the top of the cheese and top with the other slice of snowflake-shaped bread.
  
• Enjoy!