"Little Chef" Birthday Party

My daughter, Madelyn, officially turns 7 years old tomorrow, November 22nd.  My, how fast they grow!  It seems like just yesterday I was planning her 6th Hello Kitty birthday party.  This year, we decided on a little chef birthday theme.  

I made the invitations to look like little chef hats out of felt.  In it, I included an index card that read the details of the party like a recipe.

We made vanilla cupcakes from scratch and personal pizzas.  As expected, it was a little messy but proved to be a really fun time!  Here is a brief rundown of the party.  

When each child arrived, I led them to a table with their own apron and chef hat.  

The children were encouraged to decorate their hat and apron with fabric markers while waiting for the other children to arrive.  

During the party, I played a playlist of songs that were mostly about food:

1. Le Festin (Ratatouille soundtrack)
2. The Coffee Song (Frank Sinatra)
3. A Bushel and Peck (Julie and Julia soundtrack)
4. All that Meat and No Potatoes (Fats Waller)
5. Juila's Theme (Julie and Julia soundtrack)
6. Beans and Cornbread (Louis Jordan & The Tympany Five)
7. Ham 'N' Eggs (A Tribe Called Quest)
8. Tea for Two (Ella Fitzgerald)
9. Yes, We Have no Bananas (Louis Prima)
10. That's Amore (Dean Martin)
11. Special Order (Ratatouille soundtrack)
12. The Pasta Song (John Riggio)
13. Be Our Guest (Beauty and the Beast)

Once they were all done decorating, they put on their aprons and hats and headed over to the "cupcake station", where they would make vanilla cupcakes from scratch.  Before starting, I asked the children, "What is the first thing you do before you start cooking?"  Two of the young chefs knew the answer, which, of course, was... wash your hands!  We then went through each of the ingredients on the recipe card to make sure they were all laid out and measured properly.  We discovered, by design, that the milk was missing!  Each child took a turn carrying out the recipe directions.  I taught them little techniques and tricks along the way, like how to level out flour, how to get egg shell out easily, etc.  They were amazed how the batter's texture and color would change with the addition of each ingredient.

After we finished making the batter, we put the cupcakes in the oven and got to work on our personal pizzas. Each child was given a small ball of pizza dough on a piece of parchment paper that had their name written on it.  They rolled out the dough with their own rolling pins into whatever shapes and sizes they wanted.

I then placed out a muffin pan filled with pizza toppings in each well and they were encouraged to decorate their pizzas using as many of the toppings as they wanted.

Some of the children preferred plain cheese and others got really creative!

By the time they were done decorating their pizzas, I had enough time to remove the cupcakes to cool and up the oven temperature for the pizzas.  I then placed the pizzas in the oven and they played the pin the cherry on the cupcake followed by spaghetti, spaghetti, meatball! (duck, duck, goose).  The pizzas were done cooking, so we took a break and ate them along with snacks and pink lemonade.

Next, it was time to decorate their homemade cupcakes.  I think licking the frosting was their favorite part!

We then sang happy birthday.  The birthday girl made a wish and blew out the candle on her very own cupcake.

The kids got a kick out of playing hot potato with an actual hot potato.  We then did a pinata and they used their chef hats to hold the candy that fell out.  Gifts were opened and family and friends were thanked for both their presents and their presence.   

I handed out to each child a gift bag.  Inside of a mixing bowl, I placed a personalized recipe book that included the recipes we cooked at the party along with blank recipe cards for the future, an oven mitt, a wooden spoon, their personalized chef hat and apron, and a rolling pin.

We had a great time!  I highly recommend this party theme for those of you with children who are interested in cooking and/or baking.  Children of all ages love getting their hands into ingredients and making stuff with them.  Some other food ideas for a chef party could be homemade soft pretzels (children could make shapes out of them), salad on a stick, cookies, meatballs, tacos and fruit kabobs.  There are so many options!

Baked Doughnuts

Today is April Fool's Day and it seems like everyone has been getting in on the fun.  Even nature played a wonderful prank on us this morning with snow.  What a strange sight it was to see my day lilies covered in snow.  As my husband was leaving for work, my daughter hugged him goodbye, looked down and said, "Your shoe's untied."  He looked down as she giggled, "April Fool's!"  It's such a fun day.  Last year, I had my family thinking I was pregnant again.  That was a nasty trick!  Scroll to the bottom of this post to see cupcakes I made to look like spaghetti and meatballs.  Those were so much fun to make and really made you look twice before you bit into them! 

So, today I baked doughnuts, which happens to be my 300th recipe post.  300 recipes in a little over a year -- no fooling!  This was the perfect way to celebrate.  I love how these doughnuts are not fried.  They are so light and fluffy and have become my go-to doughnut recipe.  I found them over at Brown Eyed Baker, where Sugar Crafter guest posted the recipe.  Salad for lunch, salmon for dinner and doughnuts for dessert!

Happy One-Year Blogiversary to Me ...with some Humble Pie

On February 22, 2010, CookingCreation.com was born. My, how things have changed in a year! Starting this food blog has been such a positive experience in my life. All of my recipes are now organized in one place, I have learned and tried so many new recipes and techniques and I have made so many new foodie friends that are kind and supportive. Cooking Creation has grown from 0 to 62 followers in 365 days. I have become my local newspaper's weekly food blogger, become a Foodbuzz publisher, been featured in various foodie websites and hope to one day make a living cooking. I have learned a lot but there is much more to learn and I am nowhere near where I want to be. Five years ago, I was terrified to heat up a can of vegetables in the microwave and now I have a food blog. If I can learn to cook (and love it), anyone can!

Humble Pie

To celebrate, I baked a three-tier cake, one of the items on my to-cook list. I spent so much time on and put so much effort into this cake for my blogiversary and I had visions of grandeur. It was completely from scratch from the gum paste flowers (my first time ever) to the butter cream frosting to the vanilla cake to the strawberry filling. But alas, it turned out nowhere near where my mind's eye envisioned. I thought to myself, I knew I should have covered it in fondant! Why did I drizzle the strawberry sauce on the top?! There is no way I'm posting this cake on my blog. My husband and daughter walked in the kitchen and I threw my hands up in the air and said, "Don't even say a word! It's terrible! I killed it!" Then, my beautiful little daughter slowly walked up, looked at it and said in her sweet little voice, "Mama, I think it's beautiful. Besides, it doesn't matter what it looks like on the outside; it matters what it tastes like on the inside. And I bet it tastes delicious." My heart melted and I suddenly felt remorse... and very humbled. She was right. It did taste delicious even though the outside wasn't nearly what I was hoping for. Today, a 6-year-old daughter reminded her 29-year-old mother of a life lesson: It's the inside that really counts. So, instead of not posting my celebration cake on my blog, I am putting it out there for all to see. Yes, I can cook and yes, I can bake but I sure can make a mess of things sometimes, too! Without further ado, I present to you my very first three-tier cake... or as I now like to think of it, humble pie:

Looking Back

My first entry: "Hello! Wannabe foodie and photographer here! I love to cook and have had my fair share of good and bad experiences. Overall, I would rate myself as an intermediate-level cook. Although I am not entirely sure what direction this blog will go, my current goal is to post some successful recipes and share my cooking calamities. Thanks for stopping by!"

My first recipe: Chicken Tortilla Stew in a Crock Pot - February 22, 2010

"Hello Kitty" Birthday Party

My daughter officially turns 6 years old on November 22nd. It is so crazy how fast times flies by! I threw a Hello Kitty kids' party for her at our house today, November 20th, and we had a blast!

When the children first arrived, I directed them to the Hello Kitty station, where I gave them each a set of ears (made by yours truly) and painted their faces. As the children were waiting their turn for the face painting, I invited them to color and write their names on their Hello Kitty bows and have some snacks, which were fish-shaped pretzels and pink lemonade with red ice cubes. All of the faces were painted and the first activity was to play pin the bow (that they decorated) on Hello Kitty. After that, it was time to do the pinata. I bought a Hello Kitty pinata from Amazon.com but the seller screwed up the order (grrr) and my mom ran to the store for me to buy another one. It wasn't Hello Kitty but it was just as good -- Spongebob! Now that the children had had some time to socialize, it was time to decorate their very own Hello Kitty cupcakes. I gave each child a pre-made cupcake along with a dollop of frosting and candy decorations for the face. I think they did a wonderful job!

Click here for the Hello Kitty cupcake recipe

Next, we played Mouse, Mouse, Cat (duck, duck, goose), then yarn toss (hot potato) and then Kitty says (Simon says). The best part of the party for little Ms. birthday girl was opening the presents, of course. We sang Happy Birthday and had some cake and ice cream. I was surprised that the kids still wanted cake after they had eaten their cupcakes!

I took a group shot, which I will use for a personalized thank you card, and gave the children bags filled with Hello Kitty goodies before they left. And they went home nice and sugared up for their parents! ;)

It was such a fun day!

Break for a Week

I will be taking the week off from blogging to spend some quality time with my family before school starts for Madelyn, who is going to kindergarten this year! I thought I would leave you with some of my recent favorite recipes.

See you in a week!

Italian Wedding Soup



Cajun Chicken Sandwich



Ricotta-Parmesan Ravioli in Marinara



Ratatouille's Ratatouille



Chicken Parmigiana

Baked Spiced Apples



Chicken Alfredo Pizza with Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomatoes



Maple-Walnut Cookies with Toasted Walnuts and Maple Glaze



Summer Fruit Tart

Giveaway Contest -- $40.00 Gift Card to CSNstores.com!

Just a reminder -- don't forget to submit your favorite recipe for a chance to win a $40.00 gift card!!

I am pleased to announce my first-ever giveaway contest! The winner of this contest will win a $40.00 gift card to CSN Stores to spend however and whenever their little heart desires online. CSN Stores has over 200 online stores, which features cookware, shoes, outdoor furniture, school shopping, home improvement, dining room sets and much, much more. The winner will have no problem spending the $40.00 -- trust me! Check them out at CSNstores.com!

So, here are the contest details/rules:

Contest Details:

• Comment on this post with your favorite recipe.
  
• The recipe may be literally anything that you love to make.
  
• The contest will end on Monday, September 6, 2010 at 12:00 PM, EST. Submissions received after that time are disregarded.
  
• You are limited to one recipe submission per week. If you list more than one, only the first will be taken into consideration.
  
• Submissions must include ingredients, measurements and cooking times.
  
• When the winner is chosen, they will receive a $40.00 gift card via email to use whenever and however they want! If you feel comfortable, please include your email address in the recipe post. If you do not feel comfortable doing that, email me at mail@cookingcreation.com.
  
• The winner will be announced on this blog on Saturday, September 18, 2010.
  
• The winning recipe will be blogged about, obviously giving credit and praise to the winner's name and entry.
  
• Good luck and have fun!
• Email me at mail@cookingcreation.com with any questions.
  

General Rules:

• This contest is open to residents of the United States and Canada only.
• Please refrain from commenting on my Facebook page regarding this giveaway as it goes against Facebook policy.
  
• If you are using a recipe that is not original, please cite the source (if you know it).

Homemade Old-Fashioned Onion Rings

Wow, wow, WOW! These are amazingly good. When I saw the recipe and hundreds of rave reviews on Allrecipes, I knew instantly that I was going to try these. The taste is spot on and they are crunchy and salty -- perfect! I changed the technique from the original recipe as the bread crumb definitely adhered more evenly after I changed it. If you want to impress company, make these!

Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet onion, sliced into 1/4-inch rings
• 1 1/4 c flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1 c milk
• 3/4 c dry bread crumbs
• Seasoned salt, to taste
• 1 qt oil, for frying

Directions:

• In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
  
• Dip onion slices into the flour mixture, until coated; set aside.
• Whisk egg and milk into the flour mixture using a fork.
  
• Dip floured rings into the batter to coat. Allow excess to drip off of the onion rings for a moment.
• Pour bread crumb into a shallow bowl. Coat the onion rings and set them aside. Remember to use one hand for handling the wet ingredients and one hand for handling the dry ingredients.
  

• Preheat deep fryer for 365 degrees.
  
• Deep fry the onion rings for 2 to 3 minutes, until golden brown.
• Season the onion rings with seasoned salt.
• ENJOY!