Happy day after Thanksgiving peoples. Hope your holiday was filled with fun, food, and fantastic company, as mine was.

Anyway.

Christin came home for the weekend(yay!), and we decided we were going to make a Minecraft cake that we saw on Pinterest. This cake, to be specific.

Yeah we’re adventurous.

So not only did we have to make the cake, but we decided we would also try making our own fondant. And that is why this cake took about 4 hours to complete.

Here are pictures of the process after we went shopping for all of the stuff.

Before we started.

After melting the marshmallows, we had to mix powdered sugar into them until it was a texture we could handle. Then we had to knead it on a powder sugar covered counter.

Christian joined in and "helped" us. A.k.a played with the dough and got it everywhere.

Yeah this is what Christian did with the fondant we let him use. At least my phone is happy.

Kneading...so much kneading...

Then we added food coloring. Aaaaand lots more kneading.

So after a lot of kneading and trying to get our balls of fondant the right colors, which was just about impossible when it came to brown, we put them in the fridge and went to the beach. It was an absolutely gorgeous day.

Then we came back, got all cleaned up, ate dinner, then got back to the cake, which Christin had baked while we ate dinner and was already cooling. The boys went to play kick ball and man hunt and we got back to cake making.

So we got out the fondant and rolled it out. One of the blobs didn’t really work out that well. We tried adding chocolate to it for the brown one because working with red, green, blue, and yellow food coloring wasn’t working out very well, but I guess the chocolate…messed it up. Or something. Because it turned into weird tasting fudge like…stuff. Christin thought it tasted good, I thought it tasted weird, and Christian thought it tasted like death and spit it out so we ended up just throwing it away.

The light brown, where we only added a little chocolate, turned out okay though so we rolled it out and attempted to cut squares into it. That was an adventure. Christian stood over our shoulders criticizing the whole time. Most of them did not look like squares of fondant, but more like strangely proportioned rectangles of bologna.

After we got all of the fondant square/rectangle things done, we cut the cake and got them into square shapes and started dirty icing them.

Handyman/critic Christian took a lot of pictures for us.

After that, we started applying the fondant.

Nailed it.

Okay so they may not look perfect but all four of our brothers knew what they were and said they were awesome, and so did the other neighborhood kids that came over to try it.

And then it all kinda turned into a party.

And then yesterday evening we all hung out again, doing nothing really. We rode Ripstiks and tossed a football around. Some of the guys played basketball. It was nice.

And then today we played cards. For hours. Christian, Joe, Gabe, and Ian played Minecraft while Christin, Cliffy, and I played Garbage/Golf, later joined by Chris and Matt. When they arrived we started playing Spoons. It was so fun.

No idea what is going through some of these people's minds.

And then after Christin left to go back to college around 2:30, we played four square and messed around with Ripstiks again and after dinner we played basketball, aka took turns making hoops, which I am actually starting to get fairly good at surprisingly enough.

So basically, we had a fun Labor Day weekend. It was nice having Christin back — another girl amidst all these boys I’m surrounded by.

That’s about all that’s been going on. In 9 days I’ll be going up to South Carolina again, as has become tradition, and staying with my aunt for a week and a half. I am really excited to go see all my cousins. It’s sure to be fun!

Now please excuse me while I go watch more Bones. I’m totally not obsessed with this show.

Yeah that's a sad picture. I can take portraits like a boss(ish), but put me near food and I stink at it. Especially when using my phone.

So the other day I was glancing around on one of my favorite food blogs and came across this amazing recipe. The title instantly drew me in. I mean, how does on resist looking into a recipe called Jalepeno Popper Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese.

Uh, hello? That sounds like heaven, it does.

So I did it. I spent two hours making this dish last night.

And the time was worth it. Oh, was it worth it. Ohhhh yes it was.

It was definitely one of the best things I’d ever put in my mouth. On a rating of 1-10, Joe gave it a 9, Gabe gave it a 9 1/2, Matthew gave it a 100, and Ben, Sam, and Jesse all loved it.

You could taste all of the flavors so well…it was amazing.

I would definitely make it again.

And totally will.

You can find the recipe here!

Meals.

They’re a common request in this family.

And as the family cook, I make a lot of them.

In fact, I make 19 meals a week. That’s about 76 a month, and 912 a year.

That is a LOT of food. And a lot of cooking. If I spend an average of half an hour in the kitchen per each meal(often longer for dinners and shorter for breakfasts), that’d mean I spend about 547 hours in the kitchen a year.

Mhmm. And that’s not counting any baking or experiments, which I do about once or twice a month. Or WAY more than that in the winter months.

And this isn’t your normal 4-people-feeding meals. Oh no, I have to feed 10 hungry people. 7 of which are boys.

This is the alfredo I made the other night.

That is a lot of alfredo.

Yummy alfredo.

So anyway, yep. I spend a lot of time cooking. I’ve been making every meal for almost two years now. It’s pretty awesome and I enjoy doing it.

Yay for cooking!

Oops.

I looked it up to verify this.

No. I’m not supposed to eat carrots.

That’s interesting. [crunch]

As I continued eating the carrots I supposedly was not supposed to have, I found this list of foods that I am not supposed to eat.

FORBIDDEN DELECTIBLES THAT ARE REALLY YUMMY THAT YOU CAN’T HAVE:

Hard candy
Caramel
Taffy
*Hard bread crusts
*Pizza crust
*Hard nuts
*Tacos
*Tortilla chips
Corn Nuts
Popcorn
Jerky
Corn on the cob
Dried fruit

Cut these into bite-sized pieces:

*Bagels
Apples
*Raw carrots
*Raw celery
*Steak

Avoid chewing:
Gum
Ice
Bones

Watch out for sugar in:
*Jelly
*Syrup
*Honey
*Sugared cereals
*Breakfast rolls
*Catsup
*Desserts
*Sodas

* I’ve had these since braces were on.

Ok first of all I’d like to ponder why on earth they had to add “bones” to that list.

“Look I’m really sorry Mr. Orthodontist,  but I just couldn’t help myself! I had such a craving for bones.”

Wha?Anyway.  I’m pretty sure they want me to starve.

*orthodontist scans list of foods I can’t have*
“Umm…lets see. Uh. How about I give you a list of foods you can have. It’ll be a shorter list.”

I’m serious.

They want me to starve.

At least I can still have…umm…lettuce.

And umm. Rice pudding.

Hamburger Stew

Prep: About 15 min. Total: 40 min.

What you need:

2 lbs ground beef

3-5 different varieties of veggies, canned or fresh

6 beef bullion cubes

6-8 cups of water

Italian seasoning and Garlic to your liking

What to do:

1. Brown ground beef

2. While you ground beef is browning, put all other ingredients into the pot or Crock Pot

3. Drain ground beef and add to your mixture

4. If using Crock Pot, let sit for about 4 hours. If using a regular pot. let simmer for about 20 min, stirring occasionally either way

5. Dish into individual bowls, and if desired add sour cream or cheese

6. Enjoy!

WARNING: This is for a family of 8!

Thanks Mom for the great recipe.

Tater-Tot Casserole.

Prep: about 5 min. Bake: 1 hour

Oven Temp: 350

What you need:

2 pounds ground beef

2 cans of cream of celery

2 cans green beans

enough Tater-Tots to cover the top

Shredded cheese to your liking

What to do:

1. Take your ground beef and put it in the bottom of your casserole dish.

2. Take your cream of celery and spread it evenly over the ground beef, then do the same with the green beans.

3. Take your Tater-Tots and put them evenly over the top of the green beans.

4. Put your dish in the oven for 50 min.

5. When it’s done, put as much cheese as you want over the top. Bake for another 10 min.

6. Enjoy your meal!

WARNING: This is for a family of 8!

Mom’s Spaghetti

Prep: About 20 min. Total: About 25 min.

1. Start by boiling water in a big pot.

2. While your waiting for your water to boil, brown about 2 pounds of ground beef, or 1 pound of ground beef and about 20 meatballs.

3. Your water should be boiling by now. Put a full hand full of your favorite kind of spaghetti in the pot for about 10 min. We use Angel Hair spaghetti.

4. While your noodles are boiling, add either 2 cans of un-drained diced tomato or 3 chopped fresh tomatoes, 2 cans of 8 oz. tomato paste, and at least 1 16. oz can of tomato sauce or more, depending on how saucy you like your spaghetti. Add about 1 tablespoon of garlic powder, and 1 tablespoon of Italian Seasoning.

5. Your spaghetti should be done now. Drain. Put in a separate bowl from the sauce. Add about 2 tablespoons of butter. Add sauce if wanted. We keep them separate.

6. Sit down and enjoy your Spaghetti!

Prep: About 25 min. Total: About 45 min.

What you need: (we doubled the recipe for our family of

1 lb. ground beef

2 cups hot mashed potatoes

1 cup Kraft shredded Cheddar cheese, divided ( any shredded cheese will do)

2 teaspoons garlic powder (we like lots of garlic)

1 can of baby corn

1 can green beans

1 can diced tomatoes

1 cup gravy

1/2 cup of V8

1. Preheat oven to 375. Brown your meat in a large skillet. Drain.

2. Mix mashed potatoes, 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese and the garlic until well blended.

3. Stir gravy and veggies and if wanted, V8 into the meat.

4. Spoon meat mixture into a 9 in. square baking dish

5. Cover with the potato mixture.

6. Sprinkle the remaining cheese and bake for 20 min. Enjoy!

Motifyed by my mother.
Original recipe from Kraft Foods and Family