.firefighter birthday cake.

For my dad's 46th birthday, I decided to make him a "3-D" firefighter helmet cake since he's, you guessed it, a firefighter! This one posed some interesting challenges, but it turned out pretty well. At any rate, it was tasty which is the most important thing when it comes to cakes, right?

.video tidbit: wait for it.

You know, I feel bad for this girl, but this is too funny not to share. I have watched this video way too many times and still die laughing!

.pirates cove... here we come.

Seriously... how cool is this? Can't wait for May!

.thanksgiving spaghetti and meatballs.

This is one of my favorite recipes, and considering I'm not a huge fan of meat in general and meatballs in specific, that is really saying something! 

I found the original recipe for this on the Food Network's website and made a few tweaks to it to suit our tastes. For example, my honey hates mushrooms, so the savory mushroom gravy the original called for was out of the question!

Rachel Ray calls her recipe for this "Thanksgiving Tonight," and though my version is a bit different , but I still call it delicious! I serve this over whole wheat spaghetti with turkey gravy and plenty of real, grated Parmesan cheese (I think the cheese adds some much needed "saltiness"). As I mentioned when I posted this on my recipe blog, these are so good, I always make a double batch and freeze the leftover meatballs. Click here to see Rachel Ray's original recipe!

• 1 1/2 cups dry stuffing (I use a turkey flavored variety)
  
• 1 1/2 cups turkey or chicken stock
• 1 pound ground turkey
• Black pepper
• Salt
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
  
• 2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
• 1 small onion or 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 medium Golden Delicious or Ganny Smith apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 - 3 tsp seasoning salt
• 1 egg
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for liberal drizzling

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees F.

2. If serving with pasta (recommended), bring water to a boil in large pot for pasta. (Note: When the water boils, wait until meatballs go into oven before adding pasta. When meatballs have been in oven 4 to 5 minutes, season water with salt, add spaghetti and cook according to package directions. Drain pasta and keep warm.)

3. In small pan, saute onion and celery in olive oil over medium heat until onion is clear (usually 3-5 minutes). Remove from heat.

4. Soak stuffing with turkey stock in small bowl until moistened (usually takes a couple of minutes).

5. In a large mixing bowl, season turkey with salt and pepper.

6. Add apple, lemon juice, cooled celery, cooled onion, poultry seasoning, egg and stuffing to turkey and mix until just combined.

7. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil (shiny side down).

8. Loosely form meat mixture into 1.5 inch balls, drizzle with some olive oil (I use a brush for this).

9. Roast in oven until cooked through, firm and browned, about 12-15 minutes, depending on your oven and how brown you like your meatballs (I usually opt for the 15 minute cooking time as I like my meatballs quite brown). Note: I also recommend that you slice one of your meatballs in half to make sure it is cooked through. There should be no pink! Turkey should never be served unless fully cooked!

10. While meatballs cook, prepare your gravy. You can make yours from scratch, but I just use a mix from the store in a quick pinch.

11. Serve over pasta and top with generous portions of gravy and Parmesan cheese.

Be sure to check out this and other recipes on my recipe blog, The Queen of Cuisine!

.video tidbit: why?! why?!?!?!.

kay, this is probably the funniest/scariest/dumbest thing I have ever seen. This, ladies and gentlemen, is my nightmare...

(I should also note that the person who posted this video includes this simple disclaimer on YouTube: WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS YOURSELF. I could not agree more...)

.itty bitty candy bars.

Not too much to say on this one. Just wanted to show off some cute personalized candy bars I made as favors for Livi's birthday party.  So... here they are! These have to be some of the cutest chocolates I've seen! ^_^

.ladybug cakes.

For Livi's first birthday party, I planned a "Ladybug Luncheon." Of course I had to have a ladybug cake and I thought, "Why buy when I can create?" So, I set about my planning to make not one, but two ladybug cakes: one to share and one for Livi to destroy, of course.

I ended up making a 12 inch, triple layer, hand-carved, fondant covered cake for all of our birthday guests and a little ladybug cake with non-dairy frosting for Livi. It took a long time (especially coloring and kneading the fondant), but it was so worth it! Check 'em out!

 

(Notice the alternating chocolate and red velvet layers. Yummy!)

.happy birthday, livi.

Wow! I can't believe my little one is... one! This is the cake I made for Livi's first birthday. Her party isn't for another week, so of course I had to make a cake for the big day in addition to the cake for her party. So, here it is! This is the first cake I've made with fondant and I think it looks quite cute. It tasted pretty good, too!