Wednesday, June 11, 2014

A Super Cake for Super Dad

Father's Day is this Sunday! I love spending time with my husband and my dad, both amazing fathers! And of course you can't forget to make sure that all the grandpas, great-grandpas, and godfathers feel the love too.

I've got a soft spot in my heart for dads, I think they don't always get the appreciation they deserve. Even as a child I remember asking my parents why they had us make Mothers Day projects at school, but not Fathers Day projects. They answered that Mothers Day falls during the school year, and Fathers Day is in the summer. Logical, sure, but I still thought it was unfair! Let us not forget how important a strong father is in the life of a child!

As an adult and a parent, I can see all the things my dad did (and continues to do) for me and my siblings much more clearly than when I was a child. He made a lot of sacrifices and always puts us kids ahead of himself. Any pain and sorrow we put him through due to our stupid teenage decisions went mostly unseen. He truly wants what is best for us and doesn't seek out anything in return. He also taught us important things like how to tell the perfect elephant joke, how to do a military style crew report before we pull out of the driveway, that milk and eggs are really moo juice and cackleberries, and not to act like nincompoops. And of course nothing can beat his amazing dance moves and rockin' fashion sense. I mean, who else could pull off his neon yellow, multi-color print vacation pants?

While my husband may not have "vacation pants," he is a great father too. I love seeing our 4 year old Sam beg for "daddy dogs" on the swing, go on camp outs with his dad, and tell his dad that he's a cool dude. If you ask Sam what he wants to be when he grows up, he will tell you he wants to be a daddy. Already Sam is living up to being "just like dad." My husband's answer to the question when he was a child was the same!

With all the super dads in my life I thought that this superdad cake design was perfect for Fathers Day last year. All my cake decorating supplies were packed up in boxes at the time, so this cake was made with nothing more than a round cake pan, butter knife, and a zip top bag with the corner cut off as a makeshift piping bag.

For the cake I used a white cake mix and added some frozen berries and bananas to it, but of course just make any flavor that you like! For the frosting I made my simple cream cheese frosting, but I use canned frosting all the time as well.

After I baked the cake, I froze it. This makes any cake carving you may do much easier and keeps crumbs under control when frosting. After the cake was frozen I cut the cake into the pentagon shape for the superdad logo, and let my son use the cake scraps and leftover frosting to make his own creation.

Then I frosted the whole cake in blue. After that I drew the outline for the yellow part with a toothpick and filled it in with yellow frosting. Then I drew the outline for the red part with toothpick and filled it in with red frosting. I alternated red and yellow dots from my makeshift piping bag for the border.

You can find more of my past Fathers Day cakes here.

Thanks to all the Superdads out there who help guide us through life! I hope that you all have a great day on Sunday!

This post is linked up on the Catholic Bloggers Network 2014 Link Up Blitz. Check it out!


Monday, June 9, 2014

Summer Seafood Pasta Salad

School is out and summer is here! While I enjoy the extra time with my family and all the fun summer activities, Summer is not my favorite season weather wise. Yes, it's wonderful to have sunshine and green leaves and all that, especially after the long tough winter we had, but hot temperatures are not my thing. If it never got more than 80 degrees, I would be a happy girl. I've even thought that it would be a great idea to put air conditioning in the schools and have Autumn break instead!

When its hot outside the last thing I want is to be cooking in a hot kitchen, so one thing I love to do is have a big ol' tub 'o pasta salad sitting in the fridge. Not only is pasta salad cool and refreshing on a hot day, but when I make it ahead of time all I have to do is spoon it into a bowl and lunch is ready!

 This recipe using imitation crab (one of my favorite pasta salad additions) is my go-to, and would work for the "5 items or less" game on Guy's Grocery Games.

Summer Seafood Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
1 box penne pasta (or other short pasta like rotini)
1 or 2 pkgs flake style imitation crab
1 pkg cherry tomatoes
Tri-colored bell peppers, chopped
Italian dressing

Directions

1. Cook and drain the pasta. Put in the fridge to cool. If you are in a hurry you can rinse the pasta with cold water, however, that rinses starch off the pasta which keeps the sauce from sticking.
2. Add the imitation crab, tomoatoes, bell peppers and Italian dressing. Mix.
3. Store in fridge and serve as needed. Pasta salad often tastes better the next day after the flavors have had time to mingle. I like to sprinkle on a little Parmesan cheese on top.
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