The Rainbow Cake FINALLY!

The kids and I were FINALLY able to try our hand at this gorgeous dessert! I made it for the Easter celebration we had with my Mom's side of the family. The kids and I had a BLAST!

I used box cake mix for a WHITE cake and then seperated the batter into 6 bowls.

I used one bowl for each color. The kids really had fun mixing these. It was like magic watching the colors appear!

After all the colors were mixed I took my greased round cake pan and took a ladle (sp?) of red and scooped it into the middle of the pan. Then I went on to the next color. You put each color right on top of each other, they spread out on their own. I ended up being able to do two rounds of this, just kept piling it all on top of the other.

Then I just followed the directions on the box for baking and after the cake was cooled I frosted it with cool whip so it looked like a big fluffy cloud!

When we sliced the cake it was SO neat to see how the colors actually STAYED seperate! You would think that by slopping them all on top of each other they would get mixed up but they didn't.

Everyone just kept raving about how gorgeous and bright and YUMMY it was! It's just a simple white cake people! But my Nana even said, that even though it shouldn't taste any different the colors somehow really add to the taste! HEHEHE I am so not a good cook and defintely not a good baker so it just tickles me so to make a tasty treat for all my family to enjoy.

We will DEFINTELY be making this one again! I'm thinking Lakers! Fourth of July! Zebra! The possibilities are endless!

Oy!

Just clicked over to Hostess with the Mostess and look what I saw!

Nutty Peanut Butter Caramel Bars!!!!

I repeat,

Oy!

Hug-a-Boos

I got this recipe from Becky Higgins. She calls them Pretzel Hugs and I did make them last Christmas if you'll remember. I decided to make them this week when I saw the new Halloween M&Ms and their fabulous colors! Then I came up with the cute name :) BOOS get it hahaha So cute :)

And since I'm SO nice, here's the recipe for all of you (in case you don't wanna click over and search Ms. Higgins' site :) ):

• The ingredients are pretzels (the twisted kind), Hershey's Hugs, m&ms, and 2 adorable helpers!
• I always cover my cookie sheets with foil - a fabulous tip from my fabulous mother - it cuts down on clean up lemme tell ya!
• Preheat oven to about 200 degrees or so
• Lay out your pretzels, leave a lil room in between em - be sure to eat the broken ones!
• Then top pretzels - right in the center - with 1 HUG
• Put in the over just until the HUGs are soft
• Top with 1 or 2 m&ms
• Cool in fridge for a few hours**

**This is a very important step! The HUGs need to re-harden so setting them out on the counter will not suffice!

There ya go! I'd love to hear if any of you try this recipe! :) Enjoy!

Hey Good Lookin' Whatcha Got Cookin'?

My family is in a serious menu rut and as resident Suzy Homemaker I take FULL responsibility! First of all I rarely cook these days, we either eat out or eat whatevers - i.e. whatever you can grab. Second of all, what I DO cook is the samo samo every week - one night it's spaghetti, then tacos, then chicken lalas, then bbq chicken. SAME THINGS ALL THE TIME! And finally whatever I do cook, my kids don't eat. Well a few things they do. But MOSTLY they get whatevers and David and I scarf the meal we "slaved" over. I take fully responsibility for them not eating properly too - I'm pretty picky myself but who DOESN'T like spaghetti & tacos? Seriously! Which brings me to the point of this post.
I am totally overhauling and revamping our family menu to hopefully solve all 3 of the above problems. I pulled down alllllll my cookbooks and recipe magazines that I've accumulated over the past 8 years and I've been flipping through them and marking recipes that I think my family (or at least my husband and I) may enjoy. I've found quite a few so far that I'm really looking forward to testing out! I'll try and remember to post them here if they past the Gago Taste Test.
Now, all you faithful readers out there, would you be interested in helping a sista out with this lil project? What recipes do you love to cook/eat/share with your family? I'm not just talking about dinner recipes either. My kids will be home all summer and their lunch menu is in as much of a rut as our dinner menu! So breakfast, lunch, dinner recipes - lemme have em!!!
PLEASE :)

Thank you Rachael! (Joey Tribiani's voice)

Only I'm talking about Rachael Ray NOT Rachel Green :)

This is one of the yummiest dishes and it only takes 30 minutes to make! WOOHOO! You can revamp it to fit your tastes but here ya go:

Mexican Meat-zza: Mexican Deep-Dish Pan Pizza

2 boxes corn muffin mix, 8 1/2 ounces each (recommended: Jiffy)

2 eggs

4 tablespoons melted butter

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup frozen corn kernels

EVOO - extra virgin olive oil (or veg oil) for drizzling

Topping:

2 tablespoons EVOO or Veg oil, 2 turns of pan

1 lb ground beef

1 small onion finely chopped

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons cayenne sauce

Salt

2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar or Jack cheese

1/2 red bell pepper chopped

1 sm can, 2 1/4oz sliced chilies/jalapenos drained

2 scallions chopped

2 small vine rip tomatoes, seeded and diced

2 tablespoons drained sliced green olives (salad olives)

1 to 2 tablespoons chopped cilatro leaves, optional garnish

Mild to medium taco sauce to pass at table

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Mix together packages of muffin mix with 2 eggs, 4 tbsp melted butter, 1 1/2c milk & frozen corn kernels. Wipe a nonstick skillet with a little EVOO and pour in muffin mix. Use a large skillet (10-12in). Choose a pan with an oven safe handle or double wrap handle with foil to protect it in the oven. Place pan in oven and bake 12-15 minutes in center of the oven until ight golden in color.

Brown the meat over med high heat in a second skillet in EVOO, 2 turns of the pan. Add onions & spices and cook meat 5 min more.

Remove cornbread from oven and top with meat, cheese, and veggies. Place pan back in oven and cook 5 min more to melt cheese. Garnish with cilantro. Cut into 8 wedges and serve.