Cake Balls by Maressa

Now, the above picture doesn't at all do Maressa's Cake Balls justice! But believe me - they are so YUMMY! Jake even took one to school and share one with a couple of buddies who LOVED them and wanted to know where you could buy them. As my boys have often said, "Everything Maressa makes is good!" That's right - Maressa spoils my kids with yummy treats (I think it is because she loves to bake and secondly, knows that I really don't!" She's a great friend to have!


This is how you make CAKE BALLS.


Step 1:
Bake your favorite cake and let cool.


Step 2:
Frost your favorite cake.


Step 3: (the fun part)
Take your beautifully frosted cake and DUMP it into a bowl. Break it up and mix it up. Shape into balls and dip the balls into melted chocolate. Let harden and enjoy!




Maressa doesn't like "boxed cake mixes." I am going tell you a little secret....I thought making a cake from a box was from "scratch." Even throughout my college life. My heck - I'm cracking eggs, adding oil and mixing it - that's scratch right? It wasn't until I met Devin and his mother that I learned differently.

But Maressa says that if you are going to use a CAKE MIX for this recipe use RAINBOW CHIP CAKE MIX and RAINBOW CHIP FROSTING. Then roll the balls into WHITE CHOCOLATE.

Homemade Asian Turkey Meatballs

Devin likes to email me dinner recipes for us to try at home. The below recipe is one of them. My entire family really liked the meatballs. I know is seems to have a lot of garlic but it didn't taste like it.

For the Meatballs:

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 green onions, diced
• 1 egg beaten
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon hot oil
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Combine all ingredients, except olive oil, in a bowl. Mix well. Form into about 20 meatballs.
2. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Brown the meatballs on all sides, about 6 minutes, they will finish cooking in the sauce. Depending on the size of your pan you made need to do this in batches.

For the sauce:

• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 cup Veri Veri Teriyaki marinade
  
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon siracha sauce (optional)

1. Combine in a bowl.
2. Once the meatballs have browned, return all of them to the pan. Pour sauce over and gently stir to coat. Cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Serve over rice.
   

Hamburger Meat Tip

Here is a quick time-saving tip for dinner time. I buy the 5 lbs package of hamburger meat from Costco. When I come home (or the next day), I dice 3-4 onions and saute them in olive oil for a few minutes in a very large skillet. Then I add the 5 lbs of hamburger meat. Add Steak Seasoning. Once it is cooked - drain the fat. I divide the meat into 5 portions (basically 1 lb each) and place each portion onto a dinner plate lined with a paper towel. Let the meat cool completely and place each portion into a gallon size ziplock bag and freeze. Now I have 5 bags of cooked meat that I can quickly reheat in a pan for dinner (it takes about 5 minutes).




My Fish Heads like Sloppy Joes. I make them super simple - yes, with a couple of cans of Manwich sauce and 2 packages of my frozen hamburger meat. Hey - if they like it - why fuss with something else! We'll use half of the mixture for Sloppy Joes.

Then a couple days later I'll use the other half of the Sloppy Joe mix for my version of Tator Tot Casserole (pictured above). Using a large pie dish I add the leftover Sloppy Joe Meat which I have mixed with one can of corn and top with tator tots. I add milk and sour cream to a can of cream of mushroom soup and pour of the top of the tots. Add shredded cheddar cheese. Bake at 375 until heated through.

Edible Snowmen

My Snowman Family....




We lost power for about 6 hours while up in the mountains at the Marino Cabin one morning. So I thought this was a perfect opportunity to make edible snowman out of powder donuts. The Fish Heads thought that was a fun breakfast with Hot Cocoa. However, little Emily wasn't impressed with eating a carrot with powdered sugar on it - she said it was GROSS! Next time - I'll add pretzel sticks for arms. And I even thought about using fruit-by-a-foot fruit rolls too. They would make a cute scarf (trim the edges of it to look like fringe).

Emily's cute little snowman...

Heart Shaped Food

Ever since Tyler was a toddler - we've made HEART shaped pizzas for Valentine's. Sometimes I make my own pizza dough, other times I buy the dough from Trader Joe's. Last year I even bought a large HEART shaped Pepperoni Pizza from Papa Murphy's Take - n - Bake for $8. This year I bought pizza dough from a can - that's right - Pillsbury. And guess what - my FISH HEADS loved it and said it was the BEST HEART SHAPED PIZZA ever!!! I tried not to take that too personally - and am glad that making HEART shaped pizzas just become a whole lot easier!



My Fish Heads really like the these Little Debbie BE MY VALENTINE CAKES.



Valentine's is a great time to make Hot Cocoa. Remember to buy a couple of boxes of Candy Canes on clearance after Christmas to use at Valentine's to remind your family how much you heart them:



I love using PEEPS for Hot Cocoa!






Valentine Lunch 2009 we were up at my brother-in-law's family cabin. Here is our quick lunch. ( I wanted to remember just how cute these Reese's HEARTS are).

Banana Boats

This is a super easy dessert to make. Especially if you are already bbq-ing or camping. Or when we make tin foil dinners we always make these for dessert. Usually I don't use this many mini chocolate chips but we were at the cabin and I let the kids make them. Also, I normally add mini marshmallows but we didn't have any.



Tip - hollow out a little tunnel of the banana so the chocolate chips and marshmallows have a place to stay (I like adding chopped walnuts to mine and sometimes even coconut). We will make 4-5 of them and wrap them all up together making a tin foil pouch. Then Tyler will stick them on the bbq. Or we have baked them in the oven before (400 degrees until they are done - 30 minutes or so). Cook them long enough so the chocolate melts and the bananas get soft and gooey.

Thanks Tyler for being my photographer!!!

Valentine School Lunch

Each year I pack a PINK and RED school lunch for my kids. Surprisingly enough, even Tyler and Jake still like getting their HEART shaped sandwiches (using a big heart cookie cutter) and festive heart napkin! Some ideas to include in a special Valentine lunch:

RED jello
Strawberries
Sliced RED apples
RED Dorito chips
Any drink that is packaged in RED
RED grapes

And my new favorite thing I packed in this year's Valentine lunch are the above PINK Strawberry Cupcakes! They are so cute!