Cooking and Crafting

The cooler weather has us indoors more, and baking is back en vouge!

Kristy gave me six dozen eggs, so I thought I would make a quiche.  It's been forever since I've made one, and I really like them.  So I bought some spinach, and cut up some leftover steak we had in the fridge from earlier in the week.

It came out really tasty, but turns out the reason I haven't made one in a while is because Billy doesn't care for them. lol. of course.  I made a second one just this week, to use up the rest of the spinach, but it's just me and Emily eating on it.

I think maybe Grace and Juliet's teacher may have been subconsciously influenced by something that also came across my feed.  One night, I was super in the mood to make some brownie mix, and Grace was an awesome helper.  We filled each of the jars that we had with mix.  

Then, the next day, we got an email from their teacher that they were going to have a brownie 'bake off' in class.  Grace was thrilled.  But it was wild to me that we would both 'coincidentally' want to make brownies?  Subconscious suggestion.  

My mom requested a printer cover, so I pulled out a used shower curtain liner from the paint supply bin. 

I cut the panels, which the measuring is always the long, boring part.

All done, and stiff enough to stand up around my sewing machine!

Grace really wanted to make dead rocks for the trunk or treat.  She gave me about a week and a half notice on this, so I told her we could not, as we would need to go collect them from the landscape store, wash them, wait for them to dry, and then paint over 300.  

She was disappointed, but understood. So, she opted to make some for her class as a consolation. She made 80, so that she could give each of her classmates two, and have others to give teachers and friends in other classes.

I found a recipe to use up some canned oranges that we were given.  It's an easy recipe, and the frosting is so decadent.  It's made from whipped topping and pudding!  The girls liked it enough that Emily, Grace, and Juliet all want it as their birthday cakes next year! (recipe below)

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Cake:

1 (15.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix

1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges with juice

4 large eggs

¼ cup vegetable oil

Frosting:

1 (16 ounce) package frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 (3.5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix

Instructions:

Gather all ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together cake mix, mandarin oranges with juice, eggs, and oil. Pour batter into three greased and floured 8-inch round pans. Layers will be thin.

Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of cake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool layers on wire racks.

Make the frosting: Mix together whipped topping and instant pudding mix.

Spread frosting onto the cooled cake layers. Stack layers; frost top and sides. Refrigerate until ready to eat.

Slice and enjoy!

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I was in some kind of mood, and decided that I also wanted to make some Irish hand pies to use up some of the potatoes in the basement.  But, I had no desire to go to the store, so I made some pie crust from scratch.  It came out pretty well, considering I can't recall the last time I made pie crust!

I ate on them all week! Ground beef, onions, potatoes, and Worchester sauce in pie crust. So good.  

We found a giant cupcake pan at a rummage sale!  I told the girls that I didn't have time to make it that evening, so Emily and Grace made it.  

The cake was so good!  A very fancy flavor to it.  And the recipe calls for 5 eggs!

Emily ended up taking over the frosting duty.  It took her a long time, and she was not a fan.

We added some sprinkles, but only to half, because the only sprinkles I like are the sugar crystals.

Adding the recipe here too, just incase we want that fancy flavor again!

 The cake was good, but I think we'll be passing the pan along to the next person!

later days

Alice's 15th Birthday!

I can't believe that my little, tiny, baby Alice is 15!  She had a busy summer with diving school and band camp and the day before she started her freshman year, she turned 15!

So, this "last night as a 14 year old" picture was also "the night before freshman year" picture!

All four of her siblings had school on her birthday, so we ate the cake, but she waited until after they got home to open her gifts. = )

Billy also wanted to start a new tradition of the birthday child getting a one on two meal with us each year, so we started with Alice.  She picked Texas Roadhouse, which I thought was a very good choice. = )

I was worried about all of the high school things for Alice, but she seems to be thriving and enjoying her new school!  Here's to a wonderful year for my newly minted 15 year old, freshman, first born!  I sure do love her!

later days

you can see her party pictures here!

edit 9-9-2024: backdated for continuity. 

Alice's 15th Birthday Party!!

This year, we had Alice's birthday the weekend before her big day.  She invited friends from her old school and new school!  Her theme this year was pink Christmas.  (Yes, my summer baby loves the cold!)

I saw an idea online that you could punch 'confetti' out of leaves, so that it was completely compostable after the party!  I loved the idea, and after finding a pink leaf on the ground, borrowed a Christmas tree puncher from Ms. Jones' classroom.*

So, this particular piece of decor was completely free!

The next craft was a cardboard Christmas tree.  We already had the carboard box and the paint, so the base was free, and Alice found the bobbles at a rummage sale!  The finished product was almost as tall as Grace!

On party day, everyone loves to help decorate! 

Almost all of the other directions came from the same rummage sale mentioned above, or from the Goodwill outlet.

Chick-fil-a seems to be our default for at home parties.  No one complains. = )

After snapping this picture, I recommended that maybe they should move to the other room, where everyone might be a little more comfortable!

Alice's goody 'bag.'  A rock for every occasion!

I'm pretty sure that this was Alice's favorite gift: a dino mask from Melony!

Alice wanted an ice cream cake, and I told her I could probably make one! She was a little skeptical, but the cake turned out really well!  Sadly, she served it up before I took a picture (I was trying to get it back into the freezer before the ice cream melted) or before we could sing to her! So, this is the picture of her birthday cake.  The pink on it was edible glitter, and while it didn't photograph very well, it was pretty and shiny!

Close ups of some of the decorations that Alice hand-picked.

The confetti on the table!

A couple of the bobbles were cupcakes!  So cute.

Pink water balloons, a wrapping box that's so old it's hip again, and a confetti balloon from Grace's personal stash.  = )

Adorable vintage pitcher that we used to hold the lemonade packs!

Lots and lots of pink!

Since we didn't go back through the rummage sale finds again before the day of the party, the raw edge towel fabric was used to cover the chairs, and Grace added some flair with streamers!

This was one of her most expensive pieces, I think it was $3, but don't recall.  It was super cute though!

My happy birthday girl!

Her friends were so sweet, and I think she had a good time**!  

later days

*I may have been just slightly nosey during one of my sub days for her when I spied her drawer of punchers.  She very sweetly let me borrow it!

**until she was done and just went to lay down without giving instructions or recommendations to anyone.  Thankfully she has siblings who were able to take over the slack, because I wasn't prepared to entertain her friends!

edit 9-9-24: backdated for continuity. 

Emily's 13th Birthday Party!!!

For the past year, Emily has been talking about going ice skating for her birthday. So, about a month out, I emailed a place in East Lansing (since the one on the west side has been out of business for years) to schedule her party.  Because of games and practices at the arena, her party ended up being at 530 at night!!!!  

Despite the late start, and distant venue, she had several sweet friends join her to celebrate 13!!!

The night before her party, we made her cake.  We used crushed up lollipops to make her name.  It looked really good!

But less good by the time the party started. = ( lol.

Everyone skated up, but before getting out on the ice we snapped a group picture.

Ella repeated her awesome tendency to make sure that the twins were included in the event.

At a rummage sale I found purple and yellow gift bags, so those became the theme colors for Emily's party!  She filled them with rocks, fruit by the foot, & gushers.

Keeping with the Crocker tradition, Emily included ice skating rocks in each of her goody bags.  = )

In an exact opposite occurrence from William's party, they had an excess amount of time for skating, and ended up hovering around the table scarfing down veggies and gluten free chips, while waiting for the pizzas.

Despite buying and psyching myself up to bake a gluten free pizza option, I totally forgot until it was time to walk out the door.  Thankfully, Billy was able to stay behind to tend the pizza and join us later.  And, as a big surprise, Avia arrived earlier in the day and made the drive over to celebrate with Emily!!!

Poor Abby, despite my best efforts her pizza was cold by the time she got it, but we did our best to warm it between the fresh pizzas for a bit, so it wasn't stone cold.  

The lollipops on the cake were a truly terrible idea, since they made the cake taste fruity and look terrible, though the cake wasn't too bad if you scraped off the icing. = )

The skate time ended so that an evening hockey game could start.  Billy and the other dad*, as well as William spent most of the remainder of the party enjoying the game.

Even the end of the party wasn't a sad event, since Abby got to come spend the night. Emily had a great time, and I think she felt super loved by all who came to celebrate with her!  

later days

*Josh is Julie's dad, and he hung out for the duration.  They say everything happens for a reason, and the late start party was perfect for him, since he works third shift during the week!  So, despite my annoyance, it was a good thing for someone! = )

edited 3-28-24: backdated for continuity.