Baking a Strawberry Cake

With all our valentine preparation we have been thinking pink a lot. We have been talking about making a strawberry cake, so yesterday was the day. I looked on-line for a recipe. Most of them used strawberry gelatin which we did not have on hand, but I finally found one that used strawberries at A Dash of Sass. I made a few changes to the recipe, but not too many. I did not have self rising flour--I have cake flour, all purpose flour, organic white bread flour, whole wheat flour, and I think I may still have some brown rice flour, but no self rising flour. So I looked on line for a substitute (and to find out what it is) and found on Buzzle an easy substitute, so this is one of the changes I made.

I forgot to take pictures of us making the batter and even of the batter, but here is the empty bowl with a bit of batter left. I did not use any food coloring and didn't really think it needed any.

In the oven

The recipe makes a three-layer eight-inch diameter cake. We only had two eight-inch pans so we made one nine-inch as well.

Then we made the cream cheese frosting recipe included with the cake recipe. It tasted good, but did not spread well. I don't know what I did wrong, but something was definitely wrong. I did not use the milk and used all three cups of sugar.

But it tasted good, so we aren't too worried!

All three of us enjoyed a piece after it was frosted and enjoyed it!

The cooked color was not as pretty as the batter, but I would rather not have the artificial food coloring, so we will keep it that way. I think next time I might consider making it a bundt cake and doing a chocolate glaze for the top.

Anyway, my cake recipe adapted from A Dash of Sass:

3 cups all-purpose flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
(baking powder and salt are not needed if you use 3 cups of self rising flour!)
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup canola oil
2 cups pureed strawberries (I used frozen ones that I thawed in the oven at 250 for a few minutes and then pureed in my food processor--I did not strain the seeds out and did not notice them)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs beaten

1) Preheat oven to 325. Spray three 8-inch round cake pans with non-stick spray.
2) Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together. Then gather the rest of the ingredients without adding them.
3) Once you have all the liquid ingredients you can add them to the dry ones and mix. Then distribute evenly into the three pans.
4) Bake for 27-30 minutes.
5) Cool on rack in pan for 10 minutes than remove from pans and cool completely.
6) Frost or glaze however you would like.

Enjoy!!

Getting Ready for Valentine's Day

Today we started making some Valentines to give to family and friends and perhaps for the Kids' Valentine Swap. Are you interested in joining us for the swap? Tomorrow is the last day to sign your kids up, so please let me know.

We started by arranging hearts into different shapes. You can definitely tell which ones I made and which ones Hazel did on her own.

Hazel decided I made this one above for her. I was thinking I would send it to my nephew, but we will see.

Then I pulled out some of the cut hearts and pictures from the scrapbook paper I got (I got a great set at Target for $1 for 8 sheets including some with glitter) and my handmade paper collection.

We also pulled out the other stickers and rubber stamps. I made sure each one got stamped on the inside with the Happy Valentine's Day stamp.

Hazel had fun making different ones. Here is one for Daddy who loves turtles.

Then on the inside Hazel had fun with the stamps and stickers.

I'm not sure why she thinks it is good to put all the stickers on top of each other but she always does this. Here is the only other inside she decorated. Then she wanted to do a clean sheet of paper and cut and glue, etc.

Then last night I gave Hazel a game to play that she loved! I poured some conversation heart candies into a bowl and gave her some tongs that I bought at Lakeshore Learning Store and asked her to sort them by color into an egg carton.

Daddy and I helped and enjoyed eating them. She decided it was easier to use her hands, but we rewarded her for using the tongs by letting her eat one after she had done a few with the tongs. After the hearts are gone we may try it with M&M's. Those are her favorite candy.

She wanted to do it again after she had sorted them all. You could also sort them by sayings, but we aren't teaching Hazel to read yet so I didn't try it.


Hope you have a great day!!

Some Valentine's Day Crafts

So I saw a great idea on One Artsy Mama yesterday. Amy and her little crafter made some festive placemats. I loved the idea so Hazel and I made one today. Well, mostly Hazel did after I cut everything. I probably should have helped her with the glitter a bit more, but she enjoyed it and wants it in her play kitchen.

They are very easy to make. You take a piece of clear contact paper and decorate half of it (or at least that is what we did. I cut the length about 20 inches so the finished width would be about 10 inches.  I let her decorate it with cut hearts, doilies,stickers, and glitter. Then you fold the other half over it and press it to seal and trim if necessary.

We also decorated a felt lace heart I bought at one of the craft stores or dollar store.

I gave her gem stickers and her glitter glue and stickers. She is going to keep this in her play kitchen as a trivet. Again she had a lot of fun and I left her to decorate it how she wanted.

Those are the few things we did today besides our early play date and errands and a nap. Now I need to get ready for the Parish Council meeting at church tonight. Have a great day!!

A Mouse or Two

On Saturday, Steve and I went to Hazel's school for a special presentation for parents in the parent/child classes that are interested in the nursery school class for next year. Although we didn't gain too much information from it, we did get to make some felted mice. I had to help Steve with the sewing of the ears, but we had fun.

The mouse body is wet felted. We took some grey wool roving and rolled it tightly folding the ends in a bit as we went. Then we dampened it with water with a bit of Ivory soap in it and rolled it between our hands until it became felted. Then we made the tail by rolling it between our damp hands. Then we went and rinsed the mouse in hot water (as hot as we could stand) and then cold water and also rinsed the soap out of the tail. Then we sewed on the tail and the ears (which the nursery teacher had precut from grey felt for us). We brought them home to dry. Hazel loves them. She had asked me for a mouse awhile ago so it had been on my list of things to try. Now the only trick is to keep them away from the cats!

Another interesting article to share about our children and education: From the Asia Times Online: How America Made Its Children Crazy.

We are getting a good number of people interested in the Kids' Valentine Swap. Are you interested in having your child make valentines for kids internationally and send them with a post card and then receive them from the same kids? Check it out--just click on the button above.

Sharing Saturday is also open!! There are over 130 entries thus far. Go check them out by clicking on the button above.

I hope you are having a terrific Monday!!

Some Needle Felting

Last night was a rather quiet night at my home. My dear husband fell asleep with Hazel in her bed. I knew he was really tired, so I didn't wake him. I did go in and turn off the light before I went to bed, but since I had time to myself, I visited many of the entries to Sharing Saturday.  (If you haven't gone to check them out, you really should--they are amazing! And of course it is still open for more sharing!!)

I had total control of the television. Steve and I only watch it when Hazel is sleeping or not home. Of course Saturday night television is not very great, but I watched a few shows On Demand that are on later than I would like at night. And I did some needle felting. I had bought a needle felting kit at the Paper Source which was on their clearance table. It was to make a flower pin. It came with three bright colors of wool roving--brighter than I have seen around here. I made the flower and decided I would either glue it onto a barrette or sew it onto a hairband for Hazel.

Then I played with making some hearts. I started with the bright colors since all three colors came with equal amounts but then used a purple and white that I already had to fill in the center.

Then I made a red and white one. Seems perfect for a Valentine.

Finally I made a smaller pink one and then added a white H on it for Hazel. Then I thought about what I wanted to do with these. I decided to make the smaller one into a necklace for Hazel. This morning I sewed a piece of embroidery floss onto it and she wore it to church.

And I sewed a loop on one of the other ones for Hazel's craft tree (or small Christmas tree that I bought on clearance and we are going to hang our crafts on).

Now we just need to hang it up and sew strings on the other two. Hazel of course loved them.

An interesting article to share which makes me happy that we are sending Hazel to a Waldorf School: Wall St. Journal Article: The Importance of Child's Play

Hope you are having a relaxing weekend!