MAY I SUGGEST A FEW MOTHERS' DAY GIFTS?

I usually do not post personal pictures on this blog, but for mothers day I thought I had to... Me and my wonderful kids! Well, getting back to business, if you are going to "suggest" a gift to your husband here is a list of a few you can pick from. I am not suggesting flowers, chocolate or chocolate strawberries, cards or jewelry, as I am trying to be a little more  creative. Although of course, we all like those too! Some are very expensive but other are free! Nowadays everyone is trying to keep cost low and in truth what really matter to us is to feel loved. So maybe all your kids or husband can do is do stuff for you like you do for them the rest of the year... Whatever you do or get, just be happy and that IS possible if you chose to be happy without carrying a mother flag for that one day! Remember this is not a day to get things done! Take the day to enjoy yourself!

• A gift basket like above (a gardener's basket, fruit basket, baking, spa, wine and cheese, magazines/books, green mom, picture frames, essences, scrapbooking, etc)
• No cooking, doing laundry or chores on Sunday or the whole weekend.
• Breakfast in bed, take out for lunch (unless you like crowds) and eating out for dinner.

• A massage or facial or both! 
• Gift certificates from your favorite stores.
• Hubby going away with the kids the whole day while you relax doing whatever you like (in the jacuzzi, reading, chilling with a glass of wine, gardening, shopping, photographing, painting, or all the above!)

• A jewelery box like the one above (I LOVE this one! If you have the box, you need to fill it up!)
• A new bicycle, new running shoes, Yoga accessories or whatever your favorite sport is.
• A camera or camcorder.

• A key chain like above
• A retreat trip (nature, spiritual, Yoga)
• Anything personalized, like the suncatcher bellow.

• Dinner for two!
• Hubby taking your car to be serviced for an oil change, tire rotation and detailed car wash. Say goodbye to the cheerios that manage to survive under car seats!
• A hot air balloon ride or tandem skydiving! Oh yeah!

• A Panini Press like above.
• A sawing machine.
• A Breville Citrus Press or Juice Extractor like the one bellow

• An Apple iPad. If hold it, you want it!
• An outing to the zoo, the park or a town nearby you like to go for the day or weekend.
• Fair Trade, Sustainable Wage, Handmade African Baskets like the one bellow.

•  A car!!! Why not? Don't you deserve it? ;-)

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TRADITIONAL BRAZILIAN PARTY CANDY, YUM!

These are trademarks at kids birthday parties in Brazil: "brigadeiro" and "beijinho de côco" or chocolate candy balls and coconut kisses. All my friends know  they are part of my parties! They are pretty easy to make, it just takes time to roll them, but the effect is worth the work. Besides they are amazingly delicious! Say goodbye to your diet!

Chocolate Balls (brigadeiro):

• 1 can of Nestlè condensed milk
• 4 tbsp unsweetened chocolate powder
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter + butter to roll the balls
• chocolate sprinkles to coat

Coconut Kisses (beijinho de côco):

• 1 can of Nestlè condensed milk
• 100g coconut powder + some to coat the balls
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter + some to roll the balls
• cloves 

(Do not buy sweetened American coconut. You will need to use pure coconut, dry and powdered. If you have a Brazilian store nearby or a grocery store which offers Brazilian products on their Internationl isle you will can find it. Or you can find it at the Indian section at your supermarket too. In Texas we have Fiesta where I find mine at great part with Indian products.)

The preparation is the same for both:
In a sauce pan add the condensed milk and chocolate or coconut. Mix well BEFORE, then heat the pan at medium flame. When warm add the butter. Keep mixing until it starts to thicken. It will get more watery before it thickens. Don't stoop mixing and don't try to use high heat to speed up! It will burn the mixture! When it starts coming of the bottom of the pan, it's ready! Turn off the stove and place it on a buttered shallow pan (glass or metal) until it cools. Once it is completely cool, it is ready to be rolled.
This process is simple and easy, but it can get messy. It is WAY easier if you have two people. One to roll the balls and another to coat them. First open the paper or aluminum cups you will use to serve. (I am lucky enough to have someone bring to me the tiny cups above, I never found them here). Use the smallest cups you find. Place a thick layer of the coat (chocolate sprinkles or coconut powder) on a plate. Spread butter into hands and fingers and roll the balls into your palms in circular motion. Then coat with the coconut or sprinkles. If you don't  have a helper, make a few then coat them, wash your hand and start again. A helper will save you the constant hand washing! You can use color sprinkles too, like I did above. For the coconut kiss, decorate with a clove in the middle, but remove it to eat.

(The size of the balls and quantity of them will depend on the size of cups you find, thus the size of balls you are making. For mini cupcakes paper cups, you will get about 30 chocolate or 4o coconut balls for each recipe.) If baking for a bigger party, you can double or triple the recipe with no change on the results.

TIPS: If you do not like chocolate or coconut (some people ARE crazy!) you can do a white ball just with the condensed milk. If you LOVE both, try coating the chocolate balls on coconut! Yum! For a themed party use colored sugar to match the theme!
These recipes can be made up to 10 days to 2 weeks in advance. Freeze the rolled balls into a container and place them on the cups the day before the party. If baking up to a week before, just keep it refrigerated.

Bom Apetite!

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JUMBO CUPCAKE, a show of rainbow colors!

For my daughter's rainbow birthday party I made small cupcakes for the kids and a jumbo rainbow cupcake to sing the happy birthday and served that to the adults. The cake was beautiful to decorate the table of treats but specially colorful when cut open! It is said that people eat with their eyes... I don't know, but for the first time we had no leftover  from the kids' birthday cake!

 

I used a white cake mix (because I had made from scratch a lot of other treats) but you can use any white cake recipe. Do not use whole wheat flower or yellow cake mix, because the colors are never going to be right. Divide the cake dough in six equal parts and color using food or frosting coloring to make purple (blue +red), blue, green (blue + yellow), yellow, orange (yellow + red) and red. Layer on a jumbo cake pan (I bought it at Walmart) starting from purple and going up to red. Follow the usual instructions of your recipe for baking. You will do the same with the frosting to top after cooked. Take a look at my post on the small cupcakes with rainbow frosting. (I colored extra frosting when baking those to cover this cake). Start applying the frosting from the top (inside) and move outwards. I am not a super baker, so I didn't achieve the perfection I would like but to be honest it didn't matter!  The colors do the trick for an attractive cake anyway! I recommend placing cake on a white cake stand or decorating with white marshmallows around the cake if you do not have a white stand or serving plate. (the contrast is better and if using the marshmallows they will look like clouds!). This same technique can be used for smaller cupcakes. Enjoy!

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PARTY CUPCAKES WITH RAINBOW FROSTING

Since I had so much to do for my girl's party, I decided to use a ready cake mix for these cupcakes served to the kids. I used Funfetti from Pillsbury but any cake will do since the colorful detail is the frosting anyway. Simply separate any frosting you decide to use in six equal parts (bellow) and color them, if using store bought, the 50% less sugar is best. TIP: making the cupcakes was easy, the presentation was awesome and it cost me a fraction of ordering a cake! For the adults I made a Jumbo Cupcake with colored dough!

TIP: Look for frosting color at a craft supply store as they usually have a bigger variety of color. Or simply use food coloring as such: purple (blue and red), green (yellow and blue), and orange (red and yellow). Top with colored sprinkles and arrange on a neutral color platter or tray! Voilà! It looks like the kids liked them...

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MAKE A RAINBOW PARTY - FUN & COLORFUL!

Somewhere over the rainbow a little girl turned 3!  

The party was simply beautiful! This is a gender neutral theme you can use for any age. All the food served was colorful and I had a table of treats (above) to die for! Since the party was outdoors, I placed rainbow colored pinwheels around the yard, planted colorful flowers on a large pot a month in advance so the pot looked more mature for the party (bellow) and even decorated with wind chimes and outdoor decor following the theme.

Here is what was served: veggie platters (broccoli, red and yellow cherry tomatoes, carrots, yellow squash and petit cucumber), fruit trays (black grapes, strawberry, papaya, mango, green grapes, blueberry, oranges, grapefruit and  kiwi), avocado, blue corn and yellow corn tortilla chips, butter popcorn, rainbow goldfish and fruit loops. Unfortunately there are no pictures of them. ;(

We decided to buy an inflatable bouncer instead of renting one and it was great! We paid almost the same and the kids have been using it a LOT! But since it was a little smaller then the ones we use to rent I bought a "paint your own" pin wheel (it is VERY windy in Texas in April) at Oriental Trading Co. So I set a few cans with markers for the kids to draw, but I wasn't sure kids would be interested. It turns out it was a huge success! Kids really enjoyed!

I paid attention to every detail... To sing happy birthday, instead of the traditional hat, I opted to each guest a rainbow lei, displayed in  a glass canister before given out (bellow). Bows of a rainbow ribbon (found at Hobby Lobby) added a little charm here and there.

But the table of sweets was the hit! I am not sure if it was because of the decoration or the delicious treats! That is why I will be posting recipes  and detailed pictures of all the sweets this coming week! So you will need to check for: the butterfly goody bags, Brazilian Chocolate Balls (Brigadeiro), Brazilian Coconut Kisses (Beijinho de Coco), Soft Mary (Maria Mole), Rainbow Jumbo Cupcake, Confetti Cupcakes with Rainbow Frosting! Yumm! We we still had Rainbow Layered M&Ms, Jelly Beans Jar and Lollipops!

I could not have done it without the help of my family who was visiting from Brazil and the wonderful work of my friends from idea studio, who made the personalized invitation, labels and thank you notes! Thanks for coming! 

Besides the butterfly bag each guest received a bag with a tag saying "thanks for coming!" (above) with little toys all with the rainbow colors, but I found the rainbow crayon at OTC.

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DON'T YOUR KIDS JUST LOVE CATERPILLARS?

I am pretty sure almost everyone recognizes the picture above! Yeah! "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by author and terrific illustrator Eric Carle. But does your child really knows what a caterpillar is? Caterpillars are the larval state of butterflies and moths. Show your kids these amazing pictures from Wikipedia! Wow! Aren't they beautiful?  Don't your kids love them? Well, they will if you grow some at home! Simply buy the Butterfly Garden (bellow) by Insect Lore and you too will love them! It is fascinating to see how fast they grow!

Think outside the cocoon! How about having a caterpillar party for your child? You can make caterpillar cupcakes, rent an inflatable crawl toy and buy stickers like these! (or go to ideastudiodesign.com, they can personalize everything paper, from your party to your life!)

Other foods you can arrange and serve as the cute creatures include cookies, crackers and mini pancakes. Basically, anything round! 

Looking for caterpillar wall decoration or paintings? Try the triple canvas one bellow! Or the button caterpillar art!

 

When looking for toys, the choices are almost limitless, but my favorite still is Gund's "Tinkle, Crinkle, Rattle & Squeak Caterpillar" available from tiny to giant!

For girl's clothes you can't beat this shirt and hair clip bellow!

 And of course you can try crafting some caterpillar with your kids by painting some foam balls, gluing pom-poms together (pipe cleaners make antennas and feet) or recycling egg cartoons like this one:

And if you are lucky to found one around, let your little scientist touch it or hold it!

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HAPPY VALENTINES! BAKING WITH THE KIDS

Kids LOVE baking! This Valentine's Day take time to let your kids mess up the kitchen and learn the pleasure in giving. There are many easy treats and cards you can make together. They will feel proud of giving out goodies THEY made! But please, let THEM pick their own Valentines. If you really feel they left someone behind you think they shouldn't , just tell them that now it's YOUR turn and include that person or family on the delivery list.

Just add 3-4 drops of red food coloring to any white cake baking mix and you have pink cake. For the topping we used 50% less sugar vanilla icing with 2 drops of red color and my 2 year old spread the red sprinkles on top! We hope the Parkers and Gurfinkels like it!

Nothing was easier than baking these ready to bake Valentine cookies. To add charm we used a pink cake stencil as base, on top a silver charger. Alternatively, you can cut red or pink construction paper to use as background!

You can't figure out if the chocolate makes the strawberries tastier or if the the strawberries make the chocolate richer! This is such a fast and easy recipe! Wash and drain 1lb medium to large organic strawberries leaving the green stem and leaves. Microwave a 4oz semi-sweet chocolate bar or any chocolate you like broken into pieces for 30 seconds. Stir and repeat in increments of 15 seconds until soft. Dip strawberry in chocolate holding by the stem and decorate with your favorite  sprinkle. If you like a thicker chocolate coat, let the chocolate harden and repeat the dipping process before applying decoration. Refrigerate for 1 hour or freeze for 10 minutes. Yields about 20 deliciuos chocolate covered strawberries!

Use heart shaped cookie cutters to cut pancakes, bread, cheese, turkey... or as a stencil to create Valentine Cards. Make heart shaped breadsticks using crescent roll dough and Parmesan cheese! It is so simple. Be smart! Be creative! Be sweet! Be lovely! 

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