Dog Food Birthday Cake

The older I get, the less effort I seem to put into my own birthdays. I mean, I love birthdays, especially mine. I always have. I want to celebrate in a big way every year, but parties just don’t seem to happen like they once did in my twenties. It’s alright though, because now I’m a Momma and I have an awesome preschooler to throw birthday parties for. And she is certainly one to appreciate a good party. She never fails to give me the perfect reactions of sheer childhood excitement and joy that I always hope for. My kid is A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

My kid also knows what she wants. Believe you, me.

When she turned 2, and actually grasped the fantastic concept of a themed birthday party, she had already decided what kind of party she wanted for her 3rd birthday. At TWO!! She, with the utmost certainty said that she wanted a puppy party, or a “Fernando” party (Fernando is one of her little stuffed animal “guys” who also happens to be a puppy dog.) I knew this desired theme was being inspired by the party she had just had, because for her 2nd birthday, I used her most favorite stuffed animal guy in the whole world, Happy the rainbow Hedgehog, as the inspiration and theme. So I was almost certain that she picked another one of her “guys” thinking that all birthday parties must be themed around stuffed animal friends. Makes sense when looking at it from the perspective of a very clever, creative and confident toddler.

Fast forward to a year later. When her 3rd birthday got closer, my kid was still holding strong to a puppy dog birthday party, the very same idea she had declared nearly a year before, after turning 2. I have to admit, I wasn’t feeling up to the challenge of making a “Fernando” cake, because my kid is all about the details, each and every little, meticulous nicety, and so if I made one deviation from her beloved cream and brown miniature puppy dog, I would never hear the end of it. I’m a smart Momma, so I steered her toward one of her most favorite books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and that party was awesome and so much fun to plan. However, having the memory of an elephant, my now 3-year-old, on the VERY SAME NIGHT of her 3rd birthday party, had once again shared and declared her wish for her 4th birthday party's theme, that was 364 days away. No kidding. Can you guess what it was? Yep, a puppy dog party! One way or another, she was determined to have a “Fernando” birthday party.

Throughout the year, I would randomly ask her, “So what kind of birthday party do you want when you turn 4?” And it was always some sort of variation of, “I already told you, a Fernando party.” There was obviously no chance of changing her mind. However, as the year went on, I was able to get her away from being so specific with just Fernando, and encouraging her to embrace the idea of a more general puppy dog party, incorporating all kinds of dogs, including Fernando.

Fast forward to this fall, almost a year after her 3rd birthday, and it was final, my soon-to-be 4-year-old would be celebrating her 4th birthday with a puppy dog party. Why did I ever question it to begin with?! With only a month left until her special day, l happily threw myself into the planning and prepping.

I was still in no state to attempt a puppy dog cake, so I took to Google with my mad internet savvy searching skills in hopes of finding something unique and fun. The internet is a wonderful thing, people. The ideas and creativity is overflowing, and it's truly inspiring. What I discovered was this awesome Dog Food cake, perfect for a puppy party!

Super simple to make and fun! If only all birthday cakes were this easy.

Oh, and as we were cleaning up after her birthday party this year, my little, grown-up, sassy, but sweetheart of a 4-year-old says to me, “Momma, I want a beach party for my birthday when I turn 5.”

Of course you do. Of course she does!

INGREDIENTS
1 boxed cake mix of the chocolate variety (I used Devil’s Food)
1 box of Cocoa Puffs cereal
1 container of chocolate icing

WHAT YOU’LL NEED
1 Pyrex 2.5 L bowl
1 medium sized dog food bowl *I don’t have a dog, but I found the perfect blue (my kid’s favorite color) dog bowl for $4.99 at Ross – the very same bowl was $15.99 at PetSmart!!


Preheat the oven to whatever temp the cake mix box says.

Prepare cake as directed on the box.

Bake in the 2.5 L Pyrex bowl for about 40-50 minutes. Use a toothpick to test the cake if you’re unsure. Insert the toothpick and then remove quickly. If the toothpick comes out clean, your cake is done!

Remove cake from oven and cool completely.

Once the cake is cooled completely, take it out of the Pyrex bowl and put it into your chosen dog food bowl, rounded dome side up. My dog bowl was the perfect size for this size cake, so I didn’t have to trim my cake at all. It fit perfectly!

Frost the cake generously with the chocolate icing and immediately press the cake with Cocoa Puffs cereal until the cake is completely covered.

That’s it! You’ve got yourself one tasty and unique dog food cake for a perfect puppy dog party!

Banana Mash Magic Bars

In the infamous words of celebrity stylist and reality TV show Hollywood nut, Rachel Zoe... BANANAS!

Like her ridiculously fabulous and contagious catch phrase, I too say (and feel) BANANAS!

It’s all Bananas today, but not in Rachel’s glamorous couture “I die” fashion way. I’m talking full on crazy. Nutty. Fruitcake. Bonkers. Cuckoo. Redonk!

Side note, The Rachel Zoe Project on Bravo is a vice of mine. A guilty pleasure of mindless entertainment. I’ll admit it, I love living vicariously through that show. Gosh, I miss L.A.

Anyway, this will all come together, I promise.

So apparently my daughter’s little best friend says, “banana phone” randomly, constantly and just because.

“He says banana phone ALL-THE-TIME!” She just provided me with this quote, when I asked her to remind me about said preschool drama.

The mere mention of this silly, nonsensical fruit communicator drives my kid absolutely crazy. She comes home from preschool and one of the first things she will share with me about her day is how her little BFF, L, “…won’t stop saying banana phone. It makes me mad, and nervous and frustrated. I DO NOT like when he says banana phone. UGH!” And once again, that is a direct quote from her, I promise you. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I wanted to.

She and her little BFF are 4-years-old, by the way.

On the flip side, while she absolutely detests her friend’s love of saying banana phone, she herself has been unknowingly using a “banana phone” a lot lately, it’s her “new” thing. Let me paint you a picture. She uses her thumb and pinky as the receiver; listening to her pretend caller on the other end of the line through her thumb and talking into her pinky. Can you picture it? And apparently said caller is hard of hearing, because she feels the extreme need to semi-yell and conduct her pretend phone call in a highly entertaining, yet boisterous manner.

Here’s just a small snippet of her latest “banana phone” conversation, that I actually typed (for the purpose of this blog) as she was “pretend” conversing with one of MY mommy friends! (That’s another thing, she doesn’t call HER friends, she calls MINE!) And for the record, I have changed nothing, this is exactly how it went, but I really wish that you could have heard the actual "call" with her snarky, little girl tone, deep, exasperated sighs, and the melodrama that surrounds each random, yet probably well thought out delivered response. It's great!

This is one-sided of course, as I can’t hear what pretend mommy friend is saying on the other end:

How did you even know that?

(pause)

Oh, I’m sorry. Yes.

(pause)

Ugh! I’m not even saying it again! (rather frustrated)

Will you listen to me?

Yes, I am sitting on the chair. (exasperated)

Yes, girl. It is.

(pause)

No, thank you.

Awww. (pause) Awwww! (said so sweetly)

What?! (belly laugh)

(long pause)

No, not right now.

Yes. He is coming to my birthday party, stop asking me that. (pause) Please stop asking me that. (pause) Ugh! (once again, exasperated)

Why? Banana phone makes me very nervous. (the topic always comes up!)

You can stay here for 100 days. It’s OK.

(pause)

Stop saying banana phone! Ugh!

* * *
Like I said, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.

So while she’s hating on her friend's every mention of banana phone, and talking on one of her own, I, in my own little culinary world, have been trying to desperately figure out what in the world to do with the 3 browning bananas that are sitting in my kitchen, attracting flies of the fruit variety. Oh, how I detest fruit flies. Loathe them unconditionally. I must rid myself of them and these sad looking bananas.

Of course there is always the favorite fall guy – banana bread – but I wanted to try something different. I was feeling ambitious and creative, and a wee-bit kitchen crazy, so I decided to improvise. (Read: throw a bunch of yummy, complementary ingredients in a bowl and add a little mashed banana to it.) The end result was unexpectedly and surprisingly delicious! Kooky, but yummy. BANANAS, actually!

See, I promised it would all come together.

It doesn’t have an official name, as it's a random, dessert hodge-podge, but I decided on calling it Banana Mash Magic Bars, because basically it’s similar to a Magic Cookie Bar, but with mashed bananas mixed in. I mean, why not, right?! It sounded good to me.

This whole day has been a bit bananas, but at least I can finally say farewell to those obnoxious and dreadful little fruit flies that have been plaguing my kitchen for days now. No more! And no more ugly, brown bananas trashing up my counter tops.

It’s the little things in life.

INGREDIENTS
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 ½ cups flaked coconut
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
2 cups crushed graham crackers crumbs
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used mini chips)
½-1 cup chopped nuts (I prefer pecans, as always!)
3 very ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 350°. Melt butter and pour into a foil-lined 13x9-inch baking pan.

Sprinkle with 1 ½ cups crushed graham cracker crumbs and the coconut. Use a fork to spread mashed bananas over butter, cracker crumbs and coconut mixture evenly, as seen in the below photo. A fork works great for evenly pressing it over mixture. Pour sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk) evenly over bananas; sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts, and remaining ½ cup of graham cracker crumbs.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars and serve.

Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Pie

I love to cook. I love to bake. I love to entertain.

I have said many times over the years, that I would love nothing more than to be a wealthy, socialite housewife so that I can entertain and throw fabulous cocktail parties and swanky soirees all the time, whenever the shindig spirit moves me! Right now I am a middle-class housewife that entertains when I can afford it. Boo.

I really do love to entertain and host. I think hospitality is one of my God-given gifts. And a fun one it is!

Any reason to host, throw, or plan a party, get-together, or whatever, I’m in. I’m on it like white on rice. And then I like to add rainbow sprinkles to the whole shebang. That’s just a metaphor of sprinkling in snazz, jazz, pizazz and flair; my own personal, creative touches to every little detail possible. (Plain white rice is boring, afterall.) I’m all about the deets; fun, fabulous and festive ones at that.

I’m telling ya, just give me a few great recipes, a couple of colorful Chinese paper lanterns and a package of chic little cocktail napkins, and you have one happy girl (and hostess!)

You know, even if I had deep pockets or an expendable cash flow to afford a plethora of caterers and bartenders, chefs and bakers, I still wouldn’t hire it all out. Nope, I wouldn't. I would still plan the menu myself and make the delectable nibbles myself, and bake the sweet schnibbles myself. Yep, I would. Not to mention still having a heavy hand in party décor and delight. Who needs professional party planners when party planning is your own, personal passion?! I would still do it all, because I love it. The big 3… cooking, baking and entertaining. I love it all.

Even my little girl has been bitten by the fabulous and exciting party bug. She has always loved pretend play and often throws and plans parties of her own. As we speak, she's in her playroom, planning a surprise, hedgehog themed birthday party for one of her stuffed animals or “guys” as she calls them. She just came down a few minutes ago and handed me a book, Hodge the Hedgehog, it’s my “invitation” to Peeper’s birthday party. Peepers is one of her “guys” who also happens to be a hedgehog himself, so naturally he’s being fêted a grandioso and appropriately themed hedgehog birthday bash. She’s upstairs talking a mile a minute about invitations and decorations, cake and presents. Peepers’ favorite color is green. I would bet my life’s savings that green details will be everywhere when I arrive at the birthday party that my creative child is so fervently planning for her beloved guy. Lucky Peepers. Gosh, I love my kid.

So this weekend my dear friend and former across-the-street neighbor, A, was visiting from out of town. What a primo-perfect occasion to host a small girls’ get-together. We had dinner at one of our favorite, local Japanese joints and then a few of us girls came back to my place for dessert and after-dinner drinks. I baked up a couple of sweet treats, my hubbs mixed up a couple of cocktails, and in typical girly-girl fashion, fun was had by all. (Shout out to Fly Tape Evans!)

Even mini mingles like Saturday night feed the joy of an entertaining soul. Especially this wallet-watching, housewife hostess!

One of my go-to, no-secret, super-simple and crowd-pleasing desserts when hosting and entertaining is Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Pie. It’s quick and easy, and everyone loves it. I dare you to even TRY and eat only a schnibble. Can’t do it.

I wish I had taken a photo of the pie slice while it was still all hot and right out of the oven, so you could see they yummy, ooey-gooey, melty, chocolatey goodness of the pie innards, but alas, I did not. It’s still pretty scrumptious looking though, isn’t it? Add a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top of your warm pie slice and you’ve got yourself a pie party in your mouth, people. Seriously!

INGREDIENTS
Recipe from Nestlé

1 unbaked 9-inch deep-dish pie shell*
2 large eggs
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) butter, softened
1 cup (6 ounces) Nestlé Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels (chocolate chips)
1 cup chopped nuts *I like pecans or peecans (depending on where you live!)

*If using a frozen pie shell, use deep-dish style, thawed completely. Bake on baking sheet; increase baking time slightly.

Preheat oven to 325°.

Beat eggs in large bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in flour, sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter. Stir in morsels and nuts. Spoon into pie shell.

Bake for 55-60 minutes or until knife comes out of pie center clean. Cool on wire rack. Serve with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

Serves 8.

Oatmeal Carmelitas

We've lived on our street for about a year and a half and it took longer than expected to get to know the neighbors, but when I finally got to know my neighbor directly across the street from me, it was like friendship heaven wrapped in the prettiest suburban bow.

I cannot write or say enough kind and sweet things about my neighbor, A. She is simply awesome in all the ways you hope a neighbor friend would be, and then some. A lifelong friend, indeed.

But in June, she moved away. {insert boo-hoo-hoos here} Her husband is a proud Army soldier and therefore, she must go where his duty calls.

When she originally shared with me her news of said, pending move, I was beyond sad. Nearly devastated. It brought me back to the days of my own childhood as an Army Brat, watching my friends move away, because their Dads were reassigned somewhere else, or worse yet, my Dad was being sent to a new assignment and I had to move away as a result, leaving best friends behind. But this time, it was my friend's husband taking her away, not her Dad, however, the feelings were exactly the same.

It had taken so long to find a friend like A. She truly is a rare, genuine diamond amongst many, many cubic zirconias, if you know what I mean. And I wasn't exactly in the mood to throw another pity party for one, hoping and wishing for new friends. I mean, I had just recently (and finally) taken the proverbial paper bag off my sad-sack head and was finally enjoying the friendships I had most recently been blessed with, especially A. I wasn't going back to pity party central, sans friends. No way, no how.

So as reality set in and A moved away, I was wishing and hoping and thinking and praying (remember that song?!) for a new neighbor that was as equally awesome. A's house didn't sell right away, but when it finally did at the end of the summer, it was worth the wait, because a super family moved in. I'm so lucky to have a new neighbor who is simply the peaches and cream, for sure!

The new neighbor (also an A) invited us over for dinner (how cool is that?!) and so I offered to bring dessert, of course. I mean, what else would I bring? A salad or a shrimp cocktail ring just doesn't convey the appropriate sentiment of joy and "welcome to the neighborhood" that an über yummy, homemade dessert does.

So what is a girl to bring to a new, awesome neighbor who deserves nothing less than something spectacular? Well, Oatmeal Carmelitas of course!

Culinary Caveat: Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are my absolute favorite cookie in the whole wide world. No contest. So it's an automatic given that any recipe using the winning OCC cookie ingredients would (by default) be spectacular in my book. Nevermind, adding a little caramel sauce and chopped pecans to the whole shebang... holy sweet goodness, Batman! And something about the delicious duo of oatmeal and caramel spoke the love language of Fall-baked perfection to me. Hello, October!

It's practically dessert heaven wrapped in a delicious bow of love thy neighbor. Really. It is.

Oh, and on a side note, my dear, sweet friend A (who moved away in June) is coming to visit me this weekend! I mean, if that isn't the cat's pajamas, then take my Oatmeal Carmelitas and feed them to the dogs. (Don't you dare... I was just being dramatic.) These bars really are THAT spectacular! I hope my new neighbors enjoy them just as much as I enjoyed the "taste test."

Here's to new neighbors, good friends, the arrival of autumn and Oatmeal Carmelitas! Now go make some for yourself!

INGREDIENTS
Recipe from Pillsbury

Crust
2 cups All Purpose Flour
2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups margarine or butter, softened

Filling
1 (12.5 oz.) jar (1 cup) caramel ice cream topping
3 tablespoons All Purpose Flour
1 (6 oz.) pkg. (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts *I like pecans or peecans (depending on where you live!)

Preheat oven to 350°.

Grease 13x9 pan. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In large bowl, combine all crust ingredients; mix at low speed until crumbly. Reserve half of crumb mixture (about 3 cups) for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture in bottom of greased pan. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.

While the crust is baking, in small bowl, combine caramel topping and 3 tablespoons flour; blend well.

Remove partially baked crust from oven; sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts. Drizzle evenly with caramel mixture; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Return to oven; bake an additional 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool 1 hour or until completely cooled. Refrigerate 1 to 2 hours or until filling is set. Cut into bars.

Enjoy on your own or share with a neighbor! I vote for the latter.