Superheroes in Excellence

One of my Mia Maids suggested a Superhero theme for YW in Excellence this year. (She was beyond excited.) I threw together a quick outline of ideas and here's how it turned out.

We had the girls help make starburst signs for the room.

We asked each of the girls to liken her assigned value to a superhero. For example: Batman showed faith in the people of Gotham when he continued to believe they would make the right choice. As young women we show faith by ________________.

We then glued their written parts to the back of their Superhero's symbol. This way there would be a fun visual for the audience to look at.

The girls were happy to tie our value colored tablecloths around their necks as capes. Aren't they awesome for playing along?

We didn't go all out this year, but I think the decorations were perfectly acceptable!

We tried to make our treats fit the theme too. I found candy and related it to a hero in some way. Although this was fun, I don't necessarily recommend it. The candy was a bit too expensive. I would go the colorful popcorn or rice crispy route only—which we did have in conjunction with the candy.)

Below is the outline of ideas for decorating, invitations, the program etc. You will see we didn't use them all, which is totally fine. I wrote it out so there would be options to choose from. Feel free to click on the outline below (which will bring it up larger) and print it off to begin creating your own event.

Lemon Orange Wedding Cake

This cake was made for a young women's youth group activity, where we had wedding dresses for the girls to try on! So of course we had to have "wedding cake" as a refreshment.

It is a sour cream pound cake with homemade lemon/orange curd as the filling. I like using pound cake for tiered cakes...the bread holds up so well and the flavor and texture is SO good and dense. The floral decorating uses a brush embroidery technique. The cake took 5.5 hours to frost and decorate.

For more cake ideas CLICK HERE.

Magic Pixie Dust

Last year, I gave my nieces a Fairy Portal. So Tinkerbell has been a frequent visitor to their house. I decided to ask Tinkerbell if she could collect some pixie dust so that I could give it as a gift for Christmas. The dust arrived in a cute little pouch with a tiny note from Tinkerbell describing how the magic works. 

"Sprinkle a little bit on your food and when you eat it, the magic will start working. Each color will do something different. One will help you to be brave, another smart, another happy, and lastly one to help you be a good listener. But use it wisely—it takes a long, long, long time to collect this much pixie dust because as you know the fairies receive only a cup at a time."

If you'd like to make your own, purchase sugar sprinkles and decorate the container with just about anything. Flowers, fabric, lace etc. Put it in a pouch or box that you decorate (or buy), don't forget the note from Tinkerbell and you've got a fun little, handmade gift.

If you're interested in a one-of-a-kind fairy portal, head on over to Etsy and visit Kim Detmers at Clayworks. She is so very sweet, does excellent work and her portals come well packaged with instructions.

Provençal White Bean Soup

This soup although simple is very flavorful. Adding the herbs turns this soup into a wonderful french style affair. Serve with sour dough bread. Omit the sausage if you want this to be a phase 1 meal (South Beach Diet)

Makes about 4, one cup servings

1. In a large saucepan heat over high heat:
     • 1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

2. Add:
     • 1 small onion chopped
     • 1 celery stalk chopped
     • 2 two garlic cloves, peeled and minced
     • 1/2 tsp dried basil (or fresh, minced and doubled at least)
     • 1/2 tsp dried rosemary (or fresh, minced and doubled at least)
     • 1/4 tsp dried thyme (or fresh, minced and tripled at least)
     • 1/4 tsp salt (omit if adding ground sausage)

3. Reduce heat to medium/low and cook, stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes or until vegetables are softened.

4. (Optional)While vegetables are cooking, use frying pan to cook:
     • 1 package of either breakfast ground pork sausage or italian ground pork sausage.

5. When veggies are ready add to the saucepan:
     • 2 cans (15oz) of rinsed and drained cannelloni or great northern beans.
     • 1 1/2 cups lower sodium chicken or beef broth.

6. Transfer about 1/3 of the bean mixture to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour back into the sauce pan.

7. Add sausage to the soup. Stir and allow the mixture to heat until simmering. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot, and with a dollop of sour cream.

Pumpkin Cupcakes, Cream Cheese Frosting with Caramel Filling

I've been craving all things pumpkin. I started out with a pumpkin bar recipe and after a couple of tweaks I've come out with a soft, moist, delicious pumpkin cupcake you will love.

PUMPKIN CUPCAKES
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Fill your cupcake tins with liners.

In a mixer bowl combine and beat until fluffy:
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable or canola oil (I use canola)
15oz can pumpkin

In a separate bowl sift together:
2 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix on low until just combined do not over mix.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Place in the center of the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

As soon as they are finished remove from the cupcake tin and place on a wire rack to cool. Immediately after they have cooled place in an air tight container. These steps will allow your cupcakes to remain soft and moist. (Again, Do NOT allow to cool in the tin pan.)

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

In an electric mixer whip together:
1/2 cup butter softened
8oz package of cream cheese softened
1 tsp vanilla

Add and whip together with the cream cheese mixture:
3 cups of confectioners (powdered) sugar

Keep the frosting cold until you are ready to use it.

FILLING
I am still trying to perfect my homemade caramel sauce recipe. So either use some from the store or find a recipe of your own to try.

ASSEMBLY

With a sharp knife gently cut out a hole in the center of your cupcakes and fill almost to the top with caramel. Then frost and serve.

Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are baked. So if you want to split up the work, you can make everything the day before and bake the next day. The cupcake batter will keep in an air tight container in the fridge for about a week. If you use cold batter, you will get a wonderfully mounded top on your cupcake.

Adapted from sweetpeaskitchen.

Funeral Themed Halloween Party

A few years ago my husband and I threw a funeral themed halloween party for six. 

Our beloved Leanard Slipp (three times removed) slipped away just before October 31st. He was known to only a few of us (he was something of a slippery fellow). So the funeral procession was very short. And I am somewhat ashamed to say that we had a good time in spite of our loss. RIP Slipp, RIP. 

The invitation went out with a photo of the deceased and read as follows:

You are respectfully invited to attend a funeral in memoriam of the recently departed Leanard Slipp. Bring your favorite Halloween Treats, Ghoulish games, and frightful films...prepare for a procession of six. Appropriate mourning attire is recommended.

 Above is a photo of the gravestone—which was purchased with Leanard's money of course; and also a picture of the deceased. He was rather wealthy. Below is a photo of Mr. Slipp's unused mansion; we decided to hold the funeral there. (I keep several white sheets on hand. They are handy for all sorts of things.)

My husband and I were caretakers of the grounds. (Although Leanard gave us the slip when our bill was due.)

Below are some of our guests. Some were angry with Mr. Slipp. Some were happy and shocked because they found they had inherited some of Mr. Slipp's wealth.

The mansion walls were covered with images of Mr. Slipp's deceased family members. (Some people have made vintage photos of the deceased available on flickr to download for free.) Also, there were plenty of spiders, bats, and rats to keep us company.

We had soft organ music playing in the background. (Do a google search, you can find funeral organ music for free download.) And of course refreshments were served in honor of Mr. Slipp's final resting place.

Cookie Tubs with Printed Ingredient Cards

We've all seen the cute gift idea with mason jars and ingredients for cookies...but mason jars are expensive! So instead, purchase plastic containers (4 for about 2-3 bucks) and use those instead.

Here, I've created a tag with a photo I took of the cookies, and on the back I put the directions. Then punched a hole in it, tied it with ribbon and delivered! So next time you make your favorite cookies—don't forget to take a picture. You never know when you might need it.