Sugar Coma Cake Balls

Well, the cake balls were a success!

I saw this recipe on www.allrecipes.com and have wanted to try it for a very long time. I decided it would be a great treat for my girl's school Valentine's Day parties, but I figured I ought to test it first. Here is the recipe (from www.allrecipes.com) -

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
• 1 (16 ounce) container prepared chocolate frosting
• 1 (3 ounce) bar chocolate flavored confectioners coating

Directions

1. Prepare the cake mix according to package directions using any of the recommended pan sizes. When cake is done, crumble while warm into a large bowl, and stir in the frosting until well blended.
2. Melt chocolate coating in a glass bowl in the microwave, or in a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.
3. Use a melon baller or small scoop to form balls of the chocolate cake mixture. Dip the balls in chocolate using a toothpick or fork to hold them. Place on waxed paper to set.

**

I read the reviews of the website carefully for some tips first too! Here are the critical tips:

1. Cut off the edges of the cake for ease of mixing.
2. Definitely mix frosting in while the cake is still very warm (hot, even.)
3. I froze the cake balls before dipping.
(4. I stuck toothpicks in all of them before dipping, but I found it unneccesary. I ended up just throwing them in a bowl of chocolate and fishing them out with a toothpick. Hence, you only need 1 toothpick instead of one for each cake ball.)

And my own additional tip, make the actual cake balls smaller than you think they should be. Mine were about the size of golf balls, but once they were dipped, they are just TOO big. They are so sweet that you don't want more than a small little bite.

For the ones I made today, I used a carrot cake mix and cream cheese frosting. The only thing I was little disappointed with was the color of the actual cake once mixed with frosting. It turned a really unappetizing shade of gray. I probably wouldn't make a carrot variety again, but I'm betting strawberry cake or red velvet cake would make a darling little cake ball!

And, even as sweet as they were, they passed my non-sweet-eater's taste test.


I honestly thought that she would not eat them. In fact, she ate TWO. I never would have let her have two, but she has an older sister who is happy to indulge her. Spoiled baby!


Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, Tuesdays at the Table, LifeasMom,

A snowy shopping run...

We had a power errand running session last night. We went to two grocery stores and to Target to get two birthday presents for parties this upcoming week. It was freezing and snowing, but I HAD to take advantage of having only one kid again on a Friday night. I miss not having my tiniest grocery buddy, but it sure is helpful (and VERY rare) when I don't have to take both of my girls with me!

Even still, this is not my greatest trip ever because in total coupon shopping failure, I didn't have a list. I'd looked at the grocery ads, of course, and they were just not impressive. I basically just decided we'd wing it at the Hen House since we'd be right by one, and I knew I needed to get cheese at Hy-Vee. That's exactly what I did.

At Hen House I got -

1 box of toothpicks
50 feet of foil
3 boxes of Electrasol gel gaps
3 cans of Red Gold tomatoes
1 can of Rotel
1 Betty Crocker carrot cake mix
1 Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting
1 box of Beechnut banana cookies
1 Pam with flour
1 loaf of Oroweat 100% whole wheat
1 Digiornio for 1 200 calorie pizza (free)
1 bag of Ore-Ida fries
1 Jack's pizza
1 El Monterrey family size enchilada
1 El Monttery Steak and Cheese taquito
5.02 lbs of apples
4.25 lbs of pears
2.19 lbs of grapes

My pre-tax total was $42.57. I saved 50%. It is far from my best total ever, but I did what I could! I was also happy to see that I saved $77.69 in January on just store sales at Hen House. I figure that's pretty good, especially since I don't do all of my shopping there.

At Hy-Vee we grabbed four bags of cheese and a package of almond bark. My total was $7-something pre-tax.

We have a busy week again this week -- Sunday dinner out with my in-laws, 2 birthday parties, Alpha is starting again, the baby has a doctor's appointment, and of course, we all have work and school as usual. We'll be taking it easy and eating pretty simply like we have done for the last few weeks. I do however have a baking project planned -- cake balls! I've been wanting to make them for a long time, and I decided they would be fun for the girl's Valentine's Day parties at school. I figured I better give them a test run though! Stay tuned. That's on the agenda for tonight!

I have to add, that I finally feel like we've recovered from our mini pantry challenge at the end of Dec. I am interested to start reading if others who participated for the whole month of January will experience an after the pantry challenge crisis like I did. The good news is, it got better! I think it really took as a full three weeks to recover from 14 days without shopping, but it was such a good exercise in eating what we had!

See also www.orgjunkie.com and www.grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com.

Mugshot.

1st Time Out.
You do the crime. You pay the time.

This may be my worst update ever as I don't have my receipt in front of me, and I can't remember my total. I think it was somewhere between $30-$35 pre-tax. I guess that means I went over for the week (see our other purchase here.) I did a really bad job with coupons on this trip. I haven't even been through last week's coupons yet, and I never had the chance to set aside the coupons I needed for either of my trips this week. At the very least, I usually try to scan through them, so I remember what I have. Didn't even do that this week. I guess this just goes to show that it's impossible for anyone to be on top of their game (even their best game) all the time.

We have a pretty good stock of food left from last week since my husband was sick the majority of this past week. (I guess we know who the big eater is around here now!) We won't be eating anything too fancy! We'll probably have a baked potato buffet at some point this week, breakfast for dinner, black bean and cheese burritos. Our Thursday and Friday night dinners are usually very simple. We're all really worn down by Thursday night, so we usually just kind of graze. Friday night dinners are on the go because my oldest daughter has ballet. For dessert, the coconut candy I made yesterday will serve our (ie my) sweet tooth well. As far as the little girl's breakfasts go, I'm also overdue for a big crock pot of baby's favorite. For now, we're getting ready to make a big bowl of guacamole! Go Vikings!

See also The Grocery Chart Challenge!

Coconut Bon-Bons

These coconut candies are one of my husband's all time favorites. They are surprisingly easy and VERY delicious. I am not really a huge coconut fan, but these are super good. They've been a Christmas tradition around here, but I'm thinking they would be a better Valentine's Day tradition. These would be so easy to wrap up in a small cellophane bag or a small box for gifts for teachers, friends or other loved ones. They hold up very well.

Recipe -

3 cups of coconut (I used sweetened.)
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 melted stick of butter
2 cubs of unsweetened Baker's chocolate

All you do is stir the coconut, powdered sugar and melted butter in a big bowl! Roll the coconut mixture in to a small ball, place on a cookie sheet, and make a small indentation in the top. Fill the indentation with melted Baker's chocolate and leave to set! I put mine in the fridge for a few minutes, and they were good to go!

(Note, I made these a little bigger than normal, so I could try to get a better picture. They should be the right size for a single bite. They are REALLY rich!)

Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, Vintage Recipe Thursday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, Tuesdays at the Table, LifeasMom, Krazy Kitchen and Mouthwatering Monday.

Hen House 01/22

We had a little bit of a hard week this week! My husband has been down the majority of the week with the flu and/or a back injury. He's finally on the upswing today, and he's also decided now that he is feeling better that he needs to turn his eating habits around a little bit. Generally, I believe in feeding my family whole foods that come straight from the earth. I feel like I do a really good job standing by that principle when I feed the girls. They very easily get by on primarily on beans, fruits and veggies, whole grains, breast milk and a little bit of dairy. However, I love to over-indulge in sugar, and my husband eats just generally too much convenience food and junk. To support his change, I made a careful effort to buy a good variety of whole foods that I know he likes.

Here is what we got on our first grocery trip this weekend -

3 bags Quaker rice cakes
2 Aunt Jemima whole wheat pancake mixes
1 bag of tortillas
1 box of Saltines
1 box of Fruit Loops
1 bag of Stacy's pita chips (free)
1 Land o' Lakes butter (free)
1 Yoplait Smoothie kit (free)
1 Green Giant pasta and veggie kit
1 Blue Bell Blackberry Cobbler ice cream (This is SO good! (Good thing I already came clean about my sugar addiction!))
1 box of grape tomatoes
2 small boxes of blueberries
6.19 lbs of Russet potatoes
.69 lbs red onions
2 limes
5 avocados

My ore-tax total was $23.60. I saved $40.55 or 63%.

I'll make one other quick trip this week to Hy-Vee for their Sunday sale.

See last week's purchase here.

Pink & Orange Shortbread

A few months back, I posted a recipe I saw on Food Network for Earl Grey Tea Shortbread. We really liked the cookies, but the Earl Grey flavor was a little too delicate for me. However, I did really like the method used for making the shortbread, and I immediately thought of a million different ways I could make them. Since I made the original Earl Grey recipe, I have also tried the same recipe with 70% dark chocolate shavings and Halloween sprinkles. We really liked all of those variations, so I was excited to try my next idea -- Orange Shortbread with Pink Grapefruit glaze. This was BY FAR my best variation yet. I could have eaten the whole batch. Honestly. (Incidentally, my mom made the same claim.)

Here is the recipe:

***

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons orange zest
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

Directions

In a food processor, pulse together the flour, orange zest, and salt, until the orange zest is just spotted throughout the flour. Add the confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and butter. Pulse together just until a dough is formed. Place dough on a sheet of plastic wrap, and roll into a log, about 2 1/2-inches in diameter. Tightly twist each end of wrap, and chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Slice the log into 1/3-inch thick disks. Place on parchment or silpat lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart (2 probably needed depending on size of sheets). Bake until the edges are just brown, about 12 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks and cool to room temperature.

***

One the cookies have cooled, I made a glaze with fresh squeezed pink grapefruit juice and powdered sugar. I couldn't tell you the exact measurements. It basically takes a lot MORE sugar than you think and a lot LESS juice. Just add the juice to powdered sugar slowly and stir until you have a thick but spreadable glaze.

Please join in the recipe sharing fun at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, Tuesdays at the Table, Diary of a Stay at Home Mom and Life As MOM!