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Are you a cat lover or a dog lover? Or are goldfish more your speed? You'll find all those and more at K&F today!

Holden's Landing

Funky Giraffe

Carmelina Knits

Paty's Loveys

Wordless Wednesday; Forest Animals

Together Tuesday: Origami

* Origami Pond Creatures
Try your hand at origami. Here is a simple guide to making jumping frogs, that my son and daughter has been successful with.
You can also make a crane, turtle , swan and fish. Make up a whole pond full and attach them loosely to a large piece of poster board decorated to resemble a pond.

Monday Munchies: Papa Pie

When I was little, I couldn't say "Grandpa",it came out "Papa" ... and always as a whisper, I am told. The name stuck; my grandfather was forever known as Papa after that. Papa was diabetic and missed out on most desserts, so my grandmother (who, by the way, called herself "GramTowns") came up with what will always be known as "Papa Pie" in our family. Papa passed away in 1999, and I don't make this dessert often, but when I am feeling particularly sentimental, I will whip one up. It is the easiest dessert recipe you will ever make with only 3 ingredients and about a 2 minute prep time, and it is really yummy.

Ingredients:
2 packages cream cheese (I use regular cream cheese, but I suspect reduced fat will work fine), softened
1 can chunk pineapple in juice, drained
Prepared or home made graham cracker crust
4 pineapple rings for garnish

Directions:
1 - Mix softened cream cheese and crushed pineapple until thoroughly combines.
2 - Spread into the prepared crust
3 - Arrange 4 pineapple rings on top
4 - Chill until serving

Theme Thursday: Geekery

*This last seller is who I will be shopping from to decorate future baby's room, if/when there ever is future baby ♥

Wordless Wednesday: Bright

Together Tuesday: Make Rainbows!

* Wet on wet rainbows
Wet on wet painting is a staple in Waldorf education. It produces beautiful paintings with the colors all running/mixing together. To create a wet on wet rainbow painting, submerge a sheet of watercolor paper in water. Remove and wipe off the excess water with a sponge or towel so that it remains wet but not dripping. Then use watercolors to paint on the wet paper. Use a thick brush and primary colors to create arcs for your rainbow. Let the colors mix together as you paint.

-- from Earth*School "April Showers Bring May Flowers"
copyright 2004-2010

Monday Munchies: Stuffed Strawberries

Did you make the cannoli cream cake last week? Here is a recipe to use up the extra canolli filling (if you didn't eat it all with a spoon like I did. Then you may have to make some more...)

Stuffed Strawberries

Ingredients:

Strawberries (remove stems and centers)
Canolli cream
Chocolate (I use very dark chocolate, at least 85% dark, which is a great compliment to the canolli cream)

Directions:

1 - Use a pastry bag to fill the centers of the strawberries with canolli cream. set aside.
2 - Meanwhile, melt chocolate over a double boiler and cool.
3 - Dip bottoms of stuffed strawberries into the melted chocolate. Lay on wax or parchment paper and refrigerate to harden the chocolate.
4 - Try not to eat them all at once!

Theme Thursday: Daffodil Festival

Wordless Wednesday: Circus Girl

Together Tuesday: Egg shell collage

It's the day after Easter ... now what to do with all those Easter eggs???!! Sit back, make up a bunch of egg salad, and use the shells for this craft.

When peeling your hard boiled eggs, put the shells aside. Rinse carefully and allow to dry. Once dry, crush into small pieces and put them out on a plate along with glue, a paintbrush and some heavy paper. Have your child paint glue in the paper and glue the eggshell pieces to it to create a mosaic/collage picture ... or some cool abstract art!

Monday Munchies: Cannoli Cream Cake

I am the go-to girl for desserts in my family. Desserts are, by far, my favorite thing to make. I used to do fancy decorated cakes, but over the past few years (read, since opening Holden's Landing and subsequently not having hours to spend decorating a cake), I have taken to other types of desserts ... usually involving chocolate. Lots of dark chocolate.

So when Easter was looming this year, I wanted to try something different. We were I the grocery store last week and A saw a cannoli cream cake. I have heard the story about how he had been at a wedding years earlier where the cake had been filled with cannoli cream, and how it was the best cake EVER, so I figured i woudl give it a go.

This cake was more shortbread like in density and texture, which went well with the cannoli cream filling.

Ingredients for cake: (adapted from "The Cake Bible")

4 1/2 large egg white
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sour cream
2 1/4t vanilla
3 c flour
1T + 1t baking powder
3/4t salt
12T butter, softened

Directions:
1 - Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2 - Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add butter and 3/4c milk, mixing until moistened set aside.
3 - Combine egg white, 1/4c milk, sour cream and vanilla in another bowl.
4 - Gradually add egg mixture to flour mixture, mixing well after each addition.
5 - Bake 25-35 minutes. I baked in 2 Rising Sun Earthworks square baking dishes, then cut the cakes in half for 4 layers.


For cannoli cream filling/icing:
16 ounces ricotta (I use part skim)
8 ounces marscapone
1/2 c powdered sugar
dash of cinnamon (to taste)

Directions:
Mix all ingredients except cinnamon in a mixing bowl on medium/medium high. Add cinnamon to taste.


Cake assembly:
Arrange bottom layer on cake plate; spread cannoli cream on top, leaving an empty border around the edges (so when you put the next layer on top the filling doesn't squeeze out the sides too much). Put on next layer and repeat. Repeat for all layers (mine has 4). use remaining cannoli cream to frost the top and sides of the cake; sprinkle top with more cinnamon.

Note: I was planning to coat the sides with either crushed cannoli shells or mini chocolate chips, but I didn't get around to it. I will next time!

Theme Thursday: Bunnies, not just for Easter