Johnny Appleseed Activities

For the last 3 1/2 years, I have been doing what we call, "Mommy School" here at our house. Once my oldest hit preschool age, I started Mommy School and have continued on with it with each of my preschool age kids. I have many reasons for keeping my kids home for preschool, but the main reason is, I am selfish and want them home with me as long as possible.

When I plan my Mommy School schedule, I try to incorporate our monthly and weekly themes and activities to go along with that specific time of year or season. Usually around this time of year, we usually do a unit on Johnny Appleseed. Since I don't have any kids in preschool at the moment, we are taking some of our favorite activities we would usually do with Mommy School and continuing to make memories and build traditions. 

So, this last week was Johnny Appleseed week. We planned 3 different activities for 3 different days. I am often asked how I plan so many activities for my kids to do. It's all about getting organized and realizing that most activities with kids only last 20-30 minutes. If you have a plan and are prepared, these things take a small amount of your time, but the kids remember them for years to come.

 On Wednesday, we read some of our favorite Johnny Appleseed books and made some apple art. I just free handed a tree that the kids colored, and then they used pencil erasers to make apples on their trees.

 One thing we love about Johnny Appleseed is his awesome hat. My kids love to put my pots on their heads while we read about Johnny Appleseed. But this year, we made some hats of our own. I just took a piece of black poster board, cut it into 3 long pieces and measured those pieces around each head. Staple it together after you figure out how big you want your circle and then cut a pot handle out of your leftover pieces of poster board. Staple those on the inside of your circle. Easy as that! We were done in 5 minutes and I didn't have to wash any pots:)

 You can't have a Johnny Appleseed week without making something with apples. We made one of our favorite apple desserts to enjoy Friday evening. (Recipe below)

Apple Spice Cake

3 cups flour
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3-4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla

Caramel Sauce:
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray and set aside. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, combine oil, sugar and eggs. Mix on high speed until it becomes a lemon color. Gradually add the sifted dry ingredients until just incorporated. Add apples and nuts to batter. Mix to combine. Add vanilla and mix until incorporated.
Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake until toothpick comes out clean, 75-90 minutes. Remove from oven  and cool slightly on a wire rack. Invert cake onto wire rack and cool completely. Serve drizzled with caramel sauce.
For the sauce:
In a saucepan, combine all the caramel sauce ingredients, stirring until thickened to desired consistency.
Serves 10-12

Source: Martha Stewart

Cookie Cake

Some serious chocolatey goodness!!! This was my Mother's Day dessert:)

Cookie Cake

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/3 cups flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup chocolate chips

Ganache topping:
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces
1 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars. Add vanilla and eggs, mix until fluffy. Add all dry ingredients at once, mixing just until wet and dry ingredients are incorporated. Fold in nuts. Don't over mix. Spoon into greased 10 inch springform pan. Bake about 25-30 minutes, just until set. Remove from oven and cool for about 30 minutes.
For ganache: In a saucepan, bring whipping cream to a boil. Remove from heat and add chocolate pieces. Whisk until smooth.
Remove cake from springform pan and place on serving platter. Pour ganache over the top and let it sit for about an hour until it hardens. You may set the dessert in the fridge to speed this up. Slice into wedges and serve!


my bountiful kitchen

Cakes

I had fun with cakes this weekend. We had a family get together and I was in charge of desserts. I made a "Bride of Frankenstein" cake and a chocolate pumpkin cake. I forgot to grab a few things I wanted to put on my "bride" cake, but all in all it turned out pretty cute I think!

So the credit for this cake goes to my sister-in-law Courtney. I had it last week when we were visiting them and it was so good! This will be a fall staple at our house from now on! It is SO good!! Check out this link for the recipe. You will want this one-believe me!!

Belated Birthdays

This weekend we finally celebrated some family birthdays. My Mom turned 50 in July and the poor lady never had a cake! Sunday night we celebrated Mom's birthday as well as my brother's Danny and Ben. My Mom and Danny happen to love to same dessert-Mock Eclair Cake. These pictures are horrible-I apologize!!
Mock Eclair Cake
my mom
1 box graham crackers
2 small packages instant vanilla pudding
3 1/2 cups cold milk
8 oz Cool Whip

Line a 9x13 pan with graham crackers. Mix pudding and milk; fold in Cool Whip. Spoon 1/2 of pudding onto crackers. Layer crackers on top, then spoon the remaining pudding mixture on the crackers. Add another layer of crackers. Frost with frosting below.
Frosting:
2 tbsp margarine-softened or melted
2 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp cocoa
milk to thin, enough to spread

Chill 3-4 hours before serving



Ben wanted something with pineapple in it-so I opted for a Pina Colada Cake.
Again-sorry about the bad pictures!

Pina Colada Cake

101 things to do with a cake mix

1 yellow cake mix

1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained

2 (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk

8 oz whipped topping

2/3 cup coconut

Prepare cake according to package directions. Mix 1/2 can of pineapple into batter. Bake according to package directions. With a fork, poke holes in warm cake at 1-inch intervals. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over cake. Allow cake to cool. Spread whipped topping over cake. Sprinkle with remaining pineapple and coconut.