Funnel Cakes Just Like at the Fair

I love Fair food. I'm not sure what it is about it. Maybe it's all the grease (cringe). But it's tasty!  Funnel Cakes are in that category of deliciousness for me.  Who doesn't like fried dough covered in sugar?!  (That really wasn't a question.  If you don't, please keep that to yourself.)

My son had a friend stay the night and whenever we have company I try to make something fun and different.  Oh sure, if they ask for pancakes or eggs or cereal I'll make that, but if they're up for something new - bonus!  So we made Funnel Cakes.   I'm pretty sure he liked them because he ate three!  =o) 

After I made these I thought to myself "do you eat funnel cake for breakfast?"  It's called a cake.  But we eat other things with powdered sugar on them for breakfast.  So I made the executive decision that yes, you can eat funnel cake for breakfast!

Funnel Cakes

Source: Moms Who Think

* 1 egg

* 2/3 cup milk

* 3 Tbsp. sugar

* 1 1/4 cup flour

* 1/4 tsp. salt

* 1 tsp. baking powder

In a deep skillet, heat about 2 cups oil over medium high heat until hot.

Mix all of the dry ingredients together.  In a small bowl, mix egg and milk.  Slowly add to flour mixture and stir until smooth.

Using a funnel, pour mixture into hot oil starting in the center and working out making a web pattern.  Seriously, just squirt it everywhere.

It kind of looks like a big pile of worms =o)

Cook for about 2-3 minutes until golden brown.  Place on a paper towel for a few minutes then transfer to a plate.  Serve with powdered sugar.  Yum, right?!

We are maple lovers in this house so I made a maple frosting for some of them.

Delish!

Maple Frosting Recipe

* 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

* 2 Tbsp. butter, softened

* 2 Tbsp. maple flavoring

Mix well and try not to eat it right out of the bowl.

Enjoy!

Now I'm off to Google when the Fair is coming to town!

 

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From You Flowers Review and Giveaway

Who doesn't love getting flowers? I haven't met a person yet. Flowers are just so cheerful (not to mention beautiful!)

I have a lot of family who live out of state and I am constantly struggling with what to send them on holidays and birthdays.  I can come up with tons of ideas but then to ship them?  It costs a fortune!  So I started finding "fun and different" things to send to family.  One of these things is flowers.

From You Flowers is one of the nation's leading retailers in the flower and gift category, offering hand arranged, same day delivered flowers for every occasion and sentiment. Voted "Overall Best Quality and Price" by CNBC and Vera Gibbons (Valentine's 2010) and “Best Value” by CBS News (Valentine’s Day 2009).  That says a lot to me.

I had the opportunity to review their It's a Beautiful Day Bouquet

Isn't it beautiful!

It Includes:
• Pink Roses
• Orange Daisies
• Hot Pink & Light Pink Carnations
• Purple Alstroemeria
• Purple Passion Vase

But here's the coolest part.  Here's the bouquet that was delivered to my house.

Doesn't it look exactly the same?  That's important to me because the number one thing I hate about ordering something online is getting it and being totally disappointed because it looks nothing like the picture on the internet.

I just love the deep, rich colors and the bouquet smelled so good.  There's just something about fresh flowers that smells like summer time to me.

This amazing bouquet can be found on their website at www.fromyouflowers.com and retails for $39.99 (regular), $49.99 (deluxe) and $59.99 (premium).  It's currently on sale for the season so don't miss out.
From You Flowers has generously offered all of my readers a 15% discount code to use.  That's 15% off any flower arrangement you order.  Just enter the code01T when you order.

Are you feeling a little patriotic?  How about winning a gold ($100) gift care, silver ($50) gift card or a bronze ($25) gift card to FromYouFlowers.com?  Go here to enter anytime before July 31st.

And what's better than one chance to win?  TWO!  Yep, two.  You have a chance to win this bouquet also.  Just enter on the rafflecopter below for you chance to win.  How wonderful would it be to win and send this summer-y bouquet to a friend or family member?  Or maybe just enjoy it yourself!

 Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 
 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Kelly Kits Review and 48 Hour FLASH Giveaway

My two favorite things, crafting and giveaways! (Man, throw a brownie in there too and I'd be in heaven!) =o)

Kelly Kits is an amazing company geared towards art play.  But how is Kelly Kits different from the other crafting kits available on the internet?  Kelly Kits is a "club", for lack of a better word, where you receive a monthly craft kit delivered directly to your home.  I love things that are delivered =o)

But Kelly Kits is more than just a craft kit.  They encourage art play with kids using a huge variety of creative tools and materials that offer way more than just a coloring book.  They are a craft project and an educational tool to use with your children so they use their imagination while learning concepts such as counting, shaped, spacial relations, to mention just a few.

The idea behind Kelly Kits came from Kelly Hanson, the Mom behind Kelly Kits. She wanted a crafting/art kit all in one for her kids.  Because seriously, what's worse that starting a craft with your kids and finding out you're missing a piece!?  I hate that and believe me, that's happened to us a lot.  With Kelly Kits, everything is included in the kit... everything!

The kit that we were sent to review was their Printmaking: Sponge and Stamp kit.  It came with everything we needed to create: paint, paper, sponges to cut out, a pencil (to draw shapes on the sponges), scissors and even a small cup to mix the paint in.  See what I mean by everything?

There is an instructional page each month with the activity and ideas/suggestions to do with the kit.  It is a teaching tool as well as a craft project.

My daughter loves to draw, color and paint so she was pretty excited to see what was in our kit.  And it was so much fun watching her decide what shapes to cut out and what to do on her paper.

These were the shapes she decided on.

Fun!

How cool!

You can find Kelly Kits on Facebook, Twitter or on their Kelly Kits website.

Want to win a Kelly Kit?  Or even better, an entire year's subscription (that's 12 kits!)  Come back on September 17th when we begin the Keeping Kids Creative Giveaway Hop for your chance to win!

But wait!  Kelly Kits is giving away a full year's subscription to one of Making Memories With Your Kids readers right now!  Head on over to their Facebook Page to enter to win.  And there's something in it for everyone!  Ever reader that enters will receive a code for a free Kelly Kit of their own.  That's a $9.99 kit free (you will have to pay a one time shipping fee of $2.49) but there is no obligation to redeem your code.   

So go enter and see if you win!

 

Root Beer Float Cookies

My kids and I just love root beer floats. I mean, seriously. Root beer and ice cream? Heaven!  I just love the way the ice cream freezes the root beer.  Oh yum!  So as soon as I saw this recipe over on Dreaming of White Chocolate I ran to my somewhat local baking store, The Decorette Shop, and bought root beer flavoring.

These cookies are wonderful!!!  They have pudding mix in them which is my new favorite.  We first discovered pudding cookies a couple of months ago.  I love them!  Adding pudding mix makes the cookies so moist and soft.  They have a slight taste of root beer (I'll add more flavoring next time) and the white chocolate chips taste just like vanilla ice cream.  YUM!

Root Beer Float Cookies

Source: Dreaming of White Chocolate

* 1 cup butter, softened

* 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

* 1/4 cup sugar

* 2 eggs

* 1 Tbsp. root beer extract

* 1 small package of instant vanilla pudding mix

* 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

* 1 tsp. baking soda

* 1 package (12 ounces) white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, mix butter and sugars until fluffy.  Add pudding mix, eggs and root beer extract and mix thoroughly.  Add flour and baking soda.  Fold in white chocolate chips. 

This is a perfect job for a little helper.  I don't know about you, but apparently I have to watch my little helper a little better.  Can you see her sucker?  She covered it in cookie dough!

Use a medium cookie scoop and drop balls of cookie dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake for about 9 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned.

Transfer to a cookie sheet and let cool.  But I advise trying some when they are warm.  They are delicious!

I wish I would have taken a picture of the cookie sheet after my daughter scooped out the dough.  There were about 8 cookie dough balls in a pile and the rest of the cookie sheet was empty.  She said "it's okay, Mom, that's how it's supposed to look."  Huh, I didn't know that.  I guess I learn something new every day =o)

Awhile ago we made root beer float fudge and I almost ate the entire batch.  (I know, not pretty!) But look how delicious it looks!

We also made root beer float popsicles.  We LOVED these!!!

 

We'll have to find some more root beer recipes to make!  So stay tuned =o)

Enjoy!

 

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{Secret Recipe Club} Double Layer Oreo Cake Bars

It's that time again - Secret Recipe Club time.   If you still haven't heard of the Secret Recipe Club, where have you been, welcome.  =o)

Our fearless leader Amanda from Amanda's Cookin' stepped down and we have a new Top Dog, April from Angel's Homestead.  Welcome and thanks for taking over so we can continue doing this amazing challenge/club each month.  And another thank you to Angela from Big Bear's Wife for guiding this group!

My assignment this month was The Avid Appetite.   Rachel says that three years ago she couldn't even boil water.  She was determined to be a "kick ass wife who could not only watch football but could also make a mean meal anytime.  And I think she succeeded.  She has made some amazing dishes!  Some that stood out to me were her:

Greek Layer Dip (pure heaven)

Pumpkin Butter (I'm going to make this this fall)

Grilled Zucchini Coins (I would like to eat this right now for breakfast!)

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Marshmallow Oat Bars

Jelly Bean Brown Sugar Cookies

Oreos are my son's favorite things. He loves everything oreos so when I saw this recipe I knew it was the one I had to make. And he was eager to help me! (I love that!)

Double Layer Oreo Cake Bars

Source: The Avid Appetite

* 1 box chocolate cake mix

* 1 box yellow cake mix

* 2 sticks butter, room temperature

* 2 eggs

* Oreo cookies (2 sleeves), crushed

* 1 can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a 9x13 baking pan with aluminum foil and spray generously with baking spray.  (I use the kind with flour in it.  Works great!)

In a bowl, mix 1 stick butter, 1 egg and the chocolate cake mix.  It will be pretty thick, like dough.

Press the chocolate layer into the bottom of the lined 9x13 inch pan.

Now mix up the yellow cake mix.  Mix 1 egg, 1 stick butter and yellow cake mix and mix thoroughly.  Press on top of the chocolate layer.

Crush Oreos.

We used these.

I had a couple of coupons (really good ones) and then they were on sale so we got them for really cheap.  And they claim to be healthy.  So look at that!  A healthy dessert. =o)

Pour the Oreos over the yellow layer.

Pour the can of sweetened condensed milk over the Oreos and bake for 40 - 45 minutes.

Let cool completely before you cut it (or it will be a sticky mess.)

My son loved these so much!  Perfect for the Oreo lover!

Heavenly, right?  I thought it was an excellent recipe choice.

I've had so much fun being a part of this amazing club!  If you missed previous months posts, here they are: 

Bannock: Skillet Fried Native American Bread

Beautiful Beet Bundt Cake  

French Butter Cookies  

Puff Pastry Mini Apple Bites  

Egg Shaped Brownies  

Pecan Pie Bars  

Cinnamon Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars  

Double Chocolate Caramel Mousse Cookies  

Chai Tea Bread  

Cinnabun Cheesecake  

Marble Cake with White Chocolate Glaze  

Mt. Bachelor Bars  

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip 

Ummm... apparently I like desserts!  Ha!  I'm pathetic! 

Now let's look at all the other amazing bloggers participating in today's SRC reveal.

 

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How To Make A Naked Egg

Yeah, you read that right, a naked egg. What the heck? What's a naked egg, you ask. Well read on because if you have kids and if they like science at all (or doing cool things) they will love this one! 

First I'll tell you how to do it and then I'll explain how it works. 

How to make a Naked Egg

Source: Imagination Station

You'll need:

* an egg (not hard boiled, just a regular egg)

* vinegar 

* a jar

Fill a glass jar with vinegar. 

Gently add the egg.  Make sure there's enough vinegar to completely cover the egg.

Here's the hard part.  Now you have to wait and see what happens.

After about 12 hours you will notice a white foam on the top of the jar.  That's the egg shell.

After about 2 days gently take the egg out of the vinegar.  Rinse it off and what do you have?  An egg with no shell!  You read that right.  AN EGG WITH NO SHELL.  How cool is that?!?!

How does this work?  

The shell of an egg (typically a chicken egg) is made up of primarily calcium carbonate. If you soak this egg shell in vinegar (which is about 4% acetic acid), you start a chemical reaction that dissolves the calcium carbonate shell. The acetic acid reacts with the calcium carbonate in the egg shell and releases carbon dioxide gas that you see as bubbles on the shell. The egg insides remain intact and are held together by the two fragile membranes just inside the shell.

Weird, right?  So it's a naked egg.

You can bounce the egg if you drop it about an inch or so above a counter top.  

It's squishy!

And if you hold it up to the light you can see the yolk in there moving around.

And look how much it grew!

If you want to see your egg get really big, simply put it in a cup filled with water. The makeup of the inside of the egg is around 90% water. If you put the egg in a cup of (100%) water, the water will begin to move inside the egg through the membrane to equalize the amount of water inside and outside of the egg membrane. This process of water moving through a membrane is called osmosis. Osmosis equalizes – or makes the concentration of water on both sides of the egg membrane the same. This means the egg will swell as the water moves inside and get larger.

It's freakish, right?

Try it and see what your kids think.  They'll love it and learn a little science at the same time.

 

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