Krispy Kreme

We had to drop our cat off today to be declawed at the vet in Granger.  We use Morris Animal Hopsital - they rock!  When we went in for our presurgery appointment last week, the boys were quite traumatized, because they learned how they take animals' temps.  That sent the whole appointment spiraling out of control with lots of questions and such about why exactly the vet had to do THAT to their cat.  It was fun. NOT.  (For the record the vet was not helpful at all when I was trying to change the topic.  I think she enjoyed watching me squirm.  Oh, well.  I still like her because she is nice to my four legged babies and they love her even though she does THAT to them.) 

Anyhow, I decided yesterday to subconciously bribe the boys with Krispy Kreme.  The deal was if they were good after dropping Squirt off, we'd get doughnuts.  My idea was that the distraction of the doughnuts to come would distract them from discussing last week's appointment.  Why?  Because every time I mentioned the appointment, the vet, the cat's nails, you name it, they asked about taking the cat's temp and you can guess where that conversation went.  Thankfully, the distraction of yummy doughnut goodness did work!  They were little angels and enjoyed their doughnuts a lot. 

Now, I don't know if it was the excess sugar or what, but something got into Gav and he started talking to his doughnut like it was alive.  At one point, he asked it why it was starring at him.  Then, he told it he was sorry, because he had to bite it and it would hurt, but then it would be a doughnut amputee and that would be cool. I probably should worry about that kid a bit more than I do, but it is hard to worry when he'd making me laugh so hard I cry. 

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you, like many gardeners, have a ton of zucchinis to use, this is an excellent recipe.  It sneaks the veggie into cookies!  I grew up eating them thanks to my mom.  Now I make them for my sons.  They love them! 

1 cup shortening (I use the Crisco butter kind)

2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 cups grated zucchini
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla
2/3 tsp salt

4 cups flour

1 cup chocolate chips (or more… I like more.)

Mix all items before the flour together well. I just dump everything into my Kitchenmaid stand mixer. Then gradually add flour until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips.

Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned on the bottom. Usually, my first batch takes a little longer, but then I'm able to make my last batches in the 10 minutes.  Because the cookies are very moist, wait until they cool completely before putting in your container on a cooling rack.  You may also want to separate layers with parchment and toss a piece of bread in to keep them from drying out. 

If you shred your zucchinis ahead of time, you can freeze or store them in the fridge, but be sure to drain the liquid off before adding it to the mix.  I usually freeze mine in two cup increments as that makes making the cookies easier for me.
 
Enjoy! 

Cake for Breakfast Day!

I made my version of this cake on Monday afternoon and evening.  First off, I opted not to make the cake or frosting from scratch to save time.  Instead, I used two boxes of Betty Crocker's white cake mix and gulp, four, yes, four tubs of Pillsbury's cream cheese frosting.  I also didn't have the gel food coloring that was recommended and just used the regular McCormick coloring since the packaging said how many drops I needed to use to make vivid colors when applied to white cake.  The colors turned out just fine so I'm glad my modification worked.    

I planned to make the following layers: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, but accidentally mixed up a batch of lime green, too.  I figured that with as thin as the layers were, it wouldn't be a problem.  Little did I know that one extra layer made the cake too tall to fit under the dome for my cake plate.  Whoops.  Enter the Analon stock pot.  My stock pot was always my go to cake protector, but I thought for a cake this pretty, I needed a real cake plate to show it off.  Sigh.  It just wasn't meant to be this time. 

Sigh, my poor pretty cake is hidden away. 

I didn't get the whole thing assembled until after the boys were in bed, so I decided to declare Tuesday Cake for Breakfast Day.  The boys thought they were having boring old cereal and I said, "Not today, kiddos!"  Their eyes almost bugged out when they saw their breakfast.  It might not have been the healthiest choice, but man, all that sugar came in handy when they helped clean the house after eating!  They were in hyper speed. 

Pretty, huh?

Of course one needs milk with cake, right?  Gav is all about drinking out of the jug.  Ewe. 

Owen showing off his piece of cake and the hole from losing his tooth.

Would I make this cake again?  Yep, I would.  It was slightly time consuming, but not bad at all thanks to the cake mix and premade frosting.  Plus, the boys liked it and they are my toughest critics, so it was worth it.  Next time, I just won't make too many layers!