Sheet Cakes

Sheet cakes are a simple way to make dessert when you will be serving a lot of people. Our family has grown so much we typically have to make a sheet cake to feed all of us. I wanted to share with you all a few of our favorite sheet cake recipes. The Texas chocolate cake and Banana cake are courtesy to my good friend Megan in St. George....thanks Megan we love them. The Pumpkin cake is one that my sis makes.

TEXAS CHOCOLATE CAKE

1 c. margarine
1 c. water
4 TBS. unsweetened cocoa
2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
2 tsp. vinegar add to 1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp. vanilla

First put vinegar into milk to set. In a small saucepan, melt margarine, cocoa, and water...bring to boil. In a bowl, add sugar and flour. Pour the hot margarine-cocoa mixture over the sugar and flour and mix together. To the batter, add baking soda, salt, eggs, and vanilla. Pour the mixture into the batter and mix together until smooth. Pour batter into a greased sheet cake pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Frosting:
1/2 c. margarine
4 TBS. unsweetened cocoa
6 TBS. milk
3 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. nuts (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla

Have the frosting ready to put on just as the cake is done. Bring the margarine, milk, and cocoa to a boil and add the to the powdered sugar. Add vanilla. Add nuts if desired. Pour frosting on hot cake and spread all over. Let cool.

Wow....craving it as I am typing the recipe out. This is a family favorite!!

BANANA SHEET CAKE

1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. sugar ...cream these two together

add..
2 eggs
1/2 pint sour cream
2 ripe bananas
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt

add...
2 cups flour

Grease and flour a sheet cake pan. Pour batter into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Frost with cream cheese frosting.







For those of you that attended the Madsen's ladies day this past weekend, you know that I am not lying when I say that this is the BEST cake. It is so moist and light...you could eat the whole pan!!! (not that I have...) I made it this week, but since it is so blasted hot it took forever to cool. I got impatient and frosted it pre-maturely (ha ha) so the frosting melted and ran all over. Still good...just not as pretty as it typically is. I displayed the squares on one of our cakes stands. We love this one. It is perfect for fall cakes, cookies, or candies. It is only $10, so speak now if you want it!!

PUMPKIN SHEET CAKE

1 - 15 ounce can of pumpkin
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs beaten
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Serve with cream cheese frosting.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
5 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups powder sugar
3 teaspoons milk
Chopped nuts (optional)

Beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla in a mixing bowl until smooth. Gradually add sugar; mix well. Add milk until frosting reaches desired spreading consistency. Frost cake. Sprinkle with nuts.

ENJOY!!!!!

Ladies Day

Dandelion Pickers will be at the Ladies Day craft fair inside Madsen's Crafts (formally Ben Franklin Crafts) in Idaho Falls on September 25th from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. We will be selling hair accessories, cupcake stands, rings, and more! Come join us for a fun day out and some yummy refreshments!

*Madsen's Crafts is on the west side of Idaho Falls on Broadway right next to anytime fitness

Birthday idea #1.... BIRD-DAY BASH...more to come.

As previously mentioned, I am a HUGE party fan. I love all sorts of parties, but I especially love planning them. When planning a party I like to keep the costs low...mainly because I am super cheap, but I also like to be creative and find things we have around the house to use for decorations. I typically let my boys have a birthday party every year, but I have to cut back to every other year or something because there are times this party business gets a little out of hand.

My little guy turned 2 this year. I typically gear my boy parties towards sports or pirates or something "tough", but I decided since he was only 2 I could have a little fun. D.J. loves birds. He carries around a ceramic bird I picked up at a yard sale all the time. When I make up my invitations I usually try to think of something creative instead of just date, time, place... On this invite I geared it towards "birds". When typing it up I love to use different fonts and sizes. On this invite it is clear to see how old he is going to be because I bolded the number 2 throughout the invite.

Once again I wanted to make this party fun for the kids (mainly cousins) that were invited, but I wanted to keep it cheap. I decorated in turquoise and orange and gathered items around the house in those colors. I decided to have the kids make pine cone bird feeders. These are very simple but can be messy. All you have to do is gather pine cones. Please do not try this late at night when it is dark. This is what I did and I tripped and fell into a pile of those prickly things....ha ha. The kids roll the cones in peanut butter and than into the bird seed. I attached a string to them and the kids had the best time hanging them on the tree and waiting for the birds to start feeding.

I am a BIG cupcake fan as well. In fact one of my dreams is to open up a cute little cupcake shop...I can see it now "Kimmie's Kupcakes" oh.... I am a dork. It would be fun, but I am pretty sure I would gain 200 lbs eating butter cream frosting (another one of my loves). For this birday party I decided to make the cupcakes into birds using an orange wedge for the wing, m&m for the eye, and frosting for the beak and feet. I wanted to use candy corn for the beak, but I couldn't find any. They ended up being super cute...and yummy!!

For a party favor every kid got to take home a bag of gummy worms. I crushed up oreos and placed worms on top and put "every bird gets a worm"...cheesy I know, but cute.

To follow in the theme of "birds" for this party we bought our 2 year old a worm push bike. I wish I had a picture of this. It is a radio flyer brand shaped into a little green worm.

Well...that's the just of our "BIRD-DAY BASH"....hope you like it!!!

Crocheted Headbands and More!

Our mom makes these adorable crocheted headbands that go perfectly with any of our flower clips! Here are just a few of the colors she has and I mean a few. She has every color you could ever want!

She also makes these super cute wristbands!

More hair clips...We LOVE the vintage look!

We interrupt this blog for FOOTBALL SEASON

O....football season!!! Most women dread it...but us on the other hand embrace it. There is nothing better than watching a football game. The action..the hitting...yelling at the refs...cheering for your favorite players...nice plays...crazy penalties... it is just AWESOME!!!

Our family has always loved football...playing football, watching football, talking football.... Growing up the tradition in our household on Sunday was to play football. We had a perfect football field on the side of our house. Heidi being the youngest sibling complains that we never let her play, but I am pretty sure she was our permanent center. My two brothers and I would often take on some of the neighborhood kids and we were actually pretty good. After the game we would always watch NFL games...especially the Denver Broncos. I do understand that we may lose a few blogger fans when I mention this, but we are HUGE Denver Bronco fans. We have loved them through wins and loses, good times and bad times, player trades, and coach changes, o...and quarterbacks (Elway was our favorite). Heidi and I both married Bronco fans. It is the big joke that a requirement in joining the family is to be a Bronco fan. My husband and I went to Denver on our honeymoon and watched a Bronco game. We are true orange and blue fans!!

We also love to watch highschool football, college football (BSU), and Gridkid football. My schedule this week is....sons football game Wednesday, High School football game Friday, nephews football game Saturday at 9, sons football game Saturday at 11, USU vs. ISU college game on Saturday night, and practices on days in between. I know you are thinking we are crazy, but you can't get enough of football in the fall....right???

If you don't love the game you have got to at least love these things about football season.... football foods; chips and dip, chili, taco soup, grilled foods, pizza, chicken wings, and cookies...cookies aren't really a football food but I just had to add it. football weather; crisp cool nights dressed in your favorite hoodie and jeans.

I thought it would be fun to post some of our favorite football movies. Try them out if you want or post and let us know if you agree on them or not.

For all you football haters out there....maybe you should give this rough, bone crushing sport a chance. Watch it with your husband, brother, dad, grandpa, or boyfriend. Learn the rules of the game, get to know the players. Soon the game will suck you right in!! ha ha ha




Super good show...inspirational.








Funny show...the ice box reminds me of me when I was a kid! We especially love the kid that comes to practice wrapped in foam...his mom said he needed more padding. He is the same kid that has a huge snot bubble. ha ha ha.





I believe this is one of my all time favorite movies. You can't help getting goose bumps when this team comes together. It is a good family movie. Inspirational and Motivational.





2 Words for this movie "Matthew McConaughey!"













I remember going to the movie theater and watching this as a kid. I think that we ended up going twice. I actually cried in this one.




Great movie...a little naughty though.

We also love Lucas and The Express.

These are from the Bronco game a few years ago. The boys actually let the girls come along. Personally I think we are due for an ALL GIRL football trip!

Us with our awesome sister in-laws!

Ok...back to the CRAFT blog. We can make custom hair clips to coordinate with your favorite team colors. The crocheted headbands are perfect for cold football games. They cover your ears and keep you warm. E-mail us if you are interested at mailto:mdandelionpickers@hotmail.com