Ravioli Parmesan and Paper Bouquets

Here is a recipe I made for ravioli parmesan. It called for chicken and garlic ravioli....which doesn't exist in any grocery store I have found. So I used pork and beef ravioli. First you make a mixture of ricotta and eggs.
Dip the ravioli in that and some bread crumbs and layer in the dish.

Cover with lots of sauce and cheese.

This was really good, but it didn't re-heat very well. I think it used too much ricotta which kinda made it nasty when you heat it up.

Here is a project I did with my clients before, and we used it again to make a bouquet for my boss when her father died.

You take coffee filters and color them with markers in bright colors. I like to seperate the colors in triangles like a pizza.

Once you're done coloring, get a squirt bottle...or a squirt gun....which I used. Soak the papers and make sure you have a tablecloth or tarp down. This will make the colors run together, which creates a sort of tie-dye effect.

When they dry, pick the circles up by the centers and gather them into a flower. Wrap a pipe cleaner around the center to make a stem.

Then I took them home to create a bouquet which I wrapped with the last of my favorite ribbon...grrrr.

Rainbow cupcakes

Here is probably the coolest thing I have made so far. I found a recipe for rainbow cupcakes that I made for my boss's birthday. First you just make a box of white cake mix...
Then you separate it equally 6 times and start adding food coloring. The instructions called for around 12-14 drops of food coloring per batch to make them really bright. First purple and blue...

Green and yellow....

And orange and red...

Then get your cupcake liners and start layering. Start with purple, then blue on top...

Green on top of blue...

Yellow on top of green...

Orange on top of yellow...

And finally red on top of orange...

The layering process took forever and I would probably only do a couple of colors next time. But, it is totally worth it...

Then I made a batch of simple buttercream and added random food coloring until I came up with a color I liked...periwinkle blue.

And I finally got a chance to use my new Wilton decorating bags and tips!

I used the rosette looking tip to make little flowers all over the cupcakes.

Up close shot...

Last shot before I dig in...

AMAZING!!! The colors even made an arc like a real rainbow. Everyone at work ate them up like crazy and thought they were so cool.

Taco Pasta Bake and Eclair Cake

First up is the Taco Pasta Bake. I have absolutely no recollection of what the exact ingredients were. It didn't have enough seasoning for me, and the taco bake that I always make anyway tastes way better.
This one used penne noodles and a lot less cheese...so that was probably the problem.

Crunch up some tortilla chips on top. I just use my taco bake as a dip to use with tortilla chips. Cause especially when you reheat it, the tortilla chips get kinda soggy.

Final result: would not recommend it.

This next one on the other hand, I definitely would recommend and have given out the recipe to many people so far. It is seriously the best thing I have ever eaten and it's sooo easy!! Fist layer an 8x8 pan with graham crackers...

Then whip up a small box of French vanilla instant pudding...so tasty!!

Let it sit for a few minutes, then add a tub of whipped topping. After I was done making the whole recipe I pretty much licked this bowl clean. The best cream/filling ever!

Add half of the cream on top of the graham crackers, then add another layer of graham cracker, another layer of cream, and one last layer of graham crackers. All of my crackers kept breaking, so the second batch I made of this 2 weeks later was a lot more attractive.

Then melt 1 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate and 1 Tbsp. of butter, add 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1 tsp. of vanilla and a little bit of milk.

Pour that on top and your done! Refrigerate it over night to get the graham crackers soft and easy to cut through. Seriously make it now, you will not regret it.

The graham crackers get easier to layer the more you make it. So hopefully it will look better than this first slice. But it won't matter anyway because it is so delicious.

Bake Sale

Here are two of the desserts that I made for our bake sale for NAMI last month. The third recipe was cookies and cream cupcakes, which I have already shown on here.
First up was Chocolate Swirl Blondies. Making the chocolate part...
Pour that into the pan...

Next make the blondie part...

Pour on top and make swirls with a toothpick...

I would suggest making both parts and then alternating pouring, because as you can see, they didn't really swirl together very well.

Caught a slice shot as I was bagging them up for sale. I didn't really like the blondie part, but they sold really well and everyone said they were good.

Next up, Lollipop Swirl Cookies. First you make some dough...

Take half of it and dye it a color of your choice...

Refrigerate them for an hour then roll both sections out on wax paper. (Which was impossible to do since the paper kept scooting all over the counter, I don't know what you are supposed to do to stop that.) I had to roll out the white part on the counter, which made it stick a little.

Slap both sections together and roll up like a log. No that is not a white turd...

Cut into slices and stick a lollipop stick in them.

Bake, and here's what you get.

Then I arranged them in my orange bucket to sell.

I bought some chocolate eggs to fill up the gaps in between the cookies, but there weren't any gaps. I didn't think they would fill up the bucket that well.

Here you can see the eggs I tried to squish in between. These were also good despite them not having any frosting.