Halloween Elves!

One of my very favorite things to do each year is to make the kids' Halloween costumes.  I don't do much sewing, other than mending, during the rest of the year.  I have plenty of good intentions to sew other things, but most of those items are tucked away in my little sewing desk.  

But letting the kids design their own costumes is crazy fun and I really love a good project.  So we go all out! 

This year they both wanted  to be elves (not the Santa variety).  So we busted out the mythical creature &  Dungeons and Dragons reference books and got to work designing.  Basically, they found items they liked in the books or thought them up on their own- I drew them out and then we headed to the fabric store.  

I seriously love it when these boys get into the crafty spirit.  They actually LIKE going to the fabric store!  The sewing process is something I mostly do on my own, but the boys helped refine the designs and recommend any changes needed.  It was sort of like Project Runway, but with a smaller budget and more felt.

G opted to be more of a nature-y elf with leaves around his collar and a leaf-shaped hat.

S is more of a warrior elf with totally adorable felt elf ears and wrist cuffs.  

I'm so excited for them to get to wear these this weekend!  Anyone else have some cool costumes they made?

A Strawberry MIracle

One of the best parts of the kids' birthday cake was the strawberries.  Strawberries are their favorite fruit (and all-around favorite food on some days), but their birthday is in October- not exactly prime season for these little berries.  

But thanks to the miracle of hoop houses, we have locally grown, organic strawberries in October.  Pretty amazing, but it makes sense.  We're got fantastic sunshine well into fall in Minnesota (okay, except today).  Adding even a little greenhouse/hoophouse/old window pane over a garden can dramatically raise the temperature and extend the growing season.  These strawberries tasted almost as good as the June berries from our garden!  I'm tempted to start construction on one now so I can be eating garden berries in April!

Now more about that cake:  Out of endless possibilities of flavor combinations, the boys chose chocolate peanut butter with strawberries on top.  They couldn't really decide between chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting or peanut butter cake with chocolate frosting.  So I did what any chocolate and peanut butter lover would do.  I made both!

oops- forgot to take an inside shot until now.  Just a few slices left!

This cake has peanut butter cake with peanut butter buttercream and then chocolate cake with chocolate ganache over the whole thing.  It was kind of like a giant, cakey peanut butter cup (no complaints here).  

The coolest part was that all the kids at their party were asking for more strawberries before they even finished their cake.  Hooray for fruit-loving kids!

So grown up! 

Stuffed Crust Pizza!!!

There are just too many commercials on TV about stuffed crust pizza. I don't think I've ever had stuffed crust pizza with real cheese, but I imagine it being one of the most indulgently amazing things ever. I mean, there's already cheese on top! Why do you need it in the crust? You don't. But it's so damn good and over the top that you can't resist it.

So here's my version, which is probably less indulgent but still amazing.
First, I made a basic pizza dough with some garlic and Italian herb mix thrown in. Then I made up a batch of Cashew Ricotta (Veganomicon) that the family loved so much. I piped the ricotta all around the edge of the dough and folded the crust over, sealing with a dab of water. Then I pressed the edges together really well, reshaping the crust to be a bit bigger and working the dough so that the seal wouldn't break.

I topped it with tomato sauce, onions, black olives, artichoke hearts, veggie pepperoni, and a cheeze sauce similar to the New Farm Cookbook's recipe for cheeze sauce (only less Earth Balance and oil!) Here's what it looked like before baking:

And after baking, in bad lighting:
Here's an inside shot:
And another:
I think this was a really tasty pizza, but since the ricotta is a dry "cheeze", it didn't have that gooeyness that I associate with a stuffed crust pizza. I might consider mixing the ricotta with tomato sauce just to make it more gooey before stuffing. Or maybe grating in some Follow Your Heart Mozzarella?
Anyhow, the kids thought it was awesome and it's something I'll definitely keep working on.

Food for 8-Year-Olds

The boys turn 8 years old tomorrow and I wanted to make the ultimate kid dinner for their little party tonight. So after being inspired by iloveyoubobbybrowns's post on the PPK, I decided on Macaroni 'n Cheese Pizza. I used the New Farm Mac & Cheese recipe on top of a 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 white flour & pesto crust. I debated about whether or not to put tomato sauce under the mac n cheese, and decided on a thin layer. I thought it turned out great- but it was so rich and so filling that I was about to explode after eating 3 small squares of it. There were some serious carbs in this dinner. The boys really enjoyed it, but I think I was more excited about it than they were.

Everyone in our house gets their choice of birthday cake flavor each year. This year the boys chose chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting (I didn't even have to suggest this combo to them...but I would have). Wow. It was incredible! I used Dreena Burton's chocolate cake recipe with a bit of extra cocoa powder and 2 layers instead of 3. Then I used Isa and Terry's Peanut Buttercream from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and a ganache topping.
I've never had a piece of cake in front of me and not been able to finish it. But tonight, after that pizza (and licking lots of beaters and snacking on frosting), I couldn't finish my last two bites. I was in a sugar coma for hours.
Here's what I made the kids for their birthday present. It's a "Spy Belt". It has a magnifying glass, mini pen and notebook, mini flashlight, measuring tape, fingerprinting kit (black eyeshadow for powder, a mini make-up brush, and tape), and a mini digital camera. They totally loved them!
Here's what we're bringing to share with their class tomorrow- Indoors S'mores! It's just graham cracker halves spread with chocolate ganache and Ricemellow creme and sandwiched together. Yum!