Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is Daddy’s Birthday!  For breakfast we are going to give him some banana rolls and tonight we are going to have cookout.  It’s still a surprise so, I can’t say what we are having.

I love him! And he loves me!

P.S.  These pictures are of fighting the Scout Wars.  They were trying to defend the Golden Beads.   Princess Renee made Daddy his special shied for safety.  Princess Sarah and Prince Caspian went along to help protect him.  Prince Mark made it half way and died  ):  defending the Golden Beads.  He got hit by a water balloon.

Happy Birthday Daddy!  I love you!

Making Elephant Ears

At the fair, we wanted Elephant Ears.  We asked Momma for some Elephant Ears and she said, “We can make Elephant Ears at home.”

Then we asked Daddy for some Cotton Candy. He looked at one store and it was too high a price. Then we walked through the horses and Daddy met us at the corner that turned into the gate and he had a big package of Cotton Candy. We ate it in the car.It was good.

I like to make the Elephant Ears.  It is fun.

Here is the recipe we tried.  Adrian says, “It is good!”  Mark says, “Maybe if we added a little bit more sugar.” Audrey said, “I liked my ducky Elephant Ear.” (Her’s looked like a duck.) Momma said, “It is not quite right, maybe add half the salt-we omitted it- and a little more sugar. Some recipes say to brush the hot “ear” with butter before adding the cinnamon sugar. We will have to experiment.”  Daddy said, “No” when I asked if he liked his Elephant Ear 🙂 .

Elephant Ear Recipe

  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar
  •  3/8 cup butter
  • 1 Tablespoon yeast
  • 4 cups flour
  • Oil for deep frying
  •  Powdered Sugar or cinnamon Sugar
  1. Combine milk, salt, sugar and butter. Heat until shortening melts and sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat and cool until you can put your finger in it comfortably (or 110 degrees if you use a thermometer). Sprinkle in yeast and let sit until foamy.
  2. Stir in flour to make a dough. Knead until smooth, cover and let rise 30 minutes.
  3. Heat one inch of oil in a large heavy skillet to 375 degrees.
  4. Roll out balls of dough into thin sheets. Put it in a pot with hot Canola oil.  Fry “ears” 1 to 2 minutes per side until puffed and golden.  Drain on paper towels.
  5. Put sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and then you put it on the elephant ears.  Then you eat them after they cool down.

Angel Food Cake Experiment

Yesterday we made a cake.  It didn’t work.  I don’t know why.  We think we should “cut it” around, not in a straight line.  Every time we cut it we should do it in different places.  We did not know how to tell if it was done. We don’t think we cooked it long enough.

I liked the outside, but not the inside. It tasted like when you just finished it and it was not in the oven.  Mark liked it.

We saved the yolks.  We are going to make a Sunshine Sponge Cake.

Can you tell us what we did wrong?  We will try making Angel Food Cake again.

Ingredients:
1 1/8 Cup sifted flour, cake
1 3/4 Cup granulated sugar, divided (3/4 cup and 1 cup)
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 1/2 Teaspoon cream of tartar
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Teaspoon almond extract

Optional Ingredients:
1/2 Cups mini chocolate chips

Directions:
Remove eggs from refrigerator, separate. Let whites stand until room temperature. Sift flour once before measuring.

Sift together 5 times flour and 3/4 c sugar.

Put into large bowl egg whites and salt. Beat on high until foamy, about 1/2 minute. Add cream of tartar, continue beating on high speed until whites are stiff and stand in points, about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes. Do not over beat until dry.

Sprinkle in rapidly 1 cup sifted sugar. Using wire whisk, gently fold the egg whites only until the sugar is blended. Scrape bowl gently toward center.

Add vanilla and almond extracts. Sprinkle in sifted flour mixture evenly and quickly. (Add mini chocolate chips here if using). Fold gently to blend. Gently put into angel food cake tube pan. Carefully cut through batter with a knife or spatula, going around in circular motion 6 times to release large air bubbles.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes. Immediately turn upside down over glass bottle or on pan “legs” and let cool completely-an hour or 1 1/2 hours.  Enjoy!

Ours did not turn out right, the very middle was not cooked.  Momma found another recipe saying to cook at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes.  Another recipe said to try the clean toothpick test and another recipe said the cracks should look dry and the cake should spring back when lightly touched.

Adrian’s Story

This post was written by Adrian.

I sleep in my big boy bed.  I like it.  It is more comfortable then the other crib.  I have (stuffed) animals (at the foot of the bed).  I have Tigger and Pooh bear (blanket).  Mark sleeps upstairs (on the top bunk) on the big boy bed.  The crib is all gone.