Projects and Pinterest

Behold!  This is one of the projects we've done this summer--a "kid deck" and sandbox.  Sam and his good buddy Karl made this a few weeks ago and it has been a hit.  It is a big rectangular frame with decking on one side and a sandbox on the other.  The deck side holds the kids' outdoor toys, freeing up the "adult deck" behind our house for sitting and eating.

In this photo you see the sandbox covered with a gray tarp.  This was the day after we received 6 inches of rain--the box was a nice little pond!  Anne and Sammy played for 2 hours--it started out as just wading and filling up their buckets and ended with both kids running and jumping around in their underwear totally dripping wet.  Hey, that's what summer is for, right?

On the fence you can kind of see another project Anne and I did.  We spray painted a dozen assorted plastic containers, hung them from the fence, and planted red petunias to dress-up the area.  I found the idea on Pinterest, but you can see the original blog post at http://stuffstephdoes.com/2012/05/08/diy-hanging-flower-tins/.

On Father's Day we had Calvin dedicated at church.  Erin, Todd, Will, and Adrienne were there, as well as my grandparents.  We had everyone over for brunch afterwards, and I have had requests for recipes.  Here's what we ate:

Breakfast Pizza
Ingredients: 1 tube Crescent rolls, 1 lb breakfast sausage, 2 cups frozen hashbrowns, 1 cup cheddar cheese, 1 cup mozzarella, 6 eggs, 1/2 cup milk

Seal and stretch the Crescent rolls to cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan and cover up the side by 1 inch.  Brown the sausage and put on top of the rolls.  Layer on the hashbrowns and cheese.  (At this point you can stop, cover with foil, and put in the fridge overnight).  Mix the eggs and milk; pour over other ingredients.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and bake for 10 minutes or until eggs are set.  It will take longer to bake if it has been in the fridge.  Serves 6-8 (our party of 12 ate two of these easily!)

Raspberry Crumb Cake
Follow the link above for this labor-intensive cake.  The recipe is confusing and jumbled; I made my own copy that is more logical.  I would recommend not melting the butter for the crumb topping--use cold butter and cut it into the sugar and flour.  Mine didn't turn out pretty, but it tasted good.

Fruit Salad
Cut up fruit.  Put in bowl.  Sam did this while I fed the baby, which was nice!  One trick I've learned is to always include pineapple canned in juice--the pineapple juice is acidic enough to keep apples and bananas from browning.

Lemonade Punch
Combine 1 cup Country Time lemonade mix with 2 cups water.  Add one 46-ounce can of pineapple juice and 2 cans of Sprite.  This was also a nice Pinterest find.

Peanut Butter Brownies
This is just dressing-up a box of brownie mix.  Choose your favorite brownie mix (Betty Crocker Fudge Brownie mix, family-size box).  Mix according to package directions, but substitute brewed coffee for the water.  Coffee makes chocolate things taste more chocolate-y.  When brownies are cooled, top with peanut butter frosting:

1 stick softened butter
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2-3 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons milk

Cream butter and peanut butter.  Add 2 cups of sugar and 3 T of milk.  Continue adding remaining sugar until spreading consistency is reached.

If you want to be fancy, bake your brownies in a round cake pan or tart pan, and call it a "torte"  Thanks to my friend Emily for introducing this frosting into my life.  So good!