A lesson in dipping chocolate.

This year on the Fourth of July, hubby and I spent a few minutes chatting about our past Fourth's. I know you're just dying to read a recap, so here ya go! You can thank me later.

1st: We were in Twin Falls at the Dodds annual 4th of July BBQ bash. We spent the morning at a pancake breakfast and kid's parade, the afternoon playing on a giant bouncy house water slide, and the evening grilling burgers with extended family. After which we, of course, lit off an abundance of fireworks. It was the perfect way for me to be welcomed into a new family.

2nd: We invited as many of the Dodds in Utah over to our "conjoined" house, I'll spare the details, and once again fired up the grill and fireworks. Hubby played grill master for the first time and loved it. I played hostess and chef with all other side dishes. We had a wonderful time and even saw the Stadium of Fire fireworks show while parked under an overpass on University Ave. We flipped a U-ee the second it was over and beat all traffic home. Another fabulous fourth. 

3rd: This time we were in a new town. Thankfully, St. Louis is party capital Midwest, at least in my opinion. I coerced my parents into coming for a visit, so we grilled it up with them, then hauled the crew to the Arch to visit Fair St. Louis. So awesome!! We saw the last half hour of the air show, walked around to all the booths, enjoyed a free concert from Montgomery Gentry, and saw the most spectacular fireworks show I've ever seen, all under the Arch. It was glorious and thrilling. I also saw more people crowded and smushed together than I've ever seen in my life. Seriously, walls of people. It was insane. So was traffic. I try to forget that part. 

This year was our 4th Fourth together and we stayed a little more low key, but still had a great time. 

The morning dawned bright and early at a whopping 8:30 am, the latest we've slept in since....well, probably since we had a baby. It was lovely. Then I whipped up an amazing breakfast of french toast, bacon, and scrambled eggs. Bubs and I took a leisurely walk around the oven neighborhood, and within minutes we were hot and sweaty in the balmy 99 degrees. During his nap time I threw together a lovely masterpiece of dessert. And this is where your free lesson in dipping chocolates comes in:

Do NOT add water-based food coloring to melted chocolate!!!!!!!

Why?

Because your beautifully smooth, creamy, nice and melty, chocolate will turn to a stiff frosting right before your eyes. 

I must admit, once I got over the horror of what was occurring, it was a little cool to see the consistency change so fast. 

In the end, I ended up with cake bites that were not so lusciously dipped and smooth, but rather more of a unique, sorta gloppy, almost frosted looking cake bite. I was only slightly disappointed.

Oh yeah, and gel food coloring is just as much water based as liquid. 

So, now that I learned the hard way, I know if I want pretty, colorful, cake bites, I have to splurge on the pre-colored dipping chocolate.

My life is complicated.

Here's my creation!

After I finished the cake bite disaster flag, I moved on to my next endeavor: pie.
Now, I have absolutely no idea where my sudden desire to be cutesy and festive came from, but evidently, I had a strong desire for such.
A quick search of google images prompted me to make a star on my pie.

My other pie was really cute too, for no apparent reason, but it was not patriotic so it didn't make the cut. Or maybe I didn't take a picture. Who knows. Use your imagination.

I must say, this fruity pie was quite spectacular. I found my all time favorite pie recipe from Our Best Bites, and I haven't looked back since. Especially because it is just so darn versatile. I mean, the same base for a vanilla cream fruit pie as for a chocolate peanut butter banana? Mmmm.

Have you ever tried putting a 2 year old and an 18 month old together for a photo shoot?

Don't.

You won't have any luck. 

I can almost guarantee it.

They had no desire to look at me when I called their names.

Or clucked.

Or chirped.

Or danced around like a crazy woman.

My awesome friend made this creation with fruit. It was so fun to have such festive food!

My child + water = endless fun and happiness

Especially when a hose is involved.

Except for the poor onlookers, (sorry!)

Oh yeah, this is also the only picture I got all day where he was actually looking at me and holding still. 

They most definitely enjoyed spraying each other and waving the water everywhere.

These kiddos really love playing together.
They're pretty awesome with each other's names too.
All day Bubs was saying "Na-nuh?" and when we arrived he knew exactly who "Na-nuh" was!
She also used to call him "Buh-lake" and it was about the cutest thing ever.

We enjoyed BBQing and playing water balloon games with some good friends. It was our first Fourth without family, but when you make good enough friends, they sure feel like family! 

It was also the hottest, driest, most fireworks-less Fourth I've seen, but I was happy to watch the Macy's day display on TV. I know in the future we will be in a position where hubby won't have to study, baby won't have to sleep, and fireworks will be legal (and not banned due to drought!), so we can have even more fun!

For this year, we still had an amazing day!

If you just read this entire post, please, give yourself a hug and go find something more productive to do. 

teehee, Happy Summer everyone!

Cake Bites!

I am a food blogger.

...in my head.

In reality I am not.

I am too impatient, simple minded, and forgetful to be a real food blogger.

But sometimes I make delicious things, and feel the need to blog about them. 

This is one of those times.

In the following post you will have the opportunity to see exactly why I am not a food blogger.

Here we go...

Cake Bites!

Deliciously evil little creatures.

This is how you I make them:

1. Bake a cake. Any cake will do. 

Because I like to keep things easy and simple I bought a chocolate cake mix and cooked it. In my head I think homemade texas fudge cake, red velvet or coconut buttercream would be delicious. In reality, I have two boys who want my attention.

(note that I only have a picture of the finished cake. A real food blogger would have a picture of every ingredient being added)

2. Grab some delicious frosting. One that will mesh well with the cake.

Once again, I like things simple: thus, the store bought frosting. I'm sure homemade buttercream or fudge frosting would be so much better.

3. Scoop out the baked cake into a large bowl. Scoop out the frosting and dump it on the cake in the bowl. Mix well. Very well. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour up to overnight. 

(if you're chilling overnight, cover in plastic wrap and press the plastic onto the dough to help prevent drying out) 

4. Scoop out small amounts and roll into perfect, uniform, little balls. They must all be exactly the same size and shape. Let me know when you're done. I'll be halfway to Florida already...

Look! Picture #2!

I, obviously, have better things to do with my time than make perfect, uniform, little balls. 

Plug for my husband: Usually he is my "Goose" with cake bites. I whip them up, he rolls and shapes the balls, I dip them. We're a great team. This time he was at school and I was alone. I now realize why he always started out making good, cute, uniform, little balls and by the end they were more lopsided, large, and, well, not so cute. I will probably never tell him again "can you please make them smaller? They keep getting bigger and bigger!" because really you get sick of rolling all that dough, and your hands get covered in gooey chocolate, and it's just a trial of patience all the way around.

...except when you get to lick the chocolate off your hands.

....or sneak a few chunks bites of dough.

...or scrape the bowl with a spoon at the end

Not that I did any of those things.

moving on.

5. Chill the rolled dough balls in the freezer for an hour or so. 

6. Melt some chocolate. Almond Bark is by far the absolute best for melting and dipping.

We prefer the vanilla flavor.

7. Poke a poker, knife, tooth pick, or stick, into each ball and dip it in the chocolate. 

Remember my forgetfulness? I have no picture of the dipping stage. Or freezing stage. Or chilling stage. Or melting stage. Or beautiful display stage. 

This, in fact, is my last picture of this whole process. And as you can tell, this was way after I had finished making and serving these evil treats, because there are only 12 left. 

I may or may not have taken this picture at 10:30 pm...

Please be kind and share some with neighbors, friends, missionaries, and other people. Because if you don't, it's very possible to consume the entire batch single-handedly in one sitting.

And I wouldn't wish that for you.

In conclusion, I am not a food blogger. But, I just told you how to make cake bites. The simple way. If you want a more complex way to do it, jump on over to Bakerella and see how it's really done.

The end. Good day. I need to clean my house now.

1. Bake a box of cake mix.

2. Add a can of frosting. Mix well. Chill

3. Shape into balls. Freeze.

4. Dip into melted Almond Bark.

5. Enjoy.