Hello all! We’re off to see Disneyland decked out in Halloween decorations! But before hitting the road I’m getting the week’s menu square away…

MONDAY:
– Leftovers

TUESDAY:
– Naan Pizzas

WEDNESDAY:
– Grammy’s Orange Chicken
– Rice and Vegetable (whatever I find at the farmer’s market)

THURSDAY:
– Kebabs on the grill
– Salad

FRIDAY:
– Leftovers

SATURDAY:
– Breakfast for dinner, probably Vegetable Frittatas

SUNDAY:
– Eat out (Family Concert at the San Diego Symphony!)

Done! Now off to say hi to Mickey and Minnie! Be sure to share your meal plans with us in the comments below. Thank you and have a delicious week!

I’m getting this week off to a good start by getting my menu done Sunday morning. Woohoo! And we’re surprising the kids by taking them to the Wild Kratts Live show today (thanks, PBS!). Cannot wait and will report back on how the show is!

MONDAY:
– Pork Carnitas Tacos

TUESDAY:
– Brats
– Salad

WEDNESDAY:
– Roast Chicken
– Roasted Potatoes and Veggies

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Bean Nachos
– Guacamole

SATURDAY:
– Eat out

SUNDAY:
– Breakfast for dinner (details TBD)

You know the drill, share your own meal plans in the comments below! Thank you all for sharing week after week!

Happy Sunday! We had a wonderful birthday week but it was busy. Now that birthdays are done, all of the travel and events and craziness of the last 3 months is pretty much over and I am looking forward to a quiet, steady routine. Of course, the holidays are not far off! 😉

MONDAY:
– Chicken Kebabs
– Grilled Vegetables

TUESDAY:
– Pork Carnitas Tacos

WEDNESDAY:
– Grilled Salmon
– Crispy Rosemary Roast Potatoes & Salad

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Spaghetti
– Salad

SATURDAY:
– Eat out night

SUNDAY:
– Roasted Vegetable Scrambles

Meal planning friends, please post your menus in the comments below! They are incredibly helpful and inspiring to all of us!

If you’ve been around this blog for a while you know that I love making fun birthday cakes for my kids. Owen just turned 7 and it was a family year for him (the kids get friend parties on their even-numbered birthdays). In addition to it being a family year I also turned 40, so I kind of forgot about making him a cake. (WHAT?!?!?) Then, the day before his birthday, Owen was talking about his Minecraft Slime birthday cake. And I realized, “OH. I need to make a birthday cake.” There may have been a bit of panic on my part, however Minecraft saved me from a full blown panic attack because SQUARES. I looked up what Minecraft slime looks like and I was especially relieved.

This Minecraft Slime birthday cake is so easy to throw together, even a mom who forgot that she makes awesome cakes for her kids every year and had to throw together a cake last minute could do it. So, if you have a kid (or grown up) in your life who loves Minecraft, you should totally suggest this cake to them. Because you’ll knock their socks off and won’t even break a sweat doing it!

If you’re going to make this cake, I highly recommend reading my post An Amateur’s Guide to Making Super Cute Cakes before jumping in as it has lots of great tips. In addition, I used the frosting and cake recipes included in that post for this Minecraft Slime birthday cake.

How to Decorate a Minecraft Slime Birthday Cake

 

Print

Author: Jane Maynard

Ingredients

• A 1- or 2-layer 8 inch square cake (I halved the cake recipe and only did a 1-layer cake, but a regular 2-layer cake works perfectly)
• Buttercream frosting (I one-and-a-half timesed the buttercream recipe I linked to above for a 1-layer cake; if you do a 2-layer cake I would recommend 3 timesing the recipe)
• Fondant
• Green food coloring (I used Wilton's Leaf Green gel food color)

Instructions

1. Please read the "Amateur's Guide" post to get tips about frosting the cake (which includes freezing the cake, doing a crumb coat, etc).
2. Frost your 8-inch square cake with light green frosting. Use a long icing spatula to make the buttercream look as flat as possible.
3. Add a lot of green food coloring to a handful of fondant - the fondant will be the same green color as the icing, but it should be darker, so keep adding color until it is darker. Massage the fondant in your hands until the green food coloring is fully incorporated.
4. Using a rolling pin, roll out the fondant into an even, semi-thin layer. When rolling the fondant, place waxed or parchment paper on the cutting board and then another piece of waxed or parchment paper on top of the fondant before rolling. Also, rolling the fondant out once and then balling it and rolling it out again is a good way to get the color to look even.
5. Cut two 2-1/2 inch squares out of the fondant using a pizza cutter. Cut one 1-1/2 inch square. Click here to download a template for the squares and placement on the cake. Place the large squares on the cake about where you would place them for eyes if the square was a face. Place the small square around where you would put a mouth, but be sure to offset the square to the right a bit.

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This week brings my FORTIETH BIRTHDAY. 40. Wow. It’s also Owen’s 7th birthday! We started celebrating this weekend and the celebrations continue this week. So basically I’m a mess in the meal planning department. But I figure you only turn 40 once, seems like a good excuse to slack off for a week! So, my menu is kind of lame…but I’m at least getting this post published so you guys can share your menus. I’m not even bothering with my usual menu graphic because my menu is straight up useless. As a 40th birthday menu should be! 😉

MONDAY:
– Leftovers from eating at Liberty Public Market

TUESDAY:
– I am taking Owen to Disneyland to celebrate our special day!
– No clue what Nate and the girls will eat. 😉

WEDNESDAY:
– It’s Owen’s family year (no friend party), he has requested PF Chang’s (i.e. dumplings) for his special family dinner

THURSDAY:
– No clue

FRIDAY:
– No clue

SATURDAY:
– No clue

SUNDAY:
– No clue

HA! The laziest menu I’ve ever written! I’m so proud!

For real, we REALLY need you all to post your menus this week. Please provide us with much needed inspiration! Have a great week!

How is it the start of another week already? Was about to make lunch and realized I needed to get my menu act together, so here we are.

MONDAY:
– Chili

TUESDAY:
– Pork Carnitas Tacos

WEDNESDAY:
– Chicken Kebabs
– Rice and Roasted Vegetables

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Rachel Sandwiches

SATURDAY:
– Eat out night (It’s my 40th Birthday Celebration that night!)

SUNDAY:
– Grammy’s Orange Chicken
– Rice and Carrots

Your turn! Share those menus, simple or fancy, it’s all helpful! Have a great week!

Happy Monday! I’m finally sitting down to get this week’s plan together. I’m really loving being back into a regular routine, and it’s the first year my kids are all in school all day…which is decidedly bittersweet, but I am loving all the time to get my work done.

MONDAY:
– Pressure Cooker Pot Roast
– Mashed Potatoes + Another Side Veggie

TUESDAY:
– Leftovers (Pot Roast or Chicken Kai Pa Lo)

WEDNESDAY:
– Hamburgers
– Corn on the cob and fresh fruit

THURSDAY:
– Jerkish Chicken
– Salad and Rice

FRIDAY:
– Pancakes (Anna cooking!)

SATURDAY:
– English Muffin Pizzas (Cate cooking!)

SUNDAY:
– Eat out night

I love that as the school year is getting into gear more menus are appearing each week…keep it coming! Your meal plans are incredibly helpful for the rest of us. Thank you for sharing and have a great week!

Hello meal planning friends! I’ve been a bit remiss at meal planning the last week or so. The start of school and then a camping trip to the very remote yet very magical Coon Creek Cabin campground basically threw life into high gear. We are now home, showered, unpacked and ready to get back into the normal school-year routine!

MONDAY:
– Whatever-you-can-find-in-the-kitchen-the-parents-are-too-tired-from-camping Night

TUESDAY:
– Rice and bean burritos
– Chips and guacamole

WEDNESDAY:
– Homemade Hamburgers

THURSDAY:
– Chicken Kai Pa Lo

FRIDAY:
– Leftovers

SATURDAY:
– Eat out night

SUNDAY:
– Pressure Cooker Pot Roast
– Mashed Potatoes + Another Side Veggie

Phew. Menu plan done! Just hoping back-to-school nights don’t totally throw me off! Please post your own weekly meal plans in the comments below! They are so helpful to me and so many others week after week. Thank you!

It’s the last full week of summer for our little family. I can’t believe it! Thank you to those of you who shared your menus last week. They were incredibly helpful as I planned and I stole ideas from each of you for my menu this week!

MONDAY:
– Salmon
– Rice & Side Vegetable

TUESDAY:
– Layered Tortilla Bake Casserole (first time trying this, thanks for the idea, So Hungry!)

WEDNESDAY:
– Stir Fry Chicken and Veggies with Rice

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Chicken Tenders
– Side vegetable or salad

SATURDAY:
– Eat out night

SUNDAY:
– Breakfast for Dinner – Frittatas
– Roasted Potatoes

Thank you once again for posting your menus each week, they are so helpful for me (and so many others) when we sit down to plan dinner! As usual, please share your weekly meal plan below!

Hey folks, I totally disappeared last week. Whoops! We were busy celebrating our cousin’s wedding and eating in a famous diner in Maine and driving to New Hampshire. It was a pretty awesome weekend. We’re now in New Jersey, I have quiet time and we’re going home this week, so it’s time to sit down and do some meal planning.

SUNDAY:
– Smoked pork butt, compliments of my brother!
– Cole slaw, corn on the cob

MONDAY:
– Cora’s Mexican Ground Beef Tacos

TUESDAY:
– Travel Day

WEDNESDAY:
– Caprese Salad

THURSDAY:
– Hamburgers (I’ve started eating my hamburger on a bed of lettuce with all the fixings and I can’t believe how much I don’t miss the bun, so tasty!)
– Salad and watermelon

FRIDAY:
– Leftovers

SATURDAY:
– Pesto Chicken Pasta

Can’t wait to see what you all have cooking! Please share in the comments below. Your menus each week are so helpful!