Wednesday, March 22, 2017

APRIL FOOL'S FUN WITH FOOD!

It's time to plan your April Fool's menus if you - like me - enjoy amusing yourself and others with food on April First. It's fun to tell my kids that we'll be having dessert for dinner and dinner for dessert. There are so many neat ideas on the net that I can't possibly share them all, but I have listed some of my favorites below. I included links to the recipes where I found them or to the picture if I couldn't find a recipe to go with it. Many of these cute ideas can be figured out simply by looking at the picture. So here we go, starting with savory dishes and then moving on to sweet.


SAVORY DISHES


"Cinnamon Rolls" (aka: Savory pulled pork pinwheels with BBQ sauce) 
Image from Food Pusher. Recipe link


"Caramel Glazed Bundt Cake" (aka: Egg stuffed meatloaf with beef gravy)
Image from Kraft. Recipe link




"Spice Cake with White Frosting" (aka: Two layered meatloaf covered with mashed potatoes)
Image from Pinterest. Image link

"Carrot Cake" (aka: Two layered meatloaf with mashed potatoes and bread crumbs)
Image from Taste of Home. Recipe link

"Bundt Cake with White Glaze" (aka: Bread dough with pizza toppings inside, topped with mozzarella)
Image from Taste of Home. Recipe link

"Ice Cream" (aka: Mashed potatoes in a cone)
Image from www.myrecipes.com. Recipe link

"Ice Cream Sundae" (aka: Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, and cherry tomato)
Image from Bake At 350 blog. Recipe link

"Ravioli" (aka: Peanut butter crustless mini sandwiches with jelly dipping sauce)
Image from Party Pinching. Recipe link


Green Eggs and Ham!
Blue food coloring + yellow eggs  = green. 
Add coloring into raw egg before cooking
Image from GabWorthy  

SWEET DISHES

"Sunny Side Egg on Toast" (aka: Slice of pound cake topped with vanilla yogurt and apricot half)
Image from Taste of Home. Recipe link

"Orange Juice" (aka: Geletinized orange juice best eaten with a spoon)
Image from Taste of Home. Recipe link

"Sushi Rolls" (aka: Crispy Rice Cereal Treats with colored licorice strings wrapped in Fruit Roll-ups OR Twinkies cut crosswise, wrapped in Fruit-by-the-Foot and adding a Swedish Fish candy on top)
Image on left from Taste of Home. Recipe link
Image on right from Pinterest. Image link

"Pepperoni Pizza" (aka: round yellow cake, red frosting, shaved white chocolate, round cutouts from red fruit leather)
Image from Taste of Home. Recipe link


"Chicken Nuggets with Sauce" (aka: pound cake with special coating and vanilla pudding dipping sauce)
Image from Taste of Home. Recipe link

"Shepherd's Pie" (aka: Cocoa Krispies with marzipan or other candy veggies and marshmallow topping)
Image from Party Pinching. Recipe link

"Mini Hamburgers" (aka: Golden Oreo Cakester buns, Keebler Grasshopper cookie patties (or peppermint patties), colored frosting condiments, green coconut lettuce)
Image from Party Pinching. Recipe link

"Grilled Cheese Sandwiches" (aka: Pound cake with frosting tinted with yellow coloring for cheese)
Image from BuzzFeed. Image link

"Potato Fries and Ketchup" (aka: Apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, and strawberry or raspberry jelly for dipping)
Image from Aimee's Savory Dish. Image link

"Baked Potato" (aka: Shaped vanilla ice cream rolled in cocoa powder and topped with whipped cream and melted yellow Star Burst)
Image from Food. Recipe link

"Fruit Punch" (aka: Jell-o in a glass - be sure to insert straw before it gels)
Image from BuzzFeed. Image link

"Mini Mashed Potato and Gravy Bites" (aka: scooped out cheesecake placed on vanilla wafer, topped with caramel and grated dark chocolate)
Image from She Knows. Recipe link

Mix M&Ms, Skittles and Reese's Pieces all together. They all look so similar, you'll wonder who will notice the strange combination first.
Image from BuzzFeed. Image link

"Chicken Pot Pie" (aka: Pie crust, vanilla pudding and veggies made from Star Burst candies)
Image from BuzzFeed. Image link

"Hot Dog" (aka: Hot dog bun, banana, peanut butter and jelly)
Image from All Recipes. Recipe link

Hide a gummy worm (or two) at the bottom of a cup of pudding.
Image from FineCooking.com. Recipe link

Edible chocolate cups. Always fun to make and eat! Pour or brush melted chocolate (dark chocolate  keeps shape better and doesn't soften like milk chocolate does at room temperature after it's formed) in or around disposable molds (ie: plastic cups, inflated balloons, paper cupcake cups, etc). Let harden in fridge or freezer then peel molds away from chocolate - best to keep chocolate in fridge until ready to use. 
Image from Pinterest. Image link

"Chocolate Rocks" - store bought or make them at home by rolling fudge into pebble shapes and then rolling them in a cocoa powder/confectioner's sugar mixture)
Image on left from Hungry Happenings. Image on right from Walmart.

"Turkey Legs" (aka: Cocoa Krispies treats, pretzel rod, white chocolate) or "Meatballs" (aka: Cocoa Krispies treats rolled into balls)
Image from Mommy Savers

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

AMAZON ONLY: Paperback of SHADOWS OF VALOR set back one week!


For AMAZON orders only: The paperback reissue of SHADOWS OF VALOR won't be available until March 22nd when they will have the book in stock in their warehouse, BUT the KINDLE version is available starting today (March 14th, 2017)! Book also available on Barnes & Noble NOOK and for pre-order in paperback from Barnes and Noble. B&N's price on the paperback right now is $9.06! WOW, that's less than the Nook!

LINKS:
Amazon paperback
Amazon Kindle (ebook)
Barnes & Noble paperback
Barnes & Noble Nook (ebook)
Kobo (ebook)
Indigo