Idea Queen Tips & News

I pitched an idea for my daughter’s upcoming birthday to something Halloween themed, and was excited to find she too was on board with it. I’ve always called her my Halloween baby, obviously since her birthday is in October. She’s just like me and absolutely loves this time of year!

I may not be any good at making cakes, but I sure do like trying. After giving it some thought, we both decided on a pumpkin shaped cake. Basically what we’re planning to do is making 2 bunt cakes and putting them together. It’s going to be a pretty big cake but hopefully will turn out alright.

I even thought about making the cake an actual pumpkin cake, but decided against it. I’ve have enough problems in previous years working with cake, and I have no idea how “solid” a pumpkin cake would be. While this one wont need to be “shaped” or cut, it will need to be flipped over. So we did get a regular cake mix again, which hopefully will be alright too.

For the “stem” we’ll be using an ice cream cone frosted green, which I think will fit pretty well inside the cake giving it the real pumpkin look. The birthday girl also came up with a neat suggestion, which was making it look like a jack-o-lantern. So with black frosting decoration we’ll be giving him a face.

She also requested plastic spiders around the top of the cake, which I also thought was a pretty fun idea. More specifically she wants rings so the guests can have them to take home. Cute!

I’ll be working on the cake tomorrow, and HOPEFULLY will have some pictures if the cake turns out alright. I am no artist, so wish me luck!

As much as I love my bread machine and all it’s uses, sometimes it’s not always needed. Beer bread happens to be one of those odd recipes where it’s just too darn easy to make in the oven.

Now usually I buy a mix at a certain craft show every year, but the thought has occurred to me that this is really dumb. All that’s in those boxes are dry ingredients I have at home. I’m already buying the butter and the beer, so why not just make this all the way from scratch?

I poked around for some recipes, but all seem to lack baking soda and use self rising flour. No good. I do know this regular mix includes more than just flower and sugar, so I pieced together my own recipe based on several. And here it is:

Beer Bread
3 cups bread flour
3 tsp Baking powder
3/4 tsp Salt
3/4 tsp Baking soda
1/4 cup Sugar
12 fl Beer; any kind
1/4 c Butter; melted

You’ll want to mix the dry ingredients together first, then add the beer in. This batter will be VERY sticky. Grease a bread pan and pour batter in, then top with 1/4 c melted butter. Bake at 350* for 1 hour.

Enjoy!

At the risk of being just like the stores who pull out the holiday stuff 2 months before it’s even here, I do believe it’s time to at least start thinking about Halloween costumes. Especially if you plan to make them yourself!

This year my son wants to be a ninja. Not too hard at all, and I doubt we’ll have any trouble putting that together. I refuse to pay up to $20 for a costume as simple as that, so yes we WILL be doing it ourselves. Plus I’m sure the boy and I can make a sword together, which will be fun.

The girl is still undecided. She threw out “Hannah Montana”, although I think I’ve got her talked out of it. Sure it’s her favorite, but did you see how many little Mileys there were running the streets last year? Maybe it’s not my place to dictate what she goes as, but the “WOW AWESOME COSTUME!” factor from the other kids is something I’m thinking about. Last year she was a dead bride (my personal favorite of her’s thusfar), and this year I think we can figure out something just as good. Maybe something a little more traditional such as a witch or ghost, but that we can add a bit of flare too.

What are your kids going as this year? What did they do last year that was super cute? It’s about that time to start gathering supplies, so let’s hear it!

Several months ago when we got our Wii, a section on Idea Queen was added to the site specifically for Wii game reviews. Now these were not just any kind of reviews, but rather ones with a focus on games best for families.

There’s a total of 9 games listed there now, and a few more I COULD add that we have. However, I’m curious if this is something readers and visitors are even interested in. Should I add more? Or leave it like it is?

Also while we are on the topic of adding things, what else would you like to see on Idea Queen?

Maybe it’s because of my upbringing, but I never could understand the concept of a meal in a box.

Once in a great while, I’ll wander down the “box dinner” section of the store, and pick up something that’s “super easy to make and ready in 30 mins or less”. However, I still have failed to see the real purpose of them, other than cleaver marketing.

We made a hamburger helper  beef stroganoff only once. After having to cook the hamburger and add a few other ingredients, I stood scratching my head as to WHY I bought basically the pasta and seasoning in a pretty box when I could have spent the same amount of money (or less) and time doing it from scratch. (Which we have ever since - see our Hamburger Beef Stroganoff recipe here)

Just a month or two ago, I got curious again about the boxes. As you may already know, we have a bread machine that is used on a very regular basis. A box for a wheat bread mix jumped out at me in the store, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Again, I was quite disappointed as I had to add a few of my own ingredients and it was nothing really special (we’ve had better bread from our own recipe collection).

So what about you? Do you use box dinners at all, or are you like me and questioned their purposes?

Last fall and through the winter I made a decision. I was overweight, and needed to drop at least 20 pounds. Three months and all my willpower later, I achieved that goal. But somehow 5 of those pounds seemed to have found their way back over the summer.

I could blaime it on a lot of things, but I know what the problem really is. I eat too much. I snack too much and eat too much junk. I know better, really, and think “this is so wrong” every time I grab a snack size bag of chips or sneak a piece of chocolate. I also abandoned my exercise routine when the weather got nice, and my nice lean muscles turned to flab.

Time to stop being lazy.

I’ve been easing back into a normal routine after going MIA for several months, and this is one of those things I want to get back to focusing on. Better eatting habbits, exercise, and losing a few more pounds. While it’s true my original goal was just to lose 20 pounds, I could actually stand to lose 20 more. Who couldn’t? But I really do want to do this. I want to see myself somewhere around the same size as I was before the kids were born. If I don’t do it now, it’s going to be that much harder to get to that size later.

So here we go. Counting calories again, watching what I eat, and easy back into excercising. Can we do it? Yes we can! Who’s with me?

With the kids back in school, it’s time to get some major work done around the house. Over the summer a plan was put into place to keep the house at least somewhat tidy as well as giving the kids something to do to earn play time with friends. That plan was “a chore a day”, where they were given something quick to do everyday before they could play. Sometimes it was putting away clothes, which I’m now regretting.

Yes it’s true children can put their own clothes away, however, they don’t always do the best of jobs.  Closets and drawers are an absolute mess, so it’s time to organize. It’s always easier finding clothes for school in the morning when things are well organized.

In addition to the mess in the closets, there’s a mess in the laundry room too. Half way through the summer I gave up trying to get them to put away clothes, so we’ve fallen behind a bit. The baskets are stuffed, needless to say. I got a jump start yesterday by sorting the “sock basket” and getting all the socks put away. The rest of this week I’ll spend on getting kids clothes put away and sorting as I go.

This job -should- only take a day or two, but one never knows what might be lurking in the laundry room or the kids rooms. I’ve avoided their rooms as much as possible the last few months, and it’s time to enter the unknown.

Wish me luck!

If you haven’t noticed, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted much of anything. Over the summer we lost a very close loved one on top of your normal summer craziness. Needless to say, this blog wasn’t at the top of the list.

However, with today being the first day of school, I’ve officially reclaimed the house and much needed quiet time to think, reflect, and write.  What you’ll see in the next few months I hope to be more recipes, ideas for craft projects, and maybe a little of my ramblings (although I promise to keep these to a minimum!).

If there’s anything else you’d like to see more of around here, let me know! The Idea Queen is always looking for fresh ideas to share.

Being a mom is a full time job, there’s no doubt about it. We all need a break sometimes. Just a few quick minutes for a game of solitary, or some other easy game to play on a whim.

That’s why we’ve added a brand new page on Idea Queen designed to give parents the short break we all need. On our new “Games for Mom” page, you’ll find several different online games to play right in your browser - no downloading or sign up required! You might even find a few games to play along with the kids.

So what are you waiting for? Go play! (Just remember to bookmark the page and come back often ).

A nice surprise may be coming your way if you own the Webkinz Pet of the Month for May 2009 - The Cocker Spaniel! This is an older favorite to many kids, and he’ll be getting all kinds of bonuses in May.

If you don’t have a Webkinz yet or need to renew the year membership, this pet is perfect for adopting in May due to all the fun extras you’ll receive. Be sure to see pricing options at Webkinz Amazon