Octopus Cupcakes

The Butterballs were really fascinated by the octopus at Ushaka Marine World.

They were so impressed when I served them these cute octopus-inspired cupcakes at snack-time.

These cupcakes were super simple to make.
All I did was bake a batch of Pillsbury French Vanilla Cake mix in pretty silver cupcake cases.
I added a swirl of blue butter-frosting and topped with a 'candy octopus'.

I used a Jelly Tot for a head and Sour Worms for the arms.
I drew in the features using  a Wilton Food Marker.

Those cupcakes were wiped out in no time!!

Finding Nemo Family Movie Night

For this months Frugal Family Fun Activity, I set up a fun movie night. 

The Butterballs are crazy about all things ocean right now so 'Finding Nemo' was the best option.

Our dinner menu also had an Ocean theme and I had fun making cute, simple name cards for each dish.

On the menu:  * Octo-Dogs on a bed of shell pasta

                      * DIY Sub - Submarines

                      * Simply Sweet Crab for pudding

                      * East Australian Current Juice

The Octo-Dogs were simply Hotdogs cut to look like an octopus. 

The features were drawn with a toothpick dipped in ketchup. 

For the Subs, I laid out 2 french loaves along with a selection of yummy fillings:

Sauteed red, green and yellow peppers,

caramalised onions,

fried bacon bits,

grilled chicken strips,

 a pat of garlic-and-parsley butter,

and of course loads of cheese

My expert chefs donned their chef-hats and set to work with such seriousness,

 you would have thought that they were contestants on MasterChef !!

While the subs sat under the grill, we all played a game of Shark-Tag.

Dinner time!!

 The Butterballs loved the cute Octo-dogs 

and the Subs were delicious.

We drank East Australian Current Juice.

Dessert was more like a sweet, healthy snack.

The crab's body was made by cutting a slice of bread with a round cookie cutter and smothering it in strawberry jam. 

The eyes were smaller circles of bread 
with a chocolate-drop in the center to form the pupil.

The little smiley mouth was made using chocolate-drops as well.

The pincers and legs were simply slices of apple.

Yummy and healthy!!!

We all cuddled up on the sofa with loads of buttery popcorn 

and watched 'Finding Nemo'

The Butterballs loved their Nemo Themed night. 

Tamlyn is already planning a Barbie themed Family Night for tomorrow ;)))

Ushaka Marine World

We decided to visit our local aquarium in order to learn more about the many sea creatures found in the Butterballs favourite book (Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea)

Ushaka Marine World is one of the tourist attractions on our sunny coast and boasts an impressive array of sea creatures housed in an aquarium that's built to  resemble a sunken ship.

When walking through the aquarium, 
you feel as though you are at the bottom of the sea, 
peering into rooms that are now home to a host of different sea creatures.

The Butterballs spent ages staring into each tank...and they asked at least a million questions (Thank goodness for the information cards at the side of each tank!)

Tamlyn's favorite tanks are the Nemo tank, the seahorse tank 
and the cuttle fish tank.

 

Ethan loooves the shark pool and Turtle Lagoon.

The Butterballs happily spent an hour racing about from tank to tank, eager to meet the next sea creature!

Frugal Family Fun - Breakfast Picnic at Dawn

As the nights grow longer on the East Coast, we decided to make the most of our glorious Autumn weather by having a sunrise picnic!

On the menu:

* fruit platter, yoghurt, breakfast bars

* A portable Hot Chocolate Bar - 

a flask of Hot Chocolate and a tray of our family's favorite stir-ins ...

orange chocolate, peppermint chocolate and of course marshmallows!!!

* Breakfast Buns

Ingredients:

crispy roll

onions

peppers

bacon

cheese 

eggs

Cut a 'lid' onto roll and hollow out the center. Place rolls close together on a greased baking tray.

Fry onions, bacon and peppers together until browned. Fill bun with bacon, pepper mixture and top with grated cheese. Grill at 180 C until cheese has melted. Crack an egg into each bun and grill for a few more minutes until eggs are cooked to your liking. Top with 'lid', wrap in foil and pop into picnic basket.

Going to the beach in PJ's,

watching the sun rise over the ocean,

a picnic breakfast,

an early morning splash in the surf,

Awesome Memories!!!

The Butterballs were up at dawn today - wanting to do it all over again!!

Candy-coated chocolate eggs

When in doubt...add more sprinkles!!

That pretty much sums up the Butterballs philosophy when it comes to baking:)))

After having a blast with our sprinkles-coated cookies, I decided to try them out on our easter eggs as well!

Supplies : candy-coated chocolate eggs, glace icing and of coarse, SPRINKLES!!!

I prepared the glace icing by mixing 100ml of icing sugar with a few tablespoons of water, stirring till it formed a thick paste.

Using a basting brush the Butterballs coated half the egg with icing, before dipping it into the sprinkles.

I found that the best way to get the sprinkles to stick,

 was to coat half the egg first,

then let it dry over-night before dipping and coating the other half.

End result...too cute to eat!!

Naturally, this didn't stop the Butterballs, 

they loved every sprinkle-encrusted bite!!

I will definitely be doing these again.

They will be stunning as an edible centerpiece for our Easter dinner!!

Easter Sprinkle Cookies

For this weeks sweet treat, the Butterballs and I baked a batch of Easter sugar cookies.

Once cooled, the Butterballs dipped them into melted white chocolate...

then into a tray of sprinkles.

When in doubt...add more sprinkles ;)))

We used pink fondant icing, which is quite like edible playdough,

albeit a bit sticky...

as decoration.

The Butterballs loved rolling, squashing and shaping the fondant.

So did I...

Easter Chocolate Spoons

We kick off our Easter Crafting with a super simple, sweet treat!

Chocolate and candy on a spoon...what could be easier!!

I melted a slab of Cadbury Bubbly chocolate in the microwave,

then called in the Butterballs.

Working quickly, they scooped spoonfuls of yummy melted chocolate 

and lined them up for decorating.

A few candy eggs later and we were all done.

Now for the really tough part...

waiting for the chocolate to set!!

I really love chocolate spoons-

they are the perfect bite-sized treat for the Butterballs

and no sticky, chocolate-coated fingers!!!

Butterfly sugar cookies

My little chefs love messing around in the kitchen...

especially when there's frosting to lick and sprinkles to sample ;)

Today, they got to decorate butterfly-shaped sugar cookies.

The Butterballs happily spread royal icing onto the cookie.

Then the fun began...

 First attempt...

Finally got the hang of it!!

 Ethan as usual, spent more time eating the candy than actually decorating his cookies!

Hungry Caterpillar Cupcakes

I've seen so many stunning cupcake versions

of the Hungry Caterpillar on pinterest...

that I just HAD to try making my own.

The Butterballs and I mixed a delicious, vanilla flavoured, cupcake batter

 and the Butterballs placed the liners into the muffin trays.

I baked 24 mini cupcakes in lime green wrappers

and 12 large cupcakes in bright red wrappers.

While the cupcakes were baking, 
we whipped up two batches of frosting...

lime green, lemon flavoured frosting

and red cherry flavoured frosting.

The Butterballs soon disappeared with my mixing bowl and spoons

(they love licking off the leftover frosting)

leaving me to tidy up in peace.

The smell of the baked cupcakes soon lured them out of hiding

and they hovered around the kitchen

 anxiously waiting for the cupcakes to be cool enough to ice.

After blowing and fanning the cupcakes,

they finally lost interest and wandered off to find Dad.

After an hour, the cupcakes were cool.

I iced them quickly and set them out on the tray.

I used the mini cupcakes to form the body

and one large cupcake formed the head.

I cut two little circles of bread for the eyes

 and coloured the pupils in using a black food marker.

The Butterballs enjoyed their caterpillar cupcake treat...

and I was just so glad that I baked mini cupcakes - no sugar high!!

Muffin cup Monday-The Hungry Caterpillar

For this months Muffin Cup Monday,

I decided to do a Hungry Caterpillar dessert tray.

I used my bright red silicone muffin tray 

and filled it with fruit that the Hungry Caterpillar had eaten during the week:

Monday - apple slices

Tuesday - Pear pieces

Wednesday - plums

Thursday - strawberries

Friday - orange slices

Saturday - a Lollipop

In the story, the hungry caterpillar ate lots of different things on Saturday.

I chose the lollipop because I was trying to create a dessert tray filled with sweet treats.

Also, I didn't have the time to bake a chocolate cake or cherry pie

... so a lollipop it was!

I found these cute free printables on Pinterest
(will give full website and proper credit as soon as I find that site again!)
which I coloured in.

 I stuck a toothpick onto the back of each picture and used them as tags.

My Butterballs loved their Hungry Caterpillar Dessert tray!

I was so proud of my Butterballs.

They ate every morsel of fruit and didn't even bother about the lollipop.

I'm so glad that they love fruit more than sweets!!!