Lesson Three - Waffles, Pot Roast, Scalloped Potatoes and Lavender Devils Food Cake

Originally we had planned to make steak. I had let the girls decide what they wanted to learn to cook. I also have them bring home what they cook to their families. Steak was going to be a little pricey and there’s not really anything to learn about preparing steak. I went ahead and did some shopping and bought a big roast and items for scalloped potatoes and a hundred bucks later, I got what I needed.

I picked up Logan, Macy and Lily… we started the evening with playing “In a Pickle” which was kind of a weird game, but when shopping for games, I decided to make them food related. Sounded like a good idea at the time.

We got up the next morning and I forgot all about what we’d eat for breakfast. When waffles were mentioned, I thought, well heck, you all can learn how to make those too. I dug out my waffle maker, pulled out good ole Betty Crocker to “Crispy Waffle” recipe and away we went.

As you can see in this picture they look super excited, don’t they? I think they were still asleep or they were hoping that Queen Grandma-ma Purple Plum was going to wait on the three princesses.

The first waffle wasn’t a full circle because the last time I poured batter in the waffle maker, it oozed out the sides and all over the counter. Wasn’t going to make that mistake again, but guess I got a little chintzy with the batter and let me tell you, the princesses let me know about it.

“Gramma, we want it to be completely round.”

“Yes ma’am, let me try that again!”

They each ate two waffles. Princess Dragonfly hadn't been exposed to powdered sugar because she was surprised that it was sweet (unlike flour) and thought the waffle made that white stuff sweet. I thought that was adorable. I told her if she ground up regular granulated sugar, it’d come out looking just like flour… as she had figured.

We worked on our time table and decided we wanted everything to be finished at 4:30, so I’d have enough time to drive them home where they would serve their families. Since they wanted dessert, I had all the ingredients for Lavender Devils Food Cake and we began with that.

Each one worked on their part. Princess Dragonfly was in charge of measuring all the ingredients and adding them to either Princess Frost’s mixer (for the batter) or to Princess Flame’s pan where she was cooking the filling for said cake.

After the cake was in the oven, they prepped the meat with seasoning. We modified Betty Crocker’s recipe for roast by rubbing the meat with seasoning, adding one cup of beef boullion to the prepared meat, sealing it with foil and popping it in the oven at 300 degrees for four hours.

As the meat cooked, they peeled potatoes, cooked up the sauce, assembled and topped the potatoes with cheese. We crammed those into the oven to come out the same time as the roast.

They began decorating the cake. I thought it’d be easier if the icing was left out after they prepared it so it’d be more spreadable, but it was so spreadable that it nearly ran off the cake. The filling needed to be thicker too, but we hurriedly spread everything on and shoved it in the icebox… err… refrigerator, where it needed to set for two hours.

I found boxes to put all their food in, packed things up and headed out the door. We dropped Lily off first and before I got back home, I was told the roast was delicious! After I dropped Logan and Macy off, I heard later from their mom that the little stinkers didn’t even save any meat for their mom.

Here's their meat and potatoes:

I guess it was a success.

Next lesson was going to be Surprise Inside Cake, but due to the time required, we had to make a change… Pup Cupcakes instead.

Another Grand Tea Party

I had a tea party for the two granddaughters when they were seven and eight. Now they are 12 and 13. I didn’t think they’d go for it when I suggested we have another tea party, but they were excited about it.

This time, we did things a little differently than we did the first time. And you can see how much they have grown since the first time.

Until I read the blog from five years ago, I didn’t realize, I had them help with the food. But with this tea party, I prepared the food ahead of time, so there’d be more time for fun.

I picked them both up after school. We had dinner with Grandpa and then went shopping for our outfits. We went to a thrift store where they tried on a ga-zillion outfits. Here are a few shots. I’m sure the employees loved us having to hang up all those clothes.

Lots of giggling took place. After they settled on the perfect outfit (which you’ll see later as it’s not any of the above), we hit the shoe rack, then the hat rack, and then the jewelry rack. They picked out a purple outfit for me and found me some matching shoes.

We came home and they were so excited that they changed clothes to show Grandpa. Since Lily had a birthday the day before, I had made some panda bear cupcakes and we sang Happy Birthday!

 

 

We then made lipstick to match our outfits. 

After that, we painted nails.

Once the nails were dry, we headed to the bedroom to play Pass the Pigs, and finally to sleep.

Morning came and we began make up. Then hair and we had an oopsy with Lily’s hair as I didn’t realize a brush curling iron would tangle in long hair… 

Lily was a good sport about it and after trying every trick in the book to untangle the mess (even demolishing the curling iron), we ended up cutting her hair. However, you can’t even tell. So there.

We got dressed and headed to the “Tea Room.” I had saved some old dishes of my mom’s. I split the set and “dished” them to my kids, nieces and sisters. Two of the sets were still here, so I dug them out and we used those for our tea.

Talking in our finest British accent, we commenced with the tea party. Princess Flame (aka Logan) 

 

and Princess Frost (aka Lily) 

behaved themselves in the finest manner, even when an unexpected guest showed up. They were gracious in allowing Auntie Jessica (who was not in proper attire) join in for a spot of tea. 

Queen Grandma-ma Purple Plum invited both Princess Frost and Princess Flame to join me for tea on an annual basis, with the stipulation that two other princesses would be invited (if not more). It was “quitely” divine. Quitely was a new British word we created.

Here we are posing to show off our shoes. Oh, the shoes. I don’t know how the heels could be any taller. You can’t see Princess Frost’s heels, but they are taller than Princess Flame’s or mine.

Guess how quickly my fur, hat and shoes came off? Before the tea party was over.

A dear friend shipped some fine Teddy Bears to me to be included in the tea party and here they are with Princes Frost and Princess Flame. Have you ever seen two more angelic princesses?

I shoo’d the girls off to play while I cleaned up. Grandpa-pa took us out to eat again—while in route, Princess Flame and Princess Frost sang to … ack, a popular singer that escapes me. Country and Western, if I recall. Ah... Taylor Swift.  They knew every word and they both sang just as good as Taylor, if you ask me.

 

Back home, we continued to play—making bouncy balls from Auntie Rita, and teaching Auntie Rita how to play Pass the Pigs. After Auntie Rita left, we learned how to zentangle. Both Princesses are quite artistic.

The princesses stayed the night again and Grandpa-pa chauffeured them home the next day while I was at church.

Ahh, what's not to love about a tea party?