Bakugan Cake

Eli really wanted a Bakugan Cake for his birthday, but I couldn't find one anywhere. As everyone knows, I am not known for my culinary skills - but I thought Eli would really get a kick out of having getting his own Bakugan Cake.

Lisa had given me the recipe her easy ice cream cake. She served it when we had last visited and I thought it the easiest, best tasting ice cream cake ever! So with a few modifications - viola - a Custom Bakugan Cake:

The recipe is simple:

INGREDIENTS:

16 Ice Cream Sandwiches
1 16 ounce can/container whipped topping (you can experiment with using flavored whipped cream as well - depending on your tastes)
Caramel or Chocolate sauce
Any crushed candy bars or ice cream topping of your choice. Get creative: use peanuts or fruit like strawberries or blueberries or bananas. As an example, I used crushed peanut butter cups and caramel sauce for Eli’s 6 birthday cake.

Place 8 of the ice cream sandwiches side by side in a 9 x 13 glass pan and arrange them until the entire bottom is covered. You may need to break one in half if necessary.
Spread a thick layer of the whipped topping over the sandwiches. Freeze until harden.
Drizzle any caramel or chocolate sauce; (be as generous as you want) sprinkle with crushed candy bars (or topping of your choice). Create another layer with remaining ice cream sandwiches. Top with other half of whipped topping and freeze until hardened (3 hour minimum, but overnight is best).
Add a thin, fresh layer of whipped topping for the look and decorate with any left over toppings.

For the Bakugan balls I used Lindt truffles - I only thought this up the night before so I had to settle for the dark chocolate, but the white chocolate would make great Bakugan as well. I then used gel icing to make the patterns. For the cards, I used Hersey bars and then decorated with colored frosting and a laminated (okay, taped over) printout of the Bakugan logo.

I froze the balls and the cards so that the icing wouldn't get runny.

Not only did Eli love the cake - he loved eating the cards and bakugan!

Simple Bath Bombs

This is an easy bath treat that is not only fun to make, but also fun to use.
Ingredients:
• 1 part citric acid
• 2 parts baking soda
• Witch hazel
• Fragrance or essential oil of your choice
• Dome Shaped Mold

Mix the dry ingredients into large glass bowl. It is important the mixture is throughly blended, if not the bomb will be grainy. Add color if it is being used and frangrance. Using a spray bottle, start dispersing the water. Be very conservative with the water - too much moisture wil make the mixture over fizz.

Slowly spray and hand mix the dough. Keep doing this until the mixture is packable - it will be crumbly but that is okay. I mold using a a simple rounded measuring sccop. Scoop the mixture onto a cookie sheet and allow to dry overnight.

To use grab a handful and throw into the tub - you will be treated to a fizzy sented good for your skin bath!

Now, if you want to experiment there are a lot of little extra ingredients that will take these treats to the next level.

Extras you can add:

Epsom Salt

Dry Milk Powder

Use light oil instead of water

Coloring - I use soap pigments

Herbs like lavendar, rosemary, etc

Just use you imagination and have fun.

Simple Chocolate Body Scrub

This is a really simple recipe for a moisturizing body scrub. It uses brown sugar and oatmeal flour for a really gentle exfoliating experience. Cocoa powder and powdered milk (you can also use flavored creamer - french vanilla or hazelnut would add a faint, but yummy scent!) adds a subtle frangrance - if you want something a little more lasting, adding vanilla, orange or chocolate fragrance or essential oils will do the trick.

In this first video, Eli shows how simple it is to mix up the ingredients. Notice how he adds the dry ingridents first, then moves to the oils. His basic oil is a blend of olive (for its moisturizing properties) and canola (which is lighter and blends well with the heaviness of the olive oil). The scent of Eli's scrub here is AMAZING! It smells just like those chocolate oranges you whack to open at Christmas - yummy.





The ingredient list is simple and if you are lucky, most will be in your pantry right now. Eli also shows you how to pack the scrub for use in the shower. Remember, the scrub is made with food ingredients and should be used within a month or two from making it up.



In this video post, Eli shows how easy it is to make oatmeal flour. Oatmeal flour is a great addition to scrubs and it also can be used directly into a bath for a soothing soak. Oatmeal flour also makes a wonderful facial mask - simply mix some up with yogurt or sour cream (both contain latic acid, an AHA) and spread on your face and leave for about 10 minutes.



Simple Chocoate Body Scrub Recipe:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup oatmeal flour
• 3 tbs cocoa powder
• 3 tbs milk powder
• about 3/4 cup oil mixture (use more if needed)
• a few drops chocolate and orange essential oils