Teacher Toolbox

So this has absolutely nothing ti do with cooking. But I am extremely excited about the project. And, YES, this to was Pinterest inspired. So who would have thought to use one of those plastic toolboxes that are used in garages/sheds in the classroom to organize all the teachers supplies! Of course, it needs ti be done up and made all teachery; so that is what I am working on currently. I want to paint in a turqoise but first it has to be primed. Did you know for spray paint to adhere properly ti plastic it is best to let it sit 5-7 days? I figured I had the time, so why not do it the right way. I bought sime really cute scrapbook stickers to label the drawers. I want to get some decals for the side, but haven't decided what. So essentially I am on step one.
1. Remove all the drawers and spray with primer. (Don't forget to lay down newspaper - endearing words of my loving husband).

http://www.google.com/search?q=stack+on+32+drawer+storage+cabinet&hl=en&client=safari&tbo=d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=RGALULGZJ8fi2gWy_fkF&ved=0CDkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=672#biv=i|21;d|yteU5gdfN1dvOM:

PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps - My Attempt at Least

Pinterest is becoming widely popular - so I thought why not actually attempt some of the recipes that are found on the site - its an accumulation of some AMAZING ideas.  Last night I decided to cook P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wraps - I think they turned out very nice - I think, however, I could have saved myself a little bit of time in the kitchen.  

Just keep in mind if you don't have some of these ingredients it can be a little pricey the first time you purchase them - but then they are there for you to use.

This recipe is a variation of one someone posted onto Pinterest :) Enjoy!

What you will need: 

3-4 Chicken Breasts (The original recipe I found called for ground chicken breast)

1/2 Onion finely chopped

Salt and Pepper (add to taste)

Teaspoon of garlic powder

1 inch fresh ginger (peeled and finely chopped)

1 tablespoon sesame seed oil (found in the Asian spices)

2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter

1/2 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon of rice vinegar AND

1 teaspoon rice vinegar (found in the Asian spices)

1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce (you can add more if you want it spicier; also found with Asian spices)

3 green onions - chopped

1/2 8 oz. can of water chestnuts (chopped)

1/4 cup peanuts

Iceberg lettuce leaves

It is a lot of ingredients - but it is fairly simply to do!

1.  If you didn't buy ground chicken breast - then you will need to finely chop the whole chicken breast - this is where I could have saved a TON of time!!!

2. Cook the chicken, onion, garlic powder, and ginger until the chicken is white.

3. In a microwave safe bowl pour in the sesame seed oil, soy sauce, water, peanut butter, honey, rice vinegar, and chili garlic sauce.

4. Place the mixture in the microwave and microwave for 30-60 seconds.  Stir until the mixture is smooth.

5.  Pour liquid mixture into chicken mixture and stir.

6. Add green onions and water chestnuts to mixture until onions are soft. Stir for 1-2 minutes.

7. Stir in peanuts.

8. Lay out lettuce boats

9. ENJOY!!!

Dinosaur Cake

Okay - so I am finally going to go live with my blog - simply for the fact that I have had a few people ask me to post the dinosaur cake that my friend Kristi and I created for my nephews birthday.  It looks a lot more complicated than it actually turned out being - the most tedious part of the entire process was making the variety of different icings.

What you will need:
Chocolate Cake recipe (the denser the better) - you will need to make 2
White Cake Recipe
Buttercream Recipe (I used the Sprinkle's recipe)
Chocolate Buttercream Recipe (Again, I used Sprinkle's recipe)
A glass cooking bowl that is oven safe - I used Pampered Chef's small batter bowl
Piping Bags
Decorator Tips
Any Decorations you want to add
Coconut & Chocolate Eggs
Cake Board
Food Coloring
Beaker
Dry Ice
Water

Step 1: Bake 2 9x13 sheet cakes - We did one white and one chocolate cake
Step 2: Bake a chocolate cake in your oven safe bowl - the one I did took about an hour to cook  - just make sure that a butter knife comes out clean.  After an hour, I would check it every 5 minutes.
Step 3: Let your cakes cool - I put them in the freezer for a few days - which made them ALOT easier to carve.
Step 4: Place two 9 x 13 sheet cakes beside each other and cover with Green Buttercream Icing
Step 5: Pipe the river using a decorator's tip (We made one huge batch of icing and then divided and colored it all the different colors we needed)
Step 6: Carve your bowl shaped cake into something that resembles a volcano - we carved a hole in the middle of it, for a beaker, so that we could make it smoke later. (Save the shavings)

Step 7: Place the volcano on the cake and ice with chocolate icing.
Step 8: Pipe red and orange icing on the volcano for "lava" effect

Now the hard part is DONE!!

Next all you need to do is add your decorations!

We used dinosaurs and plastic trees
Around the board we crumbled up some of the chocolate cake we shaved and used it as dirt
Coconut for egg nest & whooper eggs for the eggs

The small volcano's were made from baking cake in very small glass micro safe bowls (Pampered Chef) that I had.

When you are ready to make it smoke - drop a few or a lot of pieces into the beaker and then pour water on top of the beaker - and walah - you have a smoking volcano!