Cake Mix Contest!!!!!

Calling all bakers!!!!

I’d like to turn this Surprisingly Simple blog over to all you faithful readers, and open up a little friendly competition. The name of the game is cake mix.  

Cake mixes are for bakers who are accomplished at the art of not wasting their time mixing together ingredients that someone else already mixed for them, all for the price of $0.75!

This being said, I would like to see what you wonderful readers have to offer in terms of recipes that use cake mixes. For example, I’ve seen recipies for truffles, cookies, extra special cakes, and all sorts of other delicious treats. In order to entice you to participate, Surprisingly Simple will be having a contest with real live prizes. Wherever you are in the world, if your recipe wins, you’ll be awarded a $5 gift card to Cold Stone Ice Cream, or Jamba Juice (you choose) as well as your very own post on this blog, which we all know will lead to fame and fortune. This is just the second place prize. You can choose. Recipes will be judged on their simplicity relative to their deliciousness, as well as the overall “wow” factor. The judges will be an anonymous selection of cool people, yet to be determined.

Enter by 10:00am MST, Saturday, October 15, 2011!

email all entries to surprisingly.simple.eats@gmail.com !

Tell your friends, tell your mom, tell your wife! Tell everyone so that we can share in the joys of not cake cake mixes together. :)

Ice Cream for Breakfast? Yes please.

Were you allowed to eat whatever you wanted for breakfast as a kid? Don't feel bad if your answer is no. Most moms don’t let their kids have just anything for breakfast--especially ice cream. Traditionally breakfast is supposed to be hot, not frozen.However, traditionally, my family is not very traditional and our favorite breakfast foods involve ice cream. It has always been my favorite food for morning, noon, and night.

Usually I don’t just sit down and have a big ‘ol bowl of ice cream for breakfast. I usually disguise it in something that looks nutritious. The habit started because growing up we would have cream of wheat with ice cream on it. The ice cream stands in for the milk and sugar normal people put on it, but it is twenty million times better. Now that I’m older I just eat it on regular Quick-Oats oatmeal. If you are a fan of hot cereal, or you even like it a little bit, then I recommend trying this. There’s no better way to start the day.

Another way to eat ice cream for breakfast is to put it on your pancakes or waffles. I think this is more common, but still a tantalizing experience for your taste-buds.

This week’s challenge: Have ice cream for breakfast!!! Live a little.

Friday Night Idea: Popcorn Party!

I looked out the window and what did I see? A popcorn party just for you and me.

A few weekends ago I accidentally told a lot of people the same thing- "We should do something fun tonight! I'm sure the gang will be doing something great. I'll let you know!" Unfortunately, I frankly had no idea what anyone was doing, and I honestly hadn't heard of anything going on. I just knew a bunch of people who wanted to do something...or anything really. So that meant I felt some pressure to deliver. Luckily, I have creative friends who helped me brainstorm a list of fun Friday night ideas. The list was quite eclectic- ranging from finger painting with pudding to making a fort to stalking people with lives who were on dates. We were just tired of the typical dinner and a movie night. So, after much deliberation and careful voting, we decided to have a popcorn party. In case you're unaware, a popcorn party means that you make way more popcorn than you can ever eat, in every flavor you could ever imagine.

Thanks to our good friend google we uncovered a dozen or so really interesting recipes all involving popcorn. A trip to the store and $15 dollars later we were on our merry way to buttery popcorn bliss. We only really needed to pick up a few random ingredients like unpopped popcorn kernels, jello, and marshmallow.

Gooey Caramel Popcorn
Pineapple Pleasure Popcorn This was a crowd pleaser- and the biggest surprise in a good way. I highly recommend it.
Chocolate Marshmallow Popcorn
Nuts about Peanut Butter Popcorn
Barbeque Popcorn
Mmua Italiano Popcorn
Cinnamon Sugar Delight Popcorn
Rancheritto Popcorn- This was my personal savory favorite.
Taco Mexicano Popcorno

Yes, we made all these kinds of popcorn, and yes we ate too much. But each and every calorie was a calorie filled with love. 

Price: as much or as little $ as you want. (Pretty cheap though because you probably have a lot of ingredients already.)
Fun Factor: out of this world!