Jello Cake

My kids, especially the boys, love looking through cookbooks. They almost always choose one from the library to bring home each week. This past week Zachary was especially excited about the cakes, and asked if we could make one for Beatrix's birthday, since her birthday is the next one up. (At least on the kid calendar.) I told him we could pick her cake in November, but that we could make something in the meantime. So we made a Jello cake Friday. Or sometimes they are also called "poke cakes." And since it was the weekend of the 4th, the kids asked me to decorate it with fireworks. That sounded easy enough, but they turned out pretty funny looking. Thus, no picture of the entire (ugly) cake, but just one piece to at least show the fun colors. The recipe actually calls just for cool whip on the top, but I didn't have any, so this was a cream cheese frosting. Mmmm. It is a super simple cake, but does take most the day with all the waiting periods, so be sure to give yourself plenty of time.

Jello Cake

Bake a white cake in a 9x13 and cool completely.

Poke the cake with a fork lots and lots and lots.

Combine any flavor Jello (4oz box) with 1 cup boiling water, until dissolved. Then add 1/2 cup cold water. Slowly pour over the cake. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Frost with whatever sounds good. Cool whip is nice and light, cream cheese frosting makes a nice compliment to the berry flavor.

Braided breadsticks

I like this bread recipe because it makes a good, yeasty bread stick, but from start to finish they are done in about an hour. (Or more, depending on how much "help" I have.) Abigail learned to braid last week, so I made the dough and she shaped them.

Combine and let get bubbly:
1 cup warm water
3 tbl sugar
2 1/2 tsp yeast

In mixer bowl, stir together:
3 cups bread flour
1 tsp salt

Turn on the mixer with the bread hook.
Drizzle in 1/4 cup oil. Slowly add the yeasty water and then let the mixer combine and then knead the dough.

Roll out into a 10x12 rectangle.
Cut into strips. (About 1/4 inch wide.)
Use three strips and braid, place onto a greased cookie sheet.
Let rise for about 20 minutes.
Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes, depending on how thick they ended up.
Brush with butter, and sprinkle with garlic salt and parmesan cheese.