Pinkalicious

Pinkalicious is one of our favorite books, you should check it out at your local library or resale book store, here is the story synopsis:

Pinkalicious eats so many pink cupcakes that she wakes up the next morning with pink skin and hair. The color just won't wash off, and the doctor diagnoses her with Pinkititis and tells her to eat green food to get better. Still, when her parents aren't looking, she sneaks just one more treat–and turns red. Startled, she starts to choke down her veggies and finally returns to normal. When everything seems okay, Daddy asks what happened to the other cupcakes, and Pinkalicious's little brother bounds into the room with one in hand, happily showing off his new pink skin. The final Pink-a-boo! is sure to garner smiles. The computer-generated collage pictures are bold and appealing and will draw readers into the story. Although the main character is a bit obnoxious, children will be amused by her obsession with pink sweets. Reminiscent of David Shannon's A Bad Case of Stripes (Scholastic, 1998), Kann's lighter confection is a pink lover's dream come true.–Erlene Bishop Killeen, Fox Prairie Elementary School, Stoughton, WI Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


So, I decided to do my own version of pinkalicious:

I used 1 box of cake mix (any flavor will do)
1 can of diet soda
Pink and Violet food coloring (purchased at any local craft store for $1.67 each. I barely used ANY coloring and got great colors. This concentrated food coloring is supposed to last for a long time, and give vibrant colors)

Mix the cake mix and diet soda. (weight watchers cupcake recipe). DO NOT ADD anything else. Any diet soda will do. and give you a different flavor. I used Cherry chip cake mix and diet dr. pepper --- a nice combination.

I divided the batter to allow to make the 2 different colors. Just divide in 1/2.





Here is the cake batter color. A little off, a little more brown than usual due to the diet dr. pepper.
Here is the food coloring. I used Violet and Pink.

Here is the great pink color. I am glad I stopped here, the final product came out really dark.


The purple or violet looks a little blue-ish. I used a kid spoon to scoop the food coloring from the container since it is thick and then I used it to scoop the batter into the small mini-cupcake wrappers. Much easier than using a bigger spoon.

The final product. Sophia is not home from school yet, but I bet she will be extra excited about the "Pinkalicious" cupcakes. I just hope that she does not turn all pink like in the book.

ode to recipe girl....

There is another great blog that i love to read, The Recipe Girl @ www.therecipegirl.blogpost.com

She does such a great job taking the pictures the entire way thru the process of cooking. This has to add atleast 30 minutes to the cooking time.

So i decided to do my own recipe, this one is great for kids and super easy!!!
Jello Jigglers.

Purchase 1 set of cute ice cube trays (in the dollar spot at target, but $2.50) or even regular ice cube trays should work too.
Spray container with cooking spray, enough to coat the container to allow for the jigglers to pop out easily.

Ingredients:
1 C Hot water (I use a 2C measuring cup)
2 packets of jello, any flavor, even sugar free.

Heat water in Measure cup for 2-3 minutes until boiling. The hotter the water, the better the gelatin will melt and mix.
Mix 1C hot water and 2 packets of any type of jello in the measuring cup.
*Note, if you mix cherry and lime, it looks like a pretty gross brown. I recommend 2 of the same flavor or similar color.
Pour the mixture into the ice cube trays as seen below.
Make room in the fridge before transporting. Jello can be really sticky if spilled.
Place in fridge for 1 hour.
Remove from fridge, use a knife to remove jello from ice cup tray.
Enjoy. These treats can be placed in a lunch box as a great surprise for the kids. They are easily handled by kids of all ages. This is a great and easy treat if used with sugar free jello.

Note:

The original recipe calls for 2 1/4 C of hot water and 4 jello packets. I found this made too much liquid. I had used a 8 cup measure cup to heat the hot water in and mix the jello packets. However, i had to transfer into a smaller measuring cup to pour from as not to spill. You can also just make this amount and pour into a 9x13 pan and cut the jigglers into small squares as needed. A lot of fun for the kids to pick the color/flavor of jello, watch the mixing of the jello and water and taste the final treat.