Hi everyone, we arrived safe and sound in Ontario to visit family. It’s been a chaotic couple of days with all the cousins running around excited to play together again. They are having a great time as am I.
Last week we celebrated my youngest son’s 6th birthday. He requested chocolate cupcakes and to keep things simple I made them out of a cake mix. To fancy them up I simply added an oreo cookie to the bottom (as per this recipe) and they were yummy. I also added crushed oreos to the buttercream icing with a half cookie added on top of that to make them look pretty. So easy and of course my son loved it with all those cookies! They are a real treat in our house because I don’t usually buy store bought cookies (my daughter is our cookie baker).
This Pampered Chef celebrate plate has become a favorite birthday tradition in our house. I purchased it off ebay many years ago. My son just couldn’t wait to eat his birthday pizza on it. Does anyone else use a celebrate plate to highlight special days?
Monday: Fuss-Free Ravioli
Tuesday: Quick and Easy Homemade Pizza
Wednesday: Chef’s Surprise
Thursday: Roast beef served with mashed potatoes and carrots
Friday: Crustless Quiche
Saturday: On our way home 🙁
Simple Supper Sunday
WHAT’S ON YOUR MENU THIS WEEK?
Menu Plan Guidelines, banner selections and recipe helpers are here.
More family favorite recipes here.
Food on the Table says
The cupcakes are precious! I use box mixes a lot. They are fail proof and so easy!
Lynn says
I hope you have a great week visiting your family!
Liz@PocketChangeGourmet says
Yum! Those cupcakes are right up my alley 🙂
Thanks for hosting Laura!
~Liz@HoosierHomemade & Pocket Change Gourmet
Miz Helen says
Hi Laura,
Family Birthdays are so much fun and so special. I love the plate and the cupcakes look awesome. Thanks for hosting and have a great week!
Miz Helen
Tiffany says
We have a red plate from Discovery Toys that is nearing 18 years old now. We love using it to celebrate.
Char @ Raising a Healthy Family says
I should know better than to fall off the Menu Planning bus! Anyhow, I’m back on board with a menu for the week and a printable version of my template due to the number of requests I have received for it.
I really need to get one of those special plates – my kids would love that.
Kara @Rockin' Granola says
I love your celebrate plate – what a great idea! My kids would enjoy something like that, I think. How fun 🙂
Kelly @ Dysfunctionally Functional says
It’s been a very, very long weekend!
I love the idea of a special plate for birthdays! I’ll have to ponder some on that one and try to come up with something. Our next family birthday isn’t until February, so I’ve got time. 🙂
Those cupcakes look so, so good! But I have to admit, I’m a chocolate cake snob. We have a recipe in the family for this Absolutely To-Die-For Chocolate Cake, a.k.a. “THE Chocolate Cake”, and ever since I learned how to make it, boxed recipes just won’t do for me.
So if I’m running short of time and patience, I have to make some other flavor of boxed cake, lol!
~sigh~ That chocolate cake ruined me for all other chocolate cakes. It’s so sad.
🙂
Happy Monday, and have a great week, Everyone!!
Rebecca @FitnessFood+Family says
This is my first week doing Menu Plan Monday. I’m trying out that recipe for Unstuffed Shells you linked to last week. Those cupcakes are making me hungry!
Zojirushi BB-CEC20 | toolsforkitchens says
Hi, Laura. I’m glad your trip is going well and that everyone is having fun. I shared a sautéed mushrooms recipe today. Thank you for hosting us again and have a great week!
Lucky @ Making My Own Luck says
Those cupcakes look great. We don’t use a special plate, but I like the idea.
Judi @ Frugal Frolic says
Sounds like a wonderful trip! My kids love trips like that, we don’t do it enough. The cupcakes are very cute, and look yummy!
Thanks for hosting, have a safe trip home!
Patty says
Those cupcakes are GORGEOUS!
Jami @ An Oregon Cottage says
Your cupcakes turned out lovely, Laura!
We’ve used a Red Plate that we were given as a wedding gift 23 years ago. It’s a fun tradition and I highly recommend it as a wedding gift idea!
Heather @ Nourishing the Heart says
I love the cupcakes! Oreos are one of my favorite foods to sneak every once in awhile, even after transitioning away from processed foods. I also love the birthday plate. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for a special plate now that my kids are old enough to not throw it on the floor and break it!
Wendy @ Celiacs in the House says
Those cupcakes would be fantastic made gluten free too. With K-Toos cookies and a gf cake mix, it would be easy. Thanks for the idea and have a great week, Laura.
alisonwonderland says
The cupcakes look so festive! You know, I was a teenager before I knew that anyone could make cake if they didn’t have a cake mix. 🙂 With seven children and a career, my mom was (and still is) an expert on deciding what really mattered to her and using her time in those ways and simplifying in others!
Lauren @ Defrump Me says
Thanks so much for doing this linkup every week!! Love it! 🙂
I do have a question. I typically just link to your Menu Plan Monday category, so that I can use the same link every week and it will still be current. However, I’ve noticed that lately you don’t use that tag on your menus anymore. Should I change my method, or do you plan to do that again? (for example, I usually link to https://orgjunkie.com/category/menu-plan-monday and it used to always show the most current menu at the top.)
Thanks for encouraging us to make our menus! 😉
GelPro Kitchen Floor Mats | Tools for Kitchens says
Hi, Laura. Your chocolate oreo cupcakes look delicious. I shared a moist pumpkin bread recipe today. Thank you for hosting us again and have a great week!
Queen of the House says
Enjoy your trip!!! 😀
Miranda @ A ThankFULL Heart says
I need to try the ravioli — i’m always looking for fuss-free recipes! 🙂
youthleadergina says
Thanks for all these wonderful meals ideas!
Susanne says
I can’t believe your youngest is 6 already! My goodness, have we been blogging that long?
Jessica says
We sure do use a Celebrate plate. Pampered Chef, in fact!
Becky says
I was wondering, what is your simple supper?
Cute cupcakes. I tried something similar recently using box brownie mix and following the cake variation. I made my own frosting. I brought them to church, only my husband ate them, but not before it went to long and a couple had to be thrown out on account of being too hard.
Sinea says
Thanks for the great recipe ideas. I think we’ll be trying the raviolis.
Livin In Duckville says
Congratulations! You’ve been given The Versatile Blogger Award over at Livin’ In Duckville. You can read more about this at http://livininduckville.blogspot.com/2011/11/arise-queen-cometh.html
Leslie Raffelson says
Menu Planning help – if you haven’t checked out the new COZI family calendar that is available, you should. They have a wonderful new meal planning section that the whole family can see. It stores your reciepes and you can drag and drop onto your calendar!!! I LOVE IT! Makes it super easy and the family can participate in helping plan if they have something special on a certain day.
Check out www. cozi.com