Freebies!

I thought I'd take an extra minute from my busy day just to let you know about two special freebies you can participate in today!

First, 7-Eleven is offering free slushies today in honor of 7/11/08. So head down to your nearest store to get any one of six or more flavors! Hubby already brought home a sour apple slushie! Yum!

Second, and the coolest freebie by far, today is Cow Appreciation Day at your local Chick-fil-a. Dress like a cow and get free Chick-fil-a! A partial cow costume will get you a free entree, but dressing like a cow from "head to hoof" will get you a free combo meal. I'm trying to convince Hubby that we should pull out the face paint, but for some odd reason, he's hesitant to don black spots in public! Go to www.cowappreciationday.com for more information and for their helpful costume tips!

For the second time today, I wish you happy eatin's! Also pass on the happy news!

Oreo Fudge Ice Cream Cake

I've been slow with blogging lately because we've had a couple of hectic weeks. In the last two weeks, we...

...celebrated our church's first baptism!
...visited with my mom and cousin for a week, going to King's Dominion with them three times in five day!
...celebrated the Fourth of July with friends from DC and our family by going to King's Dominion and then barbecuing!
...visited with my dad the past two days, watching several movies and going to the Richmond Zoo for the first time!

This morning started at 4:45am when I had to drive Hubby to work for his opening shift at Starbucks. Followed by driving my dad to the airport at 6:45am. The little girl I nanny arrived at 8am. I managed to grab a quick shower (a record 3 minutes) and in just a moment I'll be packing the kiddos in the car and heading back to Starbucks to pick up Hubby. Thankfully I go knowing that a yummy frappuccino will be waiting for me to help me through the rest of the day!

An equally busy weekend awaits us, so while I do have several posts I'd like to make, those thoughts will have to wait until at least Sunday. In the meantime, I thought I'd share the recipe for the Oreo Fudge Ice Cream Cake that I made for Hubby's birthday and our special at-home date night.

OREO FUDGE ICE CREAM CAKE

1 chocolate fudge boxed cake mix
Eggs, oil, water
1/2 gallon of cookies n cream ice cream, slightly softened
2 jars hot fudge (12-16oz each)
2 rows Oreo cookies, crushed

Mix up the cake mix according to the package directions. Pour half of the batter in to a 9x13 cake pan and bake. (The other half is extra, so set aside to use for cupcakes or a second cake. You can also see tip below on using the extra batter and fudge.) When cake is finished baking, cool for several minutes, then poke small holes in to the top every inch or so. Heat one jar of hot fudge and pour half to three-quarters of the jar over the warm cake. Allow the fudge to be absorbed by the cake. Cool completely, and then freeze for 2-3 hours.

When cake is frozen, layer ice cream on top. The best way to do this is to buy the ice cream in one of the half-gallon boxes with the fold out sides. Slice the ice cream with a knife and layer the slices over the cake. Use a spatula to smooth out crevices.

Warm the second jar of hot fudge only enough so that the fudge pours easily. If you warm the fudge too much it will completely melt the ice cream. Spread half to three-quarters of the jar of hot fudge over the ice cream. Then dump the crushed Oreos on top of the hot fudge. Press Oreos down so that they stick well. Freeze at least 4-6 hours before serving. Overnight is best. Remove from freezer about 10 minutes before serving.

TIP: Using the extra cake batter, fill cupcake pans (lined with cupcake papers) until each tin is about two-thirds full. Take a heaping spoonful of unheated hot fudge and place on the top in the center of each cupcake. Bake as directed on the package. The spoonful of hot fudge will sink in to the middle of the cupcake during baking. Will make about a dozen and can be frozen since you most likely won't be ready to eat them since you just made a huge ice cream cake! We ate ours straight out of the freezer with cool whip. Yummy!

So this really is the best ice cream cake ever and definitely beats paying almost $30 for a tiny Coldstone Creamery ice cream cake! Credit actually goes to Cindy who gave me the recipe, though I added the layers of fudge. You can probably mix up the cake mix and ice cream flavors and switch out the fudge with caramel or butterscotch for different varieties. Happy summer, ice cream eatin's!

Dr. Seuss

I occasionally like to look up completely random information that adds nothing of great value to my life but is fascinating. Little Boy owns several Dr. Seuss books, and we borrow more from the library whenever we can. I honestly do not know a child (or adult) who does not love to read Dr. Seuss books. His imagination, creativity, catchy verses, made-up words, and whimsical illustrations completely draw me. At Thanksgiving, I commented to our family that Dr. Seuss must be a genius for his ability to teach children common and important sounds and syllables, give them fun yet easy reading material, and keep them engaged in the story with his imaginative characters and his illustrations. Genius or completely crazy, my brother-in-law said in response.

Genius or completely crazy? Most likely a bit of both, I thought, but that comment spurred on my curiosity. Was Dr. Seuss intentional in his writings? Or did he just have a ridiculous, over-active imagination that publishers decided to harness? And so I decided to find out. Here's what I learned about Theodor Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss):

• Geisel did not start as a children's author. He worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns and as a political cartoonist. During World War II, he joined the Air Force, served in their animation department, and wrote Design for Death, a film that later won the 1947 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.
  
• Theodor Seuss Geisel used the name pen Dr. Seuss for books that he wrote and illustrated. He used the pen name Theodor LeSieg for books that he wrote but asked someone else to illustrate. LeSieg is Geisel spelled backwards.
  
• The correct pronunciation of Seuss is Soice (to rhyme with voice), but everyone currently pronounces the name Suice (to rhyme with juice).
  
• In May 1954, Life magazine wrote an article on illiteracy in school children and concluded that children were not learning to read because their books were boring. Dr. Seuss' publisher wrote a list of 400 words that he felt were important and asked Dr. Seuss to write a children's book incorporating at least half of those words. Nine months later, Dr. Seuss completed The Cat in the Hat using 220 of the words that were given to him. And so began his career in children's literature.
  
• A rumor states that Dr. Seuss' publisher bet Dr. Seuss $50 that he could not write an engaging children's book using only 50 words. In response Dr. Seuss wrote Green Eggs and Ham.
  
• Dr. Seuss dedicated most of his life to writing children's books and became passionate about literacy in children. He has published over 60 children's books, including a line of Beginner Books with simplified vocabulary for those learning to read. He struggled most with writing the Beginner Books, each book apparently taking him months and months to complete.
  
• In 2000, Publisher's Weekly composed a list of best-selling children's books of all time. Of the top 100 hardcovers, 16 were Dr. Seuss books, including The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.
  

So there you have it! Definitely not information that you needed to live a long, happy life, but fascinating nonetheless. And personally, I think the scales tip more towards the genius end than the crazy end! Don't you?