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     There is always something just a little special about cracking open a box of donuts, fresh from the bakery! How many will have sprinkles? Will there be any filled ones? What about my favorite maple bars?  Dad likes his old fashions of course. So many choices and it is so hard to choose! And the calories!  You know that you shouldn't have two, but they are so tempting. 

     I try not to buy donuts too often, but since today is National Donut Day, the same day as Friday Faves, we had to splurge and live a little.  What is your favorite donut? 

     Here in Phoenix, we have a donut chain called Bosa Donuts! We love them.  A dozen donut holes is only 99 cents! They are so light and fluffy! A pile of donut holes on top of a serving platter of donuts is so much fun at a party! 

     We've given you some donut ideas in the past! Do you remember Lindsey's baked cake donuts?  They are a nice alternative to fried ones! They would be so easy to make in this Wilton Donut Pan. 

As an alternative, Lindsey used her mini bundt pan to make hers. 

     Another time, Alicia shared an UnValentine's Day Party idea where she showed you some awesome copy-cat Voo Doo Donut ideas! 

     Donuts are actually pretty trendy right now on any day of the year.  They can be used as a theme for baby showers (or a sprinkle)  to birthday parties. And, they make great little inspirational handouts (Donut Stop Believing). Anyway, here are some donut products that might get your creative juices flowing. 

Here are some inflatable donuts.

Target carries an entire line of paper party goods  called Donut Time.

These giant, round beach towels  are really popular now.  This one has fringe! 

To me, this adorable towel screams, "Donut track that sand into the house!"

     Ha Ha, just a little tongue in cheek humor! I guess donuts just bring out the silliness in me! What would you add as a caption to these donuts?  Maybe eating a donut would help you think better! Go ahead! It is National Donut Day! 

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I am excited to share today's post with you because it was the first time I got to make a cake for someone in a long time (like really decorating a cake) and I enjoyed it! It was also my first time making a pinata cake, and it was a lot of fun!

About a month ago a girl I go to church with said she was looking for a cake maker for a cake she needed rather quickly. I told her I could probably do it for her if she didn't need anything too elaborate. That's when she told me she wanted a pinata cake for her gender reveal. I was so excited because I didn't even know she was pregnant! Babies are so wonderful and exciting, and this is such a fun way to do a gender reveal!

She dropped offer her little piece of paper for me, and it was a weird feeling knowing that I knew what she was having before she did!

Well, she is having a baby boy so I went and found some blue chocolate sixlet candies to fill the cake with. She and her husband were doing the gender reveal with her family in Spain, so there were only going to be two people eating the cake, so I decided to do six inch rounds. I felt like this would be the best size since the cake was going to be three layers. It was fun to make and I was so happy when she sent me the picture of the cut cake with the little chocolates spilling out! 

To make a pinata cake you can use whatever cake recipe you like the best, or even a box mix if you want! (I have a great chocolate recipe I intend on sharing with you soon!) Since this was a gender reveal cake I decided to do a funfetti cake, since it would have colorful candy chips in the batter.

To Assemble Your Cake:

Now I feel like a minimum of three layers is bet for a pinata cake. You could probably do two, but having a layer underneath really helps the candy pop out! I used a small glass to cut a hole out of the center layer of the cake.

Start with your bottom cake, spread a thin layer of frosting all around the cake, then place the center layer with the middle cut out.

Spread another thin layer of frosting around the outside and top of the cake.

Fill the center with your candy.

Place the top layer on top, and do another crumb layer.

To frost the cake I put my frosting in a piping back and pipe it on with a flat tip. I have a round cake decorating tray. Once the frosting is all piped on so your cake looks like this you can use a frosting smoother make it look beautiful. Place the smoother on the cake at a 45 degree angle and spin the cake . You'll have to stop periodically to remove excess frosting, but eventually the side of your cake will be nice and smooth. you can then carefully smooth the frosting over the edges and smooth it on the top.

To decorate the cake I just used pink and blue sprinkles. It was simple and sweet, but I knew she didn't want to spend much time looking at the cake, she wanted  to cut into it and find out if she is having a boy or a girl! So I just tried to make it look nice, but add a little fun with the sprinkles.

Cake making and decorating is something I really enjoy. It's hard to find the time with an infant to really spend on it, but there is something so satisfying about looking at a beautiful cake!

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     Hi everyone! I hope you had a great Memorial Day Weekend! For me, it was awesome because I was able to fly to the Bay Area in CA and visit my Daughter's family and we drove to visit my mom and family about 3 hours away.  It was a lot of fun.  Unfortunately, when we got back to my daughter's house, I came down with some sort of bug and was knocked out of the action for a whole day! Fortunately was better by Sunday afternoon and we got to spend some quality time together. Since I was flying home on Monday, I didn't put up my normal Monday post.  But I hope that today's post will make up for the wait, because, TAH DAH, I am finally sharing the copy cat Beef Poutine recipe that you have been waiting for.  On this post we gave you Disney Tips and told you about Red Rose Tavern and I promised to share a the recipe with you.  So, here it is! 

     Hipster Beef Poutine

     Traditionally, Poutine is made with fries, cheese curds and brown gravy.  My son-in-law says that all of the variations on Poutine are kind of new and hipster syle, so since I love this way of making it, I am calling it Hipster Beef Poutine. 

• The first thing you have to do is roast until shreddable tender a nice beef roast.  I did mine in the crock pot.  Season it however you like, with salt, pepper, onion, garlic, and when it is all done, shred it up and reserve the juices for the gravy. 

• Make some fries.  Maddy made some for this dish out of red potatoes, cut into steak fries.  She said that when she had been to Canada, she always had Poutine with steak fries.  She drizzled them with olive oil and seasoned them with salt, pepper, rosemary and garlic.  You can season them your favorite way.  Then, she baked them until they were tender.  At the Red Rose Tavern, they use waffle fries. 
• You also need cheese curds.  You can purchase these at Costco.  I couldn't find them at our local grocery store, but I did find mozzarella pearls that are very similar. 

• Just before you are ready to serve, make the gravy.  Here is my tried and true way:

Brown Beef Gravy:

1. Pour the juice from the beef into a skillet and heat to boiling.  While it is heating, you can start to season it with salt and pepper. 
2. Add about 1/2 c. water to the juices
3. In a 2 c. measuring cup, put 1 cup of water and about 3 T flour.  Mix together thoroughly.  Pour the mixture into the boiling juices slowly and quickly whisk it together, ensuring no lumps! If it doesn't get as thick as you would like, depending on the amount of juices that you have this can vary, make a little more of the water and flour mixture and add more to the juices. Allow to boil and simmer so the flour cooks and you don't have a raw flour taste.  Add seasonings to taste. 

     Now, here is how you put it all together! 

    You are not quite finished!  Remember last week I showed you how to make pickled onions!  They are the perfect accompaniment on top of this dish! 

     There you have it! I know you will love it! So give this traditional French-Canadian dish a try! 
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     I have to admit that men are always difficult for me to buy for! My husband is especially difficult because he never says that he wants anything and he hates the attention of people buying things for him, although he is appreciative. Finding just the right gift to show him how much he means to me is hard, but it is something I am always on the look out for when it comes to birthdays, Christmas and Father's Day.  With Father's Day coming soon, and because we have some awesome fathers and grandfathers in our family,(see the collage above), and knowing that you guys do as well, we decided that we would share some of our ideas for what we think would make awesome Father's Day's Gifts. We would sure love to hear some of your ideas as well because a nice list of men's gift ideas would be awesome! So, welcome to Friday Faves #62! 

Electronics:

     Some of the dads in our family really enjoy electronics, from games to music gadgets.  Here are some great ideas, Starting with the Echo Dot, or the Echo Second Generation with Alexa. 

     There are so many uses for the Echo, but we love the music component and being able to hear a song as soon as you think of it! 

     We wouldn't be 3 Winks if we didn't show you this awesome Owl Echo Holder! A little decorative for if your home decor is more traditional rather than modern. (This might be more for me than my husband). 

Meat Eaters:

     Some of our dads are definite meat eaters.  Others do more plant based but do enjoy a good barbecue now and again.  Here are some special splurges for those guys.

      Order some really good beef from Snake River Farms! If you order on May 29, use code feedmebrisket to get 20% off of your order. 
           To go with those good cuts of meat, some nice savory rubs would be a good accompaniment. 
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Family Themes:

     These family themed gifts of family history and pictures are probably gifts that my husband appreciates the most. My daughter-in-law made him an awesome famiily history book of his family for Christmas a couple of years ago that he cherishes. One year, my daughter made him and framed this awesome family tree that now hangs in our home: 

   You can order similar ones on Etsy. Just add your own names.

Clothing that Leads to a Destination:
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    So, a number of years ago, when my husband was having a notable birthday, I bought him a new swimsuit and also tickets to the water park for his birthday.  We went together, just the two of us, like we were kids again and had a great time.  Right now Target is having a sale on swimsuits, so click on the photo to go there.  If the water park isn't up your ally, the beach or Hawaii would also be great destinations to go with a new swim suit! This way of giving a destination gift would work with other types of clothing as well! A Star Wars Tee for the new movie, a Disney shirt for a Disney trip, shorts for a hike in the mountains or a camping trip, or a ski jacket for a ski trip!  Whatever you think they would love. I love the idea of a destination gift, even without the clothing hint.
     Those are some of our favorite ideas! Please share yours because everyone needs all of the ideas that they can get when it comes to men's gifts! Leave your ideas in the comments, and have a great weekend!