National Vanilla Pudding Day

Today is National Vanilla Pudding Day! This yummy, creamy pudding existed since the 19th century, and most culinary historians say that the modern recipe we use today evolvolved from custards, which date back to Ancient Rome. The first instant pudding was introduced in the 1950s by Jell-O which was advertised and promoted as a "busy-day dessert." Here is one of the original commercial from the 1950s introducing Jell-O instant pudding. To celebrate National Vanilla Pudding Day, make some delicious homemade vanilla pudding from scratch, or from an instant mix!

Image via Chow

Even though its National VANILLA Pudding Day, we want to share with you guys our favorite pudding and their recipes. These two favorites of each of ours are very similar but we will still show you guys both of them despite that, so HAPPY NATIONAL VANILLA PUDDING DAY & ENJOY :)

Natalie's favorite is a milk pudding called Hitaliye (هيطلية)

Image via Donna Hay

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of milk
• 1 heaped tablespoon of corn starch 
• 1/2 teaspoon ma'ez zahr (orange blossom essence) and/or rosewater
• Sugar (optional)
• Honey/ caramelized sugar

Directions:
- Boil the milk
- Mix cornstarch in a cup with a little bit of milk and you can also add sugar to make it sweet which is optional (add desired amount)
- Add the mixture (cornstarch,milk, and sugar) to the boiling milk.
- Make sure to keep stirring the pudding constantly
- Add the orange blossoms essence/rosewater or you can put a bit of both.
- Keep cooking the pudding under low fire until it gets thick around 15 minutes or until you get the desire consistency
- After pour the mixture in small bowls and place in fridge
- Once they have cooled, which probably will take a few hours, you can add honey/caramelized sugar to top it off.
-ENJOY :)

Amanda's favorite pudding is a rice pudding 

Image via Eat The Right Stuff

 Ingredients:

• 1 qt. milk
• 1/4 cup pounded rice
• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon orange blossom essence
• 1/4 cup chopped blanched almonds and skinned pistachio nuts (optional)

Preparation:

- Mix rice with water and add to milk which has been brought to a boil.
- Stir and cook until thickened and then add sugar.
- Continue cooking and stirring until mixture coats the spoon.
- Add flavorings and boil a few minutes longer.
- Pour into individual serving dishes and decorate with chopped nuts.

HAVE A GREAT VANILLA PUDDING DAY!

"Up"/Rainbow Birthday Party

Well we mentioned that St. Patrick's Day is also the same day of my (Natalie's) nephew's birthday, and last year my sister created an amazing "Up"/Rainbow themed birthday party.  We thought we would share how to create some of the amazing food & decorations that were done.

*Rainbow Balloon:
-This is a very simple decoration but it adds creativity and color to the party

You will need: -balloons
                               -rope

1. Get 4 balloons of each rainbow color (we had red, orange, yellow, green, and blue).
2. Inflate 4 red balloons and tie them or twist them together to create a four leaf clover
• Repeat step (2) to each set of 4 colored balloons
3. If you were using 5 balloon colors then you should have 5 sets of four leaf clovers balloons
4. Now use the rope to attach/tie all set of 5 balloon cloves together and leave some extra rope in order to be able to hang the Rainbow Balloon you just created

 *3D Characters & UP House
 - These are so cute and are very easy to make since there are ready templates that are found on the Disney Family website. All you need to do is print them and follow the directions on how to fold and glue them. At the party they were placed on the food table and were great little pieces.

  

*Rainbow Jello

-clear cups

- 1 small box of Jello in each color (purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red)

-whipped cream

1) follow the directions on the jello box using the "quick chill" method

2) pour a layer into each cup make sure to keep 1/3 of the jello

3) place the cups in the refrigerator for about 20-25 minutes

4) in the meantime, take the remaining jello and mix in 1/3 cup of whipped cream

5) once the first layer of jello is set (20-25 min.) take them out of the refrigerator and add the mixture from step (4).

6) Again put all the cups back in refrigerator for another 20-25 minutes and allow to set while you mix the next color

Repeat the process with each color, allowing each layer to set 20-25 minutes before adding another layer. The process might take several hours but the results are worth it!

*Surprise Rainbow Cake  

To make this 7 layered rainbow cake we used a Simple White Cake Recipe from Allrecipe. You will have to bake 7 cakes for the 7 layers. In each cake mix you will add food coloring, you will want a bright color so add as much as you want until you get the desired color. 

Tip: When baking a cake you sometimes have to shave the top off to make it level, here is a great way to avoid that: How to bake a level cake

Instead of using icing, use whipped cream to add between the layers and cover the outside of the cake. The reason for whipped cream rather than icing is because it is much lighter, not as sweet, and is easier to use in covering the cake.  The end result looked all white like a cloud but when you cut into it you see a surprise of colors. Not only did it look amazing but it was one of the best cake I've (Natalie) ever tasted

You could also print out any picture you want and laminate it and add it as a decoration for the top of your cake (For this cake an "Up" house with balloons was used).

This is a real life floating up house. Such an awesome project, whoever thought it was possible !

Image via MyModernMet

                                                                                                       Video via National Geographic