Monday, April 11, 2011

April Fool's Day!

After my failure at being the green-pancake-making-mom on St. Patrick's Day, I knew I had to make it up to my family on the next superfluous holiday, which just happened to be April Fool's Day. I've always loved a good practical joke, so I always look forward to April 1st. I often do the lunch box switch-a-roo on my kids, where I take something from their lunch, carefully open it, replace the contents with something else and then glue the package back together. They have come to expect that little surprise, so I knew I had to step it up to the next level. This year I decided to do an entire April Fools Dinner. Coincidentally, we signed up to feed the missionaries on April 1st, which just gave me a few more victims for my devious plan.

Thanks to Kristen Duke who posted this link on Facebook, I came up with a great dinner plan. The April Fools Menu included spaghetti with meatballs, cupcakes, bundt cake and red punch to drink....or at least that is what everyone thought they were getting...
"Spaghetti and Meatballs"


The "spaghetti" was actually tinted frosting piped through a plastic bag and made to look like noodles. The "meatballs" were actually cake balls, and the sauce was strawberry jam. Kaiya was pretty concerned when I brought this out. Even after I told her it was cake, she asked if she could take the noodles off before eating the cake.

"Cupcakes"


If dinner is actually dessert, it follows that dessert should actually be dinner. These cupcakes were actually mini-meatloaves, baked in cupcake liners and topped with mashed potatoes which had been piped through a plastic bag to look like frosting. The "sprinkles" were chopped red peppers. I really got everyone good on this one. Even the missionaries were surprised to bite into them and find that there was no cake or frosting involved in these cupcakes! (Riley loved them though, and asked me to make them for dinner again just like that. He said he doesn't normally like meatloaf, but having them topped with the potatoes made it super-yum.)



"Bundt Cake"


This bundt cake is actually a pizza roll. The bread base is filled with pepperoni and meat sauce and the "frosting" is melted mozzarella cheese.



"Red Punch"


To wash it all down, I served red punch...not really! I made Jello in cups with straws to make it appear like a drink. Rustin was especially confused by this one---he kept getting so frustrated that he couldn't get anything to come up his straw.



Kaydence




Kyndall




Clockwise: Jayson, Kaydence, Ryder, Kyndall, Rustin, Kassidy,the missionaries, Kaiya and Riley (after everyone figured out they were being duped, I did pull out a salad to go with the cupcakes and whipped cream for the Jello)




Riley, Rachelle & Kaiya---I love Kaiya's expression....you can tell that she isn't quite sure what to make of it!



If you are interested, you can find the complete recipes from my dinner HERE.


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15 comments:

ToddS said...

Coolest. Idea. Ever.

I love the red-headed elder pretty much defining his entire mission in a single picture: "I'm just killing time out here."

Suzy said...

Could I *BE* any more impressed with you??? Seriously, you are amazing! I only have quads (and no +2), and there's NO WAY that I could find the time or energy to come up with something like this. Maybe someday. :)

Keep up with me, Ted, and our Fab Four at http://four-by-two.blogspot.com.

Cristie Jensen said...

That is so awesome, can you come and be my mom for a day :)!

Stephanie said...

Very clever and fun!

Tiare said...

Super fun idea! I like it! Also, is Riley wearing a collared shirt? Didn't he use to hate those? Does he now like them?

Angela said...

Looks like you had a fun April Fools day. Thanks for sharing your interesting dinner with us. Maybe next year I'll do something creative like this.

Unknown said...

How fun!?!?!?! Kudos to you for putting it all together!! I realized now that I didn't do ANYTHING for my own kiddos for APril Fools. :-( Mom Fail! ha!

~*~*~*~*~*~
I'm blogging all month for Autism Awareness.
www.barbaramanatee.blogspot.com

Louise said...

Everything looks delicious. Kaydence loved the photo, she loves is not sweet, must have been delighted with the salty cupcake.

Ahh ... I would say that I could watch the second episode of "Texas quints" in Brazil, I love it! Um, are just two episodes, even? A big hug to everyone!

Rachelle said...

Louise--Yes, there are only two episodes of "Texas Quints"

firma de contabilitate said...

Oh my god this Spaghetti and Meatballs look so nice and i am sure it was delicious. I will try this recipe in this weekend for sure, thanks for sharing.

Cristy said...

How did you get away with this? You had to have spent all day preparing this meal. Didn't anyone see the jello cups in the fridge? Do tell how you were able to keep the secret.

Rachelle said...

Cristy--

It did take most of the day to prepare. The quints were oblivious, so they were not a problem. Riley and Kaiya were at school and then they had piano lessons after school. Their friend's mom is the teacher, so they usually stay and play after their lessons and get home around 5 pm. When they got home, I turned on a video to distract everyone while I put the finishing touches on the meal. (I did the jello cups in the garage fridge so no one would see those)

Missy said...

Hi from Japan
I love your blog even I often have to use my dictionary.
I totally adore your idea on April Fools' Day!:)

Grandma Honey said...

What a fun write-home-about-it evening for those missionaries!

Schauers Hours said...

That was an amazing idea! I don't want to wait a whole 'nother year to try it out on my family. Nice!