Not Too Shabby for 237 Years

A question for all you non-Army types out there…what significance does June 14 have?  Flag Day?  Yes, that is correct, but more importantly (in our household’s opinion), it’s the Army’s birthday! And how do we celebrate every occasion, big or small?  With thematically appropriate food!


Ta-da!  I hope you’re more impressed with this than my hooligans were.  They just went, “Oh, that’s cool.” Not even with an exclamation point in their little hooligan voices.



So here’s what I did, for you eagle-eyes who noticed that the cut slice is not decorated with writing and blueberries…I’m sending this in with my GI tomorrow, but I wanted to brag  show you how cool it was.  So I took the photos, put the slice back in, and frosted over it.  Then I decorated with icing and blueberries.

Here’s the photo from Pinterest that inspired me…it’s from Kimmi Knippel at Just a Pinch.

I read her directions a couple of weeks ago and obviously didn’t follow them to the letter.  I made mine the same way I made the rainbow cake for First Communion.  I used 8” pans with a 5” pan in the middle of two of them for the blue.  You’ll see what I mean if you read Kimmi’s instructions.

I also made a batch of these stamped almond butter cookies. 

I bought this set of cookie cutters at Williams Sonoma last fall, and then I forgot I had them.  I was digging around in the corner cabinet for my small springform pans to use for the cake and found them.  They worked wonderfully.  I followed the recipe included, except that I used almond extract instead of vanilla.



I had planned to write U.S. Army under the Happy Birthday on each one, but my family decided they wanted to eat dinner tonight so I had to content myself with some festive dots that took less time.

You can always celebrate further by belting out the Army’s song, “The Army Goes Rolling Along.”  Here’s the version we favor, since we’re a Field Artilleryman’s family:

Over hill, over dale,

We will hit the dusty trail,

And those Caissons go rolling along.

Up and down, in and out,

Counter march and left about,

And those Caissons go rolling along,

For it's "hie-hie-hee",

In the Field Artillery,

Shout out your numbers loud and strong,

For wher-e'er we go,

You will always know,

That those Caissons go rolling along.

You can find the “official” version by Googling, but the original was written by a young field artillery officer, so we like to stay true to tradition! Hooah!

Linking up at The Taylor House