A Class, A Tag & Cupcakes

Gosh this whole month is just flying by, don't you think?! Between Christmas, birthdays, shopping, baking and making time for and making new traditions, the days are so full I barely notice them passing.

If however, you do have a little extra time or are looking for something to do doing vacation week, there is still a little time to check out my Simple Stamping class at Miss Art's Papercrafting! Or if you have already stamped your heart out, there are a few new classes debuting soon as well. :)

Speaking of holiday baking I started last night with some tasty Salted Caramel Cupcakes. And oh my goodness, the caramel filling almost got the best of me. I was up til 1:30am melting sugar, remelting and starting over trying to get it just right. Maybe it's my competitiveness, but I can't let a challenging task beat me. No way. I must master it! And it was totally worth it because they are delish!!

Devil's Food cupcakes recipe here
Vanilla Buttercream frosting here
Caramel Filling here
Top with a caramel, mine came from the store, but these sound really good.

I made 3 dozen to hand out teachers, the bus driver and a few of our neighbors.

To make the tags included with the cupcakes, I created some tags using the Make It Monday #46 - any die into a folder tag. So glad to have a simple challenge like this to distract from what I really need to be doing :) This one is my fav.

Thanks for stopping!

-

InLinkz.com

4th Birthday Dress + Rainbow Cake

The twins celebrated their 4th birthday on the first day of spring. We had a fun, low key day - hanging out, doing whatever they wanted with cake and corn dogs for dinner followed by their first time at the movies to see Rango. (I liked the movie maybe even more than they did!)



They love baking and helped to make a 4-layer rainbow cake with funky frosting -yum! (I've seen this idea several places online, but sorry no links as to where).

Even though they knew we put food coloring in the mix it was still a surprise to cut the first slice!

Leah got a special birthday dress made with Simplicity 2767 in her current fav colors - pink and green. The fabric is from lines Hunky Dory (Chez Moi) and Hushabye (Tula Pink). She loves it and is wearing it again today even!

The sleeves are the very best part of the this dress! The little pleats make it extra special.

An invisible zipper down the back (although the invisible part didn't work out quite right).

And of course the matching hair ties. Her hair is just so sweet in low pigtails.

Keegan is a jeans and sweatshirt guy just like his dad and picked out his own clothes here. I didn't push it since it was his day. He got his first BB gun and ran around exclaiming "I got a real gun just like dad!"

Unfortunately he isn't quite strong enough to cock it on his own yet. Maybe by fall he can go squirrel hunting with dad.

They both had a great day and I must say having a small family party is so much less stressful for all of us than a big party with tons of guests the kids don't really know. This is definitely the way to do it.

(Despite that last statement, did you see this Dora themed party on Prudent Baby? Crazy!!)

Princess Birthday Week: Day 1 - Treats

Maybe I mentioned this last week, but Saturday was my daughter Aurora's 3rd birthday! It's hard to believe she is almost out of that toddler stage and is growing into such a lovely and polite little girl!!! I spent nearly 3 weeks planning and prepping and making decorations for the party only to have a blizzard warning cut back the attendance. What a shame. But we still had lots of fun and I wanted to share all the details with you in an entire Princess Party themed week!! - just in case you are planning your own princess party (minus the Disney).

I looked through lots of photos from Marie Antoinette for inspiration and although I probably couldn't bake any French pastries to save my life, was inspired to use a stuffed cupcake as her main dessert. Here is the recipe I used for the plain white cake (check out the reviews too - you need to add extra milk to keep the batter from getting too dry).

For the stuffing, I just mixed whipped cream with raspberry preserves and used a piping tip to fill after the cakes were baked. Here is the recipe for the buttercream icing - I added a few tablespoons of jam to it as well. Double the icing recipe if you plan on making more than 2 dozen cupcakes. Oh and leftovers will need to be stored in the fridge because of the whipped cream.

Mmmm, now which one shall I start with first?

Thanks with Dessert

We really are lucky to have such great neighbors and rather than waiting til Christmas to share my appreciation, I got a head start by baking and making a few cards to hand out during this season of gratefulness. It's so wonderful to know that if we need a last minute babysitter, someone to jump start the car battery or even someone to till the garden, help is only down the road.

My favorite of the set:

I found this amazing recipe for Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins on All Recipes and doubled it to make one set of muffins and two loafs of bread. The flavor from the apples and spices is so yummy and you get all the health benefits of pumpkin but the flavor doesn't take over. I substituted 1/4 of the sugar with brown sugar and 1/4 with honey to give it even more depth. Moist and delicious. Will definitely be making this again next autumn.

Who are you grateful for and how do you show them appreciation? I'd love to hear!

June Review

Hello again! We have been having some trouble with the internet this month and I have not been able to get online in weeks. I am still here, still working and wanted to share with you all the pretty things that have transpired this month. So let's begin...

Our garden is stricken with weeds, thanks to the non-stop rain, stifling heat and general laziness on my part. But I am determined to get it back into shape, minus the spinach and cauliflower, which appear to be, well, not appearing. Here, with Hank Jr:

A layout of the mini teeny boppers chatting on their cell phones, all dressed up with no where to go (based on a Studio Calico Sunday sketch):

A nautical themed, rosette bib necklace, inspired by our vacation earlier this month to Okoboji, Ia. The sand that got into the camera is the cause of the blurry photos from here on. You probably can't see it well, but the huge blue and white striped button has an anchor and rope symbol on it that I love - and found at a garage sale for 25 cents!

The father's day gift I made for my dad - he used to do a lot of photography so a film strip frame seemed appropriate to house the adorable pics of him and his first grandchild we took on a visit earlier this year. Now I just need to find a suitable frame so I can actually send it to him:

Some tasty Raspberry & Cream Cheese Stuffed Cupcakes the girls and I made to thank a sweet friend and her daughters for all the super cute hand-me-down clothes they gave to the girls (will share the easy-peasy recipe another day).

And the thank-you card:

The duct tape dress form I made courtesy of this clever tutorial from Prudent Baby. Functional not beautiful. I will definitely be covering it with muslin or maybe just paint soon:

Tee shirt dress made with said dress form. Got this at a Hank III concert we went to when I was six months preggo. The last size they had left was XXL. He even signed it! Have been meaning to do something with the tee forever and am so happy with the results. Slit neck, cuffed sleeves and ruched sights don't translate so well from these photos, that and it has been balled up on the floor of my closet since Saturday night:

My zinnias are in bloom! Can't wait to see the chartreuse ones & once it all really starts to fill out the space!

Now if only we get the internet dilemma solved, I will be back soon with lots of good things and the details of our annual 4th of July fish fry. Until then I will be reading lots of Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Cross your fingers, xo. 

Sugarless Milkshakes

Our kids think these milkshakes are the best and I feel good about serving them because there is no sugar added other than what comes naturally in the milk and the fruit. These make a good summertime snack when its too hot to cook and too hot to eat. Also good to sneak in some fruit for a little one who refuses to eat anything other than peanut butter sandwiches or chicken nuggets.

Ingredients:
2 cups milk
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 bananas, sliced
1 cup berries, chopped
1/4 cup 100% frozen juice concentrate (orange pineapple banana is my favorite)

Instructions:
Place all ingredients in a blender on high for about 30 seconds or until  fruit chunks are pulverized and mixture is frothy. Makes 4 child size servings. Serve immediately - mixture will begin to seperate.

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are not overly sweet and somewhat healthy so you can give seconds to the kids. This recipe makes 4-5 dozen cookies, so you can give some away too.

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup veggie or canola oil
2 cups brown sugar
2 tbsp. honey
4 eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla
3 cups flour (half white, half wheat)
3 cups oatmeal (not quick or instant)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp all-spice
2 cups raisins
1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 little helper (optional)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Measure out the dry ingredients (flour, oats, soda, salt and spices) and let your little helper dump them into a large mixing bowl. An apron would be helpful here.

3. Let your helper mix up all the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon while you melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat.

4.Once the butter is melted, add the brown sugar, stir to absorb and turn off the heat.

5. Add the oil to the butter mixture and stir well.

6. Don't forget to keep an eye on your helper or she will try to use her hands to stir and end up with a floured face!

7. Crack the eggs into a liquid measuring cup and mix well. Add the vanilla to the eggs.

8. Add butter mixture to the flour mixture and pour in eggs as well. Stir until there is no flour residue left in the bowl. Be sure to scrape the edges and bottom well.

9. Fold in the raisins and chocolate chips so they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.

10. Grease your baking sheet or just use parchment paper - it makes it much easier to clean-up and keeps your pans in better condition.

11. Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheet - you can put them fairly close together because this dough doesn't spread out too much.

12. Bake cookies at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Let them set on the hot cookie sheet for a couple minutes to brown the bottoms. Remove from pan and allow to cool. You can reuse the same piece of parchment paper on each batch - it doesn't stick!

13. Enjoy cookies with your little helper and let them help you bag up a dozen or two to give away - what a delicious way to teach them about sharing and doing nice things for others!

Peach and Drunken Cherry Crisp

Just wanted to share a recipe I tried for the second time last week. the first time was a runny mess. It was so yummy my family devoured the whole thing before I remembered to take a photo! The above photo came from flickr user amy.kay

Peach and Drunken Cherry Crisp
Prep Time: 20 mins + 24 hrs to marinate
 Bake Time: 45-50 mins.


 Ingredients:
12oz bag dried cherries
1/2 cup Red Wine
5 cups (2 jumbo cans) sliced peaches
1/3 cup + 2 Tbsp white sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp cornstarch 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cold

1. soak the cherries in the wine for at least 24 hours. Cabernet worked well for me and was on hand

2. preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. grease your 2-quart casserole dish or baking dish.

3. in a large bowl, thoroughly mix the peaches, 1/3 cup sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch.

4. spread in baking dish and top with drained cherries, then sprinkle with 2 Tbsp sugar

5. in a small bowl, mix brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. slice butter in tablespoons and add to mixture

6. cut in the butter with a pasty blender or a fork if you are feeling ambitious until it becomes a damp, coarse meal

7. spread topping over the peaches and cherries and smoosh it down a bit

8. bake in preheated oven for 45 - 50 mins. top should be golden brown and the mixture bubbling through the topping a bit. oozing. in the words of Dora, delicioso! serve warm with vanilla ice cream to take it over the top

This recipe came from Chef magazine and was created by Mary Prager Lenney of Prager Winery and Port Works.

http://www.pragerport.com/

P.S. What is the difference between a crisp and a cobbler? Are they the same thing?