Sunday Funday!

I had a really fun Sunday lately where I just decided to go a little bizerk and cook a buttermilk frenzy!!

Blueberry Buttermilk Breakfast Cake.

Here is the recipe link http://www.alexandracooks.com/2011/06/29/buttermilk-blueberry-breakfast-cake/

As this blogger indicates throw some flour on the blueberries! They don't look too hurt by this...

I added some lemon juice and used this AWESOME juicer from Williams Sonoma that we recieved as a wedding gift....so easy it makes you want to juice everything!!

Simplicity at it's best!

Next cream the butter and sugar.

Really... you think this would be my pitfall here in completing the recipe as any butter and sugar combo top notch.

Once you mix all the ingredients defined in the recipe place in a dish for the baking. 

I did add something extra special on top...sugar. = )

Final Product:

Oh   D-E-L-I-S-H.

So beautiful I might shed a tear! ; )

 

It's getting hot in herre'

I found my old CDs from high school and have been somewhat on a Nelly kick. I love the memories it brings back of all the fun we had "back in the day"

Seasons are about to change (THANK you God!!) I love Summer....but I don't know if I really love Summer in the South due to the pyscho humidity. It's just hard to even walk outside...and the hair part... I seriously might as well have put my hair in a pony-tail every day instead of looking like afroman.

Summer's heat did bring me some beautiful jalapenos that I actually grew in my backyard!! I decided it was time to pick a few and make something hot and spicy... homemade hot and spicy ranch? Perfect addition to pretty much anything. I promise. Try it. Anytime. Always a charm.

Since this was my first time to grow them and as you can notice I don't have a green thumb (literally), they were a bit smaller than the ones you get in the grocery. However they were just as delicious and more fresh of course  : )

Here is a picture of a nifty tool I got from one of my high school friends, Mimi Duffee. Instead of having to prep yourself before removing the seeds of a pepper, you can just simply use this tool to remove the seeds and membrane. WOW. Yes, really.

Ahhh the memories...again. I remember having to "get ready for bed" so I wouldn't have to touch my eyes or face and then if I was lucky enough to have a pair of gloves around to wear while touching jalapenos....kinda embarressing story but one time I cut up a jalapeno to put in my egg and SOMEHOW touched my eye..... well I looked like a pirate the rest of the night and ate with just one eye open : /

As much as I am a fan of spicy and sweets...I've tried jalapeno chocolate before and I think it's just best to keep them separate....as in bacon wrapped jalapenos!!! Try this recipe below and you'll have enough heat to last you through Winter!!

Recipe: Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies

(Pioneer Woman's recipe)

Prep Time: 30 Minutes  |  Cook Time: 25 Minutes  |  Difficulty: Easy  |  Servings: 10

Ingredients

• 20 whole Fresh Jalapenos, 2-3 Inches In Size
• 2 cubes Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 pound Thin(regular) Bacon, Sliced Into Thirds

Preparation Instructions

If you have them, slip on some latex gloves for the pepper prep or just buy a jalapeno corer and this will be much more fun ;) ... Cut jalapenos in half, length-wise. With a spoon, remove the seeds and white membrane (the source of the heat; leave a little if you like things HOT). Smear softened cream cheese into each jalapeno half. Wrap jalapeno with bacon pieces (1/3 slice). Secure by sticking toothpick through the middle.

Bake on a pan with a rack in a 375-degree oven for 20-25 minutes. You don’t want the bacon to shrink so much it starts to the squeeze the jalapeno. If, after 20 minutes, the bacon doesn’t look brown enough, just turn on the broiler for a couple of minutes to finish it off. These are best when the jalapeno still has a bit of bite to it.

Serve immediately

Warning! Warning!

Alright, I'm warning you beforehand....but I just finished making chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting last night....which means this post is coming up so if you don't want to become hypnotized into going into a chocolate overdose coma then you'll need to skip this post!!

Don't worry....I even added more chocolate chips than the recipe called for too

Ok first, here is the picture of this divine recipe (Sorry for the lack of picture quality...I use my iphone)

What's a great combination with chocolate?? CHERRY! So what did I sip on while baking away? Kasteel Rouge (cherry beer)

I realize it's kinda weird for a beer to be in a champagne glass but Todd and I have millions of glasses that we all love so I like to have fun and use random glasses for my brews

This was a very VERY odd recipe. The batter was extremely liquidy (even after I added the chocolate chips) and I was scared they wouldn't turn out right.

TA-DA.

Wait....wait.....

Wait for it......

LEGEND....DARY (for those of you who watch "How I Met Your Mother")

*side bar* So happy all the shows are about to start back up!

Pictures and writing do not do this cupcake justice!! It really is phenomenal. Trust me. Delicious. One of the Best. Chocolate.Chocolate. and Chocolate. Feeling hypnotized yet? Seriously, go try this now. 





Yahoo- one month!

Ok, if you can't tell I'm being facetious in the title of this post.... wow, can't believe I haven't updated this blog in a month!! Isn't the point of a blog to actually post items? Ok, now that my sarcasm is out, I'll try to update what I can in the past month!!

The birthdays continued in August!! We celebrated the love of my life, Todd's 29th birthday on August 15th. On his birthday weekend, we went white water rafting and zip lining where Todd got to act like a kid again since this is his LAST twentieth birthday!! (BIG 3-0 next year). We also had my family over to celebrate where I made Todd's famous birthday burger.... I say "famous" because he requests it all the time but I really only make it once year. I think the burger is overall pretty normal but I do stuff the inside with gorgonzola cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. I made Todd a chocolate chip cookie cake with peanut butter frosting.... YES. once again. chocolate chips. cookie. and peanut butter FROSTING. Well....no pics because it was all gone by the time I finished. literally. However I do have a picture from the weekend before where we celebrated Todd, Charles and Aimee's birthday by tubing down a river!! = )

Next birthday up, Emma, David, and Ethan. My precious, beautiful, sweet sister's children.

Emma had an "under the sea" party and recieved loads of gifts and had an amazing cake my sis made. It was in the shape of a fish!!!

Of course my sis gave Emma such a wonderful party!!

Such a great party!! Todd and I gave her a guitar (and cinderella doll).... I think she's already a pro = )

David and Ethan's party was this past weekend and I dont' have any pictures of it yet but it's so good to see them any chance I get. It's been such a whirlwind since last year and our family couldn't be more happier that God has blessed us all to have them with happy and healthy!

Well I think I've covered the August birthday celebrations... hopefully next time will be soon and it will be another delightful SWEET. Even though birthdays contain lots of cake...I can't go too long without having sweet withdrawls ; )

Birthday Cakes Fiasco!!

I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to post but birthday season came up (pun intended to wedding season)

July 27th is an infamous day because three VERY important people were all born on this day. Family and Friends. The first lovely lady is my sweet mother. She is seriously one of the sweetest ladies and has been such an amazing mom for myself and my sister. The second precious gal is one of my best friends from childhood, Leslie. She is honestly one of the most caring ladies I know and I am extremely grateful to have in my life. The third adorable girl is also one of my best friends from college, Aimee. This girl and I refer to each other as Soul and I cannot explain the authenticity of this true friendship and I love her to death. I really love all these beautiful women to death truthfully though.

Ok, so since all of these people are so important in my life, I went a little overboard on the birthday treats...

First stop...didn't even make it to the recipients!! I mean, the recipe said it would make 24 cupcakes and I promise it wasn't even close (I think... I hope...)

I originally made the Birthday Cupcake from the dreamcakes cookbook.

Step 1. Make delicious butter cake batter

Step 2. Step up the game and add chocolate chips

(I'm sure butter cake is fine by itself but adding chocolate chips can never hurt anything!)

 Step 3. Use a cookie or ice cream scoop to keep the happiness level up

(Cupcakes do equal happiness but using a regular spoon to move the batter to a pan can painfully decrease the level of happiness)

Step 4. Time to bake the cake!

Step 5. Cool the cake but keep the momentum going by making fudgy chocolate frosting

YES. This is the GOOD STUFF. No lie. Serious. Try to put this on the cupcakes ASAP before you eat it ALL.

And....ta-da........

Give them away NOW. Don't make the same mistake Todd and I did!!

Ok, now back to actually making a cake and giving it to one of the birthday ladies.

Blackberry cake.

Yum.

Ok, at this point I was in a rush since I inadvertantly didn't have enough "birthday cupcakes" for my mom's dinner so I have only the final product.

Yum. Yum. Yum. YUM.

Simple butter cake and blackberry frosting.

I think some people are kinda happy about the cake..

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!!

Once again, all the cake was gone and my real job got in the way of baking another one for Leslie's birthday dinner. BUT I do think the company was of course the best subsitute for any dessert!! :)



Happy Birthday Les!!!

We're visiting Aimee this weekend so I will be sure to add a picture of this birthday girl too = ) 





Allergy dilemma causes a great wake-up

Recently, I have encountered a new allergy in my life. Corn Syrup. Yes, corn syrup is in EVERYTHING which has now given me an unfortunate hobby of looking at all labels of packaged foods. I don't eat everything packaged but who doesn't enjoy just a bowl of cereal or the simplicity of one of the best desserts, Smores once in awhile? The good thing is it's not life threatening at this point but in highly concentrated amounts (ohhh my weakness, skittles, sour patch, etc) it makes me break out in a rash as well as makes my gums and lip swell....yes very very simliar to Will Smith in Hitch. (Please laugh because friends who have seen me in this condition awkwardly laugh thinking its bad but it's not. I get it. I look pretty funny-- I have even laughed at myself!!)

I found out after going to several doctors and finally tested out the last resort theory. It came to me while making homemade marshmallows

Disaster. What's the MAIN ingredient in marshmallows?? Corn Syrup. Annnnndd queue more laughter as you can imagine what happened when I tried some.......

Anyways, it has turned out to be ok so far and this morning I was craving something sweet, preferably a Krispy Kreme doughnut but of course I couldn't go that route and almost every cereal, granola bar, etc has corn syrup in it. So I decided to make an Apple dip that one of my best friend's mom gave to me at a shower a few months ago.

It has cream cheese, brown sugar, vanilla and toffee bits.

Yep, fit the bill for the craving.

Thank you Mrs. Rives!!! Happy Saturday!!

I  can't forget to mention Todd and I are taking care of The Frost's dog, Oscar, and I know they will have a happy Saturday!

Yep, perfect Saturday and a perfect match right there! = )

Happy Independence Day with Key Lime filled cupcakes!

What better way to celebrate the 4th of July than a mixture of Key Lime Pie and CUPCAKES?!

Yum.
This second cupcake was done on a work evening...ehhh bad decision. Work 8-4 Yoga 4-6. Dinner 6-7. Cupcakes 7-10. I basically went straight to bed when we finished.

Anyways, Todd put the KEY ingredients together for the delicious Key Lime filling.

(I have posted the ingredients and measurements below in case you wanna give this a whirl) My only suggestion- try not to do a back-to-back everything schedule as I did above unless you want the best night of sleep in your life = )

In addition to zesting lime, Todd added one can of sweetened condensed milk and 1/4 cup Key Lime Juice. As he was working hard on this, I used the stand mixer to put together the cupcake batter for White Cake - 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup shortening, 2 cups sugar, 2 3/4 flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, and 1 1/2 tsp almond extract. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes

I found out that using my new ice cream scoop did wonders for moving the batter into the cupcake pan -- much easier than using my typical spoon trick = /

Once you bake the cupcakes you can use a wooden spoon to make a hole in the center of the cupcake and fill it with the key lime filling. Top it off with fresh, homemade whipped cream and graham cracker crumbs and TA-DA (as Todd says). Once again, pure happiness.

Cake + Key Lime + Whip Cream = Happy.

Happy 4th of July and thank you so much soldiers for everything to do for our country! God bless you.