A Baking Blog to Entice You

Ok, I know I am not a mother, but that does not mean I cannot indulge in the stories of bringing up children that are followed by the most creative, delicious looking cupcakes! I must say, I fell upon this blog by accident, looking for a recipe for vanilla bean cupcakes and have yet to be able to log off of it. This website will pull you in with the allure of caramel apple cupcakes, vanilla bean and strawberry buttercream, Pinktastic cupcakes, and the list goes on and on. I have yet to try to make any, but I was just too excited about this website to not share it right away. See "My Favorite Things" to the left and click on Sophistimom Blog. Once you're at the page, "Well-Fed" is filled with ooey, gooey, yummy recipes. Check it out and let me know if you've been brave enough to try any of the recipes. I think the Vanilla Bean with Buttercream will be great for a friend's birthday and the Caramel Apple will definitely be made for Halloween.

Seasons Change..... Fashions Change....

It's that time of the year again, where summer fashions slowly fade out as we begin to dress for cooler weather. In Arizona, it never get's too cold to not wear open toes shoes. There are days, even in the dead of winter, where I'll wear sandals and flip flops in the daytime. And there are times, in the dead of winter, where I wish I lived somewhere cold enough to fully engage in the wondrous fall fashions. It is also at times like these that I wish designers like Christian Loubaton and Jimmy Choo were within my reach. Since they are not, I look elsewhere to Carlos, Guess, Jessica Simpson, and BCBGeneration. I am very excited to see the wedge heels are still in style on boots, and that they have new choices for over the knee boots out. I can't wait to wear some over the knee boots with leggings and a short long-sleeve sweater dress. I am even more excited to find a pair of over the knee boots that actually fit how they are supposed to without cutting the circulation off to my legs this year.

Well good luck and happy shopping!

Awesome Cupcakes - August and September

Cupcakes are maybe one of the most fun desserts to make. They are personal sized, easy to decorate, quick to make treats that will satisfy almost anyone with a sweet-tooth. I like them because they are particularly fun to decorate and share. If you work in my building or have ever worked with me, you will discover the countless different possibilities of recipes and frosting/topper combinations. Below are some of my favorite cupcakes I have either made or seen in the past 30 days.

This first one, we will call the Gravestone Cupcake....

Use any kind of cake mix with chocolate frosting. Dip the frosting in crushed oreos (I used the food processor). For the headstone, I used Milano cookies, cut in half, and piped RIP in green frosting on them. This was attached by covering the bottom of the Milano with more chocolate frosting and holding into place for about 5 seconds.

The second one here is..... a VEGAN cupcake!

This was also my first time using my tips I got from the Best Ever Cupcake Kit on BakeItPretty.com. I pulled a recipe for Vegan Dark Chocolate cupcakes and Vegan Frosting and substituted the sugar in the cupcake mix for Agave Nectar (substitute the sugar for 2/3 the measurement in Agave nectar...then make sure you decrease the liquids by 1/3 cup-ish).

Now this next one, I confess I did not make, but someone at my work did and I thought it was very pretty and creative.

They used Tye-dye cupcake batter, white frosting, then marshmallows to decorate in the pattern of flowers. The marshmallows are cut diagonally in half (this person used multicolored marshmallows), and then shaken with colored sugar or non-pareils. They will stick because the inside of the marshmallow is sticky.

Lastly, my most recent creation - Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting!

I found this recipe from the Barefoot Contessa on FoodNetwork.com and followed it pretty closely. If you use an ice cream scoop, you'll get 2 dozen cupcakes out of the recipe (the website says it will only yield 15). I was pretty shocked at how these turned out, as they call for coffee in the mixture. The frosting was piped on with one of my favorite tips from the Best Ever Cupcake Kit. Needless to say, 2 dozen cupcakes disappeared in less than 2 hours at 7 in the morning.

I can send copies of the recipes I have if anyone is interested. Hope you enjoyed my Wednesday Treat!

Etsy Account First Success!

I haven't really promoted this much, but I do have several of my favorite photographs I've done for sale on Etsy... I really have not done much marketing, which is strange as that's what I went to school for. After 4 months and no sales, I figured it was going to be a wash being on Etsy. It's a great place to go to find homemade stuff, but it's pretty hard to be a seller on Etsy. It's an over-exuberant amount of people out there trying their hand at selling what they're good at.

Well, tonight I logged on to my email to see an email titled "Etsy Order Confirmation." That's right, ladies and gentleman of the jury, I sold my very first photograph! This makes me stop and think, maybe I could make this successful! Maybe I really could sell copies of the photographs I have so lovingly decorated my house with. Maybe I am not the only one who finds these pieces interesting and beautiful in their own way... we shall have to wait and see.

If you want to check out my shop, there's a link on the right side of my blog home page. Tell your friends and family, share the shop, and let me know what you think! Feedback is key to any successful venture in life.

The Chicken is Cooked!!!

I finally got around to making that chicken I was talking about and man was it a challenge...I had absolutely no idea what I was doing! But then again, that is what mothers and cell phones are for, right? I've never cleaned out a chicken and was not about to put my hand inside of it to pull the insides out to the cavity. Good thing I didn't...I filled the cavity with water and flipped it over in a strainer and out pop ALL of the organs.... not bagged like a turkey... just cut out, mushed in a ball, and shoved back into the chicken. What a wonderful surprise!

After cleaning it out and tossing the insides, patting it dry with a cutting board and moving it to a cutting board, it was pretty simple to dress the 5.5 lb bird and get him going. I cut up and apple and used some garlic and butter on the inside, rubbed olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder on the outside, stuck it in a 9x13 pan with some chicken broth. Into the oven it went at 350 degrees. The temperature was checked at 90 minutes, and it was about 20 degrees shy and juices running reddish. Two hours in, still not done. Two and a half hours in oven and the bird was finally done.

I served the chicken with garlic mashed potato casserole, roasted veggies, and salad. Yum! Chicken was a little dry and next time, i think i'll crush the garlic before stuffing the chicken. I'll also plan out better, as my oven seems to take forever to cook the chicken.

Happy cooking and Happy Labor Day!

Hanging Out Taking a Bath

 After 90 minutes and still not done.

 Dinner is served....