Blog Candy

Check out this Blog Candy over at Passion for Crafts . Check out her stuff also, such pretty things!!

White Chocolate Strawberry

This is another recipe from I Heart CuppyCakes. You can go here for the recipe. I really liked this one. But then again, I love White Chocolate. I will have to make this one again for sure!!

I added a little more chips, and Oh I love the way the Extract smelled!

Still a little like Cookie dough, but I think it was right.

They baked up just right!

I really liked this frosting. But I love Cream Cheese!

They came out so pretty and very yummy!!

Downtown Holiday Jacket and Pant GIVEAWAY!!!!

Downtown Holiday Jacket and Pant GIVEAWAY!!!!

Very cute Red Jacket and Jean Pants. Beautiful!!

Christmas Music

Well they did it.. They have started the Non-Stop Christmas music on the radio. AND I Love it!!! I can listen to this station all day. I can hear the same songs 50 times, and I dont care. I love the way it makes me feel. To sing along, or dance along. To be in the car with the kids and thier happy faces light up when we sing along to "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas". They Dance in thier car seats, and wiggle around with laughter. While the older ones are singing at the top of thier lungs. We wait for this song. My son sleeps with his radio on at night, and will come running out of bed if it comes on. We love Christmas music.

Here is a sample of my favorites.

Where are you Christmas - Faith Hill


I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas



Oh and one of the best!! Blue Christmas - Elvis

Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesday go HERE.

Sausage & Zucchini Pasta

In the middle of making so many Cupcakes, the kids were begging for dinner!! So I whipped this up. Very easy to make, so if you are looking for something easy, here it is!

What to Buy:

Italian sausage - we used Eckridge Farm

Spaghetti Sause - we used a Spinach & Cheese flavor

Pasta - we used Penne this time

You can really use how ever much you need. I have a large family, so we make a lot.

Some of the ingredients

Cut up your zucchini and sausage in moon shapes. Sprinkle with Salt & Pepper.

Just add oil, and grill it up a little. Until the the Zucchini is soft.

Add in the Sauce, and heat.

Then top on your favorite pasta!! You can add cheese or not..

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Ok I love, love, love "I Heart Cuppycakes!" This is another one of her recipes. Snickerdoodle. I choose the Cake mix one, cause again, I am so busy that Its kind just easier for me to open that box and pour it in. I have alwaysed love this cookie, in fact I have the cookie dough in my freezer from a school fundraiser. Ive got to bake these!! Anyways, This is my favorite cookie. So when I saw the Cupcake version.. OH my, I could not wait to get this one home.

I love the smell of cinnamon, and this one even had Vanilla in it!! Great!!

I really liked the smell of these when they were baking, and then they came out with such a pretty color. Almost like Corn Bread.. UM.. must make Corn Bread!!

The frosting was a little thin, but after a bit, it harded and it was a really great compliment to the cupcake!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

With all the recipes Ive been trying lately, I just sorta threw this one together. Nothing special about it, but It sure does cure that sweet tooth when you need it.

To make cake:

Use Any style Chocolate Cake mix, Prepare according to package. And add in 1 cup peanut butter. (You can add in more, I think I did. I just used two heaping spoonfuls)

For the Frosting:

I used the Cream Cheese store bought frosting. And again, I added 1 cup peanut butter. ( I added more, to give it a more peanutty taste and look)

This was really not anything fancy, but it tasted great. Like a peanut butter cup! Next time, Ill look for more of a home made one. But with 4 kids running around, this is more on my time level!

Christmas Giveaway 2008

Over at 5 min for Mom, they are doing a fantastic thing! From now until November 28th they will be having giveaways hosted on thier blog. They have all kinds of things to choose from and lots of gift for the Holiday season. Go check them out.

Fun With Food

5 min for mom is hosting a Fun with Food photo contest. The winner will win a $500 gift card for Groceries. How awesome is that. And everyone can use help with groceries. Today is the last day to enter, so go check it out!

My picture is of Cordelia at her 1st Birthday party. She had a great time!! She sat there for a good 30 min, she would squeeze the cake thru her fingers and then eat a little, and we let just enjoy it all.

Just to add.. Clean up was fun too!!

Cajeta Cupcakes

For this one, I used Clara's PB Dulce De Leche Cupcakes as a starting point. I followed that recipe, and the only change I made was that I used something that I knew I had at home. Ive never used Nutella, but I remembered I had bought this Carmel spread a little while back and thought that might actually supstitute very well.

Here is what that looks like. I only used about 1/3 cup of this.

The batter for this one was very thick. Almost like cookie dough.

I then swirled in the Cajeta, and it was a little hard for a toothpick, so I used a knife.

These came out a little big. I used all the batter, and it still made 24 big cupcakes. They came out great. I loved the swirl look.

I finished them off with the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting found here.

I really liked this one. The cupcake was a bit dry, but with the added frosting it made it really good. I didnt add a lot of powdered sugar, so it wasnt very sweet. We would really make this again.

Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes

The best thing about fall is the cooler weather. And as a teenager, I loved the cooler weather, WHY? Cause it meant it was time to start baking. I came across a blog last week, and I have been inspired. I found I heart Cuppycakes! An amazing blog about cupcakes. I looked at every post. And I have so many recipes earmarked to make! I went home and right away made two different batches of cupcakes. The First one I made, I changed up a little bit, but not by much. You can find her recipe along with instructions here. Hers are Vanilla Almond Cherry Cupcakes. Only real difference is that I didnt use anything Almond. But she also changed that recipe a bit from a Peach recipe. So go check it out if you want to see how she did it. Cause technically, she has more experiance in the "Cupcake" field! :-)

Here is the batter, it was a bit thick, but it came out good. The only real change I made to the recipe, was that instead of Almond Extract, I just used some cherry juice from the bottle of cherries. So it tinted it a little pink. I made 24 cupcakes from that recipe.

I think I maybe added too much cherries, but I like cherries, so I wanted more bits in every bite. And I also added just a splash of the cherry juice to the frosting.

The finished cupcake was really good. A little dry, but a really great flavor. Not bad for my first attempts at "homemade" cupcakes. I usually use a box mix. Hubby was supprised by the cherry bits.

Halloween 2008

We had a good time this Halloween. It was cut a little short, but then again it was just all we needed. We went to about 3 streets and had a good full bag. This was the first year Cordelia was able to go door to door. It was so cute, she would walk up and say "Trick or Treat" and when they put candy in her pail, she said "Thank You". I was so proud of her. Bianca stayed in the stroller most of the time. When we started there werent a lot of people so I was able to get her out of the stroller and let her walk up to a couple of doors at her own pace. But once it started getting later, more people started coming out and it was crazy. Too many big kids in a hurry to get to each door that they forget to wait thier turn and run over the little kids. But she didnt mind, she hung out and had a good time. Poor Bianca she is always so tolerant. Next year, we might not be able to stop her from the doors. And then look out, she will probably stick her foot out to trip any big kids trying to get in her way.

We had a Pirate, a Vampire and two little lions.

Bianca in her stroller

Tropical Tree Frog Costume GIVEAWAY!!!!

Tropical Tree Frog Costume GIVEAWAY!!!!

This Tree frog is so adorable!!