The Birthday Cupcakes

Christopher turned three a few days ago, and he helped me make cupcakes that he brought to school to share with all his classmates and teacher, Miss Tina, who happens to share the same birthday as him!

He told me he wanted to make a chocolate cake with yellow frosting. So I got all the stuff and he helped me out. We went ahead and made a box mix this time, but I always add a box of pudding in the same flavor to make it moist and so much more delicious. The frosting, however, is all mine! I have played around with frostings for a while and finally came up with my own, and I like it better than all the others. Get this; no shortening. Not to say it isn't, uhhh, high in that word, but it's better than the cup of shortening most frostings call for.


As I hope you can understand, I did not take pictures of the ENTIRE process. Silly me, I was distracted by my now three year old. So I am going to post a picture of the finished cupcakes I made for Valentines day. They are the exact same recipe, but the frosting was a different color.

The recipe for the frosting is at the bottom! Enjoy!

Ok, now just imagine these with a sunny yellow frosting!

OK, here is how that frosting is made:

You need

• 2 sticks of butter, room temp
• bag of powdered sugar (2lbs, but I didn't need the whole bag)
• vanilla
• heavy whipping cream

1. Mix the butter with the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until you get small pebble size granules.
2. Add about a teaspoon to a teaspoon and a half of vanilla.
3. Add the cream, a table spoon at a time, mixing thoroughly with each addition, until you get the consistency you want. (because I usually make this the might before I deliver the cupcakes, and I put on cupcakes that are probably still warmer than they should be, I like it somewhat thick, so it doesn't slid right off)

This frosting, is sweet, but not overwhelming, and it will create a nice little crust by the next day, something I love when they have to travel and little fingers are going to be the cupcake receivers.

YUM!

Chicken Noodle Soup

I never really grew up eating soups, unless I was sick.

And when I was sick, I had a can of soup, nothing homemade.

My family homemade lots of stuff, soup though, was never one.

My husband's family on the other hand, makes soup extremely often.

At first I was not really a fan, in my mind soup was for sick people.

I learned however that soup is the poor man's rich meal.

One batch of soup can last upwards of over a week, depending on how many people your feeding.

And if you freeze individual servings in muffin/cupcake tins, you can have personal soup portions for months!

The most popular soup in my husbands family is Chicken Noodle.

It's fast and simple.

You need:

One whole chicken (the small one)

Chicken stock/broth

Celery

Carrots

Egg Noodles

Seasonings

In my house we have to cook the soup in two different pans, because we don't have a big pan that will fit the whole chicken and all the trimmings.

So the first thing you do is wash rinse the chicken and cut it in half, right down the middle.

Place each half in a pot that is half chicken stock and half water, you want to get to the top of the chicken, or barely cover it.

Add all the seasonings you want. We usually do salt, pepper, Tony's, and a poultry premade mix, along with some other green herbs.

While the chicken is cooking, chop up the celery and carrots. One whole bunch of celery and a bag of baby carrots.

The thinner they are the less they will have to cook.

When the chicken is cooked all the way through, take it out and de-bone it. This is a hot process, and you may want to toss the chicken in the freezer for five min.

To de-bone it, you just pull all the meat off the chicken bones and put back in the broth.

Add the veggies and bring to a boil.

Let boil for a few in, til the veggies are close to finished, then add the Egg Noodles.

Your soup is done when the noodles are!

Here you go!

Perfect with bread and butter too!

Delish!!



Cake Batter Treats

It has been a awhile since I posted on this blog and for that I am sorry. I have lots of pies that I have made recently and just need to find the time to put them up here!

But for now something super fast! I don't think this takes even an hour from start to finish.

Rice Crispie Cake Batter Treats!

I saw this picture on Pinterest:

And

I may or may not have immediately ran to the store to by a cake mix to make it.

And…had a little too much fun playing with those gorgeous, colorful sprinkles.

And…enjoyed every single, glorious, hint-of-cake-batter-flavored bite.

And…shared the rest with friends so that I didn’t eat too many bites.

And…now I share it with all of you.

And…you should make some.

:)


You need:
Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 1 (10 oz.) bag of mini-marshmallows
• 1/4 cup yellow cake mix (the dry cake mix, not prepared into a batter!)
• 6 cups crispy rice cereal
• 1 (1.75 oz.) container of sprinkles

(I used more than 1/4 cup of cake mix (1/3), I wanted a bigger cake flavor. Just eyeball what you think.)

And...this is what I did:

Method:
Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat and add marshmallows. Stir until they begin to melt, adding in (dry) cake mix one spoonful at a time so its combined. Stir in cereal so it is completely coated with marshmallow mixture. Sprinkle in a handful of the sprinkles and mix. Press into a baking dish (any size will do) and top with remaining sprinkles. Let sit for about 30 minutes or in the fridge for about 10-15 before cutting. I find spraying a knife with nonstick spray helps to cut them.



Viola!


SUPER easy and fast.

And yummy!