Hi Hat Cupcakes:Mint Chocolate Buttercream frosting Chocolate cupcake

Easy is good!

Ingredients
box of chocolate cake or of course your favorite from scratch chocolate cake recipe
for frosting:
6tblsp of margarine
3/4 cp of cocoa
1/3cp of milk
1tsp mint flavor
2-3cps of powdered sugar


1. follow the directions on the box for cupcakes
2. Stir all of your frosting ingredients together and beat. Start with 2cps of powdered sugar and add more powdered sugar if you want a stiffer consistency.
3. Let cupcakes cool then pipe frosting onto cupcakes high and fluffy. Freeze for 20min and then dip in chocolate.

Chocolate for dipping:

2 cups (12 ounces) semi sweet chocolate chips or baking bar chopped up
3-2 tsp canola oil

Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in a heat proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water ( but not touching) Stir frequently. Once the chocolate is smooth mix in the canola oil and transfer to a smaller, deeper bowl. One that will be better for dipping. Let cool for 10-15 min before dipping.
 
Share only with nice people and well if you have to be nice, with your neighbor whose dog keeps pooping at your front door.

Image above is not my own but I have no idea where it came from sorry.

Creamy Roasted Tomato Soup

A Wannabe Le Madelines Tomato Soup. Actually my family thinks it taste better. 

~ The secret is in the roasting~

We have moved this recipe to our new website at Inspired by Familia!  You can find the recipe for the Creamy Roasted Tomato Soup here and we even added some fun croutons to the mix!

Monday Link ups

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Painting on Pillow cases

I found a picture of what I wanted and freehanded the sword on white paper or you can enlarge the image and print it out, then I cut it out and use a Sharpie to trace it on to my pillow case, then I painted it with black fabric paint. Make sure to put a piece of cardboard in between the pillowcases otherwise the paint will go through.

You need:

pillow case

sharpie

fabric paint

image on white paper

Swords and ships!

Nautical Pirate Room

I have 3 boys all in different stages of life.  We decided before we were married that our children would share rooms and thankfully having boys made that decision easy. The challenge has been how to decorate the room when so many different ages are involved.  So I decided to go with a Nautical look that they can grow into but with kiddie Pirate items added. Here are the items when I first got them and I was trying to figure out what to do with them and below is how I used them.  I really, really wish I could paint on our walls but the landlord had just painted before we moved in and I don't think she is ready for that request from us.

I made this coverlet so it's reversible with Jean fabric and the other side is the blue printed fabric. I used red/white striped fabric for the pillow and I painted on a ship on one pillow and swords on the other. How to for a graphics printed look on pillowcases here

our little guys ship/crib

Ahoy Matey! Boat/ Storage for stuffed Animals using an Action Packer.

I took the paddle and made it into a coat hanger.

Sharks are definitely needed at sea: clothes hampers

Book ends using the pirate figurines and gluing them to an old metal book end that I painted white.

The cross was made from a bamboo torch that we never use. I used red/white striped fabric for the flag and painted the cross on with Fabric paint and used an Action Packer.

EASY Mexican Tortilla Frittata

I had some tortillas I wanted to use up so I came up with this recipe, YUMMY!

ingredients:
3 large eggs
3 corn tortillas
2 tbl diced onions
2tbl Half & half or milk
refried beans
cream cheese
shredded cheese
Goya Adobo All purpose seasonsing (optional)
salt and pepper
cilantro
oil

1. Mix eggs, milk, salt, onions Goya seasoning in a bowl
2. Use a large pan and drop some oil in it over medium heat. I like to use minimal oil so I just put a thin, thin layer enough to cover the pan.
3. Spread a thin layer of cream cheese and refried beans over each tortilla and set aside.
4. Cook for about 8 minutes lifting the edges with a spatula to allow any uncooked egg to flow to the bottom.
5. Place tortillas over eggs and then flip them over so tortillas are at the bottom of pan leave for 2min.
6. Serve with tortilla side up and sprinkle with cheese and cilantro.

If you have salsa top it with some salsa

Friday Link ups

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I conquered my fear of FANCY Schmancy cookies using Royal icing

The owls eyes are marshmallows that have been sliced, brown royal icing, the nose is a twizzler that what cut in a triangle shape and the tie is turqoise icing gel & sprinkles. I used a circle cookie cutter and a knife to cut and shape the top part for the ears.  As you can see still a work in progress mastering the filling and outlinine of the icing.

I needed lots of tutorials and pictures to motivate me to make Royal Icing cookies.  Just as I imagined it was time consuming but I had a hoot making them. I am sure it will get easier with practice.

The Browneyed Baker blog had a great little tutorial and I used the recipe she had on her blog. The recipes for Royal Icing pretty much are all the same with very little differing from one to another.

I still need to work on my straight lines.

Royal Icing:
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons meringue powder
6 tablespoons water

Mix all ingredients on low speed for 7-10 minutes or until the icing loses its shine. Add more water by the teaspoon if it appears too stiff. At this stage you want to be able to pipe it easily:

Go here for her step by step instructions with pictures on how to decorate with Royal Icing. 

Adorable! My son took a bite of the top owl when I wasn't looking, sneaky, sneaky.  I put them in little bags for some of my sons teachers with a note that said "Guess Whoo, Whoo has a birthday!"

The sugar cookie recipe I used is a Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie here

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

I have been searching for my favorite sugar cookie recipe and I have seemed to misplace it so I decided to go online and start baking some recipes to find another good one.

I tried this one here but it didn't have the taste or texture I was after.

So then I tried this one I found on BHG and I think I got a good one.  It's different in flavor from my old recipe because the one had a twinge of lemon and it wasn't too hard or too soft.

I don't like my sugar cookies to have a cakey texture/softness but I still want them to be slightly soft but not too hard and this one pass the test.

ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Royal Icing

1. In a large bowl, combine butter and cream cheese. Beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add powdered sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg, vanilla, and almond extract until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. Cover and chill about 1 hour or until dough is easy to handle.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. Using a scalloped 4-inch cookie cutter, cut out dough, rerolling scraps as needed.
3. Place cutouts 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool.
4. Decorate as desired with Royal Icing.

picture from Boston.com

Parents BEST BLOG AWARD VOTE, VOTE

My little blog was accepted for nomination for Parents Magazine Best Blog Award.  If you want to help a sister out click on this and vote for my blog.

I only have 8 days to win some great prizes. 

 

soft Gingerbread cookie

I really like this version of Gingerbread cookies because they still have that flavor but are not hard. 



You can go to our new website for this yummy recipe at Inspired by Familia!

I'd Be Your Hero by Kathryn O'Brien

This is a great character building book!  The little boy starts the book off by saying to his mother "If you were a queen, I'd be your hero" and the story continues with him giving different examples of what he would do while mom applies Character building names to it like: Honesty, Kindness etc...

I bought this book because we constantly try to remind our boys of those wonderful characteristics they possess.  Saying your good & smart are easy to remember when they come home with A+ homework or their Star for good behavior but there are so many more adjectives they possess!
Amazon lets you take a peak inside the book.