Since I've Been Gone: July

Hi friends! It's been soooooooooo long. I didn't even mean to take such a long break, it just kind of... happened. I've had a pretty full house since I've been gone, but sadly, it's now empty. My family came to visit for almost a month, and it was AWESOME. Awesome to see and have all my family here, but I did suffer a touch of writer's block. I meant to post the week before everyone got here, but each day was crammed with chores to get the house ready for family. It seemed like every night I went to bed before their visit with a to-do list for the next day pounding in my head. This left little thought for writing.

Raspberry Lemonade Truffles

Let's wrap up this week of Mexican food with something sweet. Make it a no-bake as well, and you have yourself a deal! These moist, lemon-y, fruity, faux-truffles would be a perfect Mother's Day treat.

Weekend Wrap-up: 4/21/13

Spring is in full bloom!

Pretty tree in our yard.

The traditional Red Velvet Cupcakes for my mother-in-law's birthday.

Bros.

What Gizmo has 99% of the time- the Blue Monkey :)

Me and the Giz.

Couponing haul for 4/21/13.

One of the hubby's crafty projects- A non-headboard headboard.

New products I'm currently testing.

Fun, purple Springtime pedi.

April A-Musings

It was a busy month had by all!

The hubby and I decided to build a house, Gizmo acted weird for almost 3 weeks,  I continued to practice my baking, I saved $297.87 couponing, I participated in a 5k walk for charity, we celebrated 3 family birthday's, and Haloti enjoyed every minute of the whole, crazy ride.

We finalized our plans to build a house in April. We've had multiple inspections, including by the health department and the builder. We moved dirt and laid out the flow of the house. We finalized things with our bank. Next week, we sign our contract for the house and sometime next month, we will sign documents for the construction loan. And by far the best news? On May 14th, we will have only 30 days left in the rental!!! Yikes, I better start packing!

Gizmo and Haloti got groomed on April 9th. Gizmo immediately got a skin rash that had to be treated with anti-biotics and a steroid. He sulked and pouted for almost 3 weeks, all while doing none of his favorite things. No Blue Monkey, no sleeping in his bed, no cuddling with Mom and Dad, no walks, and no desire for carrots (our version of doggie treats). After keeping him a little bit dopey on Benedryl for a week to keep him from rubbing his skin raw and licking himself raw, Gizmo began to act more like himself last Friday. The hubby and I both gave a sigh of relief to have our puppy back. It was also decided that Gizmo will never go to the groomer again.

Haloti could care less he got groomed, and to be honest, I think he rather enjoyed the social time with the other dogs, as he was allowed to hang out with the "friendly" dogs after getting groomed. When I went to pick him up, he was sitting next to a very gentle Mastiff that was the size of a horse :)

We bought these bones to distract Gizmo from his woes. It worked!

I baked a lot in April. 3 family birthday's (brother's, hubby's aunt, and hubby's mother), with 2 requests for baked goods. I made Dark Chocolate Cherry Nut Cookies for the brother's birthday and the Red Velvet cupcakes below for my mother-in-law's birthday. The peanut butter cookies pictured above? Double Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. I made these for my Dad's birthday (tomorrow!) and shipped them out to Oregon.

I experimented with yeast in April. I made Mini Doughnuts (twice) and worked on Cinnamon Roll Bread. The doughnut above is a Raspberry Filled Mini Doughnut. Experimenting with yeast this month turned out pretty delicious :)

Red Velvet Cupcakes for the mother-in-law's birthday.

Last Saturday, my sister-in-law (to the far left), also named Jessica, and I walked a 5k for the March of Dimes. Jessica's friend Shannon (middle) is a nurse at the local hospital. The nurses in her unit had setup a team of about 7-8 girls. Jessica and I both donated to her unit, and volunteered to walk. The walk was at 9 am on Saturday. I awoke that morning at 7 am to a thunderstorm right over Ashland. It was also very cold. But the march did go on, and Jessica and I powered through. Cold, wet feet and all. There was a surprisingly large crowd, despite the inhospitable weather.

Rocking a poncho at the March of Dimes! And yes, that is a Duck's hoodie under my poncho!

I can't believe April is over, this year is flying by. Hopefully I will blink, it will be October, and we will be in our new house! Hey, a girl can wish, can't she? :)

And, oh yes, the hubby and I put back $297.87 into our couponing account. On to May!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Another year, another batch of Red Velvet Cupcakes.

Monday is my mother-in-law's birthday and she made a special request- more of those Red Velvet Cupcakes please! I love when people ask me to make something for them, it makes my day! :)

Special cupcake for the birthday girl! This sparkly, gold icing I used drips like crazy, so my 5's look like S's. I won't be buying that anymore. I frosted the big cupcakes by hand for a more rustic look, and then piped the frosting onto the mini-cupcakes. Just for kicks.

I was looking over the post I did on Red Velvet Cupcakes from last year, and I realized that the recipe I posted was for cake, not for cupcakes. That, and the recipe can be simplified. I wouldn't know that if I didn't have a year of baking under my belt! Making these cupcakes today I realized how much I've learned in a year, and how far I've come. Culinary school may have been faster, but I had a lot of fun learning over the last year. No doubt that next year I will have learned even more than I know now.

Ingredients (makes 36 standard cupcakes):
Cupcakes-
3 1/2 cups cake flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs, room temp
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 tbsp red food coloring
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar

Frosting-
5 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour through baking soda. Whisk and set aside.
3. In a separate large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs, one at a time until thoroughly blended. Mix in vanilla. Mix in food coloring.
4. In a small bowl, whisk buttermilk and cider vinegar together. In 3 separate additions, add flour to the butter/sugar mixture, alternating each time with the buttermilk mixture. Mix until the ingredients are well blended and batter is smooth.
5. Line 3 cupcake pans with liners. Fill cups 3/4 way full. Bake in oven 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Mini-cupcakes will bake in 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack, and cool completely before frosting.
6. In a small sauce pan, heat flour and milk until mixture is very thick, like brownie batter. This will take some time, 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely before moving on to next step.
7. Whisk vanilla into flour mixture.
8. Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until pale and creamy. Add in flour mixture and beat the crap out of it. Seriously, like 10 minutes. The frosting will thicken before your eyes and take on the consistency of whip cream. Cool in fridge 15 minutes, proceed to frost cupcakes.
9. Eat, eat, EAT those cupcakes! Yum!

Just baked cupcakes, pre-frost.

Cupcake recipe adapted from Epicurious.
Frosting recipe courtesy of Tasty Kitchen.

Adventures in Baking

I love to cook. Cooking is fun and relaxing and at the end of the day, you can make some pretty amazing things! I'm a decent cook due to the fact that I can follow a recipe and that I have been cooking long enough that I generally know what tastes go together and how much of what seasoning I should use. Now baking... baking is another story. Baking is all chemistry and chemistry (next to plant biology) was not my strongest subject in my education. Baking is about precise measurements whereas in cooking a heaping tablespoon is not going to kill your dish. Baking is also about precise cooking times and knowing exactly when that little toothpick pulls out "clean". Now I must admit that I have never had the precision of a surgeon or the desire to, which I think makes me better suited to cooking. However, I can't stand not being a good baker so over the past couple of months I have been trying out my hand at baking.

My first concoction was a Boston cream pie. What a lesson! My cakes did not rise, which I later found out was most likely due to the fact that my baking powder was expired. I learned to check my expiration dates on my products. I also over cooked my custard which resulted in the cream part of my pie being somewhat... dry and lumpy. Boo. Another valuable lesson learned. My next project was chocolate chip cupcakes, which actually turned out fantastic! I learned that cupcakes are ALMOST impossible to screw up. Keeping up with the cupcakes, my husband asked me to make Red Velvet cupcakes for his mom's birthday. These also turned out great!

The thing I have learned about cupcakes that makes them almost impossible to mess up is that if you properly cream the butter and sugar, the rest pretty much makes it self. I have found that creaming takes a lot longer than you think it would or should. In fact, a lot longer! But that proper creaming technique makes all the difference in the world and you end up with a light and moist cake. Here is the recipe I used for these wonderful confections-

Ingredients and Preparation:

• 3 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 6 tablespoons red food coloring
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 recipe Creamy Vanilla Frosting (below)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and lightly flour three 9- by 2-inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with waxed paper. To make the cake: In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well. In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat. In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth. Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the layers cool in the pans for 1 hour. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack. When the cake has cooled, spread the frosting between the layers, then ice the top and sides of the cake with Creamy Vanilla Frosting (below) .

Creamy Vanilla Icing

• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 In a medium-size saucepan, whisk the flour into the milk until smooth. Place over medium heat and, stirring constantly, cook until the mixture becomes very thick and begins to bubble, 10-15 minutes. Cover with waxed paper placed directly on the surface and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. In a large bowl, on the medium high speed of an electric mixer, beat the butter for 3 minutes, until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar, beating continuously for 3 minutes until fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat well. Add the cooled milk mixture, and continue to beat on the medium high speed for 5 minutes, until very smooth and noticeably whiter in color. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes (no less and no longer- set a timer!). Use immediately.

I know this sounds like a lot of work but it's worth it!

My happy cupcake customers! Recipe courtesy of www.epicurious.com