Cupcakes? I can do that ... I think ...

Do you ever get the feeling that you want to try something, and you have no idea why? Well, that's me with cupcakes. They look so perfect on TV, and yet so easy. I couldn't help but think, "I can do that!" Ok, the part that sparked my interest the most was how exactly do you get that lovely mound of frosting on the cupcake?

Combine that with a mom that works next to the cake supply store in Fairfax, and you have a recipe for exploring something new.

My first attempt was a cupcake creation for the 4th of July family reunion picnic in Buffalo, NY. This picnic deserves a post of its own, and when I have a quiet moment, I will definitely put something together for it. But until then, I'll stick with the cupcake.

Leading up to the event, Harris Teeter kept having huge sales on cakes, so I just picked a few up every time I was at the store. I don't know if it was the heat wave, it being summer, or what, but I kept picking up "lemon supreme" from Duncan Hines. For all of you bake-from-scratch folks out there, hats off to you. But for me, I have the patience of a toddler, and the organization of a hoarder. I cannot measure that many things with the accuracy needed for a cake. So, box for me it is. All of my "creativity" can be focused on wacky frostings, which  I think (speaking from no expertise whatsoever) can be more forgiving of mis-measuring than the cake itself.

So, my box cake in hand, the only next thing I needed to figure out was the frosting. But what flavor?  After polling friends, neighbors, and colleagues, I settled on raspberry for the lemon cake.

My first stop for recipes was the Internet - somehow, I ended up on Easy Cake Ideas , a site that listed a million different buttercream, ganach, and cream cheese frosting recipes. It gave you a basic one, and then had some options for tweaking them. PERFECT for me.

For this cupcake, I used the whipped lemon buttercream frosting (with lemon curd), and added to it a few teaspoons of raspberry jam. I am sure some baker out there is freaking out, but it was really yummy!

To decorate it, I used what I had in the kitchen - a decorator kit my mother in law gave me from the Pampered Chef. Keep in mind, at this time in my life, my go-to way of frosting was a butter knife and a slab. Nothing more (and nothing wrong with it). So for me to even take out the kit from it's place in the back of my pantry was a huge step alone.

Now, I have my kit - what do I do with it. To be honest, I just hoped it worked like an easy share camera and pointed and shot. And ended up with a messy cupcake, but I was playing around. Here's what they ended up like.

Flower, or Tinkerbell Poop?

My experiment above taught me two things. 1) Box cakes are amazing and all I need 2) I need a bigger gun ... I mean, frosting tip.

I googled "frosting tip" and confirmed, yes, I needed a big one to make that delicious pile of frosting on the cupcakes I see on other blogs. I can't agree with Half Baked more on this. Here's a picture of popular choices these days.

A quick phone call to my mom (do they EVER stop coming to the rescue) - and she picked up two at the cake store for me. I have no idea what they are, but I will post a picture of them soon.

Her other find ... disposable frosting bags. Yes, I know you can use a Ziploc bag, but when you have no idea what you are doing, I found these sturdy and easy to use. When I did use a Ziploc, my death grip caused an explosion. I'm sure I'm not holding the bag right, but I tell you - the disposable ones held up, death grip sumo strangle hold and all.

It's all in the tip, really. It is. Once you have the giant tips, you are a swirl away from an awesome looking cupcake. Here are the first cupcakes I frosted with my new tips.

Margarita cupcakes with Tequila Spiked frosting * recipe coming soon!

Lemon cupcakes with Lemon Frosting *recipe coming soon!

Paired with my new toys, and curiosity, and general stubbornness and you have a new "thing to do with spare time." I can't say hobby, because that implies I'm actually good at this. Which I am not. Honestly, in most cases they look better than they taste (which doesn't say a lot). Occasionally I have gotten lucky in my online recipe search and modification combo, and will share the amazing "finds" from online with you, along with my tweaks.

So there you have it. Old dog, and 1 new trick.

What "something new" do you want to try?  

Chicken Basil Sausage Pita with Roasted Garlic Mushrooms, Fresh Mozz, and Spinach

Who says you can't eat well at work. Do you have a toaster oven? That's all you need for "desktop cooking."

Since my refrigerator is practically a giant compost bin, I have started to take any leftovers, scraps, or misfits to work. With the ingredients we bring in, my office mate and partner in crime, Cari, try to come up with a creative way to use what we have.

Today's creation was Chicken Basil Sausage Pita with Roasted Garlic Mushrooms, Fresh Mozzarella, and Spinach.

Ingredients Used:

Amylu Caprese Chicken Sausage (Costco)

Fresh Mozzarella

Spinach

1 Clove Garlic

Spray Olive Oil

Mushrooms

Cherry Tomatoes

Total Time: 15 minutes

I first roasted leftover mushrooms with garlic and spray olive oil in the toaster over on the "broil setting" for about 5 minutes.

At the same time, Cari microwaved the chicken sausage from Costco for 1 minute.

We met back at the kitchen table and started assembling our masterpieces.

She went with an easy to eat stuffed pita. I took my chances on a "pizza" version that I toasted in the toaster over for 2 minutes. I have to say, it was pretty impressive.

Go ahead, skip the cafeteria, and make use with what you have (and a toaster oven). You may surprise yourself!

Topped Pita

Stuffed Pita

Beach Planning Crafts Edition

When I go to the beach, I love that I have more time than usual. And with that time, I like to do two things ... the first, reading books that literary snobs turn their nose up at. And second, do a project that I would normally not have time to do.

Last year the girls and I made hair bows out of flowers from Michaels. I was so happy to see that my niece loved them so much, that it became "her thing." So cute. I want to come up with something new this year that she will enjoy making.

Awww ... she was so wittle ...

I was thinking of doing more ridiculous pony-o's. Even the name is ridiculous.

Pink and black for leotards

I made a few for my daughter with scrap ribbon and they were really easy. I think they would make for a great team ribbon (soccer teams, college teams, etc) ...

Red white and blue

Aside from the pony-o's, here's some other finds that may be on the list of things to do.

How can you not want to make the brownie waffles? Seriously.

Something for myself. I've been really waiting to make the subway art thing. It's something like this, but I want to do all of the places Christian and I have been together. I know, lame. I have no idea why I'm obsessed with this. I'll never actually do it [although I did get as far as getting the words printed and layed out]. I was going to try it for our anniversary - but that came and went. It's more my style than his anyway ... It's still on the list though.

How it's supposed to look ...

Here's my prototype ...

These paper beads Thirty Sixth Avenue look promising. Much easier than the duct tape bracelets I tried to make with my niece using crappy Justice duct tape. Who knew a kids clothing store would sell sub-par colored duct tape?   

Tatertotsandjello posted these Giant Bubbles, but who can make a dowel bubble wand? If only they sold this at Target, I'd be all over it.

 

You know those expensive beach plaster molds that you can make at the beach? This year I'd like to try to do my own. My job is to figure out how to do them; lots of ideas out there. You can go fancy with shell and sea glass added, or simple, like these footprints on Cleverly Inspired. 

Although these Au Pairs from Aupair in America seemed to have figured out how to watch kids, find sea glass, and make a "fancy" plaster molds like the fish below. 

Sea Shell project with plaster of Paris and sand

I'm still on the hunt for activities. If all else fails, the kids have a heads up that they are tasked to put on a talent show. My office mate is tasking her beach house kids to put on a play. Ahhhh ... that's got to occupy them for hours, right?