Just sat down

Hi everyone!  I have been a very busy mommy the past week or so, and I have missed my blog.  Some days I feel like I could be talking to myself, but then someone comes along and comments to let me know I am not totally insane.

The past week has lent itself to out of town guests, dental visits, and a 5th Birthday party for my boys.  I don’t think that my butt even touched a chair during this time, and although it was fun, I was more than ready for it all to be over!  The party was a huge success, it included a Spiderman themed birthday decked out in red, yellow, and blue.  A candy buffet  with a red, yellow and blue theme.  Out in the backyard we had a bounce house set up and a ginormous crocodile dual water slide for the kiddos.  Food, included a mexican layer dip, crockpot mostaccioli, chicken salad sandwiches, fresh fruit salad, and snacks.  I was a busy lady.

All in all, it was fun for everyone and the boys truly had a wonderful day despite the heat.  So if you were wondering were I had gone, now you know!!!   🙂   Now, I will try and gather my thoughts and get back with the program.  And, what is up with this gawd awful heat?  I think I have changed my clothes three times everyday and sweated off the 50lbs I need to lose.  Pffft!

Wordless Wednesday

Fresh from the garden…Perfect little peas in a pod

Little Friend

We had a little visitor today. We were eating breakfast and this lil guy/girl was right there in front of us. I had to grab my camera, the fawn was a little further away by then. This is why I love my backyard. Momma wasn’t far, I saw her in the woods. So pretty!

Wordless Wednesday

Irresistible (scroll down)

Love when you catch them…love this lil smile!

Blue Velvet Cupcakes

Blue is my favorite color.  I was at the Farmer’s Market when I ran across this little hole in the wall cupcake shop and I decided I must go in.  Prominently displayed in just four simple glass dome cases perched on crystal cake stands were one of four flavors for the day.  They had the obligatory chocolate, vanilla chocolate, and something else which I forget, then my eyes were drawn to these pretty little blue velvet cupcakes with white icing.  I had to have that one!  Not only is it my favorite color, I wanted to see just how good could a blue cupcake be?

I didn’t have time to eat it on the way home, so I tossed it in the fridge till I could savor the moment.  The husband was gone with the boys and I decided to give it a try.  I took a bite and the flavors danced on my tongue like the most beautifully indulgent serenade.  I found my blue heaven, these things were to die for!  I quickly began to scour the internet for a recipe because the Farmer’s Market is only once a week, and well I wanted to see if I could replicate.  I ran across a few variations when I stumbled across a recipe I liked.

Humming the song “blue belvet”  popular in 1950 and, written by Bernie Wayne and Lee Morris (can’t get the song out of my head now), I made a few variations, because I was a little timid about using all this blue food color, I like vanilla so I added a smidge more.  I only halved the recipe for the cream cheese frosting because I only made half a batch.  The result was a very blue, and very yummy blue velvet cupcake.  I was rather impressed.  My kitchen on the other hand looked a little like a visit from the Smurfs.  A little secret about me, is I like to spread out in the kitchen, which results in a big old mess, if it’s my first time baking a new thing.  What I did for the cocoa and coloring gel was I mixed it as per instructions then added only about half of what was there.  The violet color is so your cupcakes don’t turn out to bee turquois.

Here is the Recipe

For the cupcakes:

• 2 cups sugar
• ½ pound (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp Wilton royal blue gel food coloring or if you can find the paste you can just use two tsp)
• 1 small dab of violet gel food coloring (just a little bit on a toothpick will do)
• 2 ½ cups cake flour (Swans Down is the best hands down)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon vinegar

the frosting:

• 1 pound cream cheese, softened
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F and line cupcake pans with liners
2. Cream sugar and butter in mixing bowl till light and fluffy, then add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg
3. Mix cocoa and food coloring together to make a paste — this takes a while and patience  to mix thoroughly with all gel (looked a bit like a science experiment), but it came together nicely; add this paste to sugar mixture and mix well again
4. Sift  flour and salt, and add to creamed mixture a bit at a time, alternate with buttermilk, then mix in vanilla
5. Combine baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl and add to cake batter; mix just to combine
6. Scoop thick batter into cupcake liners, filling about 2/3 full, and bake for probably 20-25 minutes, but start checking at 18 minutes — mine were done at about the 20 minute mark; watch for toothpick inserted in center to come out clean, watch your edges they can brown very quickly (trust me I know from my first batch  lol)
7. Remove cupcakes from oven and allow cool completely on a wire rack

How to make the frosting

1. Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla with electric mixer until nice and smooth
2. Add sugar gradually and beat on low till combined, then beat on high speed until very light and very fluffy

If you like red velvet cake, this would be a great twist on a classic!  They taste just like red velvet but ate a wonderful, beautiful blue.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.  My boys got a kick out of them and gobbled every last one up!

Raspberry Fudge

I have never before in my life made fudge of any kind.  In fact, I have never really eaten it.  Over the weekend I tried some raspberry fudge at one of the vendors and I instantly had to buy some.  They were completely out of it with the exception of two small blocks, and I told them to discount it and I bought them.  I took them home with the idea that these tiny blocks of fudge would last me a few weeks, but sadly they were gone in two days  LOL.  Since the farmer’s market is only on Saturdays, in my desperation I decided to make my own.  I scoured the internet and came up with several recipes and decided to give it a try.  This is the raspberry fudge recipe I used but I changed the amount of sugar to 2 cups instead of 2 and 3/4.  To me fudge is rather sweet, so I wanted to experiment and it came out ok as far as I can tell, you can go all out with the sugar or experiment.  I also added a little more of the raspberry flavoring because I like it.  I would recommend using an oil which I found at a cooking supply place.  The imitation stuff at the store is too liquidy (is that a word?).

Here is the Cast of Characters

Recipe

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) margarine or butter
• 1 5-ounce can (2/3 cup) evaporated milk
• 1 7-ounce jar Marshmallow Cream
• 1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam
• 2 cups or 2  3/4 cups sugar(depending on personal preference)
• 1 12-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts – optional
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 10 drops Raspberry Flavoring

Lightly grease a 13-x9-inch or 9-inch square pan.

Mix margarine or butter, sugar and milk in a heavy 3-quart saucepan; bring to a full rolling boil on medium heat, stirring constantly.

Continue boiling 5 minutes on medium heat or until candy thermometer reaches 234°F, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.

High Altitude: Decrease recommended temperature (234°F) 2 degrees for every 1,000 feet above sea level. (Who pays attention to this?)

Gradually stir in chocolate chips until melted. Remove from heat.

Add all remaining ingredients and mix well.

Pour into prepared pan.

Cool at room temperature.

When cooled, cut into squares.

Makes about 3 pounds

ENJOY!!!

This is the end result and it turned out pretty yummy for my first go around.  The nice thing about fudge is it will last you an eternity if you exercise self control.  I am personally trying to diet, so just a tiny piece of it, is enough to curb my chocolate cravings so I don’t fall off the wagon.  What is your favorite chocolate recipe or fudge recipe?

Wordless Wednesday

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you see?

A picture I took at the zoo, I love Polar Bears!

 

 

I can’t find it! Maybe it’s in the Cheez-It Box?

The phone, that is.  We have one of the handset type phones and somehow it has gone missing.  Grrrr!  I tried to page it, but I cannot hear it anywhere.  I was going around the house telling the boys to be quiet, but my suspicion is that, it’s out of batteries.

We have already lost one of the phones when the boys were younger and we never found it.  It is lost and gone to phone heaven.  This reminds me of the time we lost a baby monitor, only to find it inside the  cheez-it box, thankfully I was hungry or we might not have found it.

I have asked the boys up and down and neither one of them has seen it.  I last remember calling my husband while outside so I am going to be out scouring the area.  I am beginning to think I have lost my mind, which isn’t hard to do  lol.

We are now down to one phone, that’s in the den, attached to a cord, and I hope it isn’t going anywhere because whoever tries to call me, I won’t be answering for a very long time at this rate.

Have you ever lost something and it drives you nuts as to where it could be?  What crazy location have you found it in?  I blame the kids and not my mom brain.

Field Of Vision Family Movie Night

It is rare that you see wholesome movies anymore.  As a parent, I am finding it to be a difficult task picking movies that I feel comfortable letting my kids watch.  I am running across Disney movies that are using words like “idiot” and “stupid.”  My kids seem to be at an age where they pick up on all of it, and then I am fighting a battle to correct what was negatively instilled in them by a “kid friendly” movie.  Good movies with good lessons are important.

P&G and Wal-Mart have partnered to create more made for TV family movies and have created Family Movie Night. Their most recent movie Field of Vision, premieres June 11th at 8/7c on NBC.   I had the chance to see Field Of Vision and it is a great movie with a very strong anti-bullying message.  I read about bullying in the schools often, and as a parent to young children, I must say it scares me.  My two are just months away from heading to school and it has been my experience unfortunately, that kids can be mean.

Overview

Through mysterious footage captured on an old malfunctioning video camera, Sinclair High School’s star quarterback, Tyler McFarland, learns that some of his teammates have been bullying Cory Walker, a troubled new transfer student. Aware that sharing this information with the coach might get his friends kicked off the team and ultimately cost the school the state championship, Tyler must choose what’s more important: winning or doing what’s right.

 

 

This movie was a wonderful example of how to make a good movie minus all the language, and exudes a message to live our best life and teach our children to do the right things.  From a Mom’s perspective, there were many poignant moments that I could relate to, and I was crying by the end.  I won’t give away the whole movie, but it is a good one to sit down as a family to watch and discuss afterward.  My boys are only 5, so I felt the concept wasn’t something they could relate to or grasp yet, but I think it is very appropriate for children ages eleven and up, who are on the verge of their teen years.  Faith Ford was wonderful in the movie.  But even more wonderful, was the fact that this was a movie that the entire family could watch.

 

“I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of P&G and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

I Love You

When I am having a really bad day, my boys always manage to change that for me in the little things that they do.  One of my sons never lets me leave to the store without running up to the car window and giving me a hug and a kiss.  Or, if im in the house, he will stop what he is doing and run to say goodbye.

The other day I was leaving for the grocery store and one of them comes running to the garage door, and shouts with a big huge smile.  “Bye Mommy!!!!   I love you to the moon and back!”

I yelled back  “I love you to the moon and back and to the moon and back again!”

This is what makes being a mom so worth all frustrations, being tired, and makes all the bad days disappear. It’s amazing what a simple “I love you” can do.

Never forget to tell your children how much you love them.

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