Camo Brownie Bombs

You can find more details about Tyler's Army Party here. I wanted to break down the desserts in another post.
Brownie Bombs
You need:

• Brownie mix and ingredients listed on package (yes I took a major short cut)
• 1 container of Vanilla or cream cheese frosting
• Melting Chocolates in white, green and dark chocolate

So simple.
1) You prepare the brownies as instructed on the packaging (or from scratch).- I usually follow the cake like instructions (and I use store brand)
2) Bake and let cool
3) In a food processor, chop up the brownies into brownie crumbs!
4) Add the Frosting to the food processor and pulsate till everything is blended
5) Roll into bite size balls and place on wax paper covered baking sheet
6) Let the Brownie balls (yes I said BALLS) cool and set in a fridge or freezer
5) Melt white chocolate in double boiler and dip each ball into the chocolate
6) after the white chocolate is set, melt the dark chocolate, using a spoon or fork drizzle each ball with dark chocolate
7) repeat step 6 with Green chocolate
8) let the chocolate set and then enjoy!
*For the dark chocolate and green chocolate you will only need about 1/4 of the bag melted
**I said balls several times in this posting!

General’s Star for Army Party

You can find more details about Tyler's Army Party here.  I wanted to break down the desserts in another post.

General’s Star

You need:

• Sugar cookie Mix and ingredients listed on package (yes I took a major short cut)
• Star cookie cut
• Melting Chocolates in white, green and dark chocolate

So simple.

1) You prepare the cookies as instructed on the packaging (or from scratch). 

2) Cut them into stars and bake!

3) After they are cooled, melt the white chocolate.  Dip the front of each cookie in the white chocolate and let set up.

4) Melt 1/4-1/2 of a bag of the dark chocolate.  Dip a fork into the chocolate and drizzle it over the cookies

5) repeat step 4 with Green chocolate

5) let the chocolate set and then enjoy!

Our busy day..

I don’t know why we couldn’t be like other people and veg on a rainy day but it just didn’t roll that way today!

Between 8-11:30 we made (click the food names for link to recipes):

White chocolate, zucchini and almond scones
Zucchini-Applesauce Muffins
2 loaves of Nanas Zucchini bread
Rosemary and Oil focaccia bread that we snacked on all day.. my butt is bigger!
Zucchini Freezer Jam

Then David and Tyler went for haircuts while Emma and I went for Emma’s First Pedi!

After lunch and Emma went down for a nap the boys fixed a problem on the roof – yes rain and wind and David was on the roof.

I started cooking again!  I baked a loaf of regular bread for the family to have with the pasta dinner, then I made: .

6 Zucchini and roasted red pepper calzones
12 zucchini-corn-bread muffins

The sad part is that I still have zucchini.  I froze 4 bags of shredded zucchini (2 cups each) to make more of the above this fall and winter.  But I still have zucchini in my garden.  ugh I can not keep up!  I really need to start making sauce too we picked a lot of tomatoes yesterday.  Its 6pm I think I should quit cooking and fold some laundry!

Not a bad day!  Now if only Dunkin would deliver me some Pumpkin coffee!

Zucchini corn bread

the last few years I have been making this.  I cook it now and freeze it.  I could make it in the winter but I freeze my zucchini in 2 cup bags so it hard to make this bc it only needs 1 cup.

 

All you need is:

• 2 boxes of Jiffy cornbread
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup of milk
• 1 cup of zucchini shredded
• 1/4 cup of sharp cheddar cheese (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Spray non stick spray into 12-muffin pan and divide batter equally.  Back as instructed on the box for corn bread muffins.

These are great to break out when you are having chili! 

Zucchini-Applesauce Muffins

I wanted to make a low fat muffin that I could put in the freezer and pull out as needed.  These were perfect!

¾ cup sugar
1 extra-large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Heavy pinch salt
2 cups zucchini and/or summer squash, grated and squeezed of excess liquid
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 ¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg

Heat oven to 350°F and adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl combine the sugar, eggs, vanilla, and salt. Stir in the squash, and applesauce. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the zucchini mixture and stir until just incorporated.

Using a spoon, distribute the batter equally among the cups. Bake until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes. Allow the muffins to cool for about 5 minutes, then remove them from the tin and allow to cool completely.

I may add raisins or nuts next time around.

White chocolate, zucchini and almond scones

Its that time of year again where you have tons of summer squash and have to start coming up with ideas for it!  This morning I started off with white chocolate, zucchini and almond scones.

I found this idea (here) for chocolate chip zucchini scones and used it as the base for mine!

Kristen’s Scones

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cane sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, chilled and diced in 1 inch pieces
1 egg
2 cups shredded zucchini
3/4 cup plain greek yogurt (or you could use buttermilk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange zest

1 cup chopped almonds
1 cup white- chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In large bowl mix dry ingredients together then cut in the butter and set aside

Whisk egg and sugar together in small bowl and then add zucchini, yogurt, vanilla and orange zest. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and gradually pour in wet ingredients. Mix all together, but do not over stir.

Spread mixture out on floured surface. Carefully knead while adding white chocolate chips and almonds, in handfuls at a time. You will only need to "press" mixture together for about 3 or 4 times. If you do this too much it will result in tough scones.

Hello kitty Cake Balls (Oreo balls)

When I started planning Emma’s 2nd birthday I originally planned a Strawberry shortcake and ice cream party.  I totally could pull I off with some great summer cupcakes.  But in May I realized she had no clue who strawberry shortcake was and she loved “kitty-kats”.  Enter the hello kitty theme!

The plan was a typical picnic lunch with a full on ice cream social.  All of the kids in attendance love ice cream, and most of the adults!  I knew cupcakes would be a waste, the kids would only eat the frosting and I would have more left over then eaten.  Enter the idea of cake balls…they were little bites and so easy to eat and walk around with.  That’s when I found these:

 

The website is here with full instructions.  I decided to make just the hello kitty but I love the ice cream cone ones! 

Because Emma is a huge Oreo fan instead of using cake I made them with Oreos and cream cheese. this could have been mistake #1!   I chopped the Oreos in my food processor and then added the cream cheese. I rolled them into the shape as stated in the instructions.  I melted some choc and dipped the sticks in before inserting into the hello kitty heads.  I then place them in the freeze to set.

The instructions said to use white choc. chips to make the ears but I had dark choc and figured they would be fine (mistake #2).  after attaching the ears I started dipping them in the hot melted chocolate.  The chocolate started melting the ears and I had brown streaks in my hello kitty! This  was not as noticeable when I switched to the pink chocolate.

It was hot and humid here, so I had to work in batches rotating them in and out of the freeze other wise the Oreo ball would split in half when I dipped it in the chocolate.  I should of melted my chocolate in batches too.  The last few it was starting to set (mistake #3).

I tried to draw the face with the edible pens they sell at the craft stores but they do not write on melt chocolate (mistake #4).  So I ran out and picked up some gel writers to make the face!

You could see the Oreo thru some of the faces but if I had used the cake instead I think it wouldn’t of showed up (the pink looked better).  But they were a hit and tasted good (I ate a few too many )  I would certainly make them again especially for a kids party.

I still have some summer cupcake ideas..so if you are having a party let me know!!

Cupcakes

Bernie and Denise are getting ready for their 2nd CSA.  They are hosting a lunch for their CSA members.  Information on their CSA can be found here: http://threegoatfarm.com/
They asked me to make cupcakes, and we all know I love to bake!  I wanted something new and different.  I decided to make 2 kinds:

Red velvet with cream cheese frosting
Hazelnut brownie bites with a cocoa buttermilk frostting

I really am looking for an adult party to make baileys Irish cream cupcakes.

The red velvet was just a box cake mix with vanilla added to it.  The frosting was a basic cream cheese frosting. 

The Hazelnut Brownies are simply, to start just mak cake like brownie batter.  I put them into the mini cupcake pans but I did not fill them too high about 75%.  The center was a cheesecake mix made from Cream Cheese, powdered sugar, an egg, some of my homemade nutella and some almond extract. 

Normally I would swirl the cheesecake into the brownie but this time I wanted it to be all in the center when you bit into it.  The frosting was buttermilk frosting with cocoa added and a few table spoons of hot choc. mix.
Both kinds made 72 mini cupcakes.

Then it came time to frost them.  ahh the temptation.


I just wanted a spoon and eat right out of the bowl.
once they were lined up I started frosting
.

I love my new cupcake decorator. Didn’t it make the nicest star design? I hope they enjoy them!

5 Times the Fun!

I really do not know what happened, just last weekend it was August and now it’s Thanksgiving week.  Really where the time go?  I feel like I am in a never ending state of playing catch up.  I broke all my rules with Tyler’s Birthday party this year.  I booked the zoo a month or so ago but then I never took action on anything else until 2 weeks ago. 

We decided to do a “friends” party at the zoo from 2-4 then have a family party at the house at 6pm.  Well I never let the family know until last week and then just today I noticed that I had not given 2 people their invitations.  This is so not like me. I typically have everything determined in October, party supplies no later than Davids birthday.  I ordered my normal cupcake rings but this time they arrived on baking day..danger!  I hope I can pull it together by Xmas.  Here are some of the great photos from the events:

My Goodie Bags	The Cupcakes
Can I just tell you as a mom, buying this pails are such a great investment because they can go with any theme	This year since the party was at the zoo we of course did Diego the animal rescuer
The Kids were able to feed the camels, by stuffing boxes with bamboo and paper

Then our we were able to have visits from 3 animals

And then it was cake time!

I know what you are thinking..Where is Emma?  She missed the zoo party but was at the party at the house.  She has pink eye

But its not getting her down!

look out for the spiders

Best Mistake cupcakes

On Friday I was making cupcakes for my in-laws harvest dinner to end their first CSA season (get more info here).  They had asked for about 4 dozen cupcakes but I of course planned to make more to take with us on our weekend adventures (I am hoping to post that tomorrow).  The plan was to make Smores’,  Caramel Apple, pumpkin and applesauce…all mini-cupcakes.

My Smores, graham cracker crust with a chocolate cupcake mix.  Sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs, topped with a marshmallow frosting and grated chocolate.

I started around 730pm after a long day and intense workout by baking the the Smores.  I was surprised that my batter made over 72 and because of the graham cracker crust i could go made another 2 dozen..I opted to make hubby a mini cake in my pampered chef mini pan!  Once those were cooking I started the batter for the caramel Apple.  I was also listening to the Crunch hockey game on the internet and watching Sabres on TV.  Big Mistake! 

As I pulled the last pan out of the oven, I noticed that I still had apples on the counter.  Then it clicked….OMG I never added them to the batter. 

I had planned to add the chopped apples to batter and then dip them in caramel, sprinkle nuts on them and add a stick – just like you would have with a caramel apple.  So now I just had a yellow vanilla cupcake…hmm what's a girl to do?  I decided to go to bed. I was so tired and I just need to sleep on it. No way was I going to make another 72 cupcakes and no way did I have the time.

The next morning after a good 6 hours of sleep (that's sleeping in for a mom!) and a cup of coffee, I had an amazing idea.  I was going to make apple pie cupcakes. 

I chopped up some apples and put them in a pan over medium heat.  I added lemon juice, cinnamon and sugar.  Once the apples were soft I added in the caramel topping and mixed together.  I cut out part of the center of each cupcake and filled it with my apple mixture.  Then I mixed up a simple powered sugar glaze and drizzled a little bit on each one.

So what do you think…look yummy (or as Rachel Ray would say Yumm-o!)?

I actually didn’t make enough apple filling.  I took my remaining vanilla cupcakes and made Vanilla Nut Glaze cupcakes:

Are you hungry yet?  I am…boy this is not helping my weigh loss attempts!  This is how I displayed my cupcakes at the dinner:

There were not too many cupcakes left!  Almost all the apple pie were gone!  I am certainly going to try these again..I may try doing this with regular sized cupcakes!  I will someday make the caramel apple ones (after all i do have the sticks).  I have some other cupcake ideas I want to make…I wonder if they will also be cupcake adventures!  Either way, remember to embrace your mistakes they could turn out to be the best thing ever.

Late Ladybug Party

I am only a few weeks late but i can finally recap my 4 years in the making Ladybug party! Most people think i wanted to have a ladybug party because of tori spellings party for her daughter (seriously google Tori Spelling ladybug party) but really i have to give credit to elizabeth hasselbeck (the View) she had a party for her oldest daughter and for some reason i saw the photos from that before i was even pregnant with Tyler. I have been waiting for this day since then!



For the most part it was as planned. I wanted to do a few other things and the wind was not making it easy on the decorations. But i think those in attendance had a great time! Sadly when i tried to upload the photos to Blogger they are not in order and i am not use to my laptop yet to switch them around so just bear with me!



Emma had so much fun she was a big mess with her cake but she really loved the ice cream.

My little ladybug! I ordered these cute little antenna for emma and the little kids (but i stole one!) for the bigger kids i ordered fun ones in other colors but i didnt get any photos :(



So i completely decorated in pink and green with a little bit of Red. I used alot of the So Sweet ladybug items from Birthday Express and alot of items from Oriental express.

i used these pails from target for a $1 to tie the balloons too. I filled them with tissue paper i had planned to put snacks in them with pin wheels but it was so windy we were afraid of the mess. Each table also had a ladybug pop toy and ladybug bubbles. A sea of pink and green perfect for our ladybug queen!

Turning 1 is so sweet! We had a whole sweet table of pink red and green candy!

A close up of the cupcakes for the guests!

It was a great day! The kids got to play one the playground have a water gun fight and sneak up on the adults with silly string! Miss Emma was asleep before we left park! Less than 360 days till her next birthday......Strawberry shortcake?? hmm maybe!!!