Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Ice Cream Cupcakes

For my sister's birthday I made ice cream cupcakes and OMG they were the best cupcakes EVER! I couldn't believe how good they were and I just wanted to keep eating them. We have some leftovers and I love having one for dessert after dinner. So good, if you get a chance I feel everyone should try these at least once.
I made the cake mix and frosting all from scratch , next time we want and try to make the ice cream from stratch too. I can't wait to make these again! I also want to try this in a cake form and see how that turns out. Yummy stuff!




Ingredients:
  • Yellow Cake Mix
    • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (do not sift the flour)
    • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
    • 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
    • 1-teaspoon salt
    • 1 1/4 cups milk
    • Vegetable oil
    • 1 stick butter (not margarine), softened
    • 1-tablespoon vanilla extract
    • 3 large eggs
  • Cupcake Liners
  • Cake Batter Ice Cream
  • Whipped Chocolate Frosting
    • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
    • 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
    • 1/2 pint heavy cream
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
  • Yellow Cake Mix
    • In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, mixing well.
    • Measure the 1-1/4 cups of milk in a 2 cup measuring cup….then add enough vegetable oil to bring the liquid up to 1-1/3 cups.
    • Add the milk/vegetable oil mixture, butter and vanilla to the flour mixture and beat with an electric mixer on medium to medium-high speed for 2 minutes, scraping sides of bowl as needed.
    • Add the eggs and continue beating an additional 2 minutes.
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Put cupcake liners into a muffin tin and measure out 1 Tbsp. of batter into each liner- the batter is only meant to fill the bottom.
  3. Bake for about 15 minutes or until they bounce back. Do not take the cupcakes out of the pan.
  4. Once cooled leave the liners and cake inside of the muffin tin and put your softened ice cream on top of the cake until it reaches the top of the liners. Freeze in the freezer until the ice cream is hardened (about 2 hours). Right before serving top with the whipped cream frosting and some sprinkles!

  • Whipped Chocolate Frosting
    • Dissolve sugar and cocoa in cream. Beat until thick.
    • Add vanilla, beat well.
    • Spread on cakes, cupcakes, etc. Can also be used for filling between cake layers










Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Happy 19th Birthday Kasey!!

Today my baby sister turns 19 today!! I want to wish her a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Her gift from mother nature today was a TON of snow AGAIN! I'm sure he is just loving being stuck in the house on her birthday doing nothing. LOL
We had the family over Sunday night for her celebration. We made dinner, did gifts and had ice cream cupcakes (recipe to come soon....). We had a good time and she got lots of goodies

I wanted to keep her pretty flowers but she said no :(
 Isn't she cute in her birthday hat. She found this at Dollar Tree and had to have it.
 The yummy meal that Shane and I made for the family.  Kasey wanted Manocotti, so we made that and Spagetti and Shane made homemade garlic breadsticks. Yum!
 Ice Cream Cupcakes, these were the best cupcakes EVER!
 Our little family. Aren't we cute :)

On Valentine's Day my Mom had her birthday but I didn't post about it.
 Last Thursday was my Grandma's birthday. She also got snow for her birthday. LOL

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY EVERYONE WHO HAD FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS!!



Monday, February 25, 2013

Who Called For Snow????

How did everyone like ALL that snow we got last week??!! I can't believe we really got 10 inches of snow, that's just crazy!! I really thought everyone was making a big deal over nothing and we would just get a little snow, but they showed me now. 
We did brave going to work Thurs and Fri. Thursday they decided to let us leave at 11:15 AM, but I had to wait till Shane got off before leaving since we ride together to work, but we still left at 1:00 PM so it was done snowing when we left. It still took us an hour to get home since the highways were a mess and pretty much closed. We did fine getting home until we turned on our street and we ended up getting stuck twice. Then we had to shovel our way up the driveway to park in the garage, now that was fun. NOT! I did help Shane out and it was a workout for me. Saturday afternoon I finished shoveling the other half of the driveway since we were having my family over Sunday they needed somewhere to park. :)

When we got home Thursday I opened the back door and this was the snow by it. 
 It's pretty out there but way too much, LOL
 This is how much snow was standing on our deck. It's just crazy. 
 View from the front door down our street. All you see is white!
 Poor Kira didn't know what to think she couldn't run in the back yard b/c she would get lost as she fell through the snow. :(
 I thought this was pretty cool how the snow piled up on our deck stairs. 

Now that we survived round 1 of the snow...Who's ready to begin round 2. I'm not sure I like all this snow. Maybe I would like it more if I didn't have to get our in it and shovel and drive in this mess. Haha! 
I hope everyone was safe during this snowstorm! 

Let's see what this second time around brings us.....


Sunday, February 17, 2013

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake & Frosting

We were having a friend over to celebrate his birthday last night. I wanted to bake him a cake and he said his favorite was a cookie cake. So I started looking for a great recipe to try. I have made a cookie cake once before but it didn't turn out very well and I haven't tried it again since. The cake I made this weekend turned out AMAZING!!! We all were amazed at how delicious the cake and frosting was. I look forward to making this again soon! :)

Ingredients for Cake:
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (11 1/4 oz)
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt**
  • 8 oz unsalted butter (or use 4 oz butter and 1/2 cup shortening for 1 cup total)
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 bag semi sweet regular 
Directions for Cake:
  1. Preheat oven to 300° F. Line a 12 inch round pizza pan with a circle of parchment or non-stick foil. Alternatively, you can make your own pizza pan by molding non-stick foil into a giant 12 inch circle.
  2. Mix flour, baking soda and salt together; set aside.
  3. Cream butter and both sugars by hand or with an electric mixer. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. When well mixed, add flour mixture and stir until blended Fold in chocolate chips.
  4. Put all the batter in the pan and press it into a circle. Stop the circle about 1 ½ to 2 inches from the rim. Press M&M’s decoratively into top.
  5. Bake on center rack for 32-35 minutes or until cookie is golden around edges and appears set.


Ingredients for Frosting:
  • 4 cups confectioners' sugar
  • 1/2 cup shortening
  • 5 Tbsp Milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Food coloring
Directions for Frosting:
  1. Combine all ingredients in stand mixer except for food coloring.
  2. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth 4-5 mins. 
  3. Stir in food coloring
  4. Pipe onto cake.

Here is the cake all decorated!! So yummy!! :) It's not perfect so no judging. LOL





Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I just want to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you have a wonderful day with your sweetheart!

This year Shane and I didn't really do gifts if there is something we want we usually just go get it. So no need for gifts today. We will be going out tomorrow when we are off and enjoying some steak at Texas Roadhouse! Our favorite place ever!! :)




Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Time To Workout....

I have been telling myself for months now that I need to get back to working out. I have just been so lazy and haven't motivated myself to do it. That all changed over the weekend...Last week I was so upset with myself and not comfortable with my stomach area my pants were tight and my shirts just didn't feel right, so I knew it was time to get my butt in gear and do something about it. Saturday I decided it was time to get back to it and make myself feel better. Kira and I went for a walk and it was wonderful. I forget that after I workout I feel great and as time goes on I feel much better about myself, but it's that darn motivation that gets me. Monday after work Kira and I went on another walk and tonight I did my ab workout and I feel great! I just hope I can get myself back into a routine of working out and sticking with it. I would really like to lose at least 10 Ibs or so and get my stomach flatter before we head down to Mexico in October. I know I can do just a few years ago I lost 10 or more Ibs and it felt great, then I just fell off the workout routine and went back to where I started. :( 

It's time for a change and I'm ready to do it!! 

Wish my luck and hopefully I can get to my goal in no time and start feeling better about myself. 



Monday, February 11, 2013

Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos

I have been experimenting with making yummy chicken tacos, I got the beef down no problem! 
This is the 2nd recipe we have tried for chicken tacos. The first one was no bad but it was little dry. This recipe that we tried was pretty good. I still want to try maybe another recipe just so I know I'm not missing anything then start making adjustments to our favorite one to get it just perfect! 



Ingredients:
  • 1 Ib boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • Juices from 2 limes
  • ½ cilantro
  • 1 packet taco seasoning
  • 1 tsp dried onions
  • ½ water
Directions:
  1. Add all ingredients to slow cooker.
  2. Cook on low all day or on high for 4 hours.
  3. Use fork to shred.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Happy Birthday Jordann!

My sister in law Jordann turned 24 on Wednesday. The family got together Friday night to celebrate, we had chili for dinner and a yummy chocolate cake that was homemade. We had a good time hanging with the family and celebrating Jo's bday!

 Make a wish!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JO!!!
Hope you had a wonderful birthday this year! 




Thursday, February 7, 2013

Turkey Wraps

Here is another yummy recipe I got off Pinterest that we tried last week. This was actually my first wrap I have ever had and it was so yummy!!

Ingredients:
  • Flatout Wrap
  • Smoked Turkey
  • Pepperoni
  • Pepperjack Cheese
  • Cooked Bacon
  • Tomatoes
  • Lettuce
  • The recipe called for Ranch dressing but we don't like it so we didn't use any dressing.
Directions:
  1. Add all ingredients as you wish
  2. Roll wrap up and enjoy