The only source of knowledge is experience

Sunday, August 24, 2008

The cupcakes were a total success!

It doesn't take a lot to make a simple recipe looks gorgeous and fun (and like it took forever to do...). I took one of Giada's strawberry mascarpone filled cupcakes and tweaked it for my own needs, since my pregnant friend is allergic to strawberries.

I subbed blackberries + raspberries for the strawberries, made the cupcakes from scratch instead of from a box, and used store bought frosting instead of the lemony icing since I wanted to decorate the cupcakes! V is having a boy so making little oceans with a rubber ducky on each one was so perfect.. But, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

The cupcakes going into the oven:

The filling ingredients, which I made while the cupcakes cooled:

The cupcakes filled (some of them overflowed. The trick is to be VERY GENTLE when filling the cupcakes through the bottom with a pastry tip):

The decorated cupcakes in my new cupcake caddy! Just have fun with a pastry tip + ziplock bag acting as a pastry bag:

The finished product, all set up at V's house before her shower:

My friend's half eaten cupcake. See the yummy creamy center?

And, just for fun... my matching gifts! I wrapped the high chair in a ducky bag, and then put lots of little gifts in her baby tub and wrapped them in cellophane!

You don't need to be a trained pastry chef to make an impact. Just have fun, and think creatively, and your baking project will be a success!! I only wish I had saved a cupcake for myself....

Friday, August 22, 2008

Babies R Us

Babies R Us is a scary place if you don't have kids. The people working there seemingly disappear right when you need them, there are 35 different kinds of each thing, and so many items off of your friend's baby registry is sure to be discontinued by the time you get there, even if she just registered a few weeks ago.

I was in there yesterday trying to buy my friend's gift. The idea was to buy one big ticket item (her high chair) plus her baby tub filled with lots of the small stuff that no one had bought yet. Boy was it frustrating! I figured out their numbered/color coded system pretty quickly, but you would think the aisles are in order of number right? Wrong. The infant care aisle 2 was next to 15, and it just got worse from there. At one point I was looking for a 3 pack of burping towels (happy I don't have kids jsut yet) and my friend had registered for some by koala baby with little bears on them. Of course they were not in the section with all the other burp cloths. Nope, they were with all the bibs. What gives? When I was frantically searching for the aforementioned burp cloths I got so frustrated that I just stood there and seriously almost started crying.

Anyway, I got it done in less than 1 hour... only about 58 minutes haha. I decided that since she is having a boy and she LOVES cupcakes I am going to make vanilla cupcakes with a raspberry blackberry mascarpone filling, in cute ducky cupcake liners with more of the filling on top and a little ducky icing decoration on that. Really cute I think, but with adult flavors. I will post pics when I make them! The plan is to make the cupcakes tomorrow, and while they bake I will wrap up the presents (I will post that too) and then on Sunday morning before the party I will fill and ice the adorable little cuppy cakesss.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Help! Dessert idea?

I need to make a fun dessert for my friend's baby shower this weekend! Something not too too difficult, but nothing plain like brownies. I want to impress! Maybe something in a mini form since it's a BABY shower?

Ideas please!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Grocery store shopping

I have been trying to spend less money at the store each week, especially since I end up throwing away a lot of fresh produce, or not having room for boxes of snacks etc. I started a few weeks ago and now spend less than half of what I used to spend ($75/week). I guess my eyes were always bigger than my stomach!

Now I spend between $20-30 buying mostly organic stuff, but even the regular fruits and veggies are more expensive than in other places.. for example our bananas last night were $1.19/lb, and I read on a blog that someone just bought some from WHOLE FOODS for $0.39/lb. where is this magical place? I will add that my goal is to spend <$30 for Monday-Friday because it is simply too hard for me to buy food for the weekends with my love PB in my life.. although I HAVE been known to stick a half used package of english muffins in my travel bag hahaha

Anyway, here are my tips:

1. Think out your meals in advance and try to use the same few items to make a few different meals for the week.
For example, last night I had pasta with ground turkey, artichoke hearts (from pantry) and sundried tomatoes (pantry) with a teeny sprinkle of feta cheese. Today for dinner I am making mini turkey, spinach (from freezer) and feta burgers on mini bagels with a sliced tomato. In only 2 days I already have found uses for the ground turkey I bought and the feta as well. Tomorrow for dinner I will probably make a turkey version of KEFTA, baked ground meat with onions + parsley, topped with sliced tomatoes. Then I will be done with the package of ground turkey without wasting it all or having to eat the same meal a few days in a row.

2. Don't be afraid to freeze food!
I made a batch of brownies last week as my cousin had her boyfriend over for dinner, but two girls can't eat a whole batch themselves (well, usually) so I just froze the rest in single serving portions that I will take out when the craving strikes. This leads me to my next point...

3. If a food you eat OFTEN is on sale, buy a few!
When the english muffins are buy 1 get 1 free I obviously take my free package, but there is no way I can eat 2 packages before they go bad so I simply freeze the second package! Works like a charm.

If you have any other tips, please feel free to share them with me!