blog lovin'

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

sooo ya wanna cupcake?

I don't always share recipes...but when I do...they're always amazing...

I have absolutely no will power when it comes to turning away a cupcake. Like, it can not even look that appetizing and I will still snarf it right down. Basically gimme some cake and frosting in a handheld tin and it's game on. 

But especially...especially when they are 1) pumpkin cupcakes 2) stuffed with something 3) decorated with monster eyes. I mean those eyes basically looked at me and said, "EAT ME NOW BEYOTCH." 

I do not tell a lie.

So I HAVE to share this recipe because it's just plain RUDE not to share something so amazing and surprisingly simple. A lot of people thing cupcakes and gourmet cupcakes are super tricky and complicated...they're really not. 

And without further adieu...

(recipe adapted from thecakeblog.com)

For the Cake:

(makes 30 cupcakes)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pans with cupcake liners.
2. In large bowl combine dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
3. In bowl or stand mixer cream butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until creamy.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Add dry ingredients and milk, alternating until well combined. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.
6. Mix in pumpkin puree.
7. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter.
8. Bake for 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
9. Let cupcakes cool in pans for 5 minutes, then remove to wire racks to finish cooling.

For the icing:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

1. In bowl of stand mixer beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed until well combined.
2. Gradually add in confectioner’s sugar one cup at a time, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.
3. Add vanilla and cinnamon and mix until combined.
4. Place icing in piping bag fitted with a large round tip and frost cupcakes. (*I didn't have any tips, so I just put it in a bag and cut off the end- worked just as well). Also if you're planning on filling them, do that before you frost them...naturally.

For the filling:

1 jar of Archer Farms (sold at Target) Chocolate and Sea Salted Caramel (or equivalent)

Filling cupcakes is NOT hard..and it for reals makes them taste soo much better. I think every cupcake everywhere should be filled always. All you have to do is think of a complimentary flavor and wah-lah! You can use fruit preserves, other frosting flavors, chocolate ganache...I really think it's hard to go wrong. 

I don't have a melon baller (what a lot of people use to scoop them) or any fancy baker tools...but a good 'ole knife does the trick just fine- we keep it simple in this kitchen. 

Hold the knife at an angle and cut a circle. Pick up the piece you just cut out and eat it. Spoon the filling into the center. Done and done.

If you don't want to fill them you can also drizzle some of the deliciousness on top of the frosting instead. Or fill AND drizzle...go big or go home, right? 

These were for a Halloween party- hence the decorations. 

But for reals, if/WHEN I open my own bakery these will be on the menu...all year round...because pumpkin definitely gets the shaft by only being served three months out of the year.

jillian's shenanigans

Lately Jillian is hilarious. She's starting to talk WAY more and says words that actually make sense. And sometimes she'll just look at you and babble then pause expecting a response. These are her latest shenanigans: 

1) James made her a blanket cape. She thought it was awesome. 2) Who needs a baby doll to push around when you can push all your foam letters? 3) Makeshift hat. She did it herself. 4) Books, book, and more books. 5) Sorting cards in my wallet- keeps her entertained forever. 6) Boxcar child. 7) Alfie's turn to ride in the box. 8) Action shot. 9) Cuddling with new friends mid bookstore. 

She definitely keeps us laughing. Her latest favorite things is playing on the iPad. She will literally come up to during the day and start saying, "iPah..iPah...pwease!" How can you turn THAT down? I'm amazed at how well she can get around that thing. She can turn it on, unlock the screen, go to her apps folder, and can go in and out of different apps- baby GENIUS I tell you. 

I captured this the other day when she was playing on a new app. She also learned the word "whoa":

anniversary

That time of year again! Time to celebrate the fact James and I have made it through another year, a functioning couple. Haha. That makes it sound awful. Marriage is the exact opposite (of awful). It's not easy though. Even if you love the person more than you can stand, it's not easy. It's crazy to me how much I've learned in the last four years about what that word means, and about myself. So what's made it a little easier? Mostly getting over yourself and realizing the world doesn't revolve around you. That right there will solve 90% of any disagreement you have. The other 10% probably requires some sort of chocolate and graveling.

To celebrate, James sent me flowers on Thursday (our actual anniversary) and I sent him this nifty little video while he was at work and then took him the best donuts in Utah Valley for breakfast (Daylight Donuts anyone?). Did you know traditionally four years is the anniversary to give a gift of silk or from the modern list- appliances. Well, I don't think James would appreciate anything silk, and appliances? That's...romantic?

Yay! 

Today my beautiful, amazing sister (who has decided she's going on a church mission...wha?!?) came over to watch Jillian and we went a got a massage, which is apparently our new anniversary "thing". It's a good thing to have. Michaela thought it was totally weird..."Couples massage? Are you like in the same room?....Weird..." Haha. Not weird. Awesome. Except for the fact that James had a Helga and I had a tiny little Hispanic thing. He left with bruises and I left..disappointed. Oh well. Then we pigged out at Olive Garden (I was totally craving it). Their pumpkin cheesecake by the way? Fantastic.


Here's to another year! I think it's funny how opposite James and I really are. I guess the whole "opposites attract" notion is a legit thing. It works for us! 

Aww. 
James had so much more hair then ;-)

red stamp

Am I totally late coming to the party on this one? Red Stamp is my new favorite app. I want to text virtual cards to everyone I know. Be prepared.

bring out 'yer punkins!

I have no idea why I titled this post with what I did. But it reminds me of my Dad when we (the Shannon kids) were teenagers and he would try to get us out of bed in the morning. (...by the way...what happens from age 14 months to 14 years that makes you go from waking up at the butt crack of dawn to avoiding the morning sunlight like the plague? I wish Jillian would catch that drift a little sooner than later...). ANYWAY. He would literally walk down the hallway banging a pot with a wooden spoon saying "Bring out 'yer dead! Bring out 'yer dead!" Monty Python anyone?

I heard about this barn down in Santaquin (aka a speck of a town about 35 miles south of Provo) that had really good fudge and apple cider. So we went, naturally. It was really quaint. They had the most delicious looking treats and chocolate covered everythings, in addition to tons of fresh fruit grown on the farms there. We decided on homemade ice cream: banana nut, pomegranate, and mint chocolate chip, a bajillion fresh apples (that I'm not quite sure what to do with), local raspberry syrup, and homemade apple cider. Yum-o in my holiday growing little tum-o. 

We went on the hayride, where Jillian tried (and was successful) in eating hay by the hand fulls and my pants ripped open by the crotch (maybe I should've declined ice cream?). 

Jillian said probably a thousand times, "Puummm!" (translation: pumpkin). They also had a random giant slide to go down on burlap sacks- way fun. Jillian shrieked all the way down (in a good way- she loved it...I think...).

So if you're willin' to drive 30 minutes (I know, I'm totally spoiled by city living now) for some scrumptious treats in the middle of nowhere accompanied by a big friggin' slide- do it.  

a day at the farmer's market

Fall is my absolute most favorite time of year. Especially now that I know what fall IS...growing up in Florida, "fall" just meant it was slightly less humid and maybe even a little less hot. But here it is delicious.   Thursday afternoon Jillian, Mich, and I decided to check out the Provo Farmer's Market. They just started it this year as far as I know.   

  So $20 bucks later, we left with 2 pumpkins, 2 giant cucumbers, 2 acorn squash, 4 carrots, 7 peaches, 8 pears, raspberry honey butter, and fresh mango salsa.

I also tasted the most delicious grilled hummus & pita bread that I will most definitely be making this week.

Farmer's market = success!

Bring on the boots, scarves, pumpkin bread, and soup!

i donated plasma today, like a poor person

So a couple of weeks ago I got this FANTASTIC idea that I wanted to buy a ton of new clothes. Reason 1: All my old clothes are ugly. Reason 2: Given a recent drop in lb's, lots of them are getting baggy. Baggy=frumpy. 3: I just want new clothes. Now, such a grand notion is a little harder to actually make happen when you just have had a "budget meeting" with your husband that lasted almost an hour. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally glad we did it (and so is our bank account). It also means I can't spend as frivolously as I apparently was. BOO. In the budget we gave ourselves a monthly allowance to spend on ourselves or whatever we wanted, no questions asked (well, depending on what shows up on the bank statements, questions may be asked, but you get the idea). I decided to beef up that allowance, I would do what many a poor college student do- DONATE PLASMA! 
To a full time teacher and mom, this sounded WONDERFUL. You mean I just sit there, uninterrupted and get PAID for it?! Sign me up!    So Wednesday, I head over to the plasma place and get in line. Literally. I was there for almost 2 1/2 hours and I hadn't even started donating yet (orientations, physicals, blah blah blah). So I opted to come back another day to finish- which was today.  So starting up wasn't bad. Needles don't bother me at all. When your Dad is an ER doc and you've grown up hearing the nastiest stories quite possibly to have ever existed in a hospital, needles are like pffttt...THAT tiny silver thing? I've watched my Dad stitch up my hand at home on the kitchen counter, while eating a bowl of cereal with the other hand. No biggie. 
Also, after you have a baby I'm convinced you can do anything, any time, any place and hardly be phased. I AM WOMAN; HEAR ME ROAR!
So yeah, plasma? We got this.
As soon as the machine started pumping away and the little tube filled up with blood, DRAIN went the blood from my face. Crap. I supposed that was normal. But about 10-15 minutes into it, I was feeling pretty rough. So I called a girl over and asked her if it was normal to feel really sleepy. She said yeah, a little. Then I started thinking, man, if you were to die by bleeding out, that wouldn't be so bad- you just go to sleep! Then I realized...wait...that's how I feel...CRAP! Within a minute I got super nauseated. I was moments away from leaning over my blood-drained arm to spew all over the ugly linoleum floor. So one girl started to fan my face, they propped up my legs and gave me some water. That was embarrassing. I was surrounded by college guys who probably go in twice a week and are in and outta there in half an hour. But there I was, not knowing if I would throw up and then pass out, or pass out then throw up- hoping it wasn't the later, for fear of not recovering from such events in that order.
In a few minutes I was feeling better, so I decided to try to tough it out to the end. I've pushed a HUMAN BEING out of a 10 CM HOLE. THIS IS NOTHING, WHITNEY! Fortunately, the rest of the session wasn't bad, but I was ready to get my cash and get outta there. 
The only thing that made it less embarrassing was when a girl came in next to me and they had to stick her like 3 times to get a good vein, and she was almost to the point of tears and decided not to even do it. 
Whew. So I can't say yet if this will be a regular thing for me or not, I guess we'll see how desperate I get for super cute boots this fall. 
Time to go shopping.

a vegetable dilemma.

So because I spend so much time on the computer for work, by the time I get around to blogging or facebook or pinterest my eyes try to run to the back of my skull sulking, "No more computer screens!" But since work is always a little slower by the end of the week, I have a little time to do so (and cooperation from the visual department).

I need to go grocery shopping. I HATE GROCERY SHOPPING. It's such a chore. You put the food in your cart, take it out and put it on the belt thing, back in your cart, in the car, out of the car, and finally into your cupboards. BLEGH. But since we're down to lettuce and cereal, it is time. 

I scrounged up a muffin recipe last night with some ingredients I had on hand. They actually turned out super delicious. It's a "toddler muffin" recipe I found on pinterest. I don't know why they're called toddler muffins, because normal sized people will definitely find them scrumptious as well. But I guess we'll go with "toddler muffins." 

I especially liked this recipe because of the nutrition factor. Jillian eats a ton of food lately. Everything BUT vegetables. JUST EAT YOUR FRIGGIN' PEAS KID! 

I figured these would be a good compromise. The original recipe is from allrecipes.com, but I tweaked it some to include more fruits/veggies. Behold:

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, or to taste
•  1 large banana, mashed
• 1 (4.5 ounce) jar baby food squash
• 3 baby carrots, grated
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup oat bran
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 24 mini muffin cups or 12 standard muffin cups.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in the mashed banana, squash, pumpkin, carrots, and eggs. Stir in the flours, oat bran, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt until just combined. Spoon the batter equally into the prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Store at room temperature for up to two days, or freeze.
   *To make these even healthier, substitute half the butter with applesauce or greek yogurt, and/or the two whole eggs with three egg whites. 
   
   

   Happy muffin makin'. Your properly nourished toddler can thank me later.

zombie walker

I've been meaning to write about this FO-EV-AH. Jillian walks! Like all the time!  It is one of the cutest things I've seen. Her feet are too far apart and she hardly bends her knees, but she gets it done.

It really is like a zombie walk because to balance herself, she sticks her arms out in sort of a hail-to-Hitler position. She's like a walking baby zombie. But her smiling, proud little face puts her far from actual walking baby zombie. 

This has made my life SO much easier. Before she would want to walk all over, but only if she was holding on to one of your fingers. This resulted in hours of walking around the living room hunched over with your index finger being deathly gripped for sweet life itself. 

See her in action! We are proud parents these days.

Also, this one, because it's awesome: