Easter Nest Cupcakes

by penji1

Easter Nest Cupcakes

I decided that I needed a food project yesterday and lucky for me the Young Women and Young Men were meeting together today at church for a lesson so I decided to get a jump on some Easter baking and make some cupcakes for them.  I had this idea rattling around in my head for a little bit now after I saw a picture of an Easter cupcake similar to these with the nest made out of shaved chocolate and that got me thinking about these Easter nest treats and how cute they would look on cupcakes.  The cupcakes are easy to make and put together but they are a little time consuming since you are actually making two separate treats.

First I baked a batch of yellow and a batch of chocolate cupcakes in these cute green and dark pink polka dotted cupcake liners that I got from my favorite website in the whole world called “Pick Your Plum” (sorry that you can’t really see them in the pictures but trust me they are cute and springy!) then once the cupcakes were cool, I frosted them with these tasty Hershey Spreads in chocolate and chocolate with hazelnut (you can find them with the peanut butter at the grocery store):

Hershey Chocolate Spreads

I needed something to keep the nests attached to the cupcakes and this did the trick.  Next I mixed up 2 batches of Easter Nest treats, one of the chocolate kind and one of the butterscotch kind, (you can find that recipe here), making them small enough to fit on the top of the cupcakes.  I refrigerated them before putting them on the cupcakes.  When they were set after being in the fridge about 30 minutes, I stuck them to the top of the cupcakes.  I used a White Chocolate Cadbury Mini Egg on half of them and then on the other half, a couple of Easter Milk Chocolate M&M’s.  Here’s a closer look:

Easter Nest Cupcakes

I made about 4 dozen cupcakes and only 3 were left after the kids were done so I’d call that a success!  🙂

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fondant Birthday Mini Cake and Cupcakes

by penji1

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Birthday Mini Cake and Cupcakes

Latest cake/cupcake project for my great nephew Noah’s birthday party today.  He wanted Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so here is what we came up with.  I worked the past couple of days on a commercial so we didn’t have a lot of time to put these together but I think they came out really cute.  The mini cake is vanilla and the cupcakes are Funfetti.  The cute little green chevron striped cupcake cups came from “Pick Your Plum”, one of my very favorite websites.  The mini cake and cupcakes are frosted with my favorite buttercream icing dyed green and the cake is topped with Duff’s green fondant from Michaels.  The cupcake toppers are actually discs from toy disc shooters that I found at Zurchers, so all of Noah’s little friends will get a cupcake and a toy.  Happy Birthday Noah, we love you!

Lion King Fondant Mini Cake

by penji1

Lion King Mini Cake

Courtney and I have both been so busy with work that we haven’t had a lot of chances to work on our cake decorating skills but one of Jaren’s friends asked if we would make a Lion King cake for their son’s first birthday so we whipped it together yesterday.  It’s just a little one with a 6″ bottom layer and a 5″ top layer.  We were a little pressed for time so Cort just ordered a Lion King play set from Amazon rather than trying to make a Simba out of fondant which I’m sure she could have, if we’d had the time.  The cake is vanilla, frosting vanilla and the fondant is Duff’s from Michaels.  Happy 1st Birthday Villy Jr!

Chocolate Crunch Brownies

by penji1

Chocolate Crunch Brownies

These were definitely the preferred treat last night at the youth activity, I can always tell by how many are leftover and there weren’t many of these left to take home which is just as well.  The recipe comes from “Food.com” and again is pretty easy to make but absolutely yummy to eat (my favorite combo!).

1 brownie mix plus ingredients to make brownies

2 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

3 cups Rice Krispies

1  Prepare and bake brownies according to package directions in a 9 x 13″ pan and let cool.

2  Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter until smooth (in microwave or on stove top).  Stir in Rice Krispies and spread over cooled brownies.

3  Refrigerate until set.

Brownie Krispies

by penji1

Brownie Krispies

Last night I was in charge of the combined Wednesday night activity for the Young Women and Young Men at church.  We played Human Battleship which was pretty fun and of course, there had to be treats so I made several different kinds of Rice Krispie treats including these delicious (and easy!) morsels which come from “Food.com”.

1 (12 oz) package milk chocolate chips

6 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 cup powdered sugar

4 cups Rice Krispies

1/2 cup chopped pecans (I left these out because you never know who might be allergic to nuts)

1  In large saucepan, combine chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup.  Stir over low heat until chips melt.

2  Remove from heat and add vanilla, peanut butter and powdered sugar and mix well.

3  Stir in cereal and nuts and mix well.

4  Spread into greased 9 x 13″ pan and chill until firm.

Veggie Soup with Pasta

by penji1

Veggie Soup with Pasta

On Saturday Bob and I went and did some heavy grocery shopping at Costco (no food in the house after I’ve been at work for 5 weeks!).  We ended up with tons of veggies and I was thinking how awesome some vegetable soup would be so on Sunday I just started throwing things in the crock pot and this is what we ended up with and it was delicious!

1 onion, chopped

2 cups broccoli, cut into bite size florets

2 cups French green beans, cut in half

4 celery stalks, sliced

1 cup baby carrots, quartered

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1 can corn, with liquid

1 can diced tomatoes, with liquid

3 cans chicken broth

2 cups water

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon basil

1 teaspoon oregano

2 cups uncooked pasta of your choice

Combine all ingredients in crock pot except pasta.  Cook on low for 6 – 8 hours.  During the last 30 – 45 minutes of cooking time, up temperature to high and add pasta.  Continue cooking until pasta is al dente.

Twisted Pretzel Shamrocks

by penji1

Twisted Shamrocks

I’m back!  The blog has been quiet for the past few weeks because I’ve been working on a movie but I’m done now and ready to jump back into real life and I started with these St. Patrick’s Day treats for the Young Women at church.  The idea comes from a blog called “VT Pinspiration”.  They are cute, cute, cute and easy peasy!

1 bag of pretzel sticks

1 bag of pretzel mini twists

1 bag of Hershey’s Kisses, unwrapped

1 bag of regular M&M’s, using only the green ones

Preheat oven to 200.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Place groups of 3 pretzels with their round bottom edges all facing towards each other and top with a Kiss.  Place in oven for 4 minutes then remove and immediately place 1 pretzel stick in center of Kiss then top with a green M&M.  Let cool until set.  (I put them in the fridge for 15 – 20 minutes to speed up this process.)

Here’s how I packaged them for the Young Women, with this cute tag I got from a blog that I just love called “All Things Bright and Beautiful”:

Twisted Shamrocks with Young Women tags

Valentine Candy Heart Mini Cakes

by penji1

Valentine Candy Heart Mini Cakes

I wanted to make the Young Women at church a Valentine treat so I was wandering around Michaels as I sometimes do when I found this adorable pan in their Valentine display:

Wilton 20 Cavity Mini Heart Dessert Shell Pan

They call it the “Wilton 20 Cavity Mini Heart Dessert Shell Pan”, rolls right off the tongue, doesn’t it?  I couldn’t resist it so I used my 40% off coupon, bargain! and bought it.  Brought it home and made some tiny cakes in it, both chocolate and yellow just using regular cake batter, nothing fancy.  Then I took a bag of Wilton Red Candy Melts, melted them right in a little squirt bottle and filled in the heart shaped indentation of each little cake with some melted chocolate and ta da!  Candy heart mini cakes with minimal effort and big taste!  I packaged them 3 to a bag in a long skinny bag alternating colors and they looked really cute and tasted even better!  Happy Valentines Day to my favorite group of teenage girls!  Love you guys to bits!

Here’s another use for that pan:

IMG_5478

Valentine Candy Heart Mini Cakes

This time I made the little cakes just from a chocolate cake mix, mixed up some cream cheese glaze, recipe here, which I spooned into the little heart shaped cavities then just topped them with Valentine themed sprinkles.  So cute and so easy!

Pasta E Fagioli Soup

by penji1

Pasta E Fagoili Soup

It’s been rainy and cold here so this hearty and filling soup was just the ticket yesterday for dinner.  It comes from a blog called “Stick a Fork in it” and it fit my 3 criteria for a good recipe, easy, fast and delicious!

1 pound hamburger

1 small onion, chopped

1 large carrot, sliced

2 stalks celery, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

28 oz can diced tomatoes

15 oz can tomato sauce

15 oz can beef broth (I ended up adding another can as the soup was really thick, too thick)

15 oz can red kidney beans with liquid

15 oz can great Northern beans with liquid

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (I didn’t want it to be too hot so I added 1 teaspoon pepper instead of this)

8 oz dried ditalini pasta (didn’t have ditalini so used rotini instead)

1  Brown beef in large stockpot until cooked through.  Drain grease then add onions, carrots, celery and garlic and saute for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add remaining ingredients except pasta and simmer for 1 hour.

2  Just before soup is done, cook pasta according to package directions, drain, add to soup and simmer for 5 – 10 minutes more.

Sodalicious Utah Drink and Treat Shop

by penji1

Sodalicious Utah

I’m not exactly sure why I haven’t done this sooner but most of the time I feel like my brain is completely full so I’m gonna go with that here.  Two of my dearest friends in the whole wide world opened a drink/treat shop in Provo back in August.  It’s my favorite place in Provo.  If you live in my neck of the woods then you really need to check it out.  You can find it in Provo at 30 W 300 N, right off University Avenue.  It is located in a cute old house that has a barbershop in front and Sodalicous heaven in back.  There is a walk up window on the side and a drive up window in the back.

Sodalicious Utah

That’s my girl taking an order for the car in front of me, that’s right my Courtney works there full time, another great reason to check it out.  All of the employees are just darling and they will make you feel like family, I guarantee it.  🙂

Sodalicious Utah

Here’s the menu.  They serve all kinds of heavenly drink options from flavored sodas like a Dirty Diet Coke (Diet Coke with coconut and lime) to Mango Mountain Dew and everything in between like the Second Wife and the Persephone and the Scout and on and on, they make new ones up every day.  They have regular hot chocolate and lava which is a super thick and yummy hot chocolate that we discovered in Sicily last year and you can get flavors in those too like Toasted Marshmallow and Peppermint.  They also have treats like the Big Fat Crispie and popcorn and cookies as in sugar and chocolate and peanut butter and more.  Oh and they have pebble ice which is a must for sodaholics!

Sodaliciuos Utah

Here’s my standard order, a 44 oz Wardrobe Special or just Special (which is Diet Coke and Sugar Free Vanilla) and a sugar cookie.  Now I love me a good sugar cookie and in my travels far and wide (ok, maybe not so far and wide but still) this is my favorite.  Delicious!  Super soft and frosting sweet but not too sweet.  So my friends check them out, you won’t be sorry!  You can find them on Facebook and on Instagram under “sodaliciousutah” and on the web.  Pretty sure they’re on Twitter too but I’m not so can’t tell you how to find them.  They have punch cards that you can fill up for a free soda, gift cards/certificates, tshirts, sweatshirts and contests and specials going all the time.   It’s fun, fun, fun!  See you there!