Christmas

I think this one pictures summed up Christmas this year.
Can you tell who all the attention was on? :)



















It was great having family around this year. I just wish they could have stayed longer :)

We all got more gifts than expected. Aubree ended up with a ton! I was careful not to over buy for her but once you put every body's gifts together she has a room full of new toys!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and remembered the reason for the season admist the chaos. Here's to 2010!

A Holiday MUST!

I'm no food photographer, but it doesn't take a fancy picture to make these look delicious!

















Chocolate Covered Cherries (also known to some as Cherry Cordials)

1/4c butter
2c powdered sugar
1T milk
1/2t vanilla
1/8t almond extract
3 dozen maraschino cherries

Thoroughly cream butter with sugar and milk. Blend in vanilla and almond extract. If mixture is too sticky additional powdered sugar may be added. Mold a small amount around a cherry being careful to completely cover. Placed on wax paper covered tray & set aside (I refrigerate).

Coating: 2c (12oz package) Hershey's Chocolate Chips
2T shortening

Completely melt chips and shortening in top of double boiler over hot, not boiling water. Cool stirring occasionally until coating is lukewarm & slightly thickened (98degrees). Dip cherries. Allow coating to become firm at room temperature. Check bottoms. Seal with additional chocolate if necessary. Do not refrigerate. Takes at least 2 days to form cordial.


Brooke's side notes: Anytime the powdered sugar mixture is becoming too sticky I throw it in the fridge for a minute. Be careful not to get your chocolate too hot. Your body temperature is about 98.6 so the chocolate shouldn't even feel real warm to the touch. I buy the cherries with the stems. It's sooooo much easier to dip them if you have something to hold on to. If you want a totally different candy, you can choose to refrigerate these. It isn't traditional chocolate covered cherries but it's still darn good!

And it's up!

Moonrise at the Rodez

Once upon a time I was watching this t.v. show on HGTV called Color Splash. The designer, David Bromstad, was making over a formal living room into a library. The episode was titled Dramatic Den Makeover. Anyway, the whole point was this one piece of art the homeowners had. It was the inspiration for the room and when I saw it I immediately fell in love. I missed the name of the artist who painted it so I've been on a wild goose chase ever since. I'll spare you the details of my search but alas I have discovered the piece:















Moonrise at the Rodez by Victor Shvaiko

My new mission is to bring myself to pay the price asked for this piece, forget about it, or find a cheap copy of it. So, keep your eyes peels as will I and let me know if you ever see this beauty in person.

Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving and Merry (Early) Christmas

Well, it's been over a month since my last post and a lot has happened!
For starters, we're in California now! We're done moving in but still putting the finishing touches on everything which has kept me busy. Over the next month I plan to (try to) keep my blog updated. So stay tuned!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This is Foofa:





















That's what Aubree dressed up as this year.





















She helped give out candy again this year, but next year-- it's on!

Dear Abby,

Thanks for being a huge inspiration. You are quite possibly the strongest person I "know". Thanks for bringing to light how petty all my problems are. I hope the rest of your life is filled with more blessings than you can handle!

Sincerely,
Brooke Crismond

Days....

9 until Halloween.
63 until Christmas.
4 until Derek returns to work :(
18 until we move.
142 until Aubree's 2nd birthday.
130 until mine.
1 until my payday.
10 until Derek's.
58 until Moo Moo & Pop come see us!
35 until Thanksgiving.
3 until Church.

Not that I'm counting down or anything....

Make cupcakes, not war

Wordless Wednesday

5 random things...

1.) Never buy Palmolive dishwasher detergent. IT SUCKS! It leaves such a horrible film you can barely get it of by hand!
2.) Derek is (almost) a Staff Sergeant! He sews on around Jan. Here's a pic from his recent ALS graduation:





















3.) We're moving to California on November 9th (20 days)!
4.) Moo Moo & Pop (Derek's parents) are coming out for Christmas :)
5.) Turbo Jam is a really fun way to workout!

Cupcakes + Halloween =

Isn't this the cutest? Maybe when Aubree's older I will try to make this for her. If you are interested, the instructions are here.

I tried it!

Remember that cool icing technique? Well, I finally got around to it!

New Blog Name?

Not like anybody reads this (AEB the numeral counter I added --->).. but I'm thinking about changing the name of my blog. I was informed that "Potted Meat" isn't too appealing to a blog site that has a lot to do with cupcakes! What do you think? Any name suggestions?

Fellow Military Peeps

Shop at the commissary? If so, click here to get some great coupons!

Do you know Him?

Give me 3 minutes and 19 seconds of your time and watch this:

A Trip to the Library

Produced:

Another Wordless Wednesday

Super Cool Icing Technique

I'm gonna have to try this-- soon!

18 Month Check-up

Aubree recieved an excellent bill of health today.
She weighed 27lbs 8.5oz (86 percentile) and was 32.28" (63 percentile) long.

Here are my 3 favorite new pics at the moment:

A freebie

Free Kashi cereal!

Woot!

So there's this website... it's called woot.
And....
It only sells one thing per day.
BUT
What it sells is usually really cheap.
Cheap as in price, not quality!
There are also links to spin-offs sites like shirt.woot and kids.woot (my new personal favorite).
It's definitely worth checking out daily.
Every now & then they have a "woot off" where they sell multiple things a day.
And also seldomly they have the famous "bag of crap".
It's rumored that people have received KILLER bags of crap (we're talking t.v.'s here...)
Shipping is always $5
And...
I think you should check it out!

Videos of Aubree

I wish I hadn't stupidly recorded her sideways. But, here ya go!

Very Vanilla with Chocolate Buttercream

I got bored today and wanted something sweet. If there had been another option in my pantry, I would not have made these because believe me, I did not want the dirty dishes that came along with it!



















This was the first time I had ever made chocolate icing. It turned out very very good. Don't ask for the recipe because I free-styled it.

Everyone else has all these cool props when photographing their cupcakes. I used a plate that came with Aubree's play food set. Perfect size!

This is how cupcakes were meant to taste!

Up close & personal.

Thermostat vs Thermometer

Do you know the difference between a thermostat and a thermometer?
Both have something to do with temperature but they are fundamentally different. Inside the house, a thermostat is something we set that dictates the temperature in a room. A thermometer simply tells us what the room temperature is.
People are either thermostats or thermometers. You either gauge the temperature (thermometer) and gripe about it, or you do something about it (thermostat).
Choose to be a thermostat!

Guess what today is...

Our 4th Anniversary!

PB & J Cupcakes

Peanut butter cupcakes with strawberry jelly buttercream. I mainly made these so I could try to do a rose. I hadn't ever done one before so I watched a how-to video on youtube. Not so shabby for my first time!


























I'm taking a hiatus from cupcakes for awhile. My husband has threatened my life. He's on this diet kick and says I'm making it hard for him =) I am, however, going to make these for church this weekend. They are fantastic!

Schwans offer

I just got my Better Homes & Garden magazine and it had a free offer from Schwans. It's for new customers only and it's good for a free item $10.00 or less. No strings attached, delivered free to your home. I tried it and it worked perfectly. I ordered Fiesta Lime Chicken. Try it!

Tiramisu

Tiramisu cupcakes. Easy. DELICIOUS!






















It started with a Nilla wafer in the bottom of the cupcake liner.


















The batter was even the color of coffee!

















Looks yummy even before they're baked.




















Cream cheese icing.


















Dusted with cocoa.






















VIOLA!

For a change

I thought I wouldn't blog about cupcakes. I love baking, but I have a life outside of that =)

Appreciating:

1.) Aubree being cool with me brushing her teeth today. Yesterday she was not. She wanted to do it all herself which does not produce clean teeth.
2.) DVR!
3.) Fall is approaching! I wish I was somewhere to see leaves change colors, but I still enjoy the temperature drop and all the holidays at the end of the year!
4.) Derek having the day off. We didn't get done what we originally planned, but it was nice hanging out being lazy today and going to Golden Spoon.
5.) Learning how to hyperlink!

Thinking about:

1.) Tomorrow. The dishes I have to wash. The sun I want to worship. What things I can do with Aubree... I'm thinking finger painting with pudding!
2.) How life will be in California. How life will be when we get out of the Air Force...
3.) Money, money, money... MONEY! I want lots of it!
4.) Aubree's runny nose and how I hope she'll sleep ok tonight. Poor baby :(
5.) Plans for this weekend... None. MAKE SOME!

You put the lime in the coconut and... YUM!

I had some shredded coconut left over from the last time I made cupcakes. I figured next on my list would be these:





















Lime cupcakes with triple coconut icing! They were good! Nothing complicated. White cake box mix with lime concentrate instead of water. The coconut icing had cream of coconut, coconut extract and of course the sweetened shredded coconut. When you use three times the coconut you can't go wrong! They actually exceeded my expectations!

So I'm not in love... lust maybe, but not love...

They ended up reminding me of Snowballs... the taste and the look. Lots more ideas flowing.. stay tuned =)

I'm on a roll

I just got back from the grocery store and I've bought all of the stuff to make these cupcakes I saw on












(Love that show!)

They're chocolate cupcakes with a cream cheese icing rolled in sweetened coconut. Simple, huh? I'm a huge coconut person, so I bet I'll love 'em. I always send them to work with Derek the next day, so I bet all the Airmen will love them too! We'll see!

Get your shades ready...

Not everything can be a success. This definitely was one of those things. This was my attempt to make Banana Split Cupcakes. I mentioned in the previous post my ideas. I followed through with all of them except the frosting. Whipped Cream frosting isn't portable, so I made a buttercream instead. I started with a cake mix and added to it. I think I added too much because after I filled 24 cupcake liners, this much was still left, enough to make 6 "Texas" size cupcakes. It was the first time I used that pan, so it was ok =)
















After baking. The batter was so lumpy, but probably too liquidy as well. See how flat they are!
















You got those sunglasses ready? PUT 'EM ON! I made a basic buttercream and instead of adding vanilla extract, I added banana. The flavor was good. A little too stiff and very hard to work with. Also it was the first time I worked with gel food coloring. It was a little brighter than I intended =)

















I topped some with walnuts.
















And nothing impressive with the others...
















I think if I made these again, I could learn from my mistakes and they'd turn out alright. They are more like muffins than cupcakes. They're not the right consistency, the frosting's too grainy and they're....... well...... UGLY :( Oh well, I must move on. I'm thinking tiramisu! What do you think? I would love to get somebody else's ideas!

Cupcake #14

For the hubs, my version of a banana split.

Vanilla cake with crushed pineapple and strawberries in addition to mini chocolate chips. Frosted with a light & fluffy banana whipped cream.

Sounds yummy, huh? I'm gonna surprise him with them later in the week!

30 Life Principles by Charles Stanley

The 30 Life Principles

Our intimacy with God – His highest priority for our lives – determines the impact of our lives.

Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.

God’s Word is an immovable anchor in times of storm.

The awareness of God’s presence energizes us for our work.

God does not require us to understand His will, just obey it, even if it seems
unreasonable.

You reap what you sow, more than you sow, and later than you sow.

The dark moments of our life will last only so long as is necessary for God to
accomplish His purpose in us.

Fight all your battles on your knees and you win every time.

Trusting God means looking beyond what we can see to what God sees.

If necessary, God will move heaven and earth to show us His will.

God assumes full responsibility for our needs when we obey Him.

Peace with God is the fruit of oneness with God.

Listening to God is essential to walking with God.

God acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.

Brokenness is God’s requirement for maximum usefulness.

Whatever you acquire outside of God’s will eventually turns to ashes.

We stand tallest and strongest on our knees.

As children of a sovereign God, we are never victims of our circumstances.

Anything you hold too tightly, you will lose.

Disappointments are inevitable, discouragement is a choice.

Obedience always brings blessing.

To walk in the Spirit is to obey the initial promptings of the Spirit.

You can never out give God.

To live the Christian life is to allow Jesus to live His life in and through us.

God blesses us so that we might bless others.

Adversity is a bridge to a deeper relationship with God.

Prayer is life’s greatest time saver.

No Christian has ever been called to “go it alone” in his or her walk of faith.

We learn more in our valley experiences than on our mountaintops.

An eager anticipation of the Lord’s return keeps us living productively.

Cupcakes!

I made some cupcakes today! It had been awhile and we're having a small group meeting a church tomorrow, so I thought I'd bake =) Plus, it seemed like the best thing I could blog about for my 100th post! I made 2 different kinds, both derived from box mixes: Tangy Strawberry with Cream Cheese Frosting and Chocolate with Buttercream. Here's the strawberry:






















The chocolate cupcakes were the best cupcakes I have ever put in my mouth. I found the recipe online. It's basically a chocolate (fudge) box mix with a pack of chocolate pudding. I added a little something-something myself of course. The icing was a Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream. It's intimidating, but not that complicated really.

















Mix egg whites and sugar over a double boiler until disolved.






















Whip them until stiff.

Switch attatchments and add in butter. If you want the recipe, ask me and I'll get it to you.


















They turned out ugly because the frosting's consistency wasn't right for a piping bag.


















The only alternative I could do besides spread it was to use an ice cream scoop, but I didn't have enough to put that much on all of them.






















My favorite part of today was finding this:

















Isn't this the best for transporting cupcakes? I was stoked when I came across it! It's the first thing I've seen that carries a full batch.