Funfetti Cupcakes

Is there a person out there who doesn't love funfetti?  It's my daughter's favorite so I thought it would be fun to surprise her when she returns from her 2 week vacay in California today.  Lynne and I had a lot of fun making these cupcakes and since they are not from a box I feel better about letting my kids eat them.  

My disclaimer... this is not my recipe.  I found it on Pinterest.  I love Pinterest and I live by it.  I find so many yummy recipes there and this is one of them.  I hope you enjoy it too. 

Ingredients:  

For the Cupcakes:
1 3/4 cups cake flour
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
4 eggs
1 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles

For the Frosting:

2 cups unsalted butter at room temperature
5 cups powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
Rainbow sprinkles for decorating

DIRECTIONS:

1. Make the Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners; set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt, and mix together on low speed for 1 minute. With the mixer on low, add the butter, a few cubes at a time, continuing until all the butter has been added and the mixture resembles coarse sand.

3. Keeping the mixer on low speed, add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions. Slowly pour in the milk and vanilla and mix until combined. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes, until batter is smooth, scraping the sides of bowl as needed. Using a rubber spatula, gently stir in the sprinkles.

4. Fill the liners two-thirds full (about ¼ cup of batter) and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the centers are set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

5. Make the Frosting: Using the wire whisk attachment of your stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl once or twice. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the powdered sugar. Once all of the powdered sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and add the vanilla, mixing until incorporated. Whip at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed.  A few drops of shocking pink gel food coloring and we achieved our desired color.  

6. Frost the cupcakes as desired (another shout out to Pampered Chef.  I used my decorating tool, it's so easy) and garnish with additional sprinkles. 

And enjoy!  Why is it kids always eat cupcakes from the top down?  :-)

Sesame Bagels

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water
2 1/4 tsp. yeast
4 Tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp. salt
3 1/2 to 3 3/4 flour

Glaze
1 egg white
1 1/2 tsp warm water
sesame or poppy seeds

Pour 1/4 cup of the warm water into a small bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it.  Stir it with a fork and let it sit for about 5 minutes until the yeast dissolves and the mixture becomes frothy.

Combine the remaining 1 1/4 cups of warm water and the dissolved yeast in a large mixing bowl.  Stir in 3 Tbsp of sugar and the salt.  Add 2 cups of the flour and stir until dissolved.  Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that is firm and not too sticky.  It should not stick to the bowl but should keep a finger indentation when pressed on.  Kneed for 10 minutes.  Go ahead, use that mixer.

Transfer the dough to an oiled glass or ceramic bowl, turning it a few times to coat the entire surface. Cover with a cloth and let it rise in a warm place for an hour.

When dough is ready, punch it down.  Yay, we love this part.

Turn it onto a floured surface and divide the dough into 8 equal pieces.  Shape each piece into a ball and press it down with your fingers.  Using your floured thumb, poke a hole in the middle of the dough to create the bagel shape.  Keep pulling and twisting until it takes the desired shape.

Cover your new little bagels with a cloth and let them rest while you bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add remaining 1 Tbsp of sugar to the water.  Boil each bagel for about 1 minute on each side.  The longer you boil the chewier your bagels will be.

Use a skimmer or slotted spoon to dry your bagel slightly from the boiling water.  Place boiled bagels on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Whisk your egg white and water together in a small bowl.  Brush over the top of your newly boiled bagles and sprinkle with desired seeds.  We chose sesame seeds.

Bake at 400 for about 22-25 minutes or until golden brown on the top.  Let them cool completely on a wire rack.

Viola!

Pizza with White Sauce

Pizza for dinner... Yes, please.  Pizza is my husbands favorite food and it's a staple in our family.  Nothing better than a picnic outside with some fresh homemade pizza.  I did this one tonight with white sauce because I had no spaghetti sauce at home so I improvised and it was delicious.

Ingredients:

Pizza crust (made in a bread maker)

3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 cup warm water
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Throw it all in a bread maker and let it do all the work for you.  When the bread maker is done, remove the dough and cover it with a cloth on a floured surface for about 20 minutes.  It will rise a little in that time.  Roll it out to your liking (thick or thin crust) and put it on a pizza baking pan, stone, etc.  Top with your favorite toppings and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes at 400.

Garlic White Sauce:

I made this tonight with 2 Tbsp cold butter, about a spoonful of minced garlic, and a teaspoon of garlic salt.  I mashed it all up with a mortar pestle and then used a rubber spatula to spread it on top of my pizza dough.  I topped with cheese, pepperoni, onion, and red bell pepper.

Yum!

Banana Bread

Delicious and healthy!  Yes, it's true.

This is an adaptation of a recipe I saw through a Facebook friend (thanks Jodi) and I adapted it to match the less healthy recipe I was using.  I bet you can do this with any recipe.  Simply substitute coconut oil for butter, egg whites for all egg, and honey instead of sugar.

Ingredients:

3 over-ripe bananas
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
1 egg white
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
dash of salt
1 1/2 cups flour (could use 1 3/4 if you wanted to make it a bit "heavier")

Directions:

Mash bananas in a medium mixing bowl.  Add all of the ingredients and stir together.  Do not beat.  Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for about 55 minutes.  Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then remove from pan and let it cool completely on a wire rack.

Enjoy!  This is a delicious banana bread that even my teenager loves.  It is truly moist, delicious, and cholesterol free.

Healthy Living Brought to our Home

So I'm sitting at home one day on Facebook and I see a post about Young Living's Essential Oils.  I am instantly reminded of my oldest daughter who has asthma.  She always sounds like she has a cold and she just generally does not feel well.  She is getting ready to go off to college soon and so I decided to give these oils a shot.  I am always open to new ways of keeping ourselves healthy.  

I did my research about YLEO and decided it was definitely worth a try so I took the plunge and I ordered myself some oils.  My daughter was very skeptical about using them and thought it was silly so I would diffuse the oils in her room right before she came home from work.  That way she could still enjoy the benefits of the oils but she didn't know I was doing it.  After a couple of days I asked how she was feeling and she told me she has never felt better. She said she feels less congested and is sleeping better at night.  I revealed my secret and she was excited.  From that day on she would ask to borrow my diffuser and she stopped using her daily OTC meds that she took to help keep her allergies under control.  

I ended up buying her her own kit so she would stop taking my oils.  She uses it every day and still feels great.  

I take a look at this and I just have to share it because it is a natural way to help my family stay healthy.  In the past month I have treated headaches, allergies, severe joint pain, warded off two colds of my husband and youngest daughter, nausea, and so much more by simply using these oils.  I am so grateful to have found them and I feel good in knowing I am no longer pumping my family (or myself) full of OTC's and instead I am helping them maintain good health in a healthy way.

Taco Seasoning

This turned out to be one of the easiest and healthiest things I could do for my family.  I'm not sure if you have ever looked at the ingredients on a pre-packaged envelope of taco seasoning but it's pretty scary.  The stuff they put in there to make it last can't be good for you and the sodium is huge.

Here is an easy way to not only save money but do something really good for your body.  Okay, I'm off my soap box now.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper

If you like it spicy, add 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Measure it all out and put it in a mason jar.  Give it a good shake and you now have delicious taco seasoning.  I like to make a lot at once.  The picture below shows what it looks like with 8 times the ingredients.  It sounds like a lot but it really isn't and it goes fast.  :-)

Favorite Dinner Rolls

We call these rolls Favorite Dinner Rolls because that's what they are, our families favorite dinner rolls.  They are super easy to make as you mix the dough in a bread mixer.  My husband loves them because he likes to make little sandwiches out of them for work the next day but everyone loves them fresh out of the oven too.  I always get a lot of compliments on how yummy these rolls are.

You will need:

1 cup almond milk (warmed)  (can substitute whole milk)
1/4 cup butter (melted)
1 tsp salt
1 egg
3 Tbsp sugar
3 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp yeast

Put all the ingredients in your bread maker and turn the setting to dough.  Sit back and relax while the bread maker kneads and does all the hard work for you.  After about an hour and a half your dough should be done.  It looks very puffy and will deflate easy when removed from the bread maker.  Never fear, this is normal.

Separate your dough into two halves.  Then divide each half into 8 pieces.  I do this by twisting the dough.  Shape into balls and place in a greased round cake pan.  Cover and let your little rolls rise for about an hour.  They will be pretty small before they rise.

This is what mine look like after the hour:

After about an hour, preheat your oven and bake the rolls for about 15 minutes or until they are golden brown on the top.  Promptly remove them from their pan, pull them apart, and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

Enjoy!