White Chocolate Truffle Center Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

White Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes

Found this idea on Pinterest, where else??

The recipe I found was a Pampered Chef recipe.

I had made the white chocolate cream cheese frosting a while back and thought they would pair perfectly with this scrumptious frosting!

I made a white cake mix for the cupcake itself.

Then, while they were baking I unwrapped a bag full of these yummy Lindor white chocolate truffles!!

When the cupcakes come out of the oven, simply core out the center and press one of these right into the middle of the warm cupcake!

The chocolate melts and puddles in the centers!!

Easy!!

Top cooled cupcakes with the White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting you will find on my blog

HERE!

Enjoy!!

Chicken Pot Pie

I was in need of a little comfort food last weekend.

I decided to make homemade chicken pot pie in my cute little crocks I love to use!

I was posting progress pictures on my facebook page while I was making them, and so many people asked for the recipe.

Well, I really wasn't measuring, but I thought I would share with you what I did.

I thought I would give you the recipe for making one large pie, instead of minis, but you will get the idea.

Chicken Pot Pie

1 whole chicken cut up

chicken stock

onion

Salt and Pepper

flour

milk

veggies: whatever you want, I used:

carrots

celery

potatoes

peas

double pie crust

Place cut up chicken and onion in a stock pot, salt and pepper and cover with chicken stock.

Place lid on pot and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and continue cooking until chicken is done and begins to fall off the bones.

Remove chicken from pot.

Add your cut up veggies to the broth, and simmer them until they are a firm tender.

(they will continue to cook in the oven, you don't want them soggy.)

While they are cooking, de-skin and de-bone your chicken., cut up and put back in the pot with the veggies.

Add equal parts milk and flour in jar and shake to combine for your thickening agent.

Make sure there are no lumps!!

Add to simmering broth, and stir.  It will get thicker as it simmers.

Watch it for a few minutes, if you want it thicker, then add a little more flour/milk mixture.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Pour into prepared deep dish pie crust.  Top with crust and vent.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until crust is brown and flaky.

You can use whatever veggies you want, and as many as you want!  We used quite a bit, because we LOVE our VEGGIES!!

I am sorry this recipe wasn't more specific, next time I make it I will measure everything out!!

Candy Corn Cupcakes

Candy Corn Cupcakes

We are going to dinner at a friend's house tonight, and I told her I would bring dessert.  

The theme is JAMAICAN JERK.

She is making jerk chicken and lots of Jamaican fixings to go with it.

The dessert I made for the adults is a Jamaican Rum Soaked Peach Pound Cake, which will be on my blog soon.

I figured that was not a kid oriented dessert?

So, I decided to make them some candy corn cupcakes. 

There really isn't a "recipe" for them, but I thought I would share with you how I did it!

Yellow Cake Mix

White Cake Mix

Sprinkles

Candy Corn

Marshmallow Butter Cream Frosting

Make both cake mixes as directed, or make your own scratch recipe. 

 Honestly, you can just make white, too.  I just wanted both.

I took 1/3 of the white and 1/3 of the yellow and combined them. 

That was my base for my orange, I tinted with food coloring.

You already have the yellow and the white!

Layer batters in the cupcake liners with yellow on the bottom, orange in the middle and white on top.

(after I frosted them I thought to myself that you really only need two colors, because the frosting is white....)

Bake as directed.

Prepare Marshmallow Butter Cream as instructed.  I added a dash of almond extract to mine for these.

Frost, and add some sprinkles, and top with a candy corn!!

Easy!!

"It would be SWEET if you would go to HOMECOMING with me" Cookie.

Remember when we were kids and you just simply got up the nerve to ask a girl to a dance?

(or a boy to a Sadie Hawkins Dance...)

Yes, it was stressful and nerve wracking, but these days?  

You have to make some grand gesture!

It used to be that they did this for Prom, but now homecoming, too?

homecoming invitation giant cookie

Funnier thing? 

Even if you have been dating for 6 months, and you already know you're going, 

I mean you have the dress, the shoes, the tie.  You even know where you're having dinner....

You still have to come up with some clever way to ask.

My daughter, Kenzie, has been dating her boyfriend, Austin since early last Spring.  

She has been so stressed out about what to do to ask him.

She had her idea all ready to go, and someone at school used it.

She didn't want to "copy!"

So, I suggested the idea you see here.

pizza-boxed up

She got a small pizza box and she (yea...we will go with SHE...not ME...decorated the cookie)

She was so excited to surprise him with it last night.  

She closed the lid on the box, and sat it on the stove.

This is my daughter, Kenzie and her boyfriend, Austin.

Really couldn't ask for a sweeter guy for her to be dating!!  

(Austin, if you are reading this... take care of her and BE GOOD!!!)

So, they go to different schools and if you think it's hard for a girl to come up with an idea like this, how about a teenage boy?!?

So, yesterday, when he came over, he texted her from the driveway and said he was here.

She ran out to the drive, and he was standing there with roses and a poster board.

   

I stole these photos from her twitter account! ;)

Can you believe that she didn't whip her cell phone out right there and take his picture?!?!?!

NOOOOOOOOOO!!

I wasn't even here!!

Of course, I totally had it pictured like this:

but I am a child of the 80's....

When I think of homecoming dances I think of dancing to "Crazy for You" by Madonna.

So, to make a short story even longer....

he walks in the kitchen  (Austin ALWAYS the SHY one.... )

Sees the box and says "Oooooo! PIZZA!!"

Walks over and opens the box, and sees his homecoming cookie!!

All in all it turned out well, I just wish I could have witnessed in person!!

So, if your teen is looking for a good idea...go ahead and steal it!

Happy Homecoming, everyone!!

Apple Pie Filling in a Jar

An Affair From the Heart - Apple Pie Filling in a Jar

This year our friends, Don and Gerry had a great apple crop.

They are so sweet to share with us!

Usually when I put away apples, I just freeze them,
this year I wanted to try something different.

I wanted to can them!

So I found a recipe on allrecipes.com, and adapted it to my liking.


I started learning to can last year, when my friend, Betsy and I canned spaghetti sauce.
I then tried my hand at a berry jam and peach ginger preserves.

scrumptious!

We have eaten this over ice cream
(kids said it's like apple pie without crust!!) ...

...and over pancakes!

Don said he would just eat them out of the jar with a spoon!

Apple Pie Filling in a Jar

4 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup corn starch
21/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
10 cups water
2 Tablespoons Lemon juice
7 quarts peeled and slices apples

(I made mine in pint jars)

Sterilize all of your jars and lids in a canning pot, in boiling water for about 1 minute.  Put on a towel to dry and cool.  Transfer seals to a small saucepan of boiling water until ready to use.

In a large sauce pan, combine sugar, spices and water, bring to boil and simmer until it becomes thick and bubbly.  Stir frequently so it doesn't stick.  Remove from heat. Add lemon juice.

Peel and slice apples and pack into jars.

Pour syrup mixture over apples, and tap jars on the counter to let syrup fall to the bottom.  Fill jars almost to the top.

Make sure to wipe the rims of the jars with a damp cloth to remove any residue.

Place seals from boiling water on top and secure rings, don't tighten all of the way.

Place in a canning pot of boiling water, leaving space in between jars, submerged in water,  and water bath for 20 minutes.

Remove from heat and tighten the rings of the lids, turn upside down to cool on the counter, so jars seal.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

My niece had her bachelorette party last night.

She looked gorgeous,  as always.

It's hard for me to believe that she is getting married.

Spoken in the words of an "aging woman"....

"Seems like just yesterday...." she was playing with Barney, 

and skinning her knees.  

She has grown up into a positively gorgeous woman, inside and out.

I couldn't be more proud of her, or more blessed to have her not only as my niece, but one of my closest friends.

Leah and Austin

I was asked to make cupcakes for her dinner party last night.  Her color is red, so red velvet was a no-brainer.

I planned to make cream cheese frosting, until one of my 

sleepless lay-awake-and-count-things-to-do-nights.

I thought, white chocolate cream cheese would be good with red velvet.

I typed it into google and a Kraft recipe popped up right away.

It sounded just like what I had in mind, so I went for it!

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

1 - 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened

6 squares fine white chocolate, melted

1/2 stick butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

In your mixer, Cream together butter and cream cheese.  Add vanilla.

Add melted chocolate, beat.

Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until creamy and smooth.

B.L.A.T. Chicken Chop Salad (Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado & Tomato)

Baby, it's a SCORCHER outside!!

Someday this winter when we are freezing our cabooses off, we will miss this, but today? 

Well, today, I could use a little cold front!

It's hard to heat up the kitchen, when it's 100+ outside to cook, 

and grilling? 

I don't want to stand out there for very long!

Heck, grill your chicken on the patio table! ;)

Speaking of which, did you hear about the lady that baked cookies in her car!!??

CRAZY!!

(Link to article)

We eat a lot of salad anyway, but in the summer... we really eat a lot of salad!!

So glad my kiddos eat EVERYTHING!!

One of my other favorite things in the summer, are BLT's.

My kids were getting to the point where they were saying, "BLT's again??"

So, like a good mother, I tricked them!!

B.L.A.T. Chicken Chop Salad

BLT's in a bowl! ;)

Not only is it super yummy, it's very pretty!

Don't you think?

You can pretty much add anything you want, once you get the basics of the BLT part in there, it's just going to be an amped up BLT!!

B.L.A.T. Chicken Chop Salad

1 1/2 heads romaine lettuce, chopped

1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped

1 pound of bacon, cooked (we use turkey bacon) sliced or crumbled

5 hard boiled eggs, chopped

2-3 medium tomatoes, (or to taste) chopped

1 avocado, sliced

1 1/2-2 pounds grilled chicken breast, sliced

Note: I cheated on the chicken and didn't even grill my own, too hot!! I used the frozen grilled strips, heated them in my skillet and put them on the salad last, when we were ready to eat.  They were still a little warm.

Prepare ingredients as directed above. Layer Like this:

chicken

avocado

egg 

tomatoes

bacon

lettuce

___________(bowl)___________

Serve with your dressing of choice.  We used ranch.  

Enjoy!!