Love is in the Air

I had quite the Valentine's Day baking weekend, making Joe lots of surprise goodies, baking cookies with Kylie, and testing out the conversation heart cupcakes shown in my calendar I mentioned last post!

I melted milk and white chocolate and dipped Oreos and pretzel rods - decorated with frosting, sprinkles, and conversation hearts.

I attempted to make those Cake Pops that everyone has been talking about, but from brownies instead.

They taste good, but they turned into bon-bons because the lollipop sticks wouldn't stay put, and the balls barely stayed together anyway.

With some online research, I read that you are supposed to mix frosting with the cake pieces in order for the balls to hold their shape and the stick. Oh.

Next time!!

But, here they are:

Then, the Pièce de résistance! The conversation heart cupcakes!

I made regular cupcakes and frosted them - Funfetti, of course...because...they're more..FUN!

Cut hearts out of thawed Sara Lee frozen pound cake.

And actually regular store bought frosting in a can melts in the microwave very nicely - I thought it might get weird.

So I melted the frosting and dyed it different colors.

Then, dipped each pound cake heart into the frosting and let harden.

Decorated with a bit of red food coloring, and voila!

A little messy...excuse the fingerprints!...but pretty cute!

Then, made some heart-shaped sugar cookies to decorate with the munchkin! We decided the misshapen ones looked like a hippo, and Minnie & Mickey Mouse, and decorated accordingly :)

And the adorable Valentine Kylie made me <3

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

And then...

Also love these!

Love Rachel Bilson. Love her new dinnerware line!

http://www.macys.com/edie rose 

All on sale right now, and well-priced anyway!

Don't really love her clothing line at Macys :/

What's in a chair?

Gah! Damn you Pier 1 Imports weekly email!

I am in love with this chair! ...and the throw pillow pictured on it!

So cute!!!

http://www.pier1.com/Josette-Chair

Also in love with every item they show in the Related Products section.....sigh.

The Icing on the Cake

Disclaimer: NO, I am not looking at wedding cakes already! I get a daily Real Simple magazine email and today's HAPPENED to be about weddings. So there.

But I am so in love with the lace pattern on this cake! It is so gorgeous; it looks like real fabric lace.

Loving the flowers and texture on this one, too. I love that the flowers are more modern-looking; not your average roses.

To check out the rest, go to:

http://www.realsimple.com/weddingcakes

Be Mine

I always get excited to do Holiday-themed craft and baking projects with Kylie.

Valentine's Day is no exception.

I took her to the store to pick out valentines to give to her classmates.  We settled on puppy and kitty ones that come with temporary tattoos, as she decided she could not give her first choice of Princess valentines to the boys. (And I wasn't about to buy 2 different packs of 32!)

She addressed about 6 of the "To: and From:" all by herself from her class name list before she got bored.  We will try and finish the rest on Tues and Wed or next weekend :)

Next on our list will be heart shaped cookies next weekend, and making homemade valentines to give to relatives and to hang on the windows as decoration.

But THESE, I am dying to try! My parents got me the coolest calendar for Christmas:

http://www.calendars.com/Hello-Cupcake-2011-Wall-Calendar

Each month has photos of ridiculously awesome cupcakes, AND then it tells you how to make all the decorations with candy and other things. EXCITED. Who wants a rubber ducky cupcake?!

But for February, it has cupcakes with huge conversation hearts on top!

The cool thing about all these recipes is the decorations look so complex, and you wouldn't think of trying to duplicate them. But, then you see the explanations of each, and they are actually so simple!

These are just a heart cut from a thick piece of pound cake, dipped in frosting, and plopped on top of a cupcake. Then decorated with red frosting. I like this!

Stay tuned for all our Valentine projects!! So there.

Superbowl Chicken Wings

So, here is the recipe I tried in the crock pot for Superbowl Sunday.
...I am now 0 for 2 with the crock pot.


I think my downfall was using frozen chicken wings, because the ice on them became water, I guess, and the result was pretty much BBQ soup.
I should have defrosted them and dried thoroughly, before adding them to the crock pot.


I usually don't usually use frozen chicken, but you know how I feel about meat on the bone that still resembles what it came from (ick!!), so I really didn't want to buy fresh and have to cut the wing joints in half, etc. (double ick!)


Now, I know....


But here is the recipe.
Joe still ate several of them, and said they were good ( ...yeah, I don't eat wings ;)  ), they just had to be dipped in BBQ sauce/hot sauce/ranch because all the sauce washed off in said soup.


After he ate a few, I drained most of the liquid, added more of the sauce mixture, and put it all in a large skillet to reduce.
This worked pretty well, and resulted in a nice sticky wing coating....before I went to watch a Superbowl commercial, and burned half of them ;)

Epic Fail.


It was fun buying cumin, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce for the first time though. I plan on finding lots of new uses for them,

Spicy Chicken Wings

Ingredients:
20 chicken wings

Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoons prepared mustard or spicy mustard
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Louisiana hot sauce to taste

Directions:
Rinse chicken wings and pat dry with a paper towel. Cut off and discard wing tips, then cut each wing at the joint to make two sections. Sprinkle wing pieces with salt and pepper; place wings on a lightly oiled broiler pan.

Broil for 10 minutes on each side or until they are browned. Transfer chicken wings to crock pot.

In a bowl, combine barbecue sauce, honey, spicy mustard, cumin, Worcestershire sauce, and Louisiana sauce. Pour sauce over chicken wings.
Cover and cook  for 3 to 4 hours
Serve with ranch dip if desired.

 http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/Spicy-Chicken-Wings

So there.

Think Spring

While huddling under a blanket and drinking tea this morning, I got an email from Pier 1 Imports that gave me hope that spring and warmer weather are on the way! ...If only in the form of these adorable candles! These little hexagon-shaped candles are encased in beautiful stained glass type images of birds and flowers.
...I want all three!!

Hey, the email said for gift-giving....just saying.... ;)  If you sent me one...I'd love it, haha!

Anyway, check them out!!
http://www.pier1.com/SixSidedFilledCandles

So there.


Oh, and for all those on the edge of your seat, I am going to make chicken wings in the crock pot on Super Bowl Sunday for my man, so stay tuned for the results!