Pretty cake.

I don't have much to update you on, I've been busy working my real job and working on Etsy stuff and haven't had the time or motivation to get dressed up and take pictures :) Here's a little peek into the birthday celebration we had for my niece Vivianrose, though, because my sister Lauren made the prettiest winter themed cake! My niece (and sister Cara) just moved from California to Wisconsin, so this winter will Vivianrose's first! We did all winter themed gifts, a huge sled, snow boots, and a lovely headband from my shop :)

How was your weekend?

Cupcakes from scratch!

I made my first cupcakes from scratch tonight, and they were so awesome I just had to share them with you! A few days ago Chris and I had a little impromptu date at Barnes and Noble, and I picked up this book for $8. I really only bought it because of this recipe, which is totally silly, but I'm happy I did! I made these "Pistachio Cupcakes with Lime Frosting" and it was way easier than I thought it'd be. It makes me want to bake more :) The only bummer is that I don't have a food processor, and I just about broke my blender trying to grind up the pistachios!

(nighttime photos=grainy and dark, but I wanted to snap some quickly before we ate them all!!)

These were seriously SO GOOD! I don't think I'll ever make cupcakes from a boxed mix again!

Do you have a favorite cupcake recipe? You should share it!

Valentine's Day

I'm not the kind of girl that needs flowers and candy and a fancy dinner on Valentine's Day. I'm more in the "it's just another day" group. But I had the day off, and I really wanted to spend some quality time with Chris and do something special (and inexpensive). We planned on running a few quick errands and then heading off to an antique mall not too far from our house, and then getting a bubble tea before heading home where I would cook Chris his favorite dinner (chicken and dumplings!). Of course, nothing went as planned!

I'd been having issues with my car for the last week and a half. I knew I needed an oil change, and last week my car started smoking and the oil light came on. I needed to wait until I got paid to get one, so for a week Chris drove me to and from work or let me borrow his car. I got my oil change last Thursday, and they told me that I had a small coolant leak but that it wasn't serious and I could get it fixed the next time I went to a mechanic. I drove home fine, but later when I was on my way to work I got to the end of my street and my car stalled. It wouldn't start again, so Chris had to push me home (poor boy!). It was super super cold last week, so I thought that maybe since my car sat for the better part of a week it just needed some time to warm up. My dad recommended some winter stuff to add to the gas tank, so I did that on Valentine's day before we started our errands, and everything was working fine. We drove around for about an hour, and instead of going to the antique mall we ended up going home to relax for a while. We went out a couple hours later to get our bubble tea, and we got about halfway there when the oil light came on, as well as the engine temperature light. We were in the middle of nowhere, so we kept driving the direction we were going, and made it a few miles before we noticed a burning smell. We pulled off into a gas station and Chris checked the oil level, but everything was fine. Luckily, the gas station was in the same strip mall as a Meineke, so we got over there to have them check it out. Apparently, the coolant leak that the other guys said wasn't a big deal was, in fact, a HUGE FREAKING DEAL! My car had almost no coolant in it, and was really close to overheating. We got there right before they closed, so we had to leave my car and find a ride home. Chris's dad came and picked us up, and when we were halfway home I realized I forgot to take my house key with me! Luckily (again!) Chris's dad had a spare and we were able to get in. I waiting until the next morning to hear back from the mechanic, and they told me they had to replace some hose and flush the coolant. They also told me that I need to get my timing belt replaced, which is another huge expensive thing... I'm sure you were just glued to your seat reading all the details about my car trouble, but it's just been so frustrating and kind of unbelievable that I had to get it out! I've seriously driven my little yellow Bug for years without having to do anything but get an oil change and check the tires, but now all of a sudden there's a whole bunch of crap going wrong!

So sitting around at the mechanic's was a great way to spend Valentine's Day :) We never did get that bubble tea. When we got home I was so bummed that I wasn't in the mood to cook, so Chris made me a sweet Valentine's-themed peanut butter and jelly sandwhich, and we watched a movie on the couch and cuddled. We did end up baking chocolate chip cookies together before heading off to bed.

Despite all the trouble and expensive car stuff, I had a really good day with Chris. It just goes to show you that no matter what happens, if you've got your best friend by your side things will always be alright.

How was your Valentine's Day?

Adventures in Baking - Rainbow Cupcakes and Peanut Butter Cookies

I love baking. Something about it makes me feel so feminine- I love cooking, but I'm not very good at it, but baking is easy for me and it's such a comforting thing to do for people. I want to be the neighbor who's known for her cookies, or the woman that always brings a great pie to family dinners... I don't bake as often as I'd like, and I also don't venture far from the boxed mixes from the grocery store, but I still love it. Someday I'll have a big wonderful kitchen (with a turquoise Kitchenaid stand mixer!!) and I'll be able to bake fancy things to my heart's content. For now, it's quick mixes when I find the time.

Ever since I saw Kaylah's posts about rainbow cupcakes I've been dying to try!! She has a great tutorial up that I used to make these little pretties. I unintentionally did almost the exact same colors she did, but I used the cheapo little egg shaped food dyes from the grocery store. I mixed the colors to get teal, lavender, raspberry, and orange sherbert (their names, not mine!). It was so easy, and it made making cupcakes so much more fun! I will for sure be making more of these (probably for Thanksgiving), and I can't help but think of fun color combinations.



I bought Funfetti frosting since it came with sprinkly things already, but next time I'm going to "borrow" stuff from work to make the cupcakes prettier (I have tons of cake decorating supplies at my fingertips there, so next time they'll look much more polished!!). I also need to get a better muffin/cupcake tin. I used one I got at a garage sale for a quarter, and while it's cute and vintage, the cups are too small for modern cupcake papers. A lot of my cupcakes turned out with a little bend or fold in them, but it still tastes good!


Of course I couldn't stop at cupcakes, so I picked up a package of Betty Crocker's peanut butter cookie mix. It was an impulse buy, because I really like making cookies from scratch, but it was cheap and they did the trick.




Blogging food or cooking related stuff is a great reason to clean my kitchen, so I plan on using that to my advantage, sweet treats AND a clean kitchen makes a happy Susannah!

Do you enjoy baking? What's your favorite recipe? What websites do you use for recipes?