cutest thing i saw today...had to share

how do i say goodbye...oh with baking thats right

The ones we love the most always seem to be the ones who leave the deepest scars. I wanted to blog about this becasue i was so deeply hurt by a friend last week and it has left me baffled and paralyzed with sadness. Let me back track a few months back to july. I found out my friend ashley was going to have a baby and that she was so excited. Now her babys father, Matt, not so excited and very vocal about it. Well ashley finally saw matt for the douche he is and left him. Ashley is a very reclusive and introverted type of person but, her and i hit it off right away and when i heard what had happened i made it a point to be there for her. We started hanging out regularly and just talking about the future and all. Then the phone calls stopped and the texts never got answered. I was not too worried but finally i called her at work to see what the deal was. She was very rude and told me she had nothing to say and hung up. So i waited a few hours and texted to ask what the problem was and she said that she does not owe me any explanation and she can be the bitch now and to never contact her again. I was perplexed so i drove to her job to confront her and there in the front door of the cafe sat her boyfriend. i was SHOCKED....now let me back track and explain.. when she left him i told her some things that i knew and had kept from her because i did not want to be in the middle. Things that were oh so important, like he was a cocaine addict and i knew he had used when he told her he didn't. i also told her that he had asked me to find some for him. I am not sure what he has told her and since she refuses to talk to me i guess i will never know. I refuse to badger her becasue she is preg and i love her. So instead i just say a silent prayer for her to be safe and that maybe one day she will see the truth in her own eyes. What i am wondering is how to just walk from a friendship when i know that the friend is in the wrong place and that nothing good is going to come of it.
My fiancee said that i have to let it go and just let her live her life. I know this is true but its so hard to walk away without even having a reason. I guess this is her journey though and so to her i say GOOD LUCK and I LOVE YOU.
Now as the day wore on i got more and more depressed so i decided to do what i do best...thats right BAKE. I had some bananas that were oh so brown and yummy for baking so i went digging through some old books and found this great recipe from Williams and Sonoma kitchen collection Titled CAKES, CUPCAKES, AND CHEESECAKES. It was a gift from my sister and has all sorts of nifty little secrets and great cheesecake tips too. The one i decided to go with was banana chocolate chip. i tweeked the recipe to make it a little more my own of course and the results were fab! fab! fab! so here i present choconana cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting and yes they were oh so good... the recipe called for less banana but i loved the flavor so much i am definitely keeping it at 5 insted of 3. so enjoy and talk at y all later Recipe for chconana cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups very ripe mashed bananas about 5 med sized
1/2 cup melted butter 1 stick unsalted
1 large egg room temp
1 egg white whipped stiff
3 tbsp buttermilk, now i used sour cream and i loved the texture but both will work
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips..dusted with flour

preheat oven to 350 and line muffin tins with 14 paper liners. in bowl sift all dry ingredients and set aside. mix mashed bananas, butter, and sour cream just til blended. add to dry mix and whisk til just combined DO NOT OVER BEAT. stir i chips til just mixed and then fold in white of egg gently. fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for 20 minutes. take out of pan and cool on rack completely.

for frosting beat 1 stick semi room temp butter and 1 8oz. pkg semi room temp cream cheese til smooth...add 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar and 1/4 cup pure maple syrup..mix til creamy.. add 1/4 cup well chopped walnuts and stir in.. keep in fridge til ready to use.

every day im hustlin

Wow i saw this little icon and i imeediately had to post about it. I am currently working again which, makes me feel so good about my life again. I actually am working two jobs to get caught up. Now on top of that and the baking to keep myself sane, I have two boys 12 and 9 who are over the summer time routine and in my face all the time whining I'M BORED!!! We all remember the routine. Summer camp is over and the friends they have are all getting on their nerves and then they in turn are on mine. SO to all you super mom's out there... here's to all of you..for without us you know all things would fall apart!!!!!

life and the fluffnananutter cupcake

Its been a while since i posted on here about anything other than food and i plan on sharing my recipe today but first let me say a few things.
This has been A ROUGH year for me. ever since november when i lost my job and could not find another i have been struggling to get back on my feet, and then WHAMMO, my fiancee got laid off from his job too. I was like oh my god WTF. why is this happening? Thats when i turned to blogging becasuse i needed an outlet to store all my creative thoughts. I loved telling about my new job and cooking and all. I even was offering a giveaway and entered a summer swap. Then WHAMMO..AGAIN....REALLY??? I was let go at the new job i found due to them finding out the building was foreclosing. Wow i could not believe it. I had no internet for a while and that was hard. My electric bill was exhorbitantly..(btw..they do cut you off at 1300.00) we were behind on our rent and things were starting to crumble again. During that time the blogging community was not so nice. I got ANONYMOUS emails saying i was a fake for offering something i never intended to send, and my summer swap partner will receive her summer gift this week, a month before FALL!!! I just had ZERO MONEY to send packages and really thought that people would understand. I was right for the most part..people are empathetic, but some were down right asses about it and so to those few i say this...

it"s easy to sit back and read recipes and look at cute pictures of fluffy dogs and really awesome cupcakes but the reality of it is behind those photos someone is having a real life. filled with bills, car payments, kids, jobs, jail, foreclosure, cancer, death, teenagers, unemployment, domestic violence, divorce, marriage, depression and love. So keep the "ANONYMOUS" comments to yourself and if you just have to say something then at least have the GONADS to say who you are. REAL FRIENDS STAB YOU IN THE FRONT!!!

Now onto my recipe for the day....... BANANA NUTTER CUPCAKES. these were an inspiration from my son alex whom actually wanted chocolate cupcakes with banana cream filling inside so i suggested peanut butter and he jumped on it. So at ten pm, while watching food networks chopped,.. we started on these cupcakes. my son basically measured everything and then i mixed the wett ingredients an he scooped them into the liners. we put them i the oven in small 6 coount batches to keep the heat steady and they came out nice and beautifuly brown. we scooped out the middles with an apple corer and then topped them with the fluff/peanut butter buttercream frosting




They were light and fluffy with just the right peanut butter flavor not overbearing. when you bit into it the cool banan cream is just the nicest hidden surprise and the fluff cream ties it all together. like a fluffer nutter with banana sandwich like my grandma used to make me...memories. So i present to you the FLUFFNANANUTTER cupcake!!!!

Racheal Ray Is Right

So i was making cheese danish when i realized i had made way too much filling so i decided to pay with what was left. Now for those of you that way rachel ray on food network know that she cant bake because like any other good cook she does the THISING and THATING of ingrdients for the most part. OK well that is me also and as an aspiring baker i have to remember that you have to measure or at least write it down what you put into the bowl.


So i added some sour cream, flour and another egg to my cream cheese and lemon mixture that already had an egg and powdered sugar. i mixed it and put it on top of some toffee bits and graham crackers that i had crushed in my mini grinder and added some meltd butter.


i put the mixture on the bottom of two 6 oz ramekins i have and put them in the 350 oven for 30 minutes and then turned it off and left them for 3 hrs. when i took them out the tops were brown and slightly crisp. little cracking had happend but i was not worried. it was after all ,an experiment. I ran a knife around the edge and they poppped right out. Now they were heavy. which worried me. I was like dang it...




but upon opening it i saw how dense it was. so i tried a piece and oh my gosh it was incredible. It was cheese CAKE!!! yes the cheesey taste of cheesecake but it was so moist and dense like carrot cake almost. it was sooooo gooood!


so i frosted the last one with a toffee nut buttercream and took the pic before sending it to my next door neighbor for approval. he is considering divorce to marry me he said!!! dont know bout that but guess that means yum.


Now herecomes the bummer part. Treid to make them again last night and the taste was great, but the texture was that of a gummy bear. New FLavor Idea??? but no it was fail and so now i am struggling to remember where i went wrong!!! stay tuned

Its MUTT MONDAY

So i thought todays picture was just too cool not to post for mutt monday from two girls, a dog and a husbands grace, this is cocoa our super chocolate pit lab mix. she goes nuts over remote control helicopters and literally jumps in the air to get it. its the funniest thing ever.

Thanskgiving in july...

So the lady from the church was so glad to see that I had baked all the cupcakes so she proceeded to bring me a turkey breast, homegrown sweet potatoes and some grape tomatoes. she said to me i know its not much but its just a thanks for giving to the church. So i decided to be creative and made fried sweet potatoe cakes with sage rubbed turkey breast...then i cooked the grape tomatoes in some olive oil and salt til the popped and wilted some and then i added balsamic vin, cranbnerry juice and sugar and let them reduce dwon til they were a beautiful medley of sweet and tart goodness... the end result was wonderful amd was definitely photo worthy

A public apology to jen at priorfatgirl deserves better than what i did ..in the angst of my dilemma i forgot to send her swap package...jen i am so sorry and you will have your box soon...

Tim burtons alice in wonderland

cant wait to see this....only thing i love more than cupcakes and food is tim burton and johnny de.....this is going to be awesome....come on spring!!!!

Brownies....MMMMMM!!!!

Laura over at Real Mom's Kitchen asked for this recipe so here it is and if you all get a chance stop by her site and check it out..she has some really yummy ideas....






1 2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter (unsalted preffered but its to your taste)
3 tsp coffee dissolved in 2 tbsp hot water
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups flour all purpose
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
smidge of salt
preheat oven to 350 degrees

melt butter in a pot or microwave and then add coffee and sugr and mix til blended..will be grainy you want this..stir in eggs and fold til incorporated but do not beat you can add extract at this time if you please..i used orange, almond, vanilla or rum.
combine the dry indredients and sift. Add to the the wet mix and mix till all incorporated. now would be the time to add your nuts or candy bits.
pour into a greased 8x8 pan. and bake for 23 to 28 minutes


i did it a litle different for gifts and for the kids to take to summer camp in a ziploc baggie...cant go wrong with mini bundts....cook for only 15 minutes and they are so moist and so fudgy and the chocolate in these brownies enhances the rich chocolate flavor

really!!! i thought the blogging community was here for support

REALLY!!! so let me update real Quick, my computer had a virus so nicely sent in an email from a supposed secure site, then i found out the head gasket on my car blew, and to top it off since i had no car i lost my litle cupcake job so excuse me if my cake plate give away got put on hold..

I cant believe the nasty comments i have received over not getting the gift sent. So i am letting everyone know, i just got my computer back, i am trying to get up to date since i lost everything on my hard drive, pictures, my cook book, EVERYTHING !!! So if all anyones cares about is a cake plate then please do not follow my blog as i really only want people with compassion and understanding in my life right now..I have enough greedy people with hands out right now...Thanks so much and have a joyous day!!!


Oh and the winner was felicia from playing dishes...but i cant really say when i will be able to get that to you considering right now life has happened and i am a single mom with a lifetime of stuff all crumbling in one fell swoop.....if you continue to follow great if not bless you and take care


the people behind the words on the screen are real people with real issues and if noone out here is real then i dont wanna blog anymore. Its easy to read a recipe, or look at pictures of peoles kids, but, remember those people are real and sometimes life is not easy.. So dont judge people on what you think they are, listen and learn before you judge because in the end who r you to pass judgement.

ice cream social from kitchen bouquets

OK this is the kiwi/lime ice cream with fresh kiwi's and strawberrry coulis. refreshing and lite for a summer bbq. Using a simple vanilla recipe i added fresh kiwi and lime zest and VOILA!!! Enjoy

missed the ice cream social due to virus

Hey all just a small post.... my comp was infected with a really bad trojan hiding in my kids game on line!! i know right, so my comp is down til tuesday. but i will update today since my mom and dad are here....stay tuned

happy fourth of july

Happy Fourth everybody I hope everyones holiday is safe and fun. This is my liitle creation to celebrate the day. Mini strawberry margarita cupcakes with lime buttercream. I just added a litle blueberry on top to make it festive and colorful. These are so simple to make either using a homemade white cake recipe using margarita mix with pureed strawberries or a box strawberry mix and instead of using the water use margarita mix... and salt of course to the mix.. for the frosting use 1/2 stick butter with 3 cups pwdered sugar and the zest and juice (with pulp) of 2 fresh limes and beat til smooth adding cream as needed by tbsp. these are great with a real margarita at the end of the bbq with the fireworks flashing in the air and the ones you love surrounding you... god bless america and our families and loved ones serving overseas today!!! come home soon and come homne safe!!

my new job and other great things......

Happy 4TH of july first off and hurray for my new job at CAROLINA CUPCAKERY. For all you brides to be we are featured in the aug/sept issue of MODERN BRIDE. So check it out. ANy ways i had to leave the other job. I was really not happy. It was affecting friendships, family and i really could not stand the owner> she was a shrew. Had money and thought she could talk to me any old way and i am WAY to strong for that. So i found this funky little cupcake shop thats really awesome and i love it. They are innovative and fresh, creative and kooky. I love the owner and she is as real as they come. We have 100 plus and counting flavors and do organic and gluten free plus vegan. This is the one i did on my own today for the 4th. It had a confetti cake base.. so yummy.

mothers never stop embarrasing you

Just a little photo that my mother posted on face book... This was myself pre weight loss. I had really forgotten how large i was... wow.... anyways... too all the ones who believe it cant be done... heres the proof..keep on truckin.... and no matter what be happy with yourself

broke ass bride

Hey to all you brides to be check out this new blog i found called Broke ass bride.... very cool site..check it out

cabernet brownies ...the best of both worlds

As we sat down to watch TRUE BLOOD i realized i was in the mood for something chocolatey and decided to make my favorite... brownies. I noticed sitting on the counter was a bottle of cabernet from SONAMA VALLEY and i though hmmm...chocolate+wine=bliss..so i got to baking

2/3 cups all purpose flour
a pinch of baking powder

1/2 cup butter..the real stuff there guys
3-4 ounces of UNSWEETENED bakers chocolate chopped roughly
11/4 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
some wine....really i used only 1/4 cup if that even

mix the dry ingredients then... in a heavy small pot melt the butter and chocolate til smooth and then take off the heat and let cool a few minutes...do not let boil...yuck taste.. add the sugar and the wine, yes its supposed to be grainy, add the eggs just til incorporated and then add it to the flour mix.. feel free to add nuts at this time... put in a 350 oven for 25 minutes... and whala...brownies.. but when you eat them....its best with milk...but i did the wine anyways because i am a rebel and SEMI PSYCHO BAKER...have a great day

so whats summer without a bbq.....

the date on the photos was wrong as i was not paying attention...06/27/09 is correct..tee hee

So the sky was blue and i was off on a saturday, I know really right?, and I decided that i wanted brisket, and anyone who may be reading who has had brisket done right, knows there is a very slow and steady method to this masterfully cut piece of meat. So i made a great rub of simple ingredients..........brown sugar, dry mustard, onion pwder, garlic powder, fresh grated ginger, smoked paprika and salt and black pepper, now dont ask how much because i eye ball it always .. then i seared the meat and got it nice and charred before i through it in a roaster pan and into a 375 degree oven for 1 hour...well then my guy dipped on me ladies and i was to fend for myself at the grille... NOw i am a line chef and baker and the grill is his domain, like the car. So for him to relinquish his THRONE to me was astounding. So he lit the grill and left. Now i though the coals had gone out too fast and put more fluid on them...whossh flames...i screamed like a girl and my neighbor almost fell off his chair next door laughing...crazy old folks. Well i finally got the grill right and i put the mesquite chips on and through the slab of meat down... i closed it and let that baby smoke for 2 hours..as you can see IT"S YUMMO RIGHT!!!!! No photo shop retouch..pure heaven... I may be a fine dining chef but baby BBQ is all in the genes...no school teaches what is in your soul,. Bbq is beer, wine, sweet tea, mac salad , baked beans and the sun shining in your face.



Ihave had so many new responses to my give away and i thank you all ... a few questions asked were when is the deadline.. the answer is july 12 that is when my mother, who is a computer person type..haha ...will come show ne how to do the count thing and all...so for now thanks to all and as for whos ahead as of now would be jess from living on sweet tea and felicia from playing dishes...she is real inspiration...rock on ladies and keep posted for my cabernet fudge brownies...oh god yes..

threes a not so charm...

What a sad day....farrah..was the great blonde bombshell while i was growing up watching charlies angels...ad mcmahon....legend..but micheal now i can honestly say this is wehat he deserves...once a great icon turned weirdo crazed child molester... may they all rest in piece though......


I wanted to post a little private info that i feel readers and friends should know...I have been through medical hell these past two years with blood transfusions, carcinomas and lack of vitamin and iron in my body. It has made my teeth a disaster and put a real hinderance on finding the right job for me...as being a chef you have to be professional and willing to talk to people... Well today is the startof my dental plan and in 5 weeks...WHALA i will be all better... I am SOOOOO excited...stay tuned


Oh and these are pics of me, my guy who is the best thing in the world and our babies

summers cakes

So i have been linked to this great blog bake off and for me this is the perfect time...I have been looking for something to do with myself this weekend so i will be making grasshoper brownies...cool mint with fudgy brownies made from real chocolate and andes mints..ooh lala right... so if you think you have what it takeas tho rock the blogger world with your creation...join in the fun... see ya there and happy baking


Oh and the cheesecake pic was a blueberry bottom lemon cheesecake... was creamy and fantastic... a mouth orgasm for sure

tea time anyone

Tea time.... when i first heard we did tea time i was thinking to myself that i could not understand what little old ldaies would want with a pot of tea and some scones, but having done three teas, i can see the fun of getting together with a bunch of friends and having some wine, tea, scones, soup, little sandwiches and a lovely dessert.



The plate consists of quince paste with marscapone cheese and baby pear, the cracker is simple with homemade fresh pimento cheese, a puff pastry filed with a rich mushroom sauce, a mini veggie bite and a napoleon with radish, blue cheese and apricots...its ab fab really.. So next time asks you to come over for tea...jazz it up a bit, get creative, if you are doing chai tea lunch use foods with earthly flavors like cumin and nutmeg, or ginger. Green teas are great with citrus salads, and earl grey is lovely with just about anything but especially after a fish meal. For any Questions feel free to ask....

patience

First let me say that i am so thankful to all that have read my blog and still stuck around.. I suck at this...working as a chef and full time mother of boys has me worn out but i will prevail and make my blog spiffy here soon...


to a priorfatgirl, living on sweet tea, and the unwife housewife life, oh and cant forget the bomb tracy at ungirdled ... thanks for all your words and jen your basket is on the way.... cant wait for my cake plate giveaway... hope that brings some to the matt...thanks for reading

puff puff ....pastry!!!! where was your mind?

What a beautiful day it was when i realized that puff pastry is my friend. it is so flaky and light and hold up well to a multitude of fillings. So today i made my mans favorite.. Cheese danish.


It was so easy to make this with 5 simple ingredients, cream cheese, confectioners sugar , sour cream, lemon zested and juiced and puff pastry. ( I did cheat just a bit and bought the pastry sheets.) but the end result as you can see is really Quite nice and the flavor was extemely lemony and tart sweetness. When my guy gets up i will serve im up a big piece and watch as his love for me gets even bigger!!!



Ok and now for my first give away ever!!!! trumpets sound... i am so new to this but i am hoping to get my name and blog out here so here we go... I have followed living on sweet tea and un wife housewife life and think i know what i am doing...but stil bear with...

Starting july 1st
I have a cake stand, 4 plates, 4 little knives and to give to the person who can help me get my name out there the most, by posting me on your blog, by mentioning this giveaway and just leaving me a comment on my blog. the cake stand and accesories will be posted up here soon for you to view ( I have to dig them out of their boxes.) hope to see you all soon