Tie Dye Cupcakes!!

These were a HUGE hit at my house this past weekend.

It is really a very simple recipe. Take a standard cake mix and make according to directions. Then divide the batter into 6 bowls (about 1 cup each) and mix to your desired colors. I used Red, Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue and Purple gel dye. Then you layer by the teaspoonful. I just dolloped the spoonfuls in rainbow order. I then Baked these for about 15 minutes until a clean toothpick inserted came out clean. While cooling, I mixed 2 tubs of white frosting with 3 different colors of dye - Red, Yellow and blue. In a pastry bag I put the frosting inside by the spoonful alternating colors until I got all of the frosting in the tube. Starting at 12 oclock I piped the frosting onto the cupcakes.

Here is where you can see the rainbow effect of the frosting on the cupcakes.

I love how vibrant the colors on the inside of the cupcakes came out!! I will definatly make these again.

I am thinking I will make some in badger colors for the girls...Purple and gold. The frosting I could do in Purple yellow and white to make sure the colors do not get too muddy.

This is one of my walmart clearance shopping trip. This order before coupons about about $70 and I walked spending about $10 it was a really great trip!

This was my Giant Eagle Stock up trip. Aprox $130 in items, my total out of pockets was $28 after coupons and sale items.

Lastly, These are the newest memebers of our chicken coop. We wanted a rooster and we got a hen along with him :) He is very 'Rooster-y' and doesn't seem to like me coming into the coop to collect eggs. I am trying to get him to see that I am not scared of him...but I am a little...my shin hurts from where he tried to get me out of the coop!

I am sure there will be more to post very soon, some birthday invites that I am doing for a friend of Madelyns, Madelyn's diorama, spring cleaning, more planting, hopefully the start of the green house...ahh the joys of a busy life! Until next time!

Spring in here!! LOL - at least it is in my Kitchen. I bought an indoor green house and planted all of my bulbs that I failed to get planted last fall. They are doing great - except the flowers are dying off...either way it gives me something to get planted as soon as I can get in the dirt...maybe even get another flower or two :) Dougnuts!! These were really easy to make and I will for sure make them again!! I have been searching for the 'best' recipe. So after reading many and taking all the comments into consideration etc I put together a recipe that I thought would work....it did!! The key here is the cake mix - this is where you can easily change up your doughnut flavors and its easier then trying to guess how much to use. For these doughnuts I used a French Vanilla cake mix. I am sure I could use any flavor for this. Strawberry, lemon, spice, chocolate etc. I would use a good quality mix. These tend to be full of flavor. I mean quality as in Duncan Hines or Pilsbury. Recipe: 2 (1/4 ounce) packages yeast 1/4 cup water (105-115) 1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk (scalded, then cooled) 1/2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 1/3 cup shortening 2.5 cups all purpose flour 2.5 cups your favorite cake mix, or yellow would be fine. canola oil Creamy Glaze 1/3 cup butter 2 cups powdered sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla 6 tablespoons hot water 1. Dissolve yeast in warm water in 2.5 quart bowl 2. Add milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortenng and 2 cups flour 3. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. 4. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally 5. Stir in remaining flour until smooth 6. Cover and let rise until double, 50-60 minutes 7. (dough is ready when indentation remails when when touched) Turn dough onto floured surface; roll around lightly to coat with flour 8. gently roll dough 1/2 in thick with floured rolling pin 9. cut with floured doughnut cutter 10. cover and let rise until double, 30-40 minutes 11. Heat vegetable oil in deep fryer/skillet to 350 degrees 12. slide doughnuts into hot oil with wide spatula 13. turn doughnuts as they rise to the surface 14. fry until golden brown, about 1 minute on each side 15. remove carefully from oil (do not prick surface) drain 16. dip the doughnuts into creamy glaze set on rack to cool. Enjoy!!

Another Great Recipe.

I truely love Betty Crocker Au Gratin Potatoes....but they come from a box and are a processed food. I have always wanted to find a good recipe to make my own version of Au Gratin Potatoes but they never really turned out the way I'd like, they were good, but just not Betty Crocker.

I found this recipe in the Taste of Home: Homestyle Classics mini cookbook that I had used prior with the 7 Layer Gelatin Salad. These Potatoes turned out wonderful and tasted very much to me as a homemade version of the boxed potatoes!

Ingredients:

3 T butter, 3 T all-purpose flour, 1.5 t salt, 1/8 t pepper, 2 cups milk, 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 5 cups thinly sliced peeled potatoes (about 6 medium) and 1/2 cup chopped onion

In a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Stir in the flour, salt and pepper until smooth. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thinckened. Remove from the heat; stir in cheese until melted. Add potatoes and onion; stir well.

Transfer to a greased 2 qt. baking dish. Cover and Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Uncover; banke 30-40 minutes longer or until the potatoes are tender.

The only things I added was more cheese, we love cheese at our house I would say I used a little less than 2 cups. I made sure I sprinked cheese on the top before placing in the oven. Picture from Idaho Potato:

Try this fun Recipe!

I found this Taste of Home: Homestyle Classics mini cookbook at the checkout...this one contains 76 comforting favorites with a photo every page..I'm a sucker and bought it.

While browsing I found this recipe called 7 layer gelatin salad and the kids were very excited to make it and eat it!

Here is the recipe:

7 packages (3 oz ea) assorted favors of your choice of gelatin

(4) 1/2 cups each of boiling water and cold water, divided

1 can (12oz) evaporated milk, divided

80z frozen whipped topping, thawed

Fresh mint, sliced strawberries and kiwifruit, optional

-in a small bowl, dissolve one package of gelatin in 3/4 cup boiling water. Add 3/4 cup cold water; stir. Spoon into a 13"x9"x2" dish coated with cooking spray. Chill until set, but not firm, about 40 minutes.

-In another bowl, dissolve another pacakge of gelatin in 1/2 cup boiling water. Add 1/2 cup cold water and 1/2 of the milk. Spoon over first layer. Chill until set but not firm, about 40 minutes.

-repeat 5 times, alternating plain gelatin layers with creamy gelatin layers. Chill each layer until set but not firm before spooning next layer on top. Refrigerate entire salad overnight. Just before serving, spread top with whipped topping. Cut into squares and serve. Garnish with mint and fruit if desired.

Editors note: this salad takes time to prepare since each layer must set before the next layer is added.

We used 7 different flavors and went for a rainbow effect: bottom layer was grape, then blue raspberry, lime, lemon, orange, strawberry and cherry. Do NOT pour the gelatin on to the next layer and I STRESS this because you will mess up the layers underneath. Use a ladle and pour it. Check out another pic of our dessert below, the girls thought it was pretty tasty (the whipped cream started to melt quicker that I thought, otherwise the picture would have been better):