My Love/Hate Relationship with CakePops

We have a little niece who turned 10 this week! Happy Birthday to little C! Ten is a big age full of opinions, pouting, energy and ideas. It just so happens that the week before we had all been to an event and C wanted cakepops sold by a vendor. Daddy said "no" and Nana mentioned that if C wrote me a letter, maybe I would make cakepops for her birthday. So I got a letter and who could resist?

I have to admit I cringed inside. I do not like cakepops in their popular incarnation. They may be a "pop" but they're not cake, more like gooey truffle on a stick. If I wanted truffle on a stick, that's what I'd make. Since C hadn't actually had a cakepop at last weekend's event she wouldn't know what to expect so I set out to make a better cakepop, one that was actually cake. Mine contained no icing. I had some cake oops moments but all turned out well. Here's what I did.

New Picture Background

I realized that I'm bad at taking pictures, even with sweeties beautiful camera. I'm forever clearing off something just so you won't see the clutter that surrounds my genius. I decided I needed a nice, consistent background so I decided to create one. Here's the result (disregard the fork and spoon, I'm using them for a future project).

Here's the process:

Snack Crack Caramel Corn

I am a sucker for sweets and this popcorn is snack crack in my book. I love the caramel corn that comes in the tins over the holidays and remember my excitement seeing it over the years. There's something about the lightly crunchy caramel shell over soft popcorn that gets me every time. When I saw this recipe from King Arthur Flour, I knew I had to try it. I've made it twice (in a week) with some adaptations. Don't be freaked out by the candy making process, this recipe's really forgiving. It's awesome and will be in my arsenal for a long time coming.

Tortillas and Tortilla Chips

Oh my goodness! I've been wanting to make tortillas ever since Rick Bayless on PBS did them on one of his cooking show episodes. This weekend gave me the perfect opportunity to try them out.  Let me just say, they were awesome! Even more awesome was when America's Test Kitchen (who I LOVE!) posted a pinterest recipe for the perfect home-made tortilla chips. These are so tasty and hearty. I don't think I'll ever have to buy tortilla's again if I remember to make these!

Sunday Stylebook-Sewing Room Ideas

We have a perfectly good bedroom devoted to a litter box and cat food. It's sad really and I've been on a kick to use the space and things we have. I'd really like a sewing room where I could iron without fear of marring the kitchen table and have space to really spread out. I've decided I can use the cat's room for this so I've been thinking of color schemes and ways to organize/decorate it. I think I've decided on a color scheme.

I acquired this fabric from a friend of a friend and I love the lime and orange but I don't have  enough of it to do curtains and I think I want something a little more formal. Here's my inspiration plan.

Brunch Chocolate Chip Scones

I have a confession. I've never made scones before. I have a friend who makes the most amazing cran-orange scones and I covet those but I have never made any myself...until now. I found a recipe on Pinterest and decided I'd throw these together but, life being what it is, I didn't have the whole wheat flour called for. I did have garbanzo bean flour and did a little research on substitutions and wapow!  Only it didn't work. Don't misunderstand. They tasted great, they just weren't scones, instead something between breakfast bread and muffin.

Stuffed Peppers

Hello, my name is Ashley and I'm a Pinterest addict. I have a tendency to put lots of recipes on my Pinterest Boards and then go to the same old recipes when I'm short on time for dinner.  In an effort to diversify our menu I'm working on trying the Pinterest recipes.  (If you want to see the extent of my Pinterest madness hit the Pinterest button on the top right of your screen.)

 Tonight it was stuffed peppers.I started with a recipe from Dashing Dish for general outlines and then promptly changed most of the ingredients based on what I had in my fridge to use. Feel free to use whatever you want, the basics are something crumbly and something kinda saucy to hold it together. We were pretty happy with these and word on the street is that they freeze well. They probably do before cooking. I cooked all 6 of these and then froze the left-overs so we'll see how that works. Not a bad way to start the weekend!