Project 22 of 52 Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for a barbecue at a friends house. They are lemon cupcakes with a lemon raspberry buttercream on top. They were very summery and very good. I'll have to work on the recipe a little bit more though. Hubby said they were a little too lemony for him.

I really liked the wrappers I baked them in. They were a fun summery plaid. These cupcakes were perfect for a summer barbecue.

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The Ant and The Contact Lens: A True Story

Another forwarded email. I really think the message in this one is amazing and one that I personally need to remember more often...

The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us Brenda was almost halfway to the top of the tremendous granite cliff.  She was standing on a ledge where she was taking a breather during this, her first rock climb.  As she rested there, the safety rope snapped against her eye and knocked out her contact lens.   'Great', she thought.  'Here I am on a rock ledge, hundreds of feet from the bottom and hundreds of feet to the top of this cliff, and now my sight is blurry.'  She looked and looked, hoping that somehow it had landed on the ledge.  But it just wasn't there. She felt the panic rising in her, so she began praying.  She prayed for calm, and she prayed that she might find her contact lens.  When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found.  Although she was calm now that she was at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains.  She thought of the bible verse 'The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.' She thought, 'Lord, You can see all these mountains.  You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is.  Please help me.' Later, when they had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff.  One of them shouted out, 'Hey, you guys!  Anybody lose a contact lens?' Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it?  An ant was moving slowly across a twig on the face of the rock, carrying it!   The story doesn't end there.  Brenda's father is a cartoonist.  When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption, 'Lord, I don't know why you want me to carry this thing.  I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy.  But if this is what you want me to do; I'll carry it for you.'   I think it would do all of us some good to say, 'God, I don't know why you want me to carry this load.  I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy.  But, if you want me to carry it, I will.'   God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called. Yes, I do love GOD.  He is my source of existence and my Savior.  He keeps me functioning each and every day.  Without Him, I am nothing, but with Him...I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. (Phil. 4:13)

Project 21 of 52 Capri Pants

A few months ago we went to Chama, NM and I forgot to pack pants. This is really bad for me because I normally take about twice what we actually need. Thankfully I only forgot my pants, not Hubby's.

Anyway, I went to the dollar store there (the only place to shop really) (it's also really cool because we don't have any dollar stores where I live) and bought some cheap sweat/yoga type pants. They were even on sale, 50% off bringing the grand total to $2.50 each.

Dollar stores are so cool.

Back on track... I am not abnormally tall but I have really long legs. Especially for New Mexico. I'm a little taller than the average here. I frequently have trouble with buying pants (as in, I can't just go buy pants, I have to pay a lot of money for brands that let you choose your inseam). The pants I got at the dollar store were good enough for the weekend (since I didn't have a choice). But as soon as I got them home and washed them, they shrank and that was it, there was no more hope, at all, like really, these were not pre-shrunk at all.

I usually just turn these pants into PJ bottoms since who cares if my pants are too short when I'm sleeping in them. But I have quite the collection already, more than I need. So I decided that I should turn them into capri pants and embellish them a little.

I found these nifty little iron on embellishments at Walmart for (I think) less than $5 a piece.

I added 2 new pieces to my summer wardrobe for less than $15 (stubbornly refusing to think about tax or if the embellishments could have possibly been less than $6 a piece).

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Happy Friday and some other random thoughts

Just a couple of things;

1. Sorry my posts have been a little scarce lately, my poor computer is so old and I think it's about to die, it's not working well and making it very hard to work on.. I've been trying to do a backup to an online backup company. It usually takes an average of 2-3 days I think. My computer is averaging 5% of it's content a day, it's gonna take about 20 days. I really don't have that much stuff.

2. For those of you who don't know, there is a huge fire burning in Arizona, it has now moved into New Mexico, thankfully it's south of us. We've been dealing with major smoke and some ash for about a week. I'm thankful that the smoke seems to be giving us a break for now but still praying that the fire will be contained soon. Update: We had mostly clear skies yesterday and this morning but as soon as I posted this, the smoke came rolling back in, ugh.

3. As we're burning down here, I have family in Nebraska being flooded out of their homes. Ironic. So I'm also praying for them and that God finds a way to move all that water from there to here because we are in a drought (which is why we're on fire) and desperately need water. Even our lakes are suffering this year.

4. Today is Friday and I am very happy about that fact, it means I get to wear jeans to work. Woohoo. It would also normally mean I might be able to sleep in tomorrow for a little bit. But this week I don't get to sleep in. I have to actually get up even earlier than usual. Hubby has to go north for work (and of course he'll get a little bit of playing in there just cuz he can) and has decided that he want's to leave the house by about 6 am. On Saturday. Yuck.

So go have a great Friday :)

Project 20 of 52 Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes

I decided to try making Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes for Nephew a few weeks ago, when I took them out of the oven, I let the first batch cool for a few minutes before I tried one.

Wow, I had to stop and double check that I had used the correct flour. They were amazing. I don't think you would have been able to tell the difference if  I had a regular cupcake and these gluten free cupcakes next to each other.

They were also a hit with Nephew :)

(just thinking about them is making me drool)

I cut out a little from the middle and filled them with a chocolate cherry filling, topped them with chocolate buttercream and a cherry. It was A LOT of chocolate but they were so good.

Yum...

And pretty...


But now that I've shown you the pretty ones, I have to be honest, it took a lot of cupcakes to get the pretty ones...

AAACCCHHH... Sorry I know they're scary but they really did taste wonderful. I really, really wish I had one now. Anybody wanna bake me some cupcakes?? I'll be your bestest friend forever :)

Decorating them with a bag was a last minute decision and I didn't have a good tip to do it with so I kept experimenting with different the different big tips I do have, I finally just settled on the biggest small star tip I could find. Then promptly went out and bought a better big tip, still not the one I wanted but better.

Learn from my mistakes, don't make last minute decisions. (At least these weren't going anywhere)

High Altitude Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe

4 oz Chocolate (chips or chopped)
1 1/2 cup Milk
4 Eggs
3/4 cup Butter
1 1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour (you can use another brand or your own blend, this is just what works for me)
1/2 cup Cornstarch
1/4 cup Cocoa Powder
1 1/4 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla (optional)
1/4 cup Mayonnaise (it really did work)

1. Heat the chocolate and milk in a saucepan until chocolate melts. Let set until room temp.
2. Let butter and eggs come to room temp, preheat oven to 350.
3. Mix flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside.
4. Cream butter and sugar
5. Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition.
6. Add vanilla and mayo, mixing well.
7. Alternate milk and flour mixtures (1/3 of mixtures at a time) mix just until combined.
8. Cupcakes bake for about 20 mins cakes bake for 30-40 mins depending on the size of your pan.

NOTE: This recipe was adapted to be gluten free and high altitude so if you are less than my 7000 feet, some tweaking may be necessary. (decrease eggs to 3, increase baking powder/soda 1/4 tsp at a time, etc)




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