Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

We do Friday Treats at work and last week it was my pod's turn... I brought Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing. I'll be honest, I cheated a bit on this one. The cinnamon rolls are store bought, but the icing is still homemade!

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes Recipe:

Place individual cinnamon rolls (NOT jumbo size) into cupcake liners in muffin tins. I bought Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (3 packages of 8 rolls) and they fit perfectly. Bake according to instructions on the package (about 8 minutes), remove from oven, and let cool. Ice with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
3 3/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until smooth, 2-3 minutes. Gradually add sugar, then vanilla. Makes more than enough to ice 24 cinnamon roll cupcakes.

Happy baking!

Eat Your Heart Out

Okay. I admit it. I tend to go a bit over board when it comes to themes. I just can't help it! For Valentine's Day, Daniel was such a trooper and let me cook for him all day (he's normally head chef).

For Breakfast: heart-shaped pancakes, heart-shaped strawberries, yogurt

For Lunch: broiled caprese salad sandwich, heart-shaped tomato

I told you I go over board! For dinner I dropped the heart theme and just went for yummy: honey-soy glazed salmon, veggies, rosemary-garlic bread. Of course, I made Daniel's favorite dessert, creme brulee. Like I said, yummy. I hope you all enjoyed Valentine's Day!

Happy crafting!

BBQ Apron

As a thank you to the Warne-McGraws for all their work to plan and prep the food for Daniel's Navy Party, I found them a BBQ Tri-Tip Recipe. They love BBQ Tri-Tip. I typed up the recipe into a recipe card and stuck the card in a paper apron that fit perfectly on the jar of BBQ Baste Mixture I prepared. Thank You, Warne-McGraws!

Happy Crafting, Ya'll!

Homemade Pizza

Tonight I made pizza for dinner. But this wasn't my usual pizza. This pizza was entirely homemade! (Well, except for the cheese.) I started earlier this afternoon by making Homemade Pizza Dough and Homemade Pizza Sauce.

Next I went out back into our garden and picked some Home-Grown Vegetables. I chopped them up to use as Toppings. We're growing Basil, Eggplant, Tomatoes, and Zucchini. (We also have green bell peppers, but there weren't any to pick today.)

So I took my Homemade Pizza Dough, Homemade Tomato Sauce, some mozzerella and parmesan cheese, my Home-Grown Vegetable Toppings, and layered them to make one fabulous Homemade Pizza. I baked. Then we ate. (I was thinking, If I got a cow, then I could make my own cheese. And have really fresh milk. However, I'm not really okay with killing and eating the cow in the end. I guess I'll stick to store-bought cheese and milk for now.)

Yumm! So I won't lie, the pizza dough was not quite as good as what I would normally buy from the store. However, my pizza dough was made today and I know exactly what went into it. The pizza dough I would normally buy at the store would sit there for days after traveling probably halfway across the country.

Happy cooking! And happy crafting!