Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Last week my daughter participated in the children's program at church.  We decided that we better thank everyone who worked so hard to prepare such a wonderful program.  We browsed Pinterest for a while until she decided on the perfect cupcake.  She selected Chocolate Chip cupcakes.  I used a simple Devil's Food chocolate box cake mix but used my own White Almond frosting recipe. 

I also found (on Pinterest) this cute way to deliver an individual cupcake.  Too, cute, isn't it? 

Kid's Menu

I know this is not real food, but it was a great project to do with my kids so I thought I'd share.

My little girl loves to play waitress. She often grabs a little note pad and pen and says to me "Ma'am? What would like off the menu?" When she said this to me the other day I instantly thought "Hey...that would be a great craft time project to do together, plus she could learn something at the same time."

So here we go.

I gave each child a pair of safety scissors, pulled out my collection of old magazines (primarly Family Circle, Good Housekeeping and Family Fun) and handed one to each child.  I then asked the children to go through their magazines and to cut out all the pictures of food that they could find.

Once everyone had their piles of food we cleared off the table and sorted the foods into 4 categories: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Snacks/Desserts.  We labeled a separate piece of construction paper for each category and then glued the correspondings foods to the paper.

After allowing the glue to dry we stapled the papers together to form a "book."  My itty bitty is lovin' her new menu, and I love that we were able to talk about nutrition and health in a fun and creative way.

Masi Samoa

I've tried making Masi Samoa, a Samoan coconut "cookie," on several occasions. They've always turned out alright, but I finally found a perfect recipe that doesn't make over 5 pounds of cookie.
Check out Panipopos' Kitchen for the full recipe.

These cookies are not super sweet. They're sort of bland but have a coconut flavor to them. It's worth a shot if you're a coconut lover- or if you're married to a hot Samoan.

Pumpkin, Spice & Everything Nice

I'm trying to hang on to Summer as long as possible.  The weather this week, however, has not cooperated with my "hanging on" plan.  It's been in the upper 70's which, honestly, is perfect, but that means that Fall is on its merry way.  What better way to welcome Fall (while still hanging on to Summer) than by baking with pumpkin?  My mom makes the best Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies ever.  You're lucky I'm sharing.

Mom’s Pumpkin Cookies

4 c flour

2 c oats

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 ½ c butter softened

2 c brown sugar

1 c sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 16 oz solid packed pumpkin

2 c chocolate chips

-cream butter and gradually add sugars

-then add egg and vanilla

-mix all dry ingredients together minus the oats

-add flour mix alternating with pumpkin

-add oats

-add chocolate chips

Bake 350 for 17-20 min

Grandma Johnson's Scones

I absolutely love breakfast foods (except eggs). My little sister once made these with a friend and then passed the recipe on to me.   I don't make them often, but they are a nice mix up for breakfast.  I have no idea who Grandma Johnson is, but she sure does make a mean scone!

Grandma Johnson's Scones
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup raisins (optional)*

Directions
In a small bowl, blend the sour cream and baking soda, and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt.
Cut in the butter.**
Stir the sour cream mixture and egg into the flour mixture until just moistened.
Mix in the raisins.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly.
Roll or pat dough into a 3/4 inch thick round.
Cut into 12 wedges, and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.***
Bake 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom.

* Per my sister's suggestion, I replaced the raisens with frozen blueberries.  You could really use anything that satisfies your taste buds.
**  Freeze the butter and grate it into the mixture with a cheese grater.  This helps to "cut in."
***  I like the idea of a round scone better than a triangle (who knows why?).  I use a circle cookie cutter or the mouth of a glass to form circles (and my 4 year old daughter loves to turn them into hearts with her own cookie cutter).

Fudge Mint Brownies

My sister introduced me to Pinterest a few months ago. The first time I logged in their servers were having some problems and I told my sister "This Pinterest is so dumb." She told me that just because I didn't understand how it worked didn't mean that it was dumb. Glad she shoved that in my face because I LOVE Pinterest now.

Thank you, Glorious Treats (via Pinterest), for your Fudge Mint Brownies!