Happy Holidays everyone! I love this time of year. Its the time for soups and snowmen, presents and pies... My family and a few friends are doing a cookie exchange. I made Dark Chocolate Cashew Brittle cookies. First off I had to make cashew brittle. I have never made any type of brittle before so I followed trusty Betty Crocker and made her recipe. The first batch burnt, so I had to make it again. It turned out buttery and yummy.. Here is the brittle before being added to the cookies, and after. Everyone gets a plate of 6 cookies and a bonus of cashew brittle for them to snack on.

Please excuse the blurry picture, it is from my phone. The cookies are chewy and chocolatey and delicious. If you want the recipe, let me know...

Charlie Brown Birthday Party

My Niece Isabel turned 1 on the 3rd and my Nephew Easton turned 1 on the 7th. If you are doing the math, they were born 4 days apart. That was a crazy week at the hospital. Isabel had a minnie mouse themed party and her daddy made her smash cake. Smash cakes are my favorite to make. It gives me the opportunity to be silly and creative in a smaller size. Easton had a Charlie Brown themed party (he looks like Charlie Brown), and my sister let me make his smash cake. Here it is...

My sister and I also made him cupcakes. My sister baked them, and I helped to decorate. Here they are...

I bought the figurines from Ebay. Made a boxed (gasp) cake mix. Stacked 2 round cakes and cut them into the house shape. Covered in canned (double gasp) icing.
Hey, no judging. We were out until 10:30pm, the night before the party, cheering on my brothers basketball team. I was up until 2am making and fretting over this cake, even though I cheated on it. My nephew loved it, as you can see...

French Toast Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream and CANDIED BACON!!!

Ive gone vegetarian before, for months on end, and the thing that always brings me back to meat is bacon. Darn you, you delicious slice of pork heaven! I took my daughter to the local cookie shop here and they had these cupcakes. It was a french toast cupcake with maple icing and candied bacon on top. I about fell out of my chair when I tried it! My first thought was that they were going to be gross, but believe me when I say that this is as close to heaven as you will get here on earth. I haven't had tried to re-create them until tonight. I WON!!!

These mini bites of heaven are like an orgasm in your mouth.
First thing you need to do is to candy the bacon. It sounds difficult but it is super easy. Don't Panic.
Things you will need:
Bacon (duh) I don't use the maple bacon, but its up to you
brown sugar
cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

Preheat oven to 350
place your uncooked bacon strips on the cookie sheet. Be sure it isn't touching.
Spoon some brown sugar on top of each slice and spread it thin with the back of a spoon.
Put your bacon in the oven for 10-12 minutes
take it out and flip each slice. Again make sure its not touching
put it back in for another 10-12 minutes. WATCH IT CLOSE OR IT WILL BURN!!!
take it out of the oven and move to a cooling rack with paper towels underneath. As it cools it will harden enough for you to cut it into pieces with a knife.

For the cupcakes
What you will need:
2 C flour
1Tbsp baking powder
1tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
1/3C applesauce
1 1/3C white sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
2/3C milk

Preheat oven to 350. line your mini cupcake pan with cute little cupcake wrappers. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl beat applesauce, sugar, and vanilla until well mixed. Add eggs one at a time, beating for at least 1 minute after each egg. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full.
Bake for around 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center, comes out clean.

Icing
What you will need:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
1/4 tsp salt
4-6 tsp maple syrup
1Tbsp vanilla extract
3-4 cups powdered sugar

Beat the butter until is is mixed. Add vanilla and salt, mix lightly. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and mix on low until it is incorporated and mixed well. If you put your mixer on high, the powdered sugar will fly everywhere! Not like I experienced this first hand or anything.... After it is mixed well, add your syrup and let the mixer go on high until it is nice and fluffy. If your mixture is too thin, add more powdered sugar, a little at a time, until it is thick enough to hold its shape.

Now for the fun part. Ice your cupcakes, I like doing it with a piping bag. Top with the crumbled candy bacon. Enjoy.

Here I am, sitting on the couch with my husband, reminiscing about how naive we were as new parents. I remember when my son was born, I made my husband write down every diaper change, the color of the poo, the amount, texture, and whether there was pee or not. I also made him write down how much he ate and how often. How crazy is that?!? I remember thinking that breastfeeding would be easy. It wasn't. My son was a tongue sucker in the womb. He was used to having his tongue on the roof of his mouth, so breastfeeding was impossible with him. He wouldn't latch on. I sat in the hospital room, crying and feeling like the worlds worst mom because women all over the world just do it, and it seems so easy and natural. Oh how wrong I was. I failed and now I understand that as a mom, you have many failures, many trials and errors, many mistakes but also many celebrations, laughs, and some cringe worthy moments. Its a ride, and you just have to hold on, and enjoy every second of it, or try to. You have to let go of some things, and embrace others.

The dreaded cold has hit our house again. A few weeks ago my son and I were sick with this dumb cold, now my husband and our daughter are going through it. It just doesn't seem to go away. When I start feeling better and think that it's finally leaving, BAM, it comes back. I am still coughing up junk.

Update on my last post...
I contacted Safety 1st about the crappy locks that I bought and they are now requesting the receipts, which I don't have. So I guess we will see what they are going to do.

My nephews first birthday is coming up and I am making his smash cake. He is having a Peanuts themed birthday party and his little smash cake is going to be Snoopys dog house with Snoopy and Woodstock sitting on top. I will post pictures when it is made.

I went to the cardiologist today and had an ultrasound of my heart done, and now I have to wear a Holter Monitor for a month. Hopefully they can find out why I have been having these heart palpitations for 2 years now. I hope its nothing bad. Fingers crossed. Sorry this is short, but I don't have much time tonight. I am exhausted.

Hurricane kids....

My kids are now 2 and 3 and are both big handfuls. When they aren't trying to kill each other, they are working together to destroy something. Currently they are sharing a rooml This summer we will either be adding onto our house or trying to get a bigger one, I can't wait and neither can they. I've had to flip their doorknob around so that I can lock it from the outside. This might sound barbaric, but I can't tell you how many times I have woken up at 3am and found them sitting IN the toilet water, or painting the walls with applesauce. I assure you that my kids aren't abused or punished in barbaric ways. I recently bought them a new long dresser, 3 drawers up each side. They kept climbing on top and jumping off of it, like mini Evil Knievels. No matter how many times they were scolded, they kept doing it. One day during "naptime", my daughter had pulled out the drawers and climbed them, the dresser tipped forward and fell on her. Luckily there was a ride on train in the way and it stopped the dresser before the whole weight of it crushed her. The dresser is now in the closet with "childproof locks" on them. What a joke these things are. Here is what they look like in and out of the package

They are pretty hard to unlock with one hand, and my kids can't figure out how to unlatch them. However the sticky tabs aren't sticky enough and with a quick pull of the drawer, they pop off. What a waste of $30 ( I needed 6 of them). I don't see these leaving any glue on your cabinets since they don't stick well in the first place. I am on the search for better locks, while trying to avoid drilling into the dresser. My kids used to love putting eachother in the dryer, until I purchased these godsends....

These are awesome. They stick to your washer and dryer and the glue actually sticks! Don't get your finger between the lock and the door of your appliance though. I speak from experience on that one. Yowch!!
My son figured out how to unlock his door from the inside and they were up at the crack of dawn this morning. They went into the kitchen, drew on the walls and floor with purple marker, fed the dog an entire pack of hotdogs, helped themselves to applesauce, and spilled pumpkin seeds everywhere. Their room was a complete disaster. Their drawers were open and the contents were emptied all over their room. I am bagging up all of their toys and they can earn them back. Im a mean mommy.

Catch up with me crazy

So... if you are reading this, thank you. The last time we had a chat, it was March 2012, I had just gotten married, and was in full newlywed bliss. We went to Maui later that month and spent a week in paradise. It was surreal and I didn't want to leave, but I definitely recommend it.Our first day in Maui and we rented some snorkel equipment, and after some trial and error, we got in the ocean and ended up swimming along side a sea turtle. If you ever get that opportunity, jump at it. I am not rich, in fact I hadn't even seen the ocean until our honeymoon. I am a small town girl and never thought I would ever be able to take a trip like that. I love my husband!
I threw my sister a baby shower. She was having a little boy and the theme of his room is owls, so I made these cake pops.

They were chocolate cake, with chocolate icing and dipped in chocolate. Perfect for a pregnant woman, right?

 Then my son turned 3, and keeping with tradition, I made his cake. He had a dinosaur themed party and here is his cake. The Logansaurus Rex

This kid goes insane for anything dinosaur or super hero related. He loved it and everyone had a blast. The head and tail of this dinosaur are made of rice crispies, the hands and feet are straight fondant and the body is the cake. It was a challenge to get the fondant to work with me, without tearing.
A month later was my daughters 2nd birthday and here is a picture of her birthday cupcakes.

I had to make her cupcake tower because I couldnt find one for mini cupcakes. :-(
Since my daughters birthday, I havn't done much baking, even though I want to. At this moment I am sick with a horrendous cold and sinus infection.
Thank you for reading and I will post again soon.