Sunday, March 13, 2011

Cooking Adventures

I tried two new recipes this week and both turned out amazing! I've always enjoyed baking, but cooking is another story...I feel like you're either one or the other. I grew up making batches of cookies for my family in my free time and apparently made a name for myself. I'm not so confident when it comes to cooking, though my husband would never complain ;)...lets just say we've eaten a lot of pasta and chicken in the last two years, and I'm not even very good at THAT yet (Side note - best invention ever: crock pot)! So when someone tells me about an easy, tried and true recipe, I'm sure to give it ago. This week a friend told me to try baking chicken with mango salsa poured over it. I got the papaya mango salsa from Trader Joe's and gave it a try...WOW! I recommend it to anyone :) Easy and everyone is pleased.

Now onto baking, my true love. A couple times a week my husband will walk in the kitchen and say "I want something SWEET!" always in the same tone, hah. So I have a list of memorized recipes in my mind to jump at the chance to get in the kitchen. I also always have a pile of new recipes I'm wanting to try. Our church has a mini potluck every week after the service so people can visit and kids can get all their energy out before going home...so I figured what more perfect a setting than that to try out new desserts without having mounds of leftovers at home? This week I found a recipe for Oreo Buttercream Dream Cupcakes - YUM - complete with homemade frosting (from now on I might cut back on my love of frosting, now that I know what goes in it...a cup of shortening & two pounds of powdered sugar later and I just want to eat some celery and go for a run to detox from just looking at it). Anyway, the picture says it all, they were a hit :)

Can I just add a sweet memory I stumbled upon this week while looking through old photos? Here's a picture of my daughter a few months back at my best friend's wedding. I can't believe she used to be so small...how fast time flies! I better go scoop her up and give her a hug before she grows one more centimeter!











Cupcakes & Sweet Baby Smiles,

Nicole:)


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2 comments:

  1. NeeseMarch 13, 2011 at 9:19 PM

    Oh, my 3 favorite things...baking, photography and babies...all wrapped up into one post! Yipeeee! Knowing what was in buttercream never stopped me somehow...I use half shortening and half butter with yes, tons of 10X sugar, vanilla extract and a splash of milk to attain the perfect consistency. That's my tried and true go to for icing...has been for about 20yrs or so :-D (See junk in trunk if you don't believe me...lol) Fun stuff Nicole!!!! Smooches to Aeris!

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  2. Nicole:)March 13, 2011 at 9:23 PM

    Yeah I had already used two sticks of butter in addition to the cup of shortening, yikes! But it was SO good! The girls were helping me make the cupcakes and Miriam asked if she could have the leftover frosting...I couldn't leave a child on a sugar high for my parents like that ;)

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