I'm pregnant. That is all. :)
Just kidding, that's not all. I'm about 4 weeks along based on the timing...there's really no other possible way that I am any further along. But far enough along anyway. I keep saying I'm not going to tell anyone, but it's really hard to keep my mouth shut. Oh well. :)
Started vitamins yesterday. I have my first appointment in August. So far so good - I've been waking up at 4:30 in the morning for no apparent reason. So this morning I forced my husband to get up with me and go for a walk. Then I came back, took a shower, made pumpkin fluff and am now boiling some pasta for my lunch today.
At this point, baby is the size of a poppyseed. Interesting how it has somehow made my boobs hurt and made me have uncontrollable gas already. Gross.
Have a fantastic day.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Pink Lemonade + Cake = Pink Lemonade Cupcakes!!
I love a lot of things about summer. I love lemonade, but I feel like it's just not something you can make in the winter because it doesn't taste as good. I made some fresh squeezed lemonade a few weeks ago for a July 4th get-together with my in-laws, and that turned out pretty good. It's always best to sweeten it with a simple syrup so that you don't have any grainy sugar that remains undissolved. As a side note, here's what I did:
Mix together & serve on ice with lemon slices and mint leaves!
1 cup of fresh squeezed lemonade (about 8-10 lemons)
4 cups of water
Lemon syrup (see below)
Lemon syrup:
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
zest from two lemons
Combine ingredients and bring to a boil on the stove, then reduce to a simmer. Let simmer until reduced to 1 cup. Strain out the lemon zest and discard (FYI - my husband ate it instead and said it was good).
Mix in with your water and lemon juice. Add ice to the pitcher if you are going to serve immediately, otherwise just put in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
Now onto cupcakes.
I love pink lemonade and I don't know what they add to it to make it pink. I am convinced it isn't food coloring because it actually tastes different to me than normal lemonade. Maybe it's a psychological thing. In any case, I love all things pink, including lemonade.
I volunteered to make cake for a friend's wedding picnic this past weekend. Being in the middle of July, I am still thinking about lemonade. It's HOT out. I couldn't possibly do a cake with frosting because no matter what I made, it would not hold up in the heat. And nobody likes fondant. I suppose I could have opted for an Italian meringue frosting, but I'm lazy and I didn't begin baking until Friday night (and the picnic was the following day).
So I opted for small desserts. I made mint brownie bites, almond cupcakes with raspberry cream cheese filling (which, by the way, I handpicked the raspberries, oh SNAP!!), and pink lemonade cupcakes. Why pink lemonade cupcakes? Well, why not? I they sounded pretty and it seemed like they'd look pretty, and if I could get them to taste like pink lemonade, then it would be a huge success (to me anyway, because I wanted to eat them).
Running short on time, I'll admit I used boxed cake mix. But to be honest, it holds up really nice when making wedding cakes by adding a few modifications. In any case, here's what I did:
1 box of classic white cake mix (I used Pillsbury)
4 egg whites
1 and 1/3 cup of frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed to room temperature.
Bake as directed. I did cupcakes.
For the frosting, I used royal icing, but modified it so it wouldn't turn out hard and crusty, like dried glue. It set up really nice, almost like fondant. It did, however, melt in the heat...but it was super good. It's sort of like a combination of meringue and royal icing.
Modified Royal Icing:
-3 cups powdered sugar
-4 egg whites (you may only need two, but I used reconstituted powdered egg white so I ended up using enough to equal out to be 4 based on what the directions said. Then again, I didn't measure it very well so....)
-pink lemonade concentrate (the amount is based on how the consistency looks. Start out with 1/4 cup and add a tablespoon at a time until the icing reaches the desired consistency for what you are looking for. I prefer a thicker meringue like texture rather than a liquid Elmer's glue texture, but that's just me).
Mix in your Kitchenaid stand mixer (or using a hand mixer, whichever you have) with the whisk attachment on medium/high until you are happy. I kept it going until it had soft peaks. If you want it pinker, add a SMALL dot of red food coloring. I also added some lemon zest because I was feeling saucy!!! I think that the cupcakes look best with this icing if you only fill the cake liners up enough to where you still have some room after they have baked.. that way when you add the frosting, it ends up pretty even with the top of the liner. See the picture if that doesn't make sense.
Mix together & serve on ice with lemon slices and mint leaves!
1 cup of fresh squeezed lemonade (about 8-10 lemons)
4 cups of water
Lemon syrup (see below)
Lemon syrup:
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
zest from two lemons
Combine ingredients and bring to a boil on the stove, then reduce to a simmer. Let simmer until reduced to 1 cup. Strain out the lemon zest and discard (FYI - my husband ate it instead and said it was good).
Mix in with your water and lemon juice. Add ice to the pitcher if you are going to serve immediately, otherwise just put in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
Now onto cupcakes.
I love pink lemonade and I don't know what they add to it to make it pink. I am convinced it isn't food coloring because it actually tastes different to me than normal lemonade. Maybe it's a psychological thing. In any case, I love all things pink, including lemonade.
I volunteered to make cake for a friend's wedding picnic this past weekend. Being in the middle of July, I am still thinking about lemonade. It's HOT out. I couldn't possibly do a cake with frosting because no matter what I made, it would not hold up in the heat. And nobody likes fondant. I suppose I could have opted for an Italian meringue frosting, but I'm lazy and I didn't begin baking until Friday night (and the picnic was the following day).
So I opted for small desserts. I made mint brownie bites, almond cupcakes with raspberry cream cheese filling (which, by the way, I handpicked the raspberries, oh SNAP!!), and pink lemonade cupcakes. Why pink lemonade cupcakes? Well, why not? I they sounded pretty and it seemed like they'd look pretty, and if I could get them to taste like pink lemonade, then it would be a huge success (to me anyway, because I wanted to eat them).
Running short on time, I'll admit I used boxed cake mix. But to be honest, it holds up really nice when making wedding cakes by adding a few modifications. In any case, here's what I did:
1 box of classic white cake mix (I used Pillsbury)
4 egg whites
1 and 1/3 cup of frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed to room temperature.
Bake as directed. I did cupcakes.
For the frosting, I used royal icing, but modified it so it wouldn't turn out hard and crusty, like dried glue. It set up really nice, almost like fondant. It did, however, melt in the heat...but it was super good. It's sort of like a combination of meringue and royal icing.
Modified Royal Icing:
-3 cups powdered sugar
-4 egg whites (you may only need two, but I used reconstituted powdered egg white so I ended up using enough to equal out to be 4 based on what the directions said. Then again, I didn't measure it very well so....)
-pink lemonade concentrate (the amount is based on how the consistency looks. Start out with 1/4 cup and add a tablespoon at a time until the icing reaches the desired consistency for what you are looking for. I prefer a thicker meringue like texture rather than a liquid Elmer's glue texture, but that's just me).
Mix in your Kitchenaid stand mixer (or using a hand mixer, whichever you have) with the whisk attachment on medium/high until you are happy. I kept it going until it had soft peaks. If you want it pinker, add a SMALL dot of red food coloring. I also added some lemon zest because I was feeling saucy!!! I think that the cupcakes look best with this icing if you only fill the cake liners up enough to where you still have some room after they have baked.. that way when you add the frosting, it ends up pretty even with the top of the liner. See the picture if that doesn't make sense.
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