You Might Remember Me...

I use to post here often..

Yeah yeah I know I haven't posted anything in a really long time. Yet somehow I managed to gain 5 followers! Hmm.. Maybe I need to take month long breaks more often! Just kidding.. maybe..

I've had so much craziness going on lately. My goal for this blog this year was to post more recipes and less life stuff, but I can't afford to go out and buy stuff to bake something different every week.. My poor shiney new mixer is feeling very neglected!

For those of you who don't know, my husband is no longer working, and has not worked in quite some time. He is going to school full time to hopefully better our futures. He is doing very well in school and just got accepted to one of the local Universities!! But him not working has put a strain on our financial situation. During the winter at the Zoo everyone gets their hours cut. So my pay check saw quite a pay-cut! Luckily spring is almost here and that means more people coming out to see the animals!

I've started selling Avon to try and help bring in some extra income. I've had a few orders here and there, but its going very slowly! It can only get better right?!

The only other major thing that has happened since I last blogged, is the fact that I had a major blowing out with my sister. I'm talking about the sister that I pretty much moved to Texas for. No, I'm not going to go into details to respect her privacy, but lets just say I don't expect to hear from her ever again. Its been since the middle of Jan, that I last spoke to her. Her last words to me were to tell me where I can shove my perfect life.

So other than all that life is grand!

I'm thinking about doing another giveaway.. not sure yet.. Any ideas?

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I had a ton of frosting left over from the sugar cookies, so I figured some carrot cake would go nicely with cream cheese frosting. Except I didn't have enough left to frost a whole cake.. So cupcakes!

Plus I got to use my shiney new mixer to make the cupcakes!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Prep: 1 hour Bake: 22-26 min

Oven: 350 degrees Makes: about 30 cupcakes

4 eggs, beaten

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups finely shredded carrot* (lightly packed)

3/4 cup cooking oil

1 recipe Cream Cheese Frosting

Allow eggs to stand at room temp for 30 min. Meanwhile prepare muffin pans with liners. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large mixing bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda; set aside.

In another bowl combine eggs, carrot, and oil. Add egg mixture to flour mixture. Stir until combined. Pour batter into the prepare pans.

Bake for 22- 26 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Once cooled frost with the cream cheese frosting.

*Note: The carrots should be finely shredded or they may sink to the bottom of the cake.

Eat and Enjoy!!

Christmas Loot

First off, before I get to the Christmas loot, we had a lovely white Christmas. It started snowing early Christmas eve morning and continued to snow all day.

Sadly it was all gone by the following afternoon.. Oh, how I wish you would stay a little longer, the next time you decided to visit, Mr. Snow!!

This year our Christmas was just the two of us. My sister came over Christmas eve and left early Christmas day. Since the hubs isn't working we didn't really buy presents for each other. But we did manage to be able to exchange small gifts to each other. My wonderful hubs bought me some Disney movies to add to my collection, along with a gift card to Borders. He got all kinds of goodies in his stocking and a variety pack of popcorn kernels for the air popper. And of course I got the Disney movies my mom sent as well!

My wonderful sister got me the bestest gift ever! A Kitchen Aide mixer. It very pretty and shiny! And no, I did not hug it once it was out of the box...

Isn't she pretty? I got to use it the other day, post with pics soon to come!

My decorations were very sparse this year. Christmas came and went before I knew it so I wasn't able to do as much decorating as I would of liked to. As you can see I only decorated the top half of the tree. Thing one and Thing two (Ford and Rocky) wouldn't stay out of my tree...

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and got everything you wished for!

Sugar Cookies

Its not Christmas without sugar cookies, right? I planned on posting this before Christmas, but it snuck up on me before I knew what was happening... I've also included the recipe for the cream cheese icing I used.

Sugar Cookies

Prep: 30 min Chill: 30 min

Bake: 7 min per batch Oven: 375 degrees

2/3 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 salt

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl beat butter on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with mixer. Stir in any remaining flour. Divide dough in half. If necessary, cover and chill dough about 30 minutes or until easy to handle.

On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough at a time until 1/8 inch thick. Using a 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter, cut dough into desired shapes. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 7 to 8 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are barely light brown. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep: 20 min Makes: about 3 3/4 cup

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla

5 1/2 to 6 cups powdered (I only used about 3 1/2 cups)

In large mixing bowl beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar to reach spreading consistency.

Use as much or little powdered sugar as you feel needed. I only used about 3 1/2 cups and found that to be a good amount for the consistency I was looking for.

Enjoy your cookies!!