Valentine's Day | 2017

Hello Everyone,

It's once again Valentines Day! A day that rolls around once a year which allows us to celebrate the love of our life.  Although rooted in a tainted past of religion and martyred saints, it transformed in the 14th century through popularity to represent romantic love.  In the 18th century England, it became an occasion where lovers exchange gifts as a romantic symbol.  Today it has become as commercial as the next holiday, but you cannot escape the fun opportunity to shower your true loves with candy and flowers.  We chose to celebrate with chocolate cupcakes, chocolate covered strawberries, and wonderful fresh flowers.  I hope and pray this Valentine's Day that you get to celebrate with your true love and it finds you well!

God Bless,

Trina

Sapphire Jubilee

Hello all!

This week the Queen of England and the Commonwealth is celebrating the longest reign of a living monarch in her country. They are celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's 65 years of reign with the sapphire jubilee. We thought we would honor this momentous festivity in our way by having a spot of tea.

The reason I found this occasion worth noting and celebrating is because I admire the Queen so dearly. Upon a closer study of her you will find commitment and duty at its finest. She is extremely disciplined and well poised. Inheriting a job you can never retire from would be a daunting task, but not for Her Majesty the Queen. With a smile and a wave she proudly represents the head of Her people's land, and land abroad, of a legacy so refined it would make anyone take notice.

We selected some light sandwiches, various fruit, cakes, and sweets for our celebration. Placing in fresh flowers, books, and magazines added an opportunity for celebratory conversation in the Queen's honor. We also added in blue accent color to represent the sapphire achievement. Finally, we chose some cinnamon tea from The Greenbrier to add to the charm. Our tea was quite lovely and we had a jolly good time. Here is to a wonderful 65 years of reigning to the Queen, with more wonderful years to come!

God Bless and God save the Queen,
Trina

Apple Pie Cupcakes | How to

Hello Friends!

It is finally fall and autumnal festivities are creeping up everywhere. Recently I missed our semi-local apple festival and was completely bummed about it. They normally have such amazing apple pies at the festival and since I missed out on them, I decided to bake some cupcake style!

Below is the recipe I came up with. Personally, I think this is one of the most simple recipes on the blog because you basically only have to make the cake and cut out the leaf on top. There is no icing to make because I opted for whipped cream instead since that is what is normally on top of apple pies. Let me know what you think about it in the comments below!

Recipe:

           Ingredients for cake:

          - 1 white box cake 

          - 1 1/4 cup water

          - 1/4 cup vegetable oil

          - 4 egg whites

          - 1/4 cup sour cream

          - 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

          - 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

          - 1 can of apple pie filling

          - 12 inch pie crust

          - can of whipped cream (keep refrigerated until use)

          - cinnamon-sugar mixture to garnish (4 teaspoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon combined)

         Directions

          - Mix together cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, water, sour cream, nutmeg, and cinnamon until well blended.

          - Pour batter into lined cupcake tins until the batter covers the bottom of the tin. Add in a spoonful of apple pie filling into each cupcake tin. If the apple slices are too large, cut them in half before placing them in the cupcake tin. Then pour batter over the apple filling to cover up the apple slices in each of the cupcakes. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-28 minutes.

          - While the cupcakes are in the oven, place the pie crust on parchment paper and cut out leaf shapes. I did this with a knife and made super simple oval ones making sure to slice leaf veins in the center. Bake the leaf cutouts for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees F.

          - Once the cupcakes are cool, spray whipped cream on the top. Then sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture on top to garnish. Finally, place a leaf cut out into the cupcake.

          Additional Comments

          - Wait until time to serve before decorating the cupcakes.

          - You can cut out other shapes from the pie crust other than leaves!

My brother and I also filmed a baking tutorial. This time he was a astronaut from space, check it out:

Happy Baking,

Tilly

Root Beer Float Cupcakes | How to

Hello Friends,

One of my summer bucket list items was to have a root beer float. This may seem silly but it has been YEARS since I have had one, and thus needed to rectify the situation. Then I got to thinking, I need a cupcake version of root beer float! That train of thought led to the following recipe.

Recipe:

           Ingredients for cake:

          - 1 mix of Betty Crocker Chocolate Cake Mix

          - 1 1/4 cup water

          - 1/2 cup vegetable oil

          - 4 egg whites

          - 1/4 cup sour cream

          - 2 teaspoons of root beer concentrate

          - 1/4 cup root beer topping or actual root beer

           Ingredients for icing:

          - 1 package cream cheese (softened)

          - 1 stick of butter (softened)

          - 4 to 5 cups of powdered sugar

          - 1 teaspoon of root beer concentrate

          - cherries to garnish

         Directions

          - Mix together cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, water, sour cream, root beer topping, and root beer concentrate until well blended.

          - Pour batter into lined cupcake tins and bake at 350 degrees F for 25-28 minutes. Mixture should produce 20 cupcakes if each one is filled 2/3 of the way full with batter.

          - To make the icing mix together the cream cheese, root beer extract, and butter. Once blended, start adding in powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. I normally use between 4-5 cups, or half a bag. 

          - Once the cupcakes are cool you may begin icing them. I wanted the icing to look like a scoop of ice cream. To achieve this I used an ice cream scoop to scoop the icing on the cupcakes. I'm not sure if I like how it turned out, any thoughts? 

          - Finally, place a cherry on top to complete the root beer float look.

          Additional Comments

          - You may want to wait until serving to put the cherries on.

          - Since the icing has cream cheese in it, you should store in the fridge.

My brother and I also filmed a baking tutorial. This time he was a cowboy from the Wild Wild West, check it out:

Happy Baking,

Tilly

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes | How To

Hello Friends!

With all of these hot days we have been having, refreshments are a must! Since I had some pink lemonade left over from my birthday dinner, I decided to make some pink lemonade cupcakes. I mean.. Cupcakes are refreshments too, right??

Recipe:

           Ingredients for cake:

          - 1 mix of Betty Crocker White Cake Mix

          - 1 1/4 cup water

          - 1/3 cup vegetable oil

          - 1/4 cup sour cream

          - 4 egg whites

          - pink food coloring

          - 1 1/2 teaspoons of pure lemon extract

          - 3 tablespoons of pink lemonade drink mix

           Ingredients for icing:

          - 1 cup shortening

          - 1 stick of butter (softened)

          - 4 to 5 cups of powdered sugar

          - 1 tablespoon of milk

          - pink food coloring

          - 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract (optional)

          - 1-2  teaspoons of pure lemon extract

          - 2 tablespoons of pink lemonade drink mix

          - 2-3 lemons to garnish

          - 4-5 straws to decorate

         Directions

          - Mix together cake mix, eggs, sour cream, vegetable oil, water, pink lemonade, and lemon extract. When mixture is blended well, mix in food coloring until the desired color is achieved.

          - Pour batter into lined cupcake tins and bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes. Mixture should produce 16-17 cupcakes if each one is filled 2/3 of the way full with batter.

          - While cupcakes are baking, slice the lemons and cut each slice in half. When finished, place lemon slices in to the fridge to keep cool until it is time to garnish the cupcakes.

          - To make the icing, mix shortening, vanilla extract, and butter together. Once blended, add in lemon extract (I started with one teaspoon and added the second later) and pink lemonade. Then start adding in powdered sugar a little at a time. I added in 1/2 cup at a time and used 4 or 4 1/2 cups (I lost count!). When I finished mixing in the powdered sugar, the mixture was too thick so I decided to add in the milk and it made the icing a lot smoother! Lastly, you'll want to add in the food coloring and mix well.

          - Once the cupcakes are cool, decorate with icing, lemon slices, and straws.

          Additional Comments

          - If you're not serving immediately, keep the cupcakes in the fridge so the lemon slices don't sour.

My brother and I also filmed a baking tutorial. He was back at it with his shenanigans as a ninja, check it out:

Happy Baking,

Tilly

Birthday Magic | 25th Birthday Picnic

Hello Friends!

So it has been a hot minute since we have posted anything thanks to all the summer festivities that have been going on. The most recent summer festivity, my 25th birthday!! As you may remember last year I celebrated with a Lobster Bake. This year I wanted a more laid back picnic themed family dinner, and here is the result!

PICNIC VIBE

I 100% knew that I wanted to eat on the ground, but also knew I didn't want my food in my lap. We remedied this situation by boosting a large wooden pallet up with 4 concrete blocks. Since pallets have big gaps between the wood, we set another thin flat surface on top so our drinks, etc. wouldn't fall through. To cover it up we used sheets that were floral, pastel, and light. I didn't want any heavy colors weighing down the party atmosphere, so white based sheets were a must.

If a birthday picnic was a recipe, a tree would be the secret ingredient. I know this might seem silly, but a tree is integral to creating shade, hanging things on, and just all around looking cute in the background.

EXTRA PADDING NEVER HURTS

For seating we used outdoor cushions, but normal pillows would have worked fine too. We used these ones because we have outdoor furniture they go on and were easily accessible. I also added a couple throw pillows, simply for décor purposes.

BIRTHDAY ATTIRE

For my birthday outfit I wore a long dress from Rue 21 to match the vibe of the dinner. I also made a floral crown with fresh flowers (p.s. Kroger's fresh flowers are sooooo much nicer than Walmart's fresh flowers). I used green wire, green floral tape, and pink and gold ribbon from Pat Catan's to make the floral crown. I premade it and kept it in the fridge until it was time to wear it. The crown surprised me and stayed looking fresh for TWO DAYS afterwards!! How crazy was that!?

THE MOST IMPORTANT PART

For dinner I wanted my favorite food: shrimp, asparagus, pasta, and sweet potatoes (fun fact: sweet potatoes are my favorite food... like EVER!!). I also wanted pink lemonade because I feel like its cousin, yellow lemonade, gets used a lot more and I feel sorry for pink lemonade. Yes, I understand that it's irrational for me to feel sorry for something that's inanimate, but tell my feelings that.

Okay, so cake. I wanted TONS of candles. Little candles, big candles, sparklers. The photo above where Rem and I are making O's with our mouths is the moment when a sparkler caught fire literally took our breath away. It was simply stunning!

LIGHTING 

The star of the show was definitely the lighting. When the sun finally sank past the horizon, the fairy lights had their moment to create magic. Literally, it was magical. I bought 4 battery operated paper lanterns to hang from the tree. They created a soft ambient lighting that complimented the Thomas Edison fairy lights. I bought 2 strands of the Thomas Edison fairy lights from Kroger (ON SALE for $10 each #BargainShopper). We also had torches in buckets of gravel to string everything together. The torches were filled with bug repellent and were a must to keep the bugs away.

FINALE

To finish off the night, we set up the outdoor theater and watch A Royal Night Out on the side of the house. All in all the picnic dinner theater night was a huge success! I loved every minute of it and cannot wait to recreate another similar summer night!

Any questions? Comment them below!

Tilly

Mothers Day | 2016

Hello Everyone,

Although our Mothers are near and dear to our hearts everyday, we have a special day set aside every year in May to celebrate them.  As the long winters end and the smell of spring is in the air, we join together to honor the greatest women in our lives.  Mothers deserve so much for are their hard work, dedication, and grace they show to the ones they love.  For this reason we set up a few sweet items that any Mom would like to have for breakfast to let her know that she is truley favored and highly blessed on this special day.  One of the most iconic ways to tell someone they are special are with fresh flowers! Fresh flowers are inexpensive and vastly accessible during this time of year. In addition to flowers, we set up some strawberry pancakes, cupcakes, and muffins.  Garnished everything with fresh strawberrys and a few extra added touches.  Last but not least we added in a little spot of tea.  Tea will make any place setting feel distinguished and special.  This is a wonderful opportunity to find out your Mother's favorite tea and suprise her with it on Mothers Day.  We pray blessings on all dedicated Mothers and hope this inspires you and all Mothers out their on their wonderful day.

 

God Bless,

 

Trina Belle