Cherry Limeade Cupcake

Pinterest has made me a cupcake fanatic.  I have always loved cupcakes, but now I just can't get enough of them.  There are so many flavor, so many cakes, so many frosting flavors.  I have no idea how I'm going to maintain my weight if I don't continue working out EVERY DAY!

These yummy things I found at Annie's Eats and it may be one of my favorite cupcakes ever.  It is just the right amount of sweet and tart combined.  And anything topped with a maraschino cherry has to be fabulous.

Cherry Limeade Cupcakes

Yield: 24 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

3 cups cake flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 cup butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. limeade concentrate

3 eggs

3/4 cup milk (I used 1%)

For the lime syrup:

3/4 cup limeade concentrate

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

For the frosting:

3 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 tbsp. (or more) maraschino cherry juice

red food coloring

For decorating:

maraschino cherries

Directions:

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line two muffin pans with paper liners.  In a medium bowl combine the cake flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.  Stir together and set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth.  Add the sugar and beat on medium-high speed until creamed.  Add in the limeade concentrate and mix to incorporate.  Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl between additions.  Add in the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.  Mix ingredients just long enough to incorporate but no longer.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners.  Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pans for 5-10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack over wax paper to cool completely.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, whisk together the limeade concentrate and confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl to make the lime syrup.  Poke several holes (at least 6) in the top of each cupcake with a skewer and pour the syrup over the cupcakes, allowing it to soak in. (The more you use the moister the cake).

To make the frosting, combine the confectioners’ sugar, butter and maraschino cherry juice in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Mix on low speed until sugar is incorporated, then increase to medium-high speed and beat until smooth.  Add more maraschino cherry juice as needed to achieve desired texture.  Add red food coloring if desired.

Frost cooled cupcakes.  Garnish with lime slices and maraschino cherries, if desired.

Yummy Pesto Sauce

This is just a one day pick from my garden.  I have had the best luck this year with everything but my tomatoes.  In fact I have more basil than I know what to do with, so I've been making pesto.  I absolutely love pesto and I was so happy to find out that you can make it with other nuts, not just pine nuts.  I have pecans and walnuts on hand all of the time, but not pine nuts.  This pesto recipe worked great and I loved the flavor.

• 
  
• Fresh Pesto Sauce
• 
  
• 3 cups packed fresh basil leaves
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 
  
• Combine in a food processor.
• Blend until smooth.
• Enjoy.

Stuck in the Intro

I had tried to read The Pillars of the Earth twice, and both times I was so bogged down by the introduction that I just moved on to a different book.  I had no idea why people were so interested in this book.

On my 3rd attempt at reading it, because I had just finished

Half Broke Horses, which is a fantastic read too, and did not want to research which book to read next, just picked one on the Kindle.  So I skipped the introduction and was hooked by the very first page.  What an amazing book this was about dreams and goals and facing down your demons...even when they continued to resurface.  I was so enthralled with it, that I was not ready to have it end.  In the 1100's life was so much different than it is today, and yet you can see that people struggle with life no matter what the year is.  Life always comes full circle, and I really enjoyed reading a book that fulfilled that promise, even when at times it seemed like things were too bleak to ever come around.
What a great read, and I am excited to start on his second  book about this place!

Disappointing Endings

I have been reading so many good blogs and websites lately, that it sometimes cuts into my novels, but I've managed to go through 5 novels this last month.  Happiness is having time to read in the sun as your children and their friends play in the sandbox, swim, run through the sprinklers or whatever else seems to keep them entertained.   

Ever finish a great book, only to be disappointed that it ended?  That happens to me a lot, especially when I feel like there may be more to the story that the author should have got out.  Books need more sequels like movies seem to overuse but always want to do if the first one was great.

Reading The Lantern was suppose to be similar to reading The Thirteenth Tale and I always love to read a good ghost story. I am not much of a scary movie girl, but love to read them.  

The book is about a couple that move out to the country and purchase a run down cottage and farm.  The isolation that ends up occurring is strange but predictable in such a remote location.  The main character is less likable since she seems so willing to just give up everything to be with her fiance.  She seems obnoxiously able to go about living a life that she doesn't really enjoy, because of her fiance.  Yuck.  The flashbacks to the ghost are much more entertaining and interesting.  Here is a woman who is strong, is willing to stand up for herself and even thought she is not always willing to accept the truth right away, comes around to figuring out what is right and what isn't.   It wasn't nearly as scary or as suspenseful as The Thirteenth Tale, but it was worth reading...until the end...and then the author seemed to just run out of steam.  I needed a much more exciting ending...but that's just me.

Before I Go To Sleep was so good.  It's the story of a woman who loses her memory.  I was so enthralled and could not wait to see what new things she discovered each day she woke up and read her journal.  This book was hard to put down, because you knew she was on the verge of figuring something out...but the ending, again was disappointing.  Very anticlimactic, even though the actual story line was good.  I'm not sure how an author can keep you so engaged only to make it seem like the end just wasn't exciting enough.

Enjoy reading...but sometimes I feel like I should be an editor!

Zucchini Zucchini and more Zucchini (Cakes and Brownies)

So excited that my garden is doing so well this summer.  Had no idea that I would end up with so much zucchini so fast.  So I have been making zucchini recipes like there is no tomorrow.

Zucchini Brownies

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups  sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees 

Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan

Mix oil, sugar and vanilla.

 Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. 

Fold in the zucchini and walnuts. 

Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes

I topped them with frosting.

Zucchini Cakes

• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Combine the zucchini, eggs, onion, flour, mozzarella cheese, and salt. 
• Stir well.
• Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. 
• Drop zucchini mixture by heaping tablespoonfuls.  
• Cook for a few minutes on each side until golden.
• Serve with marinara sauce.

Fastest and Easiest Cookies Ever

What to do with two children who are too hot to keep playing outside but you still have 2 hours to kill before you get to leave for the party?  You get them in the kitchen to bake....or actually, you get them in the kitchen to not bake.  I had all these leftover packages of plain instant oatmeal, the ones that come in the box of Quaker Oats from Costco, and had no idea what do to with them, but didn't want to throw them away.

So today we made the easiest and fastest cookies ever.  So easy an 8 year old and a 2 year old can do it!  Love love love this recipe.

No Bake Cookies

1/2 cup milk

1 cube butter

micro 1 min

add

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

Micro 1 1/2 min

Stir

Micro 2 1/2 min

Add

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup peanut butter

mix until smooth

add

2 1/2 cups oatmeal

drop onto wax paper

Enjoy!

Ready to Run

My 1st run by myself that I tracked.

I am so excited.  I actually was able to run 5 miles of hills doing 7:30 minute miles.  It was fabulous and  exhausting all at the same time.  I really am hoping that I'm going to look back at this post in 6 months and be embarrassed that I was willing to post this mileage at this time...but right now I am so happy to be running so hard!  It's difficult to really gauge workouts when you are stuck on a treadmill, or forced to run with a jogging stroller.  This run I did all by myself and it really wasn't that bad.  I say that because it took me about 20 minutes to work myself up to doing it.  I am so use to running with Scott or the kids, I just didn't know if I really wanted to run 40 minutes all by myself.  I actually listened to music, which I think helped for some of it, but was very distracting when I lost one earpiece halfway through my run and had to juggle it back around into my ear.

We've been talking about running a half marathon, just to say we did it.  I'm worried about running 13 miles because of my knee and because I really have a hard time pacing myself.  Scott helps keep me on a good pace, even though he ran 4 miles at 7:30 on the treadmill last week.  We are going to get a babysitter and go for a 10 mile run next week.  I figure we'll try to run it around 8:30 minute miles, but I don't know if either of us are going to make the whole 10 miles.  Running for 40 minutes seems like forever...not sure how it's going to feel to run for an hour and a half.