Chocolate cake in a mug. Yummy!

Hi there. I am new to this blog, and I am soooo excited to start sharing ideas, tips, and even recipes. I was recently asked to do a cooking demonstration at our church's Souper Saturday. Once a year, we gather together as women, sisters, mothers and daughters, and have a day where we take classes on Genealogy, quilting, crafts and cooking. We also usually have some type of service project in the works. We call it Souper Saturday because we also have a lunch with yummy soups and delicious treats. It is so fun, and I look forward to it every year. This year, I was asked to do a cooking demonstration on recipes that are either simple to make, or have simple ingredients. I decided to make holiday rice crispy treats, white chocolate popcorn, and a yummy chocolate cake you make in the microwave in a coffee mug. The class was so fun! I use to sell Pampered Chef, and after a while I discovered that while I LOVE to teach people cooking technique's, I really didn't enjoy asking them to buy products. So teaching this class was right up my alley!
The recipes were really easy to make. For Holiday Rice Crispy treats, I made plain Rice Crispy treats (you can usually find the recipe either on the side of the box, the inside of the box, or on a bag of marshmallows). Then, I made a batch with Red Hots. I have also done this with crushed candy canes or butterscotch candies. Mmmmm. Yummy. Oh, my big tip with Rice Crispy treats, add an extra tablespoon of butter. The recipe changed a few years ago, and they decreased the butter by one tablespoon. I say, put it back in! You're making treats, not health snacks. And I recommend using real butter, not margarine.
My next recipe was white chocolate popcorn. I am not a big white chocolate fan. I find it deceiving. Chocolate should taste like chocolate, not cream. But, I digress. I was blessed to have been given a Whirly Pop a few years ago from my Sister-in-law, and I LOVE it. We make kettle corn all the time, and my hubby even adds cinnamon to it. Yum! For this recipe, I make kettle corn using 1/3 cup popcorn kernels, 1/4 c sugar, 1/4 c veg oil and 1 c white chocolate morsels that I have run through my food processor until powdery. Add everything except the chocolate to your popcorn maker, and make your kettle corn as directed on your maker. After the last kernel has popped, place your kettle corn in a large bowl, and pour your chocolate powder over the top. Mix until the chocolate is melted. Super Yummy Treat! You can also add sliced almonds. I Love It! I have also made this using peppermint white chocolate chips. It made it very....Christmasy. If you don't have a pop corn maker, I suggest you buy the Kettle Corn microwave popcorn. After you pop it, place it in a bowl, and add your chocolate powder. So easy, and delicious, and makes a nice and inexpensive neighbor gift.
My last recipe was the 5 minute chocolate cake in a mug. This was the recipe my good friend sent me:
5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug
Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).
My tips would be to one, spray the inside of your mug with cooking spray. This way your cake will tip out easier. And two, mix the ingredients in a separate bowl first, then add it to the mug. I also use a jumbo mug, but that's just my preference. I like to have this with whipped cream and hot fudge. So yummy, and more convenient when you don't want to dirty a bunch of dishes, and turn your oven on, and wait for half an hour.

I am really excited to be a part of this panel, and share my ideas and tips. Enjoy the recipes!

OK Corral Cakes

It's obvious, I enjoy making cupcakes. For Sweet and Sour's birthday we made horse cupcakes. They were a hit...obviously!
They were super easy to make, and very yummy! The cupcakes were just frosted as usual, then I added a Nutter Butter for the head, sliced small triangles of graham for the ears, attached mini M&M's for the eyes glued on with a little more icing, and then added icing hair and nostrils.

The result was a ranch's worth of tasty trailblazers! Giddyup!

Dumbledore Digits

I love me some spray paint. Oh how I adore it's trans-formative properties. Only one problem. I am hopelessly careless and do things like this when I paint: (At least I took off my wedding ring!)

Doesn't it look like I just battled ferociously in a wizard duel?
Yes, that would be so cool for Halloween, and now I know how to achieve the look, but it doesn't really work well for PTA meetings and such, but I could NOT get that paint off! I even drenched my hand in acetone! OUCH!

Then, I remembered how once upon a time I removed some Sharpie messages Sweet and Sour had doodled on the door with spray on sunblock and decided to give it a try:
VOILA! It totally worked! I was giddy excited. I didn't really want to explain my horrid hand to the Primary Presidency on Sunday. So...if you ever have a horrible something that you can't seem to get off...think about trying sunblock!

Colorful Cupcakes

I saw this idea in my Family Fun magazine...which by the way, I adore, and I thought it would loads of fun for St. Patty's day treats. It's a "End of the Rainbow" cupcake. It was a little labor intensive, but VERY easy.

First, I chose a white cake mix. I loved it's fluffy texture and the very white canvas to add coloring to. I whipped up the mix and then divided it into 5 different bowls. To the bowls I added red, yellow, blue, green, and "purple" (red and blue) food dyes.

Mix it up good. The more coloring you use, the more saturated the mixed color.

Then, I use about a tablespoon of each to in a greased WHITE cupcake liner. Do one sample cupcake first to really decide how much of each color you need.

Then bake as directed and VOILA!

They turned out SUPER fun! I recommend that you put the bulk of the color in a line around the perimeter of the cupcake to really show that rainbow effect!

Now, I know that St. Patty's is over, but I think you could adapt this in so many ways! Think about all pastels for Easter, or maybe Red, White, and Blue for the 4th...I'm dreaming of the candy corn colored cupcakes I'm going to bake for Halloween! I'm so excited! I adore me a good cupcake! They don't require any utencils or plates and they are so pretty when you color them up like this!

Wonderful Web

I'm a sucker for organization/decorating/motherhood blogs. Obviously. I just found one I think is fun to read and she has some good ideas. See if you like it too.
www.transforminghome.blogspot.com

Do you have any blogs or websites you can't live without?

Book Order Bonus

I don't know about the rest of you, but I cringe every time my children bring home book orders. Don't get me wrong, I'm a book lover to the Nth degree, I just hate thinking about how much money to let them have, what "junk" books they are going to wish for, and whether I want to store those books they are ordering instead of just renting them from the library. Usually I shove the papers aside and say, "Let's ask Daddy", which almost never happens and then the day they are due the children sob and whine and put on big pouts and I: a) give in and order them something, or b) say no and feel guilt. Both options are not the best, so I decided to try something new.

The idea hatched when I was having a particularly frustrating day. You see, I'd been struggling with the Chickies and their messy rooms for some time now. It seemed there was no way to consistently get them to tidy up before school. So, I made them a deal. If the Chickies keep their rooms clean between book orders (with a few "forgiveness" days for when we are rushed or someone is sick), when book orders come home they get to choose something.

My friends, a miracle happened after that commitment! The Chickies have kept their rooms tidy for a full month now, the rooms only take moments to clean because they are cleaned everyday, and when they brought home their book orders I was more than happy to comply! It was a HUGE win-win for all of us...and I'm not as worried about those "extra" books lying around, because I know they won't be "lying around", they'll be tucked into someone's book shelf! Yay! Hope it works for you too!

Amazing Photographer.. Win a free session!!

So the girl who took my little Kynzie's AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS 3 year pictures (see here) is doing a contest to win a free photo shoot, go to her blog.. {http://heathertelfordsphotoblog.blogspot.com}.. check out her pictures.. you will LOVE them.. and enter to win!

Heather Telford Photography

Photo Session Giveaway..!!!!

I have been having so much fun doing Pictures

and feel so blessed

to have such fun, sweet clients

that I feel it is time

to give my faithful readers/viewers a chance

to win a free session.

Here's the low down..

You get 1 entry for leaving me a comment about one thing that you look for in a photographer
or what you expect during a photo session etc..

You get 2 entry's if you ToTaLlY brag about this on your blog to share the giveaway love.. :)

Finally you get 3 whoppin entry's if you joinHeather Telford PhotographyonFacebook and suggest me to all your compadres....

Alrighty then

Ready...set...go...

you have until Feb 5th at midnight..

and

thankyou

again to making 2009

such a great year for HT Photography..!!