FREEZING Friday!!!

Ok...I promise...ONE of these nights I will be home long enough to get the tutorials up.  Until then ... ... ...

I came into work this morning and found an email from a Crafty Aunt of mine with a link to a blog.  SOME of these have had really cute, great ideas.  Others, not so much.  At least this way I know she is thinking about me right?  Well I love the idea in this mornings email and thought I'd share it with you. 

My "craft area" is currently NOT big enough to have things like my markers just sitting out but I love this idea and at some point I hope I can have the space to have my markers out and this accessible.  For now I'll continue to take my markers out of the plastic sleeves they come in, put them in a spare Clear Mount case, cut the original case up and put the collection indicating pieces in the cover of the new case.  Here is the link to the original blog that was emailed to me.  (Can Marker Holder)  This cute holder could be used for many things I imagine.  Can't wait to hear where your imagination takes you with this project!  Have a GREAT weekend everyone!  I'll be spending it mostly at home so here's hoping that by Monday I have some tutorials to put up for ya'!  Stay warm!

Time for a Nap!

The weekend was a success!  At least by most standards of a success (people showed up, check; people ate, and ate, and ate some more, check; no one left hungry, check (if you did, it's your own fault...there were still leftovers!); beverages were consumed; cards and horseshoes were played; visiting and stargazing were done.  I still have some cleaning up to do around the house, but all in all the party has been cleaned up and if you didn't know about it you'd never know that there were people over at BF's parents this weekend and that 20 lbs. (more than if you include the beans!) of beef were consumed.  Yes...I said 20 + lbs.  and only about 1-2 lbs. are left!  There were so many nice compliments on the food (in particular the roast), and I'm very grateful that all of you who were able to attend enjoyed everything (and ate almost all  of it so we don't have so many leftovers).  BF's Sister and Aunt also helped with the cooking so Kudos to them as well. 

Many of asked for the Roast Recipe so here it is today.  Sorry for not having a picture of it; I was so busy getting the food out and relaxing that I didn't even get my camera out of the vehicle.

Mock Prime Rib:
1 (2-3 lb.)  Roast, whatever cut you desire (we used a Chuck Roast Saturday)
1-2 cans of Beef Broth (Original recipe calls for Beef Broth, I like the taste of using Beef Stock better and try to get a lower sodium version where I can.)
1 pkg. Au Jus Mix
1 pkg. Good Seasonings Italian Dressing Mix

Drop all of it in your crock pot and set on low for the day.  The quantity of Beef Stock is going to vary depending on the size of your crock pot and the size of your roast.  You want most of your meet covered, especially if you are going to be gone most of the day and can't turn the meat once or twice. 

You can use the worst cut of meat you have for this recipe and it will turn into the most tender cut.  Two years ago when we butchered the only meat that didn't need extra prep work was the hamburger.  The steaks were all chewy and tough.  The roasts were almost nasty they were so tough.  Then I sent BF to the store for something and they were passing out samples of this recipe.  He came home (WITH the groceries in tow) with the recipe and declared I was to make this for him ASAP.  This recipe became our go-to for pot-roast because it was the only thing that could make those tough roasts edible again; and after having it last year at a function I also cooked for, PMS-MIL requested it for this weekend. 

I hope everyone was able to enjoy their weekend and deems it a success no matter where you are or what you ended up doing.  I'll post pictures later; including the cake BF's Aunt and I concocted.  The weather is significantly cooler here today and I wish I had something going in my crock pot for supper already.  Guess I'll have to actually cook tonight!

Peanut Butter FROSTING!!!

So I seem to be on a homemade frosting kick.  Luckily for me I have a co-worker who LOVES frosting (especially homemade) and does not like cake so she is my official frosting tester!  I'm in the middle of making the cake for my P-M-S-MIL's (Potential-Maybe-Someday-Mother-in-Law) 50th birthday party this weekend and used the extra cake batter to make some cupcakes for a class I was teaching last night.  In my magic box of "Recipes I'd like to Try" I had put a recipe for a Peanut Butter Stuffed Hot Fudge Cupcake I had come across on TastyKitchen.com. 

These cupcakes look AH-MAZING! (And like the 10 lbs. I'm aiming to lose will never go away if I eat even one of these!)  Since I already had a chocolate cupcake baking I stole the frosting recipe.  This frosting was SO delicious that I was tempted to eat what was left on some graham crackers and never share with frosting-loving-coworker.  It's not overly sweet like some frostings are; it is the perfect balance of sweet and peanut butter that just makes you want to sit with a spoon and unconsiously eat it all!  Here it is for you to try:

Peanut Butter Buttercream:

1/2 cup Butter, softened (you will notice as this blog progresses I like recipes with butter...LOTS of butter sometimes)

2/3 cups Peanut Butter (I used a creamy peanut butter on hand, but don't see why if you wanted it a little chunky that you couldn't use a chunky peanut butter.)

3 cups Powdered Sugar (you may need 1 more cup)

1 Tbsp. Milk (have 1-2 more on hand (I added 1 more.))

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 pinch Salt

Cream Butter and Peanut Butter together in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Add Powdered Sugar with mixer on low speed and gradually add Milk and Vanilla Extract.  Add a pinch of Salt and mix until frosting is smooth.  if too thick, add more mild; if too thin, add more sugar. 

Put the frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a tip.  Poke a hole in the cupcake with the pastry tip and fill the cupcake.  Then frost the cooled cupcakes as desired!

It's that simple.  Keep in mind when making homemade frosting, the longer you mix it the smoother it is!  I love having my new stand mixer for this now as I can leave it to mix to the desired creaminess and finish something else!

Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!  With frosting this good the party should be a hit!