Cupcake Housewarming

In my opinion, cupcakes are the perfect compliment to any celebration! So, when I was brainstorming ideas for a housewarming present for one of my very good friends, it was only natural that cupcakes were part of the equation.

To create this gift yourself you will need, a plate - I purchased this sweet little cake plate at my local Winners, some baked goods - I baked a batch of my Lovely Lemon Cupcakes (last seen here), and some cellophane and decorative ribbon to wrap it up!

Happy Halloween!

My friends and family know that I am a holiday fanatic! I love any excuse to put up festive decor and Halloween is no exception! My favourite piece of Halloween decor has always been a carved pumpkin.  Below are a few snapshots of this years pumpkin carving. My husband is the designated pumpkin carver in our house, and I am usually in charge of roasting the pumpkin seeds.

As for tonight, the Mr. and I are looking forward to handing out candy, watching a spooky movie and snacking on some pumpkin seeds.

Happy Halloween!!

Muffin Tin Breakfast Quiches

I made these delicious muffin tin quiches for a breakfast date I had with one of my best friends this past Saturday. The great thing about these quiches is that they are super simple to make (no pastry shell required- yay) and they taste amazing!

How To Make: Muffin Tin Quiches

You need:

-       4 Eggs

-       ¼ cup of Milk

-       ½ cup of grated Cheddar Cheese

-       ½ cup of grated White Cheddar Cheese

-       ½ cup of spinach leaves

-       1 Red Pepper - julienned

-       1 Yellow Onion - chopped

Directions:

• -       Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• -       Grease a muffin tin
• -      In a small bowl combine the cheddar and white cheddar cheese and set aside
• -       Saute the chopped onion and julienned pepper in a pan until the onions have caramelized and set aside
• -       Crack 4 eggs and beat with milk and  the seasoning of your choice as if you were making scrambled eggs and set aside
• -       Line the bottom of your muffin tin with the spinach leaves
• -       Add a tablespoon of your caramelized onion and pepper mixture on top of the spinach leaves, followed by a teaspoon of your cheese mixture and top off with your scrambled egg mixture. 
• -       Pop your muffin tin in the oven to bake for 20 mins, then broil on low for an addition 3 minutes.
• -       Carefully pop your quiches out of the muffin tin and ENJOY!

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up: Fall Inspired Birthday Cake

A very special part of my family's Thanksgiving get together is the celebration of my grandmother's birthday. Like me, my grandmother loves to bake, and for as long as I can remember she has whipped up a delicious cake for everyone in my family on their birthday - in fact,  I think she has even baked her own birthday cake on numerous occasions! This year, I decided she needed a break and created this fall inpsired birthday cake to celebrate the beautiful season in which her birthday falls.

I tried a new chocolate cake and peanut buttercream recipe for this cake and I was extremely happy with the results! Look out for a blog post dedicated to these two recipes sometime soon!

Thanksgiving Wrap-up: Pumpkin Floral Arrangements

 If you are looking for simple DIY centerpiece for your fall/thanksgiving table, this pumpkin floral arrangement is absolutely perfect. Not only was this centerpiece super easy to put together, it was also extremely cost effective. In fact it was so easy and cost effective that I created two arrangements for less than $20.

To create my arrangements I purchased two small pumpkins at my grocery store for $1.70 each and one bouqet of country flowers for $11.99. I also used half a block of floral foam (optional) that I had on hand and two recycled candle jars to hold the floral foam/water.

Step 1: Carve the top of your pumpkin and clean out the inside, make sure the hole is large enough to accomodate the candle jar or what ever vessel you are using to hold your flowers.

Step 2: Insert the candle jar/water vessel into your hallowed out pumpkin.

Step 3: Fill your candle jar/vessel with water. If you are using floral foam, insert your foam into the jar/vessel at this point and fill with water.

Step 4: Begin cutting your flowers to size and arrange them to your liking.

Step 5: Place on your table and enjoy!!

NOTE: When I was clearing the table at the end of the night I noticed a few fruit flies around the centerpieces. Spraying the pumpkins with an acrylic sealer after carving might help to reduce the fruit flies!

Leave me a comment below if you decide to create a pumpkin floral centerpiece for your table.

Thanksgiving Wrap-up: Acorn Cookies

We hosted Thanksgiving at our place this year, so I am dedicating my posts this week to some of the homemade elements I created to make our celebration a special and memorable one!

No Thanksgiving dinner is complete without dessert, and to compliment that traditional apple and pumpkin pie, I baked up a batch of these cute and festive acorn cookies.

To make your own batch of acorn cookies, follow my steps below.

You will need:

- Mini peanut butter cookies (I baked a batch using my favourite peanut butter cookie recipe and just rolled the dough into mini sized cookies).
- Unwrapped Hershey's Kisses
- Mini chocolate chips
- Chocolate melts

Directions:

1. Bake your peanut butter cookies, when they are fresh out of the oven, top each one with a mini chocolate chip and then allow the cookies to cool.
2. Once your cookies have cooled, place your chocolate melts in a bowl and melt them in the microwave.
3. Dip the bottom of the Hershey's Kisses in the melted chocolate and attach to it to the bottom of your peanut butter cookie, then set aside to cool.
4. Enjoy!

Banana Blueberry Smoothie

I recently started  treating myself to this delicious banana blueberry smoothie every morning as a breakfast pick me up! Not only does it taste amazing but it gives me the boost of energy I need to kick start my day.

If you want to add this amazing smoothie to your breakfast routine follow my steps below.


You will need:
- 3 tables spoons of greek yogurt
- 1 frozen banana (NOTE: As soon as I see a banana in the fruit bowl going bad I throw it in the freezer to use in my smoothies)
- 1/2 cup of blueberries (you can use frozen blueberries when fresh ones are out of season)
- A splash of milk
- Blender

STEP 1: Add the blueberries to your container

STEP 2: Remove the peel and chop up your frozen banana, and add it to the container on top of your blueberries.

STEP 3: Add the three heaping tablespoons of yogurt

STEP 4: Finally, add a splash of milk to the mix.

STEP 5: Blend away until all ingredients are combined.

STEP 6: Enjoy!

Cameo Charm

Sometimes when I know I have a challenging day ahead of me I look to my jewellery box and pull out my good luck charm.

A few years ago my grandmother surprised me with this broach, which she received from her father when she was a teenager. My great-grandfather found the broach on the street one day while walking home from work. When he couldn't locate its original owner he gave it to my grandmother. Knowing how much I love cameos, my grandmother passed this broach on to me and it has become one of the most cherished pieces in my jewellery box.

I love the history behind this piece and I love how happy I feel while wearing it. This little piece of jewellery has become something like a secret weapon. Whenever I feel like I could use a little bit of a boost to make it through a particularly challenging day I put on my cameo broach and smile!

Do you have a favourite good luck charm? If you do, let me know what it is in the comments below.

♥

Sweet Treat Sunday: Oreo Surprise Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes to bring to a potluck dinner at my brother and sister-in-law's place this weekend and they were a huge hit! To create these sweet treats I used two recipes from a pair of cookbooks my mom gave me when I got married.

The inspiration for these cupcakes came from my Philadelphia Best Loved Recipes cookbook, I just swapped out the recipe for the chocolate cake with one from my Bride & Groom: First and Forever Cookbook.

If you want to make these yourself, I've listed the recipes below.

Mini OREO Surprise Cupcakes

Philadelphia Best Loved Recipes Cookbook

Ingredients
1 pkg chocolate cake mix (I used the recipe below instead)
1 pkg (8.oz) of Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
1 egg
2 tbsp. sugar
1 package of mini OREO bite size chocolate sandwich cookies
1 1/2 cups thawed Cool Whip whipped topping (I used Cool Whip in a can)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the cake batter and set aside. Mix together the cream cheese, egg and sugar.

2. Spoon the cake batter into lined cupcake pans, filling each liner only half way. Next top each with a heaping teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture and 1 cookie, then cover evenly with remaining cake batter.

3. Bake the cupcakes for 18 -22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pans for 5 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. Once cooled top each cupcake with the whipped topping and another cookie.

Shhh Don't Tell - Chocolate Fudge Birthday Cake

Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook

Ingredients
1 box devil's food cake mix
1 cup water
3 eggs
1/3 cup corn oil
1/3 cup sour cream (I used yogurt instead)
2 tsps vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Combine cake mix and all ingredients except the chocolate chips in a bowl using an electric mixer. Beat on low speed until combined and the mixture is smooth. Transfer the mix to the pan of your choice and bake at 350 degrees for 18 -25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

3 Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies

These yummy chocolate chip cookies were created using a mixture of leftover white chocolate, butterscotch and semi-sweet chocolate chips I had in my pantry. If you want to bake a batch of these 3 Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies yourself see my recipe below.

 Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 egg

½ cup of butter (un-salted)

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 cup of chocolate chip mix (mix of white chocolate, semi –sweet and butterscotch chips)

¼  cup shredded coconut (sweetened)

½ cup toasted walnuts

Directions 

In a mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar then add the egg and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and corn starch.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla mixture until completely combined.

Stir in the chocolate chips, coconut and toasted walnuts.

Roll dough into golf sized balls and bake on a non-stick baking sheet for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, then remove cookies from sheet and finish cooling them on a wire rack for an additional 10 minutes.

Pour a tall glass of milk and enjoy!

Watermelon Sugar Cookies

Watermelon sugar cookies? That was Mr. D’s question when he saw me baking up these sweet treats last weekend.

I quickly explained that there are plenty of excuses to make sugar cookies in the Fall (Halloween & Thanksgiving), Winter (Christmas andValentine’s Day), and Spring (Easter), and that a reason to bake up a batch of these yummy treats in the summer was long over-due!

These cookies make the perfect dessert for a summer BBQ or picnic! They stand up well to the heat, they don’t require any prep before serving, and can be easily transport in Tupperware!

If you want to create these cute and yummy cookies yourself here are the steps I followed.

1. Make a batch of your favourite sugar cookie dough
2. Roll out your dough and cut out circles using a circle cookie cutter.
3. Slice your cut out circles in half  to create a half moon shape – I used a pizza cutter to make my cuts.
4. Bake your cookies and cool them on a wire rack.
5. While your cookies are cooling whip up some icing – I used a recipe I found online and let me tell you it definitely lives up to the reviews!
6. Colour your icing with food colouring.
7. Fill some pastry bags with your coloured icing
8. Decorate your cookies with the icing! I used piping and flooding techniques to create the watermelon effect on my cookies.If you need a tutorial you can find a bunch of really great ones on YouTube.

Floral Jewel Headband

During hot summer months, headbands are more than just a hair accessory; they are a hair necessity! These fashion favourites keep you looking stylish while also keeping stray hairs in check and off your face.  I wanted to embellish some of my basic headbands and make them more appropriate for a night out. Using some felt, craft jewels and a glue gun I created a pretty floral design to add some much needed glamor to my everyday headband. I absolutely love the way this headband turned out, I can’t wait to embellish the rest of my headband collection and possibly create a miniature version for my niece!

If you want to make your own Floral Jewel Headband you can follow my steps below.

Materials
-          Craft Jewels
-          Felt
-          Headband
-          Glue Gun
-          Scissors

Step 1: Layout your design using your craft jewels.

Step 2: Cut out a piece of felt that is roughly the same size as your design.

Step 3: Using your glue gun affix the jewels to the felt.

Step 4: Once you have glued your entire design to the felt, cut away any excess felt.

Step 5: Place some glue on the back of your design and affix it to your headband.

Step 6: Wear and Enjoy!

Sweet Treat Sunday: S’more Cookie Bars

Nothing says summer quite like making s’mores around a campfire. So when Mr. D and I got invited to a potluck BBQ this weekend I knew I wanted to bring something that would capture that summer feeling.  When I stumbled upon this yummy s’more cookie bar recipe I knew they would be perfect! These cookie bars were super easy to make and tasted just like a campfire s’more, needless to say they were a big hit at the BBQ!

I’m already looking forward to making these again for a family BBQ in a couple of weeks, I’m thinking of adding some coconut to the marshmallow and chocolate layers to kick things up a notch!

Clip-On Earring Pendant

A few posts ago, I mentioned the beautiful clip-on earrings I purchased at a charity jewellery sale in South Hampton, Ontario last summer. This weekend I was reminiscing about that wonderful week at the cottage and was inspired to create something new with the remaining clip-on earrings. I wanted to showcase the beauty and vintage charm of each of the earrings and so I decided to keep things simple and create pendants. I used some leftover jewellery chain and recycled clasps from a set of old bracelets, attached everything together and clipped on the earrings and VOLIA – two beautiful vintage pendants to add to my jewellery collection. 

Decorative Wall Letters

I created these garden themed wall letters for my cousin’s brand new baby girl. I purchased the unfinished wooden letters at Wal-Mart and gave them a coat of paint in alternating colours of pink, yellow and green. I then chose a patterned scrapbook paper to complement the colour of each letter and affixed it using some Mod Podge. Finally, I accented each letter with some wooden garden cut-outs that I purchased at the dollar store quite some time ago. I was waiting for the perfect opportunity to use these sweet little cut-outs and these letters were definitely it! I added an extra detail to a few of the cut-outs with some hot glue and tiny white buttons. I can’t wait to give these letters to my cousin and meet her sweet little girl Nailah!

Headboard Makeover

Mr. D and I were on vacation this week and decided to tackle some of the projects on the good old To Do List. One of the projects at the top of our list was refreshing our headboard. We purchased the headboard almost 3 years ago when we got married and have since grown tired of its colour and fabric. We are still fans of the upholstered headboard look so we decided to reuse our current headboard as a base and simply recover it with some new fabric we purchased at our local Fabric Land. We purchased 2.5 meters of fabric and that was more than enough to cover our queen sized headboard and the button accents as well.

This project was super simple and fairly inexpensive.  Here is a quick approximation of what we spent.

-          $35 for the 2.5 meters of fabric (it was on sale for 50% off – YAY)

-          $40 for the staple gun and staples (Mr. D was thrilled to have an excuse to purchase a new tool)

-          $10 for the fabric button kits and upholstery thread

The pictures below show what our headboard looked like when we started , as well as some of the recovering process and of course the final product!

What our headboard used to look like.

The back of the headboard.

Another shot of the back of the headboard. We removed the black fabric to make it easier when stapling the new fabric overtop.

Measuring out the new fabric.

The finished headboard installed and looking fabulous!

Another shot of the finished product!

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