More super cute clothes for Cierra

Man I am on a roll…or I am obsessed 🙂 The other day I went to WalMart and found some bandanas on sale for $1. So of course who could pass up a great deal like that. I bought almost 1 or 2 of every pattern they had. Girls are so much fun to make things for. I wish it was easier to make “cool” things for my boys but I don’t think they would like skirts.

Here are the first 2 skirts. The last picture is the skirt that I made just like Cierra’s for my poor little niece who broke her arm while jumping in a bouncy house. Ouch! And because she lives in Florida and I live in Oklahoma I couldn’t measure her arm to make a cute sling like I did last year for my son Kizaiah. So I made a bunch of felt flower pins so that she could attach them to her boring hospital issued sling, plus once her cast is off she can use the pins to decorate headbands or shirts. Hope that she likes them.

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A happy Memorial Day…

with good friends, family my soldier/hero, and pink lemonade cupcakes 🙂 First off I would like to thank all those who serve or have served in the United States Military. Thank you for all you hard work, countless hours of sacrifice and bravery. Without you this country wouldn’t be where it is today. Thank you again. And to my husband who is a SGT in the Army and has served his country for 13 years and counting, thank you for all you do for your family. I love you.

Now on to the cupcakes. What says summer more than Pink Lemonade and of course grilling meat. Today we are having a few friends over to eat and hang out. I am making Carne Asada and Pollo Asada. I will post those recipes soon. Hopefully they turn out great. I kind of “winged it” when it came to the marinade. I will keep you posted. Fingers crossed that it tastes similar to the Carne that I enjoy when I go home during summer vacations. I wanted a nice sweet cupcake and I wanted to make something different. So I surfed the Pinterest site and found a recipe that seemed to scream Summer BBQ. I couldn’t stop tasting the batter. I think that these will be a hit.

I juts love my DIY cake stand made from a dollar tree glass plate and sundae cup. Spray painted with white spray paint from WalMart that was .97 cents and some gorilla glue to hold it in place. Oh yeah and a super cute fabric bow from by stash. Not glued on so that I can change it to coordinate with decor. 🙂

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes with Pink Lemonade buttercream

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:(adapted from Confections of a foodie Bride)

3/4 cup pink lemonade concentrate, thawed

3/8 cup water * I measured my pink lemonade in  1 cup measuring cup and added water a little more than the cup line. Should be about 9oz of liquid*(or if you want them really tart just measure 9oz of pink lemonade concentrate

White cake mix (homemade or box)…I used box I had one on hand

3 egg whites

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Directions:

*To make the cupcakes:

In a stand mixer, add the cake mix, egg whites, vegetable oil, and the pink lemonade concentrate. Mix on low for about 30 seconds and then increase to medium speed for 90 seconds (the batter will still be a bit lumpy; take care not to overmix so you don’t end up with dry cupcakes). Fill cupcake liners 2/3 to 3/4 full.  Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick registers “done” in the center cupcake. Remove the pan from the oven and cook 5 minutes in pan. Remove the cupcakes and cool completely on a baking rack.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, make the icing and ice the cupcakes

*For Frosting: (Heavily Modified from Confessions of a foodie Bride)

3 cups powdered sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, room temp

1/8 tsp salt

3-4 TBS pink lemonade concentrate

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

pink or red food coloring

Directions for frosting:

Combine all ingredients into bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix all ingredients til combined then beat on high til frosting is light and fluffy and uniformly pink. Fill piping bag fitted with a 1M tip. Pipe frosting on cupcakes sprinkle with colored sugar. I used yellow sugar and red, pink and white heart candies that I had from valentines day but anything cute will work.

Pozole

I know I’m nuts…the weather here is not soup weather but sometimes you just get a hankering for a good soup. I love pozole! It has been a tradition in my family that on Christmas we make tamales and on New Years my grandma makes Pozole. So in keeping with the tradition I have carried it over to my little family. I don’t have my Grandmas original “recipe” she just adds a little of this and a little of that and a lot of love. So I have come up with my own. We like it, but when I go home for the holidays I request my Grandma’s. I also needed an excuse to use my new fancy pot that my sister sent me for my “Mother’s Day/Early Birthday” gift. It’s a Princess Heritage Tri-Ply Stainless Steel 6 OT. stir pan with lid. Head over to her blog, she loves cooking and sell Princess House items. So far so good I love this pan. When I added my pork to the pan, which heats up so nice and evenly, my pork browned perfectly. It cleans well too. Can’t wait to use it again. Not enough cupboard space in this house but that’s okay because it sits nicely on my stove top, kind of like kitchen jewelry like my Sister would say. And it truly is a pretty pot. Anyway back to the recipe, Pozole is a soup kind of tastes like menudo without using the tripe. Instead you use pork or pork loin. Don’t get me wrong I like menudo but I will leave the preparations for that to the professionals. It seems complicated….maybe not but I just don’t want to touch the raw tripe 🙂

Pozole 

1 lb. pork tenderloin, cut into 1/2″ pieces

2 c. chopped onion

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 TBS. chili powder

1 (14oz) can chicken broth, or more for more broth

1 (15.5oz) can hominy, drained

3/4 tsp ground cumin

1/8 tsp salt

Garnish

onion, diced

fresh cilantro

lemon wedges

cabbage, sliced thinly

Directions:

In a large pot over medium-high heat, put some oil in and add pork to pot cooking for 4-5 min and brown on both sides. Remove and set aside.

In same pot, over medium-high heat add a little oil saute onions for 2-3 minutes add garlic, chili powder and cook for 15 seconds. Add pork back to the pot and chicken broth stir and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add drained hominy, cumin and salt(if needed). Simmer uncovered for another 20 minutes. Serve in a bowl with a squirt of lemon, cabbage, raw onion, an cilantro; or any variation of the garnishes. Enjoy on a cold day or just cause you have a hankering for a good soup.

Time flys when you are surfing pinterest

Well over the past month I have been crafting quit a bit.  I think I can blame most of it on Pinterest. Why didn’t I come up with that idea. Love that site and am totally hooked for sure. Anyway here is just a couple of things that I’ve been inspired to make.

Strawberry Shortcake embroidery. This will eventually be a throw pillow for Cierra’s bed.

Revamping this legging/skirt combo into a skirt with shorts and a matching headband. We got these legging things from Wal-Mart super cheap in the winter but Oklahoma has crazy weather and once we bought her these the weather changed so fast. Now it’s hot and definitely shorts weather. She love skirts. I do plan on making her some super easy and cute skirts and dresses but in the mean time I will be revamping some of her winter clothes and making them more warm weather friendly. I made these this morning in less than an hour. Love instant gratification!

Menu picture frame. Being a stay at home mom one of my many duties is to make good healthy food for my family. With that being said I plan my meals for a 2 week period. Going shopping on or around paydays. I write them down and post the menu on the cluttered with art refrigerator but it never fails 4 times a day I answer the question ” What’s for dinner?” Hopefully this pretty little menu board helps.

Happy crafting or pinterest surfing…or both 🙂