Go Go Go Alexis ~ Crazy packed weekend

We had one packed weekend!  It started Friday with Cole’s school holding their annual Olympics at the local military base.  It’s a great event that includes the surrounding Lutheran schools.  So the kids get to meet new friends and have some fun. The 1-2 grade do a bunch of little activity stations.  The 3-8 grades do the running and jumping events.  We have a concession stand that helps the PTF for our school.  It was a great event.  This year I worked the am so I could then take Cole and hang out with him this year and help with the concession stand.  Here are a few shots of this years Olympics:

Saturday I got up and worked my normal shift.  Then clocked off and ran around like a mad women getting the kids ready for our first party of the day.  We hit the ground running for this “Rock Star” party.  The birthday girl’s dad did some awesome bubbles.  We did a 3 legged race, poor little Caden was dragged a little by one little boy who kept yelling at him.  He came up to me a said “Mama I’m just a little boy”, big hugs dude it’s ok.  Same little boy kept pushing on Caden after a few stern words and looks he finally did stay away from him.

We ran home got the scooters and put my running shoes and we hit the park to meet my friend and go walking.  We learned a lesson that during the afternoon during the week this public park turned into a soccer and BBQ there was like 200+ ppl! YIKES we cut it down to 2 miles and headed home.  After pulling in we her a bunch of honks and we found we had a visitor.  My dad surprised us with his new Cam Am Spyder.  Soon they will have their own helmets so they can take a ride with him.

After dad took off I made a mad dash to finish up my cupcakes.  Then we hit our 2nd party of the night.  A friend from high school had a Cinco de Mayo party.  It was perfect since kids could play.  They even had a pinata that went up and accidently fell and broke open … lol! It was so much fun and the cupcakes were a hit for the kids.  The adults had a VERY yummy margarita pie (I so need the recipe).

Sunday we had church, my friend is going to do the late night service so I took the boys to the 9am service which was nice to have the afternoon to do laundry, grocery shopping etc.  Hopefully I’ll meet a new friend to sit with at church.  So there you have it a fun weekend!

I’ll bring the cupcakes

A friend from high school invited me and the boys over to her house for Cinco de Mayo!  You know me invite me over I’m there.  She said to bring some cupcakes, she joked just pick some up.  Ok you know me so not bringing anything store bought or heck just the regular old cupcakes!  I saw these cute cookie monster cupcakes and then I saw this really cool cupcake with cookie dough in the middle!  I thought would that be the “ultimate” Cookie Monster Cupcake.  So I merged the two cupcakes and here is what we got!

I started with the Cookie Dough Cupcake that is a two partier to do.  You make the cookie dough part put it in the freezer for two hours then you make the cupcake part.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 (18.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3 eggs

1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt; set aside. Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Add 1 egg and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips; mixing just enough to evenly combine. Form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls; place onto a baking sheet, and freeze until solid, about 2 hours.
2. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
3. Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer to break up. Add the cake mix, water, and canola oil; continue beating for 2 minutes on medium speed. Spoon into the prepared cupcake liners, filling each 2/3 full. Place a frozen cookie dough ball on the top center of each cupcake.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion of the cupcake (not the cookie dough ball) comes clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

Then I went to the decoration part.  I’ve seen some amazing Cookie Monster Cupcakes.  Now the ones I found on pinterest are very elaborate.  I only had a little amount of time so I made a quick blue buttercream frosting. Added some eyes and made some cookies that I used to shove in the mouth.

• Blue Frosting or Blue Sprinkles
• White chocolate Circle Melty
• White frosting (glue)
• Mini Chocolate chips
• Cookies (for mouth – I cut mine in half)

Frost the cupcakes I just used blue frosting but you could use white and then coat with blue sprinkles.  For the eyes I used some White Chocolate Melty I had used a little white frosting for glue and put a mini chocolate chip for the black of the eye.  Shoved those in the top of the head and then put the half of the cookie for the mouth.  Mine was the easy version but still cute!

And here you have it cookie Monster Cupcake made from a cupcake with Cookie Dough in the middle!  YUP I know pretty freaking genius.  Hey I have to give myself a pat on the back every once in a while … lol.

Have a wonderful day!!

Finished Spice Cupboard

I finally finished up my cupboard!  A while back I posted my first half of the spice cupboard with the swivel store spice rack I bought at Bed, Bath & Beyond.  I was waiting for another good coupon to come in the mail, finally one came in for $5 off.  I put it aside for Rick to go pick me up another rack.  It’s $19.95 with the $5 off it would be $14.95! Then Rick had the idea to buy it from the actual Swivel Store site since they have buy one get one FREE.  So I did what he said went onto their site for $19.95 plus shipping and handling you get 2!  Ok Cool I can do that.  So for you who go onto their site BEWARE!  I ordered what I wanted enter in my credit card info then a TON of pop up windows came up asking do I want this and that I click no to all then think I’m getting to the check out.  A last pop up comes up saying “Do you want the buy one get one free just pay shipping”.  Ok so I thought yes, so I click yes.  Then it goes to the check out and get this, the price was $70+. I almost fell out of my chair.   It was $30+ of shipping and guess what another set of TWO was added to my order!  I immediately called and a very nice woman told me it happens a lot (of course it does with the freaking way they have it worded on the site), BUT she couldn’t see the order for 48 hours! WTF?  She tells me to call back to cancel one and it will be fine!  So I call and guess what?  Oh yes you guessed it “I’m sorry that ordered has shipped you have to pay”.  I say NO way … then I have to pay to have it shipped back and pay for the overage in shipping to get it to me.  He was not budging and kept saying yes you have to!  So I would be out around $20 after you refund me for JUST the extra set!  THANKFULLY for Rick he called and kept screaming and was able to get the second set sent to me for free!  SO note to those who order on their beware and if it happens to you stand you ground and you’ll get it covered!  And on a side note it was another week and half before the package arrived!

So here is my end look for my cabinet.  I have 2 full right now and I put a third in for when I have more spices to add.  This was very simple to do.  In case you didn’t see the first post.  I picked up the plastic jars at Winco in the bulk section for around $.50.  Then I used Rick’s label maker to mark the bottles.  In the Swivel Rack (which I love, just not their website) and into the cupboard it went.   Of course in alphabet order!

I’m just excited that I don’t have spice bottles falling down on my head when I’m looking for one!

Dinner with Friends–Skinny Enchiladas

Our dinner guest came over last week and we had a yummy Enchilada.  I found this skinny Turkey and Black Bean Enchiladas of course on Pinterest but it is one of my favorite sites as you know Skinny Taste.

This recipe was really simple to make and even the kids enjoyed eating it.

Turkey and Black Bean Enchiladas
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 8 • Serving Size: 1 enchilada • Points: 5 pts • Points+: 7 pts
Calories: 278.7 • Fat: 8.7g • Protein: 27.0 g • Carb: 35.6 g • Fiber: 15.1 g
Ingredients:

• 1 lb extra lean ground turkey
• 15.5 can black beans, drained
• 4.5 oz can chopped green chilies
• 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1-2 tsp cumin
• 1/8 tsp chili powder
• salt
• 8 (6-inch) low carb whole wheat flour tortillas
• 1 cup reduced fat shredded Mexican cheese
• nonstick cooking spray

For the Enchilada Sauce:

• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1-2 tbsp chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
• 1-1/2 cups tomato sauce
• 1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 3/4 cup fat free chicken broth
• kosher salt and fresh pepper to taste

(I skipped the chipotle chilies)

Directions:
In a medium saucepan, spray cooking spray and sauté garlic. Add chiles, chili powder, cumin, chicken broth, tomato sauce, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reducethe heat to low and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Set aside until ready to use.
In a large skillet brown the turkey and season with salt. When the turkey is browned,add onion, garlic, black beans, cilantro, green chiles, diced tomatoes, cumin and chili powder. Mix well and simmer on low, covered for 20 minutes. Remove lid andsimmer an additional 5-10 minutes to reduce the liquid.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish with non-stick spray. Put 1/2 cup turkey mixture into each tortilla and roll it. Place on baking dish seam side down. Top with enchilada sauce and cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven on the middle rack for 20-25 minutes. Top with low fat sour cream, cilantro or scallions if you wish. (Extra points) Makes 8 enchiladas.

Happy Friday!  I will be helping at Cole’s school that is hosting an Olympics at a normal military base.  I hope to get home early and maybe put my feet up.  Have a wonderful weekend!

A Skinny Dip that is to die for …

I made a very yummy dip that was served at the party, it wasn’t a lego themed so it deserves it’s own post .. lol.  Really this was the best one I think I’ve had in a long time.  The part was it was easy to make.  Maybe a little bit to yummy because if you eat the whole thing it really isn’t skinny ... hehe.

Skinny Pool Side Dip

• 1 red pepper
• 2 jalapeño's (unseeded)
• 1 can of corn (drained)
• 1/2 can diced olives
• 16 oz fat-free cream cheese (2 pkgs softened)
• 1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch dip seasoning mix.

I put the pepper, jalapeño's and black olives in my mini ninja to chop them up.  I then added everything in my kitchen aid mixer to do the stirring for me.  You could do the chopping and mix by hand but I was being lazy.  I severed with Kellogg's Cracker Chips.

This was a HUGE hit at the party!  I promise you even the kids will eat it up.  Perfect dip for any party or heck if you just want to sit around and have a yummy treat for yourself!

And the Lego Party at it’s best!

Here we wrap up our Lego party with pictures of the party and the fun things made just in case you missed one!

We start with the tri-fold Invite. This was a pretty simple and fun one to make.

Next was making the Crayons in Lego Man & Brick shapes.  NOW this was so easy I know what the boys will be giving for Christmas gifts!

From the crayon stage, we made the gift bags (same post as above).

Since I was using the Lego Mold for Crayons why not make chocolate for cupcakes also.  NO silly I made sure they were washed before I did either (Same post as Crayons).

Then came the Lego Brick Candy Bars and Juice Boxes.  This was a VERY simple one made from construction paper I bought at the dollar store.

Then came the Marshmallow Fondant.  THIS was the hardest thing I’ve made and a work out and half.  It is a sticky mess if you don’t stir in enough powder sugar before you put your hands in to kneed it.

I also put a Lego Man T-Shirt Transfer for his party attire.  This is on the post about Marshmallow Fondant.

Also on the Marshmallow fondant post, we made Lego Gummy Candies that was another EASY recipe to make and these little guys were pretty darn tasty!

And on our last post we used the Marshmallow Fondant and put it to good use on a the cakes.  We covered a Ninjago Cole Cake and mini Brick Cupcakes for each kid.

Also on that post I showed a quick banner I threw together for the party.  I was in a little daze by this time I actually stapled my thumb so there was a actually a little blood and probably sweat on this project.

And to show you the end result the actual PARTY!!  Thank you for all your kind comments and encouragement that kept me going on my mission to make this the best party!  I thankfully have a little break before we start to plan for Caden’s 5th Birthday which he has picked a SHARK theme!

Let the Lego Party beginning!  We started out with a swim party!  We ended up with 20 kids!  And thankfully 4 adults also in the pool to help with the little ones.  The kids had a blast, I think Rick and his buddy who helped us out enjoyed it just as much!  Little Caden last an hour this time in the pool.  Last year he slept the whole time! LOL  Cole had so much fun with all his friends.  I’m so happy we had a great turn out and so many wonderful people were there to support Cole to celebrate 8 years!

And then we went to the party room.  I had some great friends that helped me set up and then when we were done they were like a pit crew and turned that room and cleaned it all up.  I have some great friends.  The kids really enjoyed all the treats and I had so many moms come up to me to tell me how much they enjoyed it.  I’m so happy and proud of this party.

Phew it’s done it was a hit and I’m so happy to give this special memory to Cole.  Now I am to breath !