Away on Business

Hi everyone! Sorry I'm absent I had to fly to Boston for work and I had this great plan to have a bunch of blog post in the can and ready to go. WELL let's just say the week before I left got away from me and I didn't get those done!  Just a quick hi, hope you're all having a wonderful week. I'll be back at it next week!

Peak at my first leg of the trip!

Spicy Sausage Pasta was Featured on Friday Favorites #99

Before I headed to Boston I was tickled to get a message from Laura at I'm not a Trophy Wife that my Spicy Sausage Pasta I posted was featured on her Friday Favorites.

Thank you again Laura!

Keep Calm ...

It has been a busy time at work. I'm so a stress eater and trying my best not to totally go off the wagon!  You know the minute you feel like you're juggling the balls only to look down to see you may have dropped 10 and not known ... lol.  Between work and home I'm juggling and picking up slack on other ends and feeling very human this week. I hope to be back to a stead calm but until then I found this T-Shirt and I may just wear it ... lol with my super woman cap from Cole's party a few years back.

Hope you're all having a better week then me .. lol

Slow Cooker White Bean Soup (WW 6pts)

Last week that stupid cold was still hanging on to me so I put this Slow Cooker White Bean Soup from Emily Bites into the crockpot.  Made it the night I was leading my woman's group.  Little would I know that I would be rear-ended that night and stand in the cold for 1 1/2 hours to have the turd take off and have no insurance. UGH so when I got home to find this soup done it was a double blessing!

INGREDIENTS:

• 8 slices center cut bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 3 (15 oz) cans of Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 medium carrots, diced
• 4 stalks celery, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups reduced sodium fat free chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• ½ teaspoon dried sage
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• Salt and black pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place all ingredients except the salt and pepper in your slow cooker and stir to combine. Cook on low for 8 hours.
2. If you have an immersion blender: just stick it into the cooked soup and blend about 1/3-1/2 of the mixture so that when you stir together it’s chunky but also thicker and no longer brothy. If you are using a regular blender: just transfer 3 cups of the soup mixture into your blender and blend until thick and combined. Pour it back into the pot and stir until well combined
3. Taste when finished and add salt and pepper as desired.

This soup was a crowd pleasure all around the house, give it a try!

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

Princess Cupcakes ... Wands and Crowns

Also on my to do list I signed up for before I became very sick was Princess Cupcakes. I just love helping Birthday Dreams bringing birthday's to homeless kids, so I couldn't disappoint I had to make the cupcakes I signed up for.  So sorry no detailed pictures just the after picture of them going out the door.

What you need:

Frosted Cupcakes (I tinted my Sturdy Buttercream with Electric Pink AmeriColor)

Decorating Pearls

White Modeling Chocolate

Wilton Jumbo Pink Decorating Hearts

Small Decorating Hearts

For those who have not seen my previous post on how to make modeling chocolate (aka candy clay).

Modeling Chocolate

12oz Candy Melts

1/4 Cup light corn Syrup

Melt your Candy Melts in microwave (mine takes about 2 minutes). Stir them to become smooth and THEN add the corn syrup (make sure all the lumps are smoothed out).  It will become thick and form a ball.  Wrap in plastic wrap and let it sit out and dry.  Takes a few hours or over night is best. (Alexis note: I found to roll this out use a little powder sugar (like you would do with flour), also you have to kneed it a little like you would dough to make it easy to roll out).

For the Wands I made strips of white modeling chocolate, then added a large pink heart at the tip. For the crowns I made square's from the modeling chocolate then took the top of a shoot star cookie cutter to cut out the top of the crown (you can do this with a knife also).  I added a small heart on the front of the crown. Frost your cupcakes then decorate with the pearls and top with a crown or a wand.

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

Rock Star Cupcakes ... Microphones and Star (Modeling Chocolate)

The last 3 weeks I have been so sick ... yuck.  But of course I had previously signed up for cupcakes for the charity I work for Birthday Dreams (bringing birthday parties to homeless kids). So my cupcakes were not as beautiful as I usually would do, medicine head really can put you in a fog.  I signed up for a rock star themed cake, I had an idea to do mini microphones using mini cupcake cones. WELL during the winter finding those is IMPOSSIBLE! So I switched to making my own with Modeling Chocolate.

These were pretty easy to make and I added a few stars and done!

What you need:

White Modeling Chocolate 

Yellow  Modeling Chocolate
Wilton Licorice String
Edible Silver Dust
Frosted Cupcakes

For those who have not seen my previous post on how to make modeling chocolate (aka candy clay).

Modeling Chocolate

12oz Candy Melts

1/4 Cup light corn Syrup

Melt your Candy Melts in microwave (mine takes about 2 minutes). Stir them to become smooth and add the corn syrup.  It will become thick and form a ball.  Wrap in plastic wrap and let it sit out and dry.  Takes a few hours or over night is best. (Alexis note: I found to roll this out use a little powder sugar (like you would do with flour), also you have to kneed it a little like you would dough to make it easy to roll out).

For Microphones I made the white hand part out of white modeling chocolate and then dusted with edible silver dust.  I'm thinking next time a tootsie roll dusted would be easier ... lol. I took yellow modeling chocolate and made the balls for the top of the microphone. For the wire I used Wilton licorice string.  For the stars I used a cookie cutter and yellow modeling chocolate.

Have a great week!

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.