panda, panda, panda!

mini cupcakes everywhere!!!! (although if you look in the back, there's some normal sized cupcakes as well) for noah's 100th day birthday celebration we made pancakes in honor of his half chinese heritage. these come from bakerella with some modifications. i wanted to make the cupcake match the panda so i found some polka dot cupcake liners at michaels and made an oreo cake batter (from the cake doctor).

polka dots on the inside and outside! so cuteeeeeee

the creation of a panda, i think i needed more milk in my frosting to fluff it more (or just add more frosting) b/c the choc chips were having a hard time sticking in (esp the ears)

i would also take bakerella's suggestion and use white confetti pieces and a food pen to make the eyes. i put a dot of frosting and then broke a sprinkle in half to make the eyes...and this ended up the only panda with complete eyes. also, as a side note, the oreo cake tastes better in the cake form with the whipped cream frosting and crushed oreo, but these are super adorable.

look at all their expressions! is it bad that i like the ones that look confused. and someone lost an ear at the top of the board!

pb lovin

 

surprising our boss for an early birthday celebration tomorrow and i claimed baking a dessert of some sort! usually birthday means cake or cupcakes, but transporting either one of those around campus is not happening- so cookies it is! these are oatmeal peanut butter sandwich cookies from joy the baker. her post makes me laugh and the cookies are phenomenal. soft and chewy with a wonderful nutmeg and pecan flavor and of course the creamy peanut butter filling. you can't go wrong with pb!

joy mentioned she didn't get a picture of the cookies next to a coin to show the size of them, so here you go! i baked my batches for 8 minutes (i love soft cookies)

and don't be stingy with the filling. i went back and refilled these suckers so each cookie got a wonderful creamy inside (post taking the first picture of the sandwich cookies all complete in the green bowl). happy eating! and look forward to some more nommy posts (i'm procrastinating on the studying) this week! it's going to involve these adorable suckers.

32 beads

sometimes i get really dragged down about being in school the 2nd time around, but then i try something new or meet someone new and it all becomes worth it.

yesterday was relay for life at school and this was my first year participating. and i have to say it was totally worth it. the genius idea of stringing on a bead every time you finish a lap was brilliant. despite the torrential downpour (which resulted in some fun bonding time with the staff as we holed up in the leaky tent) i finished 32 laps (barefoot no less) and it couldn't have been a more worthwhile experience. so go try something new!

key lime pieeeeee

it's hot again. and i love it. and it makes me want cold refreshing things. that, and lay out in the sun in a hammock. and since i don't have one of those, it's baking time instead:)

i've never had key lime pie before and i've always wanted to try it. there's something about the neon green color (which is completely unnatural, i guess people think lime= green) and the meringue on top is just the wrong texture for me to want to eat. but one of my wonderful volunteers at the museum (thanks bill!) is a key lime connoisseur and has actually eaten it in florida and he said the next best thing was this stuff by Nellie & Joe. i found it at the giant and followed the recipe for their Nellie' and Joe's Key Lime Pie (although the other ones sounded mighty tasty).

it's about one of the easiest things to make and calls for basic ingredients. i also wanted some crunch and eye fun, so i toasted unsweetened coconut and sprinkled it on top. look, even the biscotti guy is digging the pie:) it's tart and sweet goodness. happy eating and happy tuesday!

quarter of a century

"quarter of a century" just makes me think of that kellis song. which i think is titled the same. but, other than getting off track, it was my birthday at the end of march and lucy, the wonderful girl, surprised me w/ this banana, strawberry layered cream cheese frosting tower of beauty. man was it good. and it's such a cute idea to stack an "individual" cake! although transporting and such is always fun...

cutting straight down and we almost had a falling tower of cake!

also survived my first real wedding cakebite order. haha, clearly this is not what they looked like, but this was our white chocolate poo pile which was just calling for some very artistic sculpturing.

the whole kitchen and family was taken over by cakebites. and they did an awesome job! i'll try and update the other blog w/ tips and tricks.

happy april (what happened to my nice weather?)

pillsbury speed dinner

it's the last day of spring break and i realized i didn't cook once this entire week. for being "off" i never took the time to bake or cook! but i'm remedying that right this instant by doing some pseudo cooking that fills my tummy with tastiness.

these are the pillsbury refrigerated buttermilk biscuits. i sort of stretched them out a bit, topped them w/ tomato sauce, yellow peppers, onions and some oregano and baked at 350 for about 15 minutes (check the bottoms of the biscuits to make sure they are pretty cooked). then i topped it with a mozzarella/provolone shredded cheese and baked for another 5 minutes (or until melted goodness).

 i used the refrigerated butter tastin ones for the cinnamon rolls. i placed two of the biscuits side by side and rolled them out so they connected. with just a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon i spread that over and then rolled the bad boy up. it worked the best with cutting the "sushi" roll into 4 pieces and then putting them in the buttered dish, baking at 350 until golden brown.

mix some powdered sugar and some milk until you get a good icing consistency and gobble away! happy quick cooking:)

indian in a box

here's the dal palak with rice from kohinoor. it was actually really tasty and i didn't get that usual salty feel after eating packaged food where i end up guzzling more water after one meal than i do in a whole day. checking out the ingredient list there are no preservatives and all the stuff is spices and foods i recognize. the meal is also halal and gluten free and did i mention it only takes 2 minutes to cook! talk about lazy person's food. i think my maximum time for preparing a meal has dropped to under 5 minutes...which is sad, but if i can find more kohinoor varieties somewhere then i'll be in luck. :)