I’ve had about all the crazy I can for one evening.

Happy Easter ya'll. Today I realized at church that I  hadn't done my visiting teaching for the month of March, and seeing as today is March 31st I figured I probably should do something about that quick.  When I got home from church I whipped up a batch of cupcakes, frosted them, and made Jeremy walk around with me to drop them off.  What a sweet man he is.  The recipe I used was from yourcupofcake.com again.  I seriously love her cupcakes.  Today's concoction was Strawberry Colada Cupcakes:

Strawberry Colada Cupcakes

Coconut Cake:

1 box white cake mix

3 eggs

1/3 Cup oil

1 C. coconut milk

1/3 C. sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp. coconut extract

Strawberry Buttercream:

1 C. butter, softened

4-5 C. powdered sugar

2-3 tbsp. strawberry jam or preserve

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Shredded Coconut

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners.

2. Sift cake mix into a small bowl and set aside.

3. In a large bowl combine eggs, oils, coconut milk, sour cream, vanilla extract and coconut extract.

4. Add cake mix and stir until smooth.

5. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 17-22 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

6. Buttercream: Beat butter for 2 minutes. Add in powdered sugar until thick. Add strawberry jam 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach the right flavoring. Taste to test :) Mix in vanilla extract.

7. Pipe buttercream onto cooled cupcakes.

8. Sprinkle with coconut.

I hear he controls the weather and wrote the screenplay to Glitter!

So this cold, snowy weather this weekend was far from my favorite.  I am WAY over winter, and I'm ready for spring/summer to begin.  My only remedy for surviving this weekend was to imagine that it was the last snow storm, and after it is over spring can officially begin.  I hope my remedy is actually true, and it is the last of the white stuff for awhile.  I love spring, and I cannot wait for it to truly begin.  Jeremy and I have been much better at going to the gym lately, and I have decided that I am not allowed to buy any new spring/summer clothes until I have become more fit.  This winter was brutal on my body (Okay, I was the one that was hard on my body, but I like having someone to blame.  Inanimate objects are the best to blame because they can't talk back.). One of my favorite snacks after working out is a triple berry smoothie.

 They are super easy to make, and they really hit the spot.  I can proudly say that this recipe is 100% mine.  There may be recipes out there that are similar, but I came up with this smoothie recipe all on my own.  Here it is:

Nicole's Triple Berry Smoothie

1 1/2 cups frozen berries

1/2 cup yogurt (I use lemon)

1 cup orange juice

1 tsp vanilla

Blend ingredients in blender until smooth.  

This recipe is a guesstimate of what I do.  If the smoothie is too thick for you, add more orange juice.  Sometimes I'll add more yogurt because I like the texture it gives the smoothie.  The vanilla is optional, but I think it tastes better with it in there.

He doesn't write the orders down, he never brings you food that's hot or yours, he can't distinguish bagels from doughnuts, he hands out butt napkins, and he has worn that Foreigner t-shirt every single day since he started working here and he doesn't know who they are. I asked him.

I finally got my icing piping kit.  Thanks Amazon!  This week was my dear friend, and former roommate, Kenze's birthday.  To celebrate we had a little shindig at our house.  I was put in charge of cupcakes.  I had Jeremy pick which recipe to do.  He chose the Chocolate Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting recipe from yourcupofcake.com  That was fine with me, considering that my favorite shake to get at the Malt Shoppe is their hot fudge banana shake with peanut butter.  He did have one addition he wanted in the recipe though.  He wanted me to put Reese's Peanut Butter Cups at the bottom of them.  I did so, and they turned out amazingly!  See for yourself:

The thing that is tricky about making these delicious cupcakes is that you want to eat them all the time.  We just started a Nicholls's family health challenge that Jeremy and I are bound and determined to win, and we can only have 4 sweets a week.  Having treats like this around the home is no good.  We're holding strong though, don't you worry.  Here's the recipe from yourcupofcake.com:

Cakes:

1 cup ripe bananas, mashed

½ cup oil

¼ cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs

1 box Devil’s Food Cake Mix

Peanut Butter Buttercream:

¼ cup butter

8 oz cream cheese

1/3 cup peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3-4 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1.      Preheat oven to 340 degrees and line about 20 muffins tins with cupcake liners.

2.      In a large bowl, mash bananas (about three) using a fork to get rid of all large lumps. 

3.      Add oil, buttermilk and vanilla and stir well. 

4.      Add eggs one at a time, being sure to mix well in between each addition. 

5.      Slowly add cake mix and mix well. 

6.     Fill cupcake liners ¾ full (This is where my recipe differed. I put enough batter to thinly cover the bottom of the liners then added a full sized peanut butter cup.  Then I filled the liners with the rest of the batter to make it 3/4 full) and bake for 12-15 minutes (mine took a little longer) or until a knife or toothpick comes out clean.  Be sure not to over bake them, and place them in an airtight container as soon as they are out of the oven. 

7.     Buttercream: Beat butter, cream cheese and peanut butter until light and fluffy (should take about 5 minutes).  Add vanilla and as much powdered sugar as desired (I used 5 cups). 

8.     Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

      Enjoy!

Bagels are like glue in your intestines and ensure that everything that enters your body will remain there until you die.

I've been on a new kick lately, these guys...

I guess it's not a new kick, it's more like an old flame that was recently rekindled.  I love making cupcakes.  They are so delicious and fun to decorate.  I even bought me a frosting piping kit and some greaseproof cupcake liners.  I'm going to become legit, and fat.  I found a fantastic website: www.yourcupofcake.com
She is amazing with cupcakes.  I've only  made two of her recipes, but they were spectacular both times.  The most recent cupcakes I made were for my ward's Relief Society birthday party.  I made some strawberry lemonade cupcakes, and they turned out marvelously.  The frosting is to die for.

Lemon Strawberry Cupcakes (created from recipes on yourcupofcake.com)

The Cakes:

Lemon cake mix (I used Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme)

1 cup sour cream

½ cup water

¼ cup milk

¾ cup oil

4 eggs

1 small box instant lemon pudding mix

Strawberry Buttercream:

3/4 C. butter, softened

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2-4 Tbsp. strawberry puree (see note)

3-4 C. powdered sugar, as needed

Directions:

1.     1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.    2. In a large bowl, beat eggs. 

3.    3. Add oil, water, and milk and beat again. 

4.    4. Stir in sour cream and then cake mix and pudding mix until well blended.

5.    5. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 20-28 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

       6. As soon as your cupcakes, place them on a cooling rack for about 5-7 minutes and then seal in an airtight container to make sure they stay perfectly moist.  The container will steam-up inside, but won’t worry… 

7. Buttercream: Beat butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add vanilla extract and add 2 Tbsp. strawberry puree. Slowly add powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency. If it becomes too thick, add more strawberry puree.

8. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

**I didn't have my piping kit when I made these cupcakes.  You can still pipe frosting without the bag and tips.  Just put your frosting in a sandwich bag, and cut off a bit of one of the bottom corners.  Make sure if you are piping your frosting that your cupcakes are cool to the touch, and that your frosting is really thick.  I think I used almost 5 cups of powdered sugar for this buttercream recipe.