ZUMBA!

Ladies, put the kids down for a nap or in bed for the night, close the door, and crank up the volume! ZUMBA!  If you aren't doing it YET, now would be the time to start.  I LOVE IT!  It is fun and great exercise, and it has me moving in ways I never thought I could or never would before.  Every woman needs to feel a little sexy sometimes- this is it.  After about the first handfull of times I tried it I started gettig the steps better and after a couple weeks I didn't feel like a stomping elephant anymore.  It was a great sense of accomplishment to become more fluid in the steps and routines.

 It will empower you and get you in touch with your body in a fun way that gets your blood pumpin' and, as my two year old would say, have you "sweatin' like a pixie" (she's seen Tinkerbell one too many times- lol)!

You can catch it in the mornings on some channels on TV, order DVDS, OR (my personal fav.) get Zumba for Wii...that's right, Wii.

So, how ever you do it, just do it- you won't regret getting fit, getting pumped up, and feeling hot

Great ideas for that next special occasion:

My favorite part of a day likeValentines is that through my efforts to create a surprise for my husband, I find myself  feeling excited and full of anticipation just like when we were dating...and what mom or wife doesn't enjoy revisiting those feelings?

Here are some "do-it-yourself" ideas for YOUR next special occassion.

 You will need: 
-  ivory cardstock (mine has a simple, yet elegant, embossed border)
-  1 chisle (caligraphy) pen, black
-  metallic paint pens: silver
for shadowing script, and three other harmonizing  shades (shown here are green, purple, and blue)
-  poem (unless you would rather use your own words, as I chose to)
-  pictures of example filigre to inspire you

 If  you have a steady hand, you can go ahead and write in your text, using your chisel tip pen, in the style you prefer.  If not, use a ruler and pencil to draw in light, even lines across for writing your text upon- they will be erased once text ink is completely dry

Next, use your filigre examples to help give you your inspiation for the shape and flow your hand drawn filigre on the card.  Start with framing the card in filigre using your base color paint pen- mine was green.  Framing the card first makes it easier to do the "fill" work between the lines afterwards. 

Once you have filled in the card using the base color, go back and accent alternatively using the other two paint pen colors.

Lastly, take yout silver paint pen and use it to lightly add shading to the letters.  This gives a great finishing touch to the card.
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This next idea is a fast, sure-fire way to add a little romance to you next after dinner treat.
For this, I was really short on time and even used a brownie mix instead of from scratch.

You will need:



 -  brownies, from scratch or a mix, baked in a thin layer and cooled
-  a least one large and one medium to small sized heart shaped cookie cutter
-  raspberries, strawberries, or the fruit of your choice- fresh or frozen
-  ice cream of your choice, i like plain bourbon vanilla with these

       

First, use your cookie cutters and cut out your pan of brownies, making sure that you have an equal number of large and small cut outs ( you will be stacking them later.  I only made three stacked cakes, so I cut out the rest of the pan using various other heart themed cutters.)                                                                                  

                                                                  

 

Next, using a spatcula and knife, clear away excess around your cut outs and stack brownie cakes- smaller on top of larger cut out.

 After stacking the cut outs, heat your berries, or other fruit and drizzle over the top-

Make small ice cream balls and add on top, and "THERE YA ARE!" Güten Appetit and enjoy!

Inventive Valentines Ideas! Surprise your sweetie!

HAPPY EARLY VALENTINES DAY!

Valentines Day is TOMORROW!  Here is a great way to surprise the love in your life tomorrow morning for breakfast.  Just follow the easy step by step instructions using two rubber bands, a chop stick or kabob skewer, and a piece of heavy paper or light cardboard. Steps 1.2.3.4.5.6...equals a big kiss as reward!  

 

This next idea is a great way to surprise your sweetheart when they get home.  Not only does it look great and taste good too, but they will be thinking, "Wow, am I lucky!" LOL!

For the full tutorial, go to: 

http://iambaker.net/heart-cake-tutorial

L-O-V-E it!

Have fun, and I wish a great V-Day to all- and remember, you DON'T need to be in a relationship to celebrate love and loved ones!

Tip of the Week: Homemade Cupcake Carrier

This is a great idea!  Made from a box lid, just cut X's with a utility knife.  Perfect for carrying to school, work, parties, or any time your cupcakes need to travel.  No more sticking, mushing, or smearing!
Wish I had seen this earlier this week.

Love it!

Picture of the Day

All bundled up to go outside.  My little Berliner Bear :)

Complete with bubble- LOVE it!

Cupcakes can speak for themselves-

This week I needed to make cupcakes for a Mommy and Baby group get together.  I chose to make some simple white cake cupcakes.  The recipe that I found (shown below) is really great.  It is simple and fast to put together and tastes great too!

When I saw these beautiful and moist sweeties come out of the oven, I couldn't bring myself to cover them up with icing.  I just wanted to let the cupcakes speak for themselves instead of becoming overpowered with an icing.  So instead, I pulled out my decorator pens(a gel/sugar mix in ready to use "pens") and did some simple embellishing in place of the traditional frosting.

Simple White Cake
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/simple-white-cake/

Prep Time: 20 Min/ Cook Time: 30 Min/ Ready In: 50 Min

 About 12 servings: 1 9x9 inch pan

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 209 | Total Fat: 8.9g | Cholesterol: 56mg

Chocolate Pancakes/Waffles!

For all you chocolate lovers out there, especially those who enjoy chocolate a little more on the dark side, you have got to try these!

Today I tried out a recipe for chocolate waffles, unfortunately when we made the move from Texas to Berlin, Germany our waffle iron was left in the custody of my parents. So, hello pancakes :)
I used a small gravy ladle to portion out the batter as it was poured onto the griddle, so my pancakes were not very large in diameter. They were also on the thinner side, reminding me more of a crepe, but good none the less. We enjoyed ours as a late afternoon lunch. The picture above shows raspberry rolled inside one pancake and drizzled over the others and then with chocolate shaved on top. My raspberries were frozen and were pretty mushy and formless when reheated. Fortunately they tasted great, according to my reliable taste testing husband, and the important thing as a mom is to use what you have at home. I believe I ate 4 to 4 1/2 of these small, crepe like pancakes- but I was full, completely satisfied. I am very sure that the sensation of fullness I am currently enjoying is not so conducive to my after baby health kick, BUT who can resist chocolate pancakes when it's 19 degrees F/-7 degrees C outside? (p.s. it's supposed to be 10 degrees F/-12 degrees C in the morning...burrrrrrrr! I am soo from Texas!)

This recipe uses only egg yolks in the batter, as it saves the whites to make a meringue topping...I chose to forgo the meringue this time, I have a thing about eating foods consisting of raw egg- I also had a husband hungry for scrambled eggs on my hands. You could use the meringue, but I think a cream topping more like cool whip made with heavy whipping cream would be excellent- also adding a great richness to the simpler, more subtle pancakes/waffles.

Now because these pancakes where so flat, I did a little research and came up with some tips for fluffier pancakes:

1) The batter should be fluffy, not runny. I find that if I'm using 2 cups of flour, then 1 and 3/4 cups of milk is just about right.

2) If the batter sits too long, it will liquify and give you flat pancakes

3) Beating the whites helps, but isn't necessary

4) Your griddle should be very hot when you put the batter on it too. Preheat the griddle to about 350 and only flip them once also. Flipping them too much and before they have cooked enough on one side will make them flat too.

5) Low sodium club soda in place of the liquid in any of my "batter" projects; pancakes, waffles, bisquits dumplings, etc. It makes the batter fluffy!

6) Make sure your baking soda is not too old. It loses its punch after a while. Try pouring a little on a saucer and put a little water on it. It should fizz. If it doesn't, throw it away and buy some new baking powder.

7)Don't "pat" the pancakes!

I hope these tips help, I know that I already learned a little about why mine were coming out flat. All in all they still tasted great and made for a sweet change of pace. And of course, when all else fails, just add Nutella. If you don't know what that is, it is a hazelnut spread and you really need to go BUY some because you don't know what you're missing :)