Thanksgiving was wonderful. Both sets of Grandparents were there and brought delicious food. The turkey was the best ever. Salt brining the night before is absolutely the way to go.

















Sierra went to a friends birthday where they did the most amazing face painting. How cool is this?












New coat! Sierra's teacher is the best1 She loves her and takes the best pics and sends them to me. She loves her school and is learning SO fast! She is already reading sight words and sounding out everything. She is a genius.














Ward Christmas party. Best. Santa. Ever!

Roller Derby!

Oh ya baby. I tried out... I made it. I am now officially a Salt City Derby Girl.

My Derby Name is Keltic Storm and my number is #32˚.
Tell me I'm crazy, don't care. I'm doing this and I'm going to love it! Yes I will be wearing fish nets in public. Yes I'm totally fine with that.

Graduating!!

My little girl is graduating! I'm so proud and sad at the same time.

Cupcake contest

And the winner is....ME!! Woo! I mentioned that there was a cupcake contest between all the Kneaders pastry chefs. There are three of us at our store so we were able to enter three cupcakes. So last month the other pastry chef and I worked on them and came up with many designs and flavor combos. We picked two that we like and decided to enter them. Last week they came to pick up our entries. The first one we decided to do was a white cake with a little lemon flavor baked into it. After it was baked we dipped the bottom in white chocolate ganache, then filled it with raspberry filling. On top of the cupcake we layered white chocolate lemon truffle filling and put a swirl of raspberry whipped cream. I then put a curl of sugared lemon and some sugared lemon zest for a little flavor pop.
I think it turned out so pretty.












This cupcake won first place.
Click on it for screen size goodness.
The next one was a white cupcake with a chocolate dipped bottom, it was filled with vanilla mousse, then topped with raspberry filling then a swirl of whipped cream on top and a chocolate covered cherry on top. I don't have of pic of this one yet, I could kick myself for not taking pics when we made them.

I'm not sure if this one won second or third place.

The last cupcake was a complete after thought. We hadn't decided on a third design and Joy said whatever you want to do is fine, so instead of taking one of the designs we had done before I had an idea in my head I wanted to try.

We made a white cupcake, and dipped the bottom in chocolate, then I made some chocolate buttercream frosting. I piled it high in the center and smoothed the sides. I then made what I call chocolate "shards". I put a layer of chocolate on a baking sheet, let it cool and then broke it into long pieces. I didn't get a pic of the the ones I entered but here is some I did later that day for Jax's scout banquet. They don't look quite as good as the ones I made for Kneaders but you can kinda get the idea. I was so excited and happy we won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place out of 27 entries. I really didn't think we had a shot since the people that started Kneaders own a store in Provo and their daughter owns the one in Orem. I thought there is no way we have a chance. Woo! It totally made my day!

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig

Happy St. Pat's day!!

I made some yummy treats to celebrate one of my favorite holidays.
These are super easy and sooo delicious.

Green velvet cake balls. Click on the pic...go ahead..I dare ya.























I took a white cake mix, added a lg pkg of vanilla pudding mix, and 1/4 C. chocolate powder and made the rest according to the package.
When it was cool I crumbled the cake in a bowl and added one container of cream cheese frosting and mixed it very well.
Then I formed balls and froze them
When they were cold enough I dipped them in chocolate and drizzled more chocolate on top.

So addicting.

You can do this any kind of cake/frosting mix or even oreo or nutter butter cookies. You don't have to add the pudding mix or the chocolate powder but I wanted to try it.

Cupcakes!

Mmmm, who doesn't love a good cupcake? Yesterday I spent two hours creating these for a contest. They all have various fillings and toppings.
I think I'm leaning toward the white cupcake with raspberry mousse filling and raspberry whipped cream frosting.
The kids all like the two with the cherries on top.

















Sorry for the horrible pic, I only had my phone. You can click on the pic to get a close up view.

We get to enter three since there are three Pastry Chefs at our location. Even if we don't win it was so fun creating such yummy cupcakes.

Sugar cookies

This is the best sugar cookie recipe I have ever tasted. I know because I make them every day. (wink, wink) these were published on G00d Thin@s Utah. They did a feature and there is a video showing how to make them.

The very best and biggest tip ever is...wait for it....roll out the dough between two cedar grilling planks. (One plank on each side of the dough). You never have to guess the thickness. They all roll out to be the perfect size no guessing and so fast. You might think they are too thick but trust me they are perfect.

For the recipe and video just click on the link. Oh, and I also put in almond instead of lemon flavoring in the frosting, but that is totally your call.

http://www.abc4.com/mostpopular/story/Kneaders-Sugar-Cookies/tE2aCurRMU6kN_GXt_f8Qw.cspx

Nutmeg is the secret ingredient in the dough. Just beware if you make them, I won't be responsible for how many you eat. They are amazing.

Banana cookies

This is the absolute BEST way to use old bananas. It's way easy and so much better than banana bread.


Banana drop cookies

1/2 C. softened butter
1 C. sugar
2 lg. Eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 C. mashed bananas (2 med size)
2 C. flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 C. chopped nuts (optional)

Mix butter and sugar together and beat until fluffy, add eggs one at a time, add vanilla and beat well.

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and cloves.
Add to mixture alternately with the bananas.
Stir in nuts if you want them in.
Mixture will be slightly runny. Drop by teaspoons about 2 inches apart (they spread quite a bit) on a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for about 10 min. Just until bottoms start to brown. They will look underdone on top. Remove immediately and frost when cool.
Banana frosting ( This is what makes them so good)

Stir together 2 C. powdered sugar, 1/4 C. mashed banana (1 small), 1 tsp. Vanilla, 2 T. softened butter. You can add more sugar to make the frost as firm as you like it. I like mine to be thin so it’s like a thick glaze.

I made mine a little big so I got about 2 1/2 dozen.