Yum, yum, yum. Yum, yum, yum.
Sorry, I get a little excited when I’ve got something good going on in my belly.
I just had my umpteenth Tall Nonfat Salted Caramel Mocha from Starbucks.
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It was so good, I’m doing a little dance in my chair here and “Oh, Happy Day!” is spooling in my head. I’m a little more than obsessed with this drink, which is perplexing on so many levels. I didn’t really start drinking coffee until we were gifted with a Keurig two years ago. Even then, I was strictly a Donut House Decaf kind of coffee drinker. After several coffee talks with other moms at Starbucks, I started getting more adventurous. Enter the Mocha Frappuccino Light. A delicious cold drink, but once the fall hit and all things pumpkin went into effect, it became the Pumpkin Frappuccino Light. As the temps dropped, I moved onto something warmer and here we have my current obsession. I never thought I’d be “one of those people” who trolls around for Starbucks. Alas, here I am. It’s to the point where this should have been the girls costumes for Halloween.
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| (image) Gah! How cute is that?! Not as cute as Mo, Co and Vivo, but still, pretty close. This year for Halloween, the girls decided early that they wanted to be Cleopatra (Mo) and a Greek Goddess (Co). They put their heads together with their grandma and came up with some extraordinary designs. It was all systems go for yet another fashion-tastic Halloween. The 31st rolled around, but the costumes hadn’t arrived. My mother-in-law worked diligently on them, late into the night for several nights, I know. She mailed them overnight express on 29th, but in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the box never left the shipping center.
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I had a feeling that with Sandy raging up the coast, things might not work out the way the girls had hoped. Talk about a teachable moment, trying to explain to the girls how the effects of the hurricane are so far reaching. We turned on the news and they were able to see the devastation that Sandy wrought on New York and New Jersey. I haven’t lived in New Jersey in over 15 years, but I felt like I’d been punched in the gut seeing what remained of the shore.
It was a sobering conversation for sure, but we managed to turn things around because when you have little girls, chances are there is an abundance of dress up clothes lying around. Sure enough, Mo and Co were able to resurrect some princess costumes, throw on some wigs and a bit of lip gloss to go trick-or-treating. They had a great time, scored a ton of candy, and even had quite a bit left over after I took out my trick-or-treat tax. The next day, the postman delivered the box and we had another Halloween celebration.
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| Cleopatra |
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| Greek Goddess |
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| Co, Vivo-Bee, and Mo |
The costumes are awesome; I really think my mother-in-law needs her own shop on Etsy or something. I’m thinking that next year, we may have to do a group thing like each of us go as a character from The Wizard of Oz or Scooby Doo or something because I’m kinda thinking that I want to dress up!
Anyway, earlier this week, I gave you guys a preview of yet another food goodie that I’d whipped up: Pancake cups! Yes, I have Pinterest to thank for this, although, I do wonder why when I look at the cupcake tin, all I see are cupcakes instead of endless possibilities. Seriously, it’s like I just can’t see past those little paper lined wells. It’s a cupcake tin! Must make cupcakes! In truth, there are way more things you can make. Here’s a smattering of ideas, and I’m doing it off the top of my head (not off of Pinterest, though I’m sure there’s an influence at work).
1. Lasagna cups (which I have made and were delicious)
2. Bacon, egg and toast cups
3. Fruit filled ice cubes — I cut up some lemon slices, some orange slices, and some key lime slices. I floated the fruit in the wells, added more water and froze them. Looks good in a glass, though beware of the key lime slices. They kind of turned a weird shade of green and my mom thought I had put a frozen pickle slice in her iced tea.
4. Macaroni and Cheese cups – me + cheese? nope, but I’d make it for someone else.
5. Mini Turkey Meatloaves – I did make these and while it worked out well, the recipe for the turkey meatloaf was pretty blech. Meatloaf need meat, like the moo kind of meat.
6. Mini chicken pot pies
7. Taco cups
8. Cookie Dough Cups filled with Pudding topped with Sliced Strawberries
9. Ice Cream Balls — so easy and your guests will be very impressed when you whip out these balls (heh!) at dessert time. Buy a gallon of your favorite ice cream and let it soften a bit. Line your cupcake tin with your decorative liners and then drop a scoop of ice cream into each well. Pop it in the freezer. At dessert time, you’ve got single servings of ice cream and you don’t have to wrestle with the scooper and container!
and one non-food item:
10. Take all the broken down crayons you’ve got lying around. Peel off the wrappers, fill up the cupcake wells part way and melt them down. When they cool, you’ve got a jumbo, multi-colored crayon!
Ta-da! So, that pancake cups.
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| (can’t get much easier than this) |
Pancake Cups (found on here)
1. Use your favorite mix
2. Pour into muffin tins
3. Add fruit, nuts, sausage, bacon…
4. Bake 350 for 12-14 min.
Personally, I like the bacon topped pancake cups because you get a little sweet and a little salty at the same time. As for the pancake mix, get as fancy as you like. We had Hungry Jack in the pantry and you just add water. Get your Bisquick, you Aunt Jemima, or whatever. Get as fancy as you like and add vanilla extract, pumpkin butter, whatever. Have fun and be sure to save one for me!
Happy Friday, y’all!