Sweetology

Monday, August 6, 2012

Tea Party Tuesday ~ Honey Lavender Sorbet

Happy Tea Party Tuesday!!

Wow...it has been awhile since I have actually

sat and had tea lately! Summer has been very busy and fun.

This week I would love to share the most

delicious sorbet I made recently. Perfect for summer!

Honey Lavender Sorbet.

Full printable recipe can be found by clicking HERE.

Filling a hollowed out lemon half dusted with sugar was a great

way to serve the fresh sorbet!! PRETTY.

It was really a tasty combo of flavors and easy to pull off.

FYI - I purchase my culinary lavender

at Amazon.com but I think it can be found at Whole Foods.

Now onto the TEA!! At the beginning

of the summer I experimented making my own different flavor

combo's of iced tea & by far the one that I continue to

whip up on a regular basis is:

STRAWBERRY PEACH MINT ICED TEA

For each 8 oz glass I used about 3/4 cup sun brewed iced

tea and then I added a shot glass each of both peach and

strawberry nectar. I then topped it off with a splash of

mint simple syrup and stirred!

Mint Simple Syrup recipe can be found HERE.

Serve over ice!!

I have really missed posting for tea time and stopping

by to say hello. However, I have been doing

some new and exciting things which is exciting.

I hope everyone is having a GREAT summer!!!

Hugs

Sharing with:

TEA, INSPIRATION & TABLESCAPES:

Rose Chintz Tea Time Tuesday

Martha's Favorite TeaCup Tuesday
Tea Cup Tuesday at Artful Affirmations
Tuesday Cuppa Tea at Antiques and Teacups

Tabletop Tuesday

A Return to Loveliness

Pink Saturday

The Tablescaper ~ Seasonal Sundays
Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons - Friday Craft and Food Linky

CRAFT/RECIPE AND SWEETS BLOG PARTIES I OFTEN LINK TOO:

Mouth Watering Mondays, Melt in Your Mouth Mondays, Mingle Monday, Made it on Monday Sumo's Sweet Stuff Made by You Mondays Making the World Cuter Mondays Motivate Me Monday Dittle Dattle Amaze Me Monday Mangia Mondays Mix it up MondaysTUESDAYTrick or Treat Tuesdays Crazy for Crust Confessions of a SAHM Delicious Dishes Cupcake Tuesday Let's Do Brunch Tempt my Tummy Tuesday Mandi's Tasty Tuesday Topsy Turvy Tuesday Handmade Tuesday Tasty Tuesday Tip Me Tuesday Time Out Tuesday Get Your Craft On WEDNESDAYMrs Fox's Sweets Party Lil' Luna Ginger Snap Crafts Whatever Goes Wednesday Wow Us Wednesday Look What I Made Wednesday What I Whipped Up Wednesday Whatever You Want Wednesday Wow Me Wednesday This Chick Cooks THURSDAYTastetastic Thursday Sweet Temptations Tablescape Thursday Artsy Girl Sweet Treats Thursday Sweets This Week Thursday Show Your Stuff House of Hepworths Brambleberry Cottage FRIDAYPinterest Party Fun Stuff Fridays Freestyle Fridays Tidy Mom Inspiration Friday Feathered Nest Friday Bacon Time Friday Party Sweet Tooth Friday Show and Tell Friday It's a Hodgepodge Friday Weekend Wrap Up Flaunt it Friday Sassy Sites Friday Fun Fridays Unfolded Food on Fridays Friday Flair Foodie FridayWEEKEND Show and Tell Saturday Sweets for a Saturday So Sweet Sundays The Girl Creative

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Mini Popsicle Mini Cupcakes

Mini Popsicle Mini Cupcakes!!

Thank you to one of my FAVORITE

blogs Party Pinching for this easy and

CLEVER idea! What cuteness.

I was in a super time crunch this

weekend, but wanted to bring something

fun to my work's summer picnic party.

This will do the trick.

I bough the mini cupcakes already made

and frosted to save time and then I handmade

the little Popsicle toppers a la Party Pinching!!

Fast and Fancy....

THANKS Party Pinching!!!!!

Linking up with:
Sweet Saturday
Crazy for Crust - Crazy Sweet Tuesdays!

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Fancy Nancy Cupcakes

FANCY NANCY CUPCAKES

I was asked by a good friend to make some

fun "Fancy Nancy" inspired cupcakes for her

sweet daughter's 5th birthday.

Having not really done much "cupcaking" lately,

this request was perfect to pull me out of my slump.

Although the designs were not elaborate, unique or made

following many hours of painstakingly molding

individual fondant works of sculpted art,

I was still VERY pleased with how they turned out.

As a matter of fact, they were a ton of

FUN to make! Plus, this family is pretty awesome too!

I purchased the printable cupcake toppers

on Etsy, for cheap HERE!

The other embellishments came from either the dollar store

or the dollar bin at Target or Wal-Mart in the party aisle.

The cupcakes were old fashioned chocolate but the

FROSTING was nothing else but...

PINK BUBBLEGUM BUTTERCREAM!!

This was the first time I used the Duncan Hines

flavor add-ins and I was very pleased at this flavor.

I love Fancy Nancy, part of me feels we are

"sisters from another mister"....HA!

As always, recipes can be found on my recipes

page by clicking right HERE!

Take Care!!!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Olympic Torch Cupcakes

Olympic Torch Cupcake Cones

What ya need:

Cake Mix

Ice Cream Cones

Oven

Frosting

Toothpicks

Fruit Roll-ups

Yellow food coloring

What ya need to do:

Mix up cake mix

Place ice cream cones in high baking dish

(I used 2 bread/loaf pans)

Spoon cake mix in ice cream cones until 2/3 full

Bake @ 350 for 30 min (oven times vary)

*After 20 min, I took my cones out of the oven

and moved them around in the pan for even baking*

Let cool

Mix up yellow frosting

Pipe on some yellow (I used 1M wilton tip)

Cut fruit roll up to have a "flame-like" appearance

Wrap around toothpick to get it to stick up

nice and tall like a flame should

Poke into cupcake torch center!!

Sit back and admire your creative genius!!

FUN!

These cupcakes probably are not new or unique in concept. I haven't been "around" the sweet blogs lately to see what has been posted for the Olympics but I am excited to see what has been put out by some amazing blogs I frequent. I have been occupied lately by some new and quite interesting adventures but I will always come back to the "sweet" things in my life eventually.....

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Easy Flag Cupcake for the 4th of July!

Hey long lost friends!!

I am back from the lap of luxury and right into the

swing of the sweetness of life.

It was good to go, but good to be back.

Here is an easy flag cupcake topper that you can pull off

for the 4th of July with ease and flair.

4th of July Flag Cupcake

I used a Nilla Wafer and cut it with a kitchen

scissors in the shape of a rectangle.

After smearing it with white frosting, I applied the stripes

with red as you see here and if memory serves me right, I used a size 3 round wilton tip for the stripes and 22 for the blue flower.

I had white sugar pearls on hand so it seemed like a good idea

that one go in the center as you

see here but you can pipe the flag anyway you see fit!

I used wilton premade tube frosting in the blue

and red colors and my standby oh so yummy buttercream recipe from My Cake School!!

After placing the flag cookie on the cupcake

I finished it with a lollipop stick, cut to size.

VIOLA!

Have fun!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Vacation Cupcakes ~ Beach Themed!!

TURKS & CACIOS TREATS!!!

Hmmmmmmmm let's see what have

I been doing the past few months...

Finished a course of chemo for annoying brain tumor (blech!!)

Developed a pesky cardiac arrhythmia (fyi...not fun).

Had my heart burnt, then frozen to get rid of pesky condition.
Got bill for chemo and above cardiac procedure. (WHOA!)

Worked my day job.

Worked my night job as mom and wifey.

Worked my side job and friend, daughter and sister.

Co-chaired the first big fundraising event at my daughters school that hosted over 200 people & raised about $70,000 buckaroos

all the while letting my blog slide into an oblivion.....

I need a VACATION (and a cupcake)!!

And THAT is just what the doctor (me) ordered.....

10 days in Turks & Caicos with my family!!

oh Heaven......................

I am a tad excited.

These Cupcakes and Nutter Butter Flip Flops
are getting us in the mood for tropical bliss.

See you all when I get back....(IF I get on the return flight that is..)

The cupcake was made by using a vanilla cupcake topped with vanilla buttercream
and coconut flakes. For the palm tree I used a pretzel stick and kiwi. This was tricky and
not as easy as it looks. I would not suggest making a bunch of these because the kiwi is not
very secure on the top of the pretzel once you cut the slits in it to make it look like a palm tree.
. I could have trimmed it up a bit to make it more stable, looking back. I would suggest pressing it into a paper towel to dry the kiwi out as much as you can before placing on the pretzel. I secured it to the pretzel with a dab of frosting but royal icing might have been better..just want to give you the best insight if you decide to make these for yourself! The flip flops were super easy and made with milano cookies and decorated w/ frosting, small fondant flower and sugar pearls as you see. The "sand" was crushed up graham crackers!!! Oh FUN! Let me know if you make these!!

Sharing with:

The Tablescaper ~ Seasonal Sundays
Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons - Friday Craft and Food Linky

CRAFT/RECIPE AND SWEETS BLOG PARTIES I OFTEN LINK TOO:

Monday, June 4, 2012

Rice Krispie Treat Paint Brushes Plus "Minute to Win It" Games for Kids!

School is out and summer has begun here in MN...we are

so excited around here for all the fun to begin!!

I have a fun snack & some easy games

to share this week to kick off summer.

Rice Krispie Treat Paint Brushes

EASY. I used premade krispie treats and

wilton chocolate melts in rainbow colors.

Just place the small popsicle stick in the

treat for the handle and dip away in

melted chocolate....so fun!

A friend of mine thought of me when she saw a picture

of this idea on the internet & so she forwarded it to me.

I could not find the original post (it was from Pinterest) but

it looks like it might have been inspired from

this one at Snack Picks!

Now on to the GAMES!!!!

Another GREAT idea for kids this

summer is to compile your own

"Minute to Win-it" games for the home.

Whenever Sophia has some friends over

it is always a hit to pull these games out

and have them go at it to win their "prizes"

which is usually a quarter or some tootsie rolls!

NBC has a great website (here) that shows all of their games

but I thought these sites did a great job

of summarizing the games directed for kiddos.

Minute to Win It for Kids Site 1

Minute To Win It for Kids Site 2

Minute to Win It Site 3

Our Family Favorites!

Bucket Head: Catch three soft balls in a bucket on top of your head.

Defying Gravity: Keep two balloons in the air. I usually have them work in teams for this or one person tries to keep one balloon in the air for younger kids.

Breakfast Scramble: Assemble the front of a cereal box that has been cut into eight pieces.

Elephant March: Knock over bottles using a baseball bat hanging from panty hose worn on the head.

Tissue Toss: Using both hands, empty a tissue box.

Play it By Ear: Place five cans with varying quantities of pennies in the correct order. (With a sharpie, place the numbers on the bottom.)

Separation Anxiety: Separate a pile of 25 multicolored chocolate candies into five separate containers in a set color order. (I have them do this as a team with one kid blind-folded and their partner guiding them to the right container with directions, very fun!)

Tweeze Me: Players use tweezers to relocate five Tic Tacs from one bowl to another.

Cotton Blow: Players take a straw and try to relocate cotton balls from one bowl to another by sucking on the straw to hold the cotton ball while you move as many as you can to the target bowl.

You can also do this with the Tic Tacs and M&Ms work as well.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST..OUR FAVORITE

THE "PIE" EATING CONTEST!

Player makes "pie" from whip cream

& pudding (we use sugar free) & then whoever eats the most

pie in a minute is the WINNER!!

I got most of the supplies to have on hand

at the dollar store and these games are always a hit!

Thanks!!

Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons - Friday Craft and Food Linky
Whimsy Wednesday

CRAFT/RECIPE AND SWEETS BLOG PARTIES I OFTEN LINK TOO:

Monday, August 6, 2012

Tea Party Tuesday ~ Honey Lavender Sorbet