Pacifier Cupcakes

These are the cupcakes I served. I took two mint lifesaver, and "glued" them together using royal icing. I let that dry, then "glued" a Jelly Belly brand jelly bean to it. Very cute, and you can eat it! Pacifier Inspired.

Royal Icing: 1 egg white and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice whipped together, stir in 1 cup powder sugar

Diaper Cake

For my friend's baby shower I made up this diaper cake. It was pretty simple. I used size 2 diapers, making three tiers around a bottle of champagne. I chose the green ribbon and flowers based off of the color of the pattern of the diapers. It took about 50 for the first layer, 25 for the second and 7 for top.

Rainbow Gelatin

• 2 packets of 3 oz red raspberry gelatin
• 2 packets of 3 oz lemon gelatin
• 2 packets of 3 oz blue raspberry gelatin
• 3 packets of Knox gelatin

Boil 2 cups of water, stir in 2 packets of blue raspberry and 1 packet of Knox gelatin until dissolved. Stir in 1/2 cup ice. Once the ice melts, pour into a 9 x 13 Pyrex. Allow to set for 3 hours, repeat with lemon then red raspberry. While trying to photograph it, Connor kept getting his paws on it.

Zucchini Bread

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup canola oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 medium zucchini shredded
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Beat the 3 eggs together in mixer, slowly add oil, sugar, zucchini and vanilla. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon, slowly add to mixer. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans. Bake for an hour or so in 325 degree oven. Cool on rack. I eat one, and freeze the other for later in a large ziplock bag.

Garage Sale

Things spotted at a local garage sale that should have just been thrown away instead.

Scotcharoos

I used to make this recipe about twice a month while I worked at Ashley Furniture, it was a huge favorite there. I have it memorized.

• 1 cup white sugar


• 1 cup corn syrup


• 1 cup peanut butter (I prefer creamy)


• 6 cups rice crispies


• 1 cup chocolate chips


• 1 cup butterscotch chips

Bring sugar and corn syrup to a boil, add peanut butter. Mix this with the rice crispies. Pour into a 9 by 13 inch well greased pan. Melt the chips together, spread on top. Chill and serve. I can't make regular rice crispie bars to save my life (it's bad) but these are a snap. (there are 2 things in this world I can't make - marshmallow rice crispies and regular jello, jello shots - no problem!)

Stuffed Animal Bean Bag

I saw these awesome storage bean bags on Boon, but they are like $80! So I made my own, out of $8 worth of fabric (4 yards) and a $2 zipper. It took about 2 hours to make it. I made it a little too big, it is the shape of a fat cylinder. Four foot diameter circles on the top and bottom, and eighteen inch strip of fabric around it. Even though it is huge, it is full....meaning Connor has WAY too many stuffed animals! It really makes a comfy seat. I had to take out the talking animals, they were getting annoying.