Easter 2011

HE IS RISEN!!

Easter has always been a very special holiday! Mainly because of what it represents.
In Old Testament times, the priest would bring bulls, goats or a spotless lamb without any blemishes to be sacrificed as a sin offering for himself and for the people. The blood would purify and make atonement (forgive, make amends) for their sins. This was the old order of atonement. When Jesus came, He was a representation of the sacrificial lamb to take away the sins of the world. He was the final sacrifice. We no longer have to sacrifice animals to make atonement for our sins. Jesus has done this once and for all. It’s His blood that cleanses us from all sin. He was crucified on the cross (the form of execution in those days). The sin of the world was upon Him, yet He was without sin and blameless. He bore it all. This is why Jesus is referred to as the ‘Lamb of God’. He was bodily resurrected (came back to life) on the third day. He appeared to many – eating and drinking with them. He appeared to them for 40 days, then ascended (went up to) Heaven. Acts 1: 1-11

So with that said, we do have easter baskets and hunt eggs; but by no means forget what easter represents.

Easter Baskets



Taysen & Mommy (Jenn)
Taysen's First Easter



Tyler, Taysen & Jenn

Making cookies!

Bunny cookie!

Easter egg cookies!

Sugar cookie truffles!

We spent this Easter at Jenn's dads deer lease. It was Taysen's first time to go to the deer lease. We had a great time! Tyler & Jenn's friends Blake & Jessica also came.

Tyler, Taysen & Jenn

Jessica & Blake Jackson

Hope everyone had a blessed Easter!



Payton's baby shower!

My niece Payton had her baby shower on Sunday. She is due in July and having a baby girl. Can't wait for baby Eliza to get here. Payton got so many wonderful things. I will add more pictures soon. But wanted to share this recipe for the pink velvet cake; which I made into cupcakes.

Pink Velvet Cake
Ingredients:

• 1 cup Shortening
• 1-3/4 cup Sugar
• 2-1/2 cups Cake Flour
• 1-1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons Cocoa Powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup Buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1-1/2 teaspoons Vinegar
• pink food coloring

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large jelly roll pan (18X12) with shortening and lightly flour, or use nonstick cooking spray.

Sift together cake flour, salt and cocoa. Set aside.

In a seperate bowl, stir buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and baking soda. Add vinegar, stir and set aside.

Cream shortening and sugar together until fluffy. Alternate adding the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture until combined.

Pour batter into prepared jelly roll pan. Smooth the top with a spatula to even out. Bake for 20-23 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before icing. You can remove it from the pan if you like, I prefer to leave it in the pan. Ice with cream cheese frosting.
NOTE:  I made cupcakes: To make cupcakes line 24 cupcake  pan with liners. Fill 1/2 full with batter. These cupcakes will not have a dome top, so if you overfill them they will run. Bake at 350 degrees 17-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. You will have batter left over, so you can make more cupcakes if you like. I bake the remainder in a 4 or 6 " cake pan for about 15 minutes. When completely cooled, I crumple them into crumbs and sprinkle over the iced cupcakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1 stick of butter (room temp.)
• 1 8 ounce package cream cheese (softened)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 box powdered sugar or (1-lb. 4-cups)

Directions:
Mix butter & cream cheese until fluffy. Add vanilla & mix well, then gradually add powdered sugar.

ENJOY:

Pink Velvet Cupcakes

Some other baby shower pictures!

Cupcake Tower

Italian Cream Cake Balls

Cake Balls!

Baby bracelet I made for soon to be great niece!

For Baby Eliza Fitzgerald



Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

I have been seeing these cupcakes posted for quite awhile, and decided to try and make them on my own. They were so delicious. Much better than the real ones. So next time don't buy them at the store, but try making them yourself. You will be glad you did!

Makes about 24
Your favorite chocolate cake
I often use boxed cake mix, and dr. it up a little!
Line  muffin tin with cupcake liners, make cake according to directions and fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way. Bake and let cool completely.

Filling:
1/2 - cup margarine or butter at room temp.
1/2 - cup crisco shortening
1/2 - vegetable oil
3 - cups powdered sugar
Mix above ingredients at med. high speed for 5 minutes.
Add: 1- egg white and 1- teaspoon vanilla and beat for 2 more minutes. Fill the center of your cup cakes by either cutting a small cone shape in the top of the cupcake or my preference using a pastry bag with a special tip. Click here to find tip I use!

Chocolate Frosting: 
1/4 - stick butter
1/4 - cup milk
1/4 - cup cocoa
In a saucepan combine all ingredients and stir well, bring to a boil and boil 1 minute. Remove from heat and allow to cool. I put it in the fridge to speed things up. You want it to be thick enough where it won't run off the cupcakes yet not to thick.
For the squiggly writing on top I used the leftover cream filling , but added about 1/2 cup of powdered sugar to thicken it up a little. ENJOY!!
  

So delicious

Couldn't wait for the first bite!



Oh my  :)

    

Birthday Cake Pancakes

Makes about 12 Pancakes
1 1/2-cups all purpose flour
1- cup yellow cake mix
3- Tablespoons sugar
1- teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2- eggs
2- teaspoons almond extract
3- tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2- cups of milk
assorted sprinkles
Combine flour, cake mix, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix. Add 1 cup of milk, eggs, oil and almond extract; stir until smooth. Add the rest of the milk as needed, you want the batter to be like regular pancake batter; not too thin or too thick. The type of cake mix you use will determine how much milk you will need. Feel free to even add more milk if necessary.
Preheat skillet or griddle to medium heat. Fold desired amount of sprinkles into batter right before cooking. Pour about 1/4 cup batter per pancake into skillet and cook until bubbles form on top, 2-3 minutes. Flip pancakes and cook 1 minute more.
You can serve with a vanilla glaze, regular maple syrup or my favorite left over buttercream frosting thinned with corn syrup.
Buttercream Syrup
Mix: 1/4- cup buttercream frosting with 1/2 cup corn syrup, more or less corn syrup for a good pouring consistency. I warm my buttercream in the microwave 20-30 seconds before adding corn syrup which helps with mixing and to get the right thickness to pour.
Glaze
1-cup powdered sugar
1-teaspoon almond extract
1-2 Tablespoons of milk 
Use what ever type syrup, or glaze you prefer, pour over pancakes and add sprinkles and enjoy!

Birthday Cake Pancakes

So Yummy

Delicious



With Vanilla Glaze



Sunday The Funday!

I had a fun day yesterday with the kids. After church I met the kids at my daughter in laws dad & step moms' house. We had a cookout, shot our bows and did a little bit of fishing. The wind was blowing 40 mph, which was a little bit annoying. Regardless we pretty much made a day of it. Granddaughter Taysen is so good; she went right along with the flow, even when it mean't taking a nap outdoors! We finished the day off with cookies and cream cupcakes and homemade vanilla ice cream. This past weekend I made Birthday Cake Pancakes, and Cookies and Cream Cupcakes. Recipes will be posted soon. Whatever you do, make sure to take some time making memories with your family and loved ones. Now here are a couple of pictures from yesterday!

Tyler, Jenn & Taysen



Taysen napping



Tyler & Kimber... shooting our bows!

Kimber fishing!