The BEST Homemade Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting

Seriously this frosting is so good I could eat it straight out of the bowl and frost everything in sight. It is addictive, rich and so creamy. I made so many batches to get the right combination of chocolate to make it taste amazing.

Ingredients:

2 sticks of salted butter at room temp
4-6 cups of powdered sugar
2 teaspoons or so of vanilla extract (don't be thrifty on this and get the good stuff, no imitation)
1/2 cup of Hershey's Cocoa Powder
2 Squares of Ghiradelli Baking Chocolate (the semi-sweet kind big bar)
1 tablespoon or so of milk or half and half

What you do:

It is really helpful to have a Kitchen-Aid stand mixer but if you don't you can do this in a bowl with a regular mixer, no problem, you're going to get a nice arm workout!

If your butter is cold you can soften it by unwrapping and putting it in the microwave on 50% power for 10 sec intervals. Making sure it doesn't melt is crucial, so don't do anything else while you do this!

Put your butter in your mixer and let it whip on medium speed for about 5 minutes, stop and scrape the sides once or twice.
While it is beating, melt the chocolate squares carefully in the microwave (half power, short intervals) until it is just melted all the way through. Make sure that there are no lumps.
Add the vanilla and melted chocolate to the butter.
Add the 1/2 cup of Hershey's Cocoa Powder
Once the cocoa powder has been incorporated add the powdered sugar (minimum 4 cups) 1/2 cup at a time. After 2 cups of powdered sugar add in the milk (or half and half). You can add more than 4 cups if you need more frosting. Just keep alternating powdered sugar and milk.

Depending on how you like your frosting (thicker, thinner) alternate adding milk and powdered sugar until you get the consistency that you are after. If it doesn't have enough chocolate for your tastes add more cocoa powder 1/8 cup at a time, although this is pretty perfect to me. Frosting is never an exact measurement for me. Cupcake baking is another story, chemistry is not forgiving!

Ten on Ten: January 2015

Happy Ten on Ten!! One of my blogging goals for the year was to do this every month this year! I love when the 10th is on a Saturday, more interesting stuff seems to happen then. I am also doing Project 365 (one photo everyday!!) and will be posting a monthly super picture here. So, are you ready??? Here they are:

9ish I quit the Keurig and I'm officially my mother.

10- Getting her Lego on.

11-Photo by Jack: Game time. It was close, they lost by 1 point!

12- Started the Pizza dough

1- Oh Bread. I make all of our sandwich bread now. Delicious baking therapy.

2- My mom's copy. Read after bread.

3- Movie time. Cast Away

4- She shares my love for bread.

5- Homemade pizza for dinner!

6- She was so proud of her pie!

Coconut Oil Waffles

Oh my goodness. I have never in my life been asked for more waffles than I was this past Sunday. Everyone wants more and more and more of these. So I happily obliged and we had breakfast for dinner again. Now homemade is relative here. Homemade to me is making them with my waffle iron instead of pulling them out of the freezer and putting it in the toaster. I love Krusteaz Belgian Waffle Mix (no paid sponsorship or affiliation here I just love it, but I wouldn't be upset if they sent me a free box or some coupons!). I change up their recipe and add coconut oil instead of vegetable oil. The result is a sweeter and healthier option. Which according to my family is amazing! I also use the Coconut Oil Pam spray for the waffle maker for an added touch of yum.

Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce {Make Tonight in less than 20 minutes!}

I love homemade cranberry sauce. Every year I ponder why I don't make more of it all year long. It's just that good. You can make your own in less than 20 minutes with only 4 ingredients, 5 if you count the water. Yep, that's right. So lets do this!

What you need:

1 bag of cranberries
1 cup of sugar
1 orange
1/2 tsp of Pumpkin Pie spice
1 cup of water

Grater or zester
Stove pot to cook with
Spoon
Strainer
Bowl for underneath strainer
Canning jars or container for storage


What you do:

First you need to zest your entire orange, you should yield about 1 tablespoon of zest. I use a Progressive Grater Pod, I love that thing, took me about a minute to zest the whole orange! But you could use a grater if that's what you got! Once you have your zest, squeeze out the juice from your orange, which should yield about half a cup. If you have a juicer, use it (thanks mom!). Combine all ingredients over a medium high heat for about 10 minutes or until your berries are tender and have burst open. Now is the time to do a taste test. If you want it sweeter, now is the time to add more sugar. I personally like it to have a little tart kick so this is perfect for me. Once the taste is just right, take off of the heat and spoon about 1/3 of the cranberries into the strainer over the bowl. Press down and get all of the juice out. Pour the juice you strained out into the bowl back into the pot, mix and store. This makes enough to fill 3 jelly jars!

Tips, tricks and substitutes:

Roll your orange to release the oil and juices. You will get a lot more by spending 20 seconds rolling your orange between your hand and the counter.

Don't have an orange? Use half a cup of orange juice, or even a spoon of orange juice concentrate!

If you are new to canning, make sure you heat your canning jars under warm/hot water before adding the hot cranberry sauce. Leave about 1/2 inch between the top of the jar and the cranberry sauce. My cans always seal themselves by putting the lid on right away, after cleaning around the top of the jar first.

Straining is optional! If you like a thicker jelly you don't need to strain. Also, if you don't like pieces of cranberry you can strain the whole thing, but that might take 30 minutes instead of 20!

This is a great thing to make with the kids too. They love to watch those berries burst and I've made homemade cranberry sauce lovers out of all of them.


There you have it! Easy, fast and better than the can!

Mickey Cupcakes and Smash Cake

My bestie's baby just turned 3 and to celebrate she had a Mickey Mouse party. She asked me to make his cupcakes and a smash cake. I spent a lot of time on Pinterest and ended up mixing all of the ideas into what worked for me. You can find my board here. I am not a fondant expert yet so I chose to go with what I know, butter cream. I love a good vanilla butter cream with a little cream cheese kick, whipped and whipped so that it is fluffy and silky smooth. My chocolate cupcake recipe is the bomb, super moist and just enough chocolate that you feel like you are indulging but it isn't over kill. Seriously they are so good! I found out the hard way that melting chocolate does not work with food coloring. My husband and kids kept sneaking those little discs...so I think we will be able to use up that giant bag I purchased! Lesson learned. So I made up some sugar cookie icing and double dipped my Oreos to make these. Super easy, super fun and they looked really cute. I will say though, with cookies (especially with Oreos) they need to be the last thing you put on if you want them to stay crunchy. If you put them on a cake or cupcake the night before they will be soft, still really yummy, but soft and not crunchy. It really only took me about 10 minutes to assemble 3 dozen after they had been double dipped, so it's economical from a time stand point to add them right before your guests come. For the smash cake I found a super cute Mickey sticker set at Hobby Lobby and I just stuck it to a red and white striped straw. I made a washi tape banner using two more straws and some twine. Easy peasy!! I mimicked Disney's lettering for his name, which to me made all the difference! Super fun smash cake!

If you are in the Tulsa area, you can order your own Mickey Mouse cupcakes from my store, Three Magee Cupcakes. I deliver!

Our Airstream

So in yesterday's post I showed you this sneak peak of our Airstream:

We took that picture on our way down through California on Highway 1. If you have ever driven it you know its stunning, We had stopped on the side of the road for a potty break. While we were at my dad's he gave me a sign from my grandmothers house which has her house and street name on it, "Three Magee". She passed away a few years ago. Her land and houses were like being in your own private redwood forest. I wish my children could have experienced its magic. I photographed it when I went out for her funeral. We named our Airstream "Three Magee" and we're going to hang the sign inside when we get to the decorating part.

The nice thing about getting Three Magee from my dad was...it was free. About the only thing in it we are saving is the water tank, air conditioner and the toilet, which is pretty new. Everything else had been exposed to the damp air of coastal California and Oregon and was a little funky. Here she is before we started demo.

Hello 1978!

We are almost done with taking every thing out. Need a good workout? Gut an Airstream!We need to replace the sub floor with new plywood clean all the vents and windows, replace the screens, take the paint off the outside, reseal it, repaint it or buff it out, put in new flooring, recreate the bathroom, fabricate our own double bunk beds, purchase a new refrigerator, seal and paint the walls and last but certainly not least create a pull out bed for Dale and I. So you know, easy stuff! Whew! I wanted to leave the divider walls out to create a more open space. Our bed will be a pull out that can be a couch during the day. The top bunks I want to be more like cots and fold up to attach to the ceiling so that it feels more open and we can use the lower bunks like seats. The only thing I really want to have in it is a good little refrigerator. I don't care so much about bringing the oven back in. Who wants to do a bunch of baking when you're on an adventure? We are really good at fire cooking and I'm going to have a microwave above the fridge. We also have a plug in single burner. I would rather have an outdoor kitchen and more living space inside the trailer. It is really important for me to be able to take a shower and go to the bathroom there too if we need be. On our first camping trip with the four of them the showers at the campsite were so muggy that we needed a shower after showering. It was gross and had no ventilation. Three Magee has a nice big window in the back!

So there she is. I will post updates as we take stuff out and really make some progress. I hope to have her ready to go by Spring Break. Fall Break would be awesome, but lets get real here! If you have any questions about her feel free to ask!

How to Make Your Own Homemade Butter

Today is perhaps the best Monday in quite awhile.  This morning we woke up in our new house.  It is Regan's 4th birthday.  My Mom, who is continuing on her fight against cancer, doesn't have to have surgery today!  And it's my 300th post.  So I'm going to share with you just how easy it is to make your very own homemade butter because making homemade butter is one of the most satisfying things to make!

What you need:

• Heavy Whipping Cream (use as much or little as you like, I usually do about 2 cups and I don't usually measure it, I just pour in half of the carton)
• Kitchen-aid stand mixer with the whisk attachment.  You could do it with a hand held mixer but this way is a lot easier.
• Salt or seasonings to taste.  I like a garlic herb blend or even cinnamon.
• A strainer, bowl for the strainer to sit and a mason jar to hold your buttermilk.  A dish or container for your butter.
• A loaf of fresh bread.  Okay this one isn't required but you'll want it!  Try this recipe, its easy!

What you do:

Put your cream in the mixer and turn it on low so it doesn't splash out.

It will turn into whipped cream, resist the temptation to eat it!  It will still be really white in color and fluffy.

A short while after the butter will separate from the buttermilk and it will be yellow in color.  Turn your mixer off.

This is the buttermilk.  Strain it into a bowl and then transfer the milk to a jar.

Get the butter out of the whip and squeeze out any excess buttermilk.  Then wash your butter by running it under cold water and kneading it with your hands for a few minutes.

Now you can add seasoning and shape it to fit in the dish of your choice.  

The time it takes to go from cream to whipped cream to butter will vary depending on how much cream you use and how cold your mixer bowl, whip and cream are.  I'm usually done in 15 minutes, start to finish.  To make butter faster, put your mixing bowl and whip in the freezer for about 10 minutes prior to starting.  That was easy wasn't it?  And now your hands are soft and you have buttermilk for pancakes.  People are always amazed when I tell them I make it myself.  I suppose it's because they are picturing me milking a cow and churning butter on the porch, not this girl!

Happy Monday!  Thanks for sharing this journey with me for 300 posts...here's to 300 more!

Easy Peach Cobbler Recipe

When I say easy I mean easy!  Seriously you won't believe you made this so quickly and with simple ingredients.  So lets get started and forget you're on a diet, I did!

Ingredients:

1 stick or 1/2 cup of Butter

1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour

2 tsp. Baking Powder

3/4 Cup Sugar

1 cup Milk

1/2 cup of Peach syrup (from one can of peaches)

2 15 oz cans of Peaches in Heavy Syrup

Topping Ingredients:

1/2 cup of AP Flour

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) of Softened Butter

Dash of cinnamon (optional)

Let's Make It!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt that big ol' stick-o-butter and pour into 9x13 pan.  In large bowl combine flour, baking powder and sugar and stir with a fork.  Next add 1 cup of milk, peach syrup (just open the can and drain the syrup into a 1/2 cup) and stir until just combined.  Pour batter into pan over butter (it's okay if the butter resists having batter on it and goes to the sides).  Lastly add the the 2 cans of peaches, syrup and all, evenly over the batter.  Put into the oven for 25 minutes. 

While that is baking make your crumble topping.  Combine all ingredients until there are little clumps formed but there are no clumps of butter.  After the cobbler has been in for 25 minutes sprinkle the crumble on top and bake an additional 15-20 minutes.  

Serve it with some vanilla ice cream or some freshly whipped cream.  I had mine on the porch.  It was divine with the cooler weather and sunshine.  I almost got out there before the kids did!

June 2012 Ten on Ten

I would have had my Ten on Ten posted yesterday, but my husband send me a link to a zombie game called Rebuild for my phone.  Oh my word I couldn't put it down!!!  We did pretty much nothing on the tenth.  The only thing on the agenda was to watch the F1 Canadian Gran Prix at 1pm.  Saturday was a much more eventful day.  I ran a 5k in the morning and we had a late movie date that night at the theater (gasp!).  The old grey mare ain't what she used to be.  My early 20's self could have gone to the bar after the movie and closed it down.  Instead we went home and I was in bed by 1:30.  Lame.

8am- Jack watching Regan "build a fire so she could make s'mores,"
they really, really, really like s'mores.

9am-  Poor Ethan, after that fire building didn't work out the
little ones invaded his Lego building.

10am- Caught sneaking Almond Milk!!

11am- It would be nice if Jack didn't rip them off.  

12pm- Fresh garlic from the Farmer's Market.
It's a variety from Kazakhstan and it's so good! 

1pm- Time for homemade chili and dogs and my boyfriend
Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari.

2pm- The "Rock Garden" jar in the kitchen.

3pm- My favorite pillow to nap on.

4pm- Regan gets to go to my Mom's house for 2 whole nights all
by herself.  She is so thrilled!  It's a big girl privilege.

5pm- After chili dogs for lunch I needed a salad for dinner.
It did not disappoint!

Please check out Rebekah's blog A Bit of Sunshine and see the other entries and next month join us!

I am a Semi-Finalist for Fashion's Night Out Tulsa!!! Please clink on the link and vote for me (Julie) to be a Finalist and win a makeover and personal stylist consultation!  Voting ends June 18th, you don't need to be a resident to vote.  Thank you!!!!  Oh and my kids will get to see me on TV which would make me the coolest Mom ever, so vote for the kids :).

Campfire Cowboy Skillet

You're going to have to do a hike to burn this off but it's really yummy and uses up camp leftovers like nobody's business.  I made this for lunch and it was a hit.  Especially with the hubs.

What you need:

Leftover bacon and sausage from breakfast (we had about 6 strips of bacon and 3 patties leftover)
1 lb of ground beef
1/2 onion chopped
1 big can of Bush's Original Baked Beans
Approximately 3 tablespoons of Barbecue sauce
Large cast iron skillet
Hungry Campers

What to do:

Cook the ground beef and onion together in a cast iron skillet on a grate over the fire.  It helps if you have it  not perfectly level so that the grease kind of self drains to one side of the skillet.  While the ground beef and onions are cooking cut the bacon and sausage into bite size pieces.  Once the beef and onion mixture is cooked drain off or use paper towels to remove as much grease as possible.  Add the bacon, sausage, can of beans and barbecue sauce.  Let simmer over fire about 5-10 minutes.  Serve with crackers, chips, corn bread, anything you have on hand.  Enjoy!

April Ten on Ten

Yay I remembered it was the 10th!  I completely forgot in March.  Pretty uneventful day, but a beautiful one nonetheless.  Have you been to A Little Bit of Sunshine and linked up to Ten on Ten?  You should!!  And if you are reading me from Rebekah's beautiful blog, welcome!

8am- Hey Mom! Easter is over!  Put us away before someone else gets cracked!!

9am- Yeah that time is way off.  I'm almost never awake at 6 a.m.

10am- Apparently she can't do her gymnastics with her brother up there too.

11am- Lunch is grilled cheese.  It's good for you if its on whole wheat right?

12pm- A little more jumping before nap time.  The sun came out!

1pm- The red door in the backyard project.  I WILL finish by the end of May.

2pm- Shhh!  Don't tell them but I go in their tree house to read during nap time!

3pm- More projects.

4pm- Snack time on the trampoline.

5pm- Rule #1 you don't talk about Fight Club, unless it's laundry day.

Join me tomorrow when I show some pics from the little ones Mud Party.  I am a whole lotta fun.