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A Christmas Eve selfie brought to 'life' courtesy of Grok :) Hope you’ve had a beautiful Christmas holiday season! For the last several months our focus has been on our pet’s health. As many caregivers know, it’s a labor of love, yet also challenging and at times exhausting. Tater started inhaler treatments for asthma twice/day, Hobbs recently began insulin treatments for diabetes twice/day, and our bunny Mac has ongoing health issues which require nursing care around the clock. Thankfully we have great vets, but we’re late to the pet insurance game. The bills are no joke. If you don’t have pet insurance, I recommend considering it.  Onto more pleasant things! I’ve been spending a lot of time in the kitchen (where Mac is) and worked on several fun creative projects. I made this cake (above) for a friend turning 70 back in November. It’s a gluten free, three layer vanilla cake, with a raspberry filling, two nut crunch layers, and cream cheese frosting. It’s topped with frosted cranberries and rosemary. My original design had much more intricate decorations, yet I greatly underestimated how long things would take!! I had to re-do several aspects because of mistakes. This cake actually took about a week to make, lol! They make it look so easy on TV! Thankfully, my friend loved it, which made it all worth it!! :)   I’m part of a creative group with some church friends who meet monthly. In November we created holiday wreaths. I had gathered several pinecones last year, intending to make Christmas tree decorations. Never got to it, but used them this year to make this wreath (above), along with some frosted pinecone decorations (below). The one above hangs outside on our porch. I made another one for inside (below). I watched this video to learn how to make these easy pinecone wreaths.   Finally made my frosted pinecone decorations! That's it for me! Hope you are well this winter season, and wish you a happy, healthy, and creative New Year! ❤️
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 A few cookie cutters from my childhood A Better GiftChristmas cookies were big in my house growing up. As a young sweets lover I loved to bake, or do anything in the kitchen with Mom. I’m not sure which was better – the act of baking itself or the pleasure of eating the treats! Cupcakes, birthday cakes, cookies—they were all so much fun to make! In our family each child got to choose what flavor or style his birthday cake would be each year. Biiiiig stuff! We enjoyed a variety of Christmas cookies, but decorated sugar cookies were Mom’s favorite. She joyfully told the story that when she was a little girl, they inadvertently misplaced a box of sugar cookies and found them at Easter time-- It was like finding GOLD! Knowing she loved these also made gift giving easy, because they were such a treat for her. As she grew older and couldn’t bake anymore, ANY holiday was a good time for her favorites!  Toymakers made children’s dreams come true when they introduced the Easy Bake Oven in the 1960s. One Christmas, my seven or eight year-old self circled and highlighted it in our Sears Christmas Catalog for my wish list. This was my kind of toy! MUST HAVE Easy Bake Oven! Think of all the treats I could make, and eat! Mom said, “No, it’s too dangerous.” TOO DANGEROUS?!! What was she talking about?? I still remember my deep disappointment. Instead, my thoughtful and caring mother gave me a shoebox filled with little Washington cake mixes, frosting mixes, a pair of hot mitts, a few mixing tools, and the promise that she would help me with my baking endeavors. Wow, thanks, Mom. (Womp, womp)  Mom at Christmas, 1968 (age 29) But it was a great decision on her part. Not only did I not just bake treats for myself and possibly get injured with a “too dangerous” oven, but I got to spend time with Mom, baking like a big girl. She instilled in me a confidence that “I can do this” with baking. This continues to be a blessing as I still enjoy experimenting and trying new baking projects, not just for myself, but to share with others. Mom loved my poem, “Cookies In Heaven”. I wonder now, this Christmas, if she’s enjoying decorated sugar cookies heaven? And if so, what they must taste like?? As an adult I’ve thought of buying myself an Easy Bake Oven, but the luster is gone. But oh, what I would give to bake with Mom again.   Easy Bake Ovens in the late 60's, early 70's (source: Wikipedia)
 This was an epic birthday, full of surprises!  I felt very LOVED!  Thank you, Jesus, for your love...  And the loved ones You've given me...  to enjoy this life with!   Valentine treats for my tweet-E! I received some donut and donut hole pans from one of my beautiful sister-in-laws for Christmas, and have been wanting to try them out! I found these recipes online and oooooooh, what a treat they are! I found this super-easy Cake Mix Donuts recipe HERE, and the Best Chocolate Frosting recipe HERE. (My husband's a big fan of peanut butter-cups, so instead of 1 Cup butter, I used 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup peanut butter. It's our new favorite frosting-- Wish I'd tried this sooner!)   A homemade treat for the birthday boy (Evan)!  Homemade brownie treats for a recent gathering  Had fun decorating these!  I recently made these cream-filled cupcakes for a holiday get-together-- They're one of my old-time favorites. For cupcake recipe click here. Because the chocolate cupcakes have a gooey filling, they really don't NEED frosting, but because I wanted these to 'look good', I added this delicious (NEW to me) marshmallow buttercream frosting. It's my new favorite frosting!!!! For frosting recipe click here. What treats have you made lately?
 These Valentine's cupcakes were inspired by this recipe: Cherry Almond Cake at TastesofLizzyT.com Their Cherry Almond Cake is one of the MOST BEAUTIFUL cakes I have ever seen, and these cupcakes are perhaps my new all-time favorites!!! Thanks to Julie and Madie at www.tastesoflizzyt.com for sharing all your beautiful recipes!   Have you ever had a "Little Debbie: Be My Valentine Cake"? They're goooood!
We also have a dear cousin named, Debbie -- Hey, Deb!! Happy Valentine's Day! xo xo  Cinnamon Snack Cakes
Thanks to Kristen at CookiesCakesPiesOhMy for this delicious recipe! Instead of using a 13 x 9 pan, I prepared these as cupcakes. Despite slightly over-baking them, they turned out moist and delicious and are especially tasty chilled! I used a cream cheese drizzle on mine. |
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