A Day in Pictures

breakfast

ball pit

lunch

Target

afternoon nap

post nap

Dinner

amc

See more Days in Pictures here.

Hometown Summer

Pink Paislee has done it again.  Their Hometown Summer collection is one that I will need to stock up on and use over and over!  Today I have a couple of pages up at Right at Home Scrapbooking that showcase this awesome line. 

Little Big Girl:
Little Big Girl

The Newest Member of Sox Nation:
Newest Member of Sox Nation

Can I say how much I love that this collection works amazingly well for both girl AND boy pages!?  See all of the details over at the Right at Home blog

Carrot Cake Should NOT Have Nuts!

I DO understand that my title is a statement of controversy. However, in my humble opinion carrot cake is NO place for nuts, coconut, pineapple, or any other WEIRD stuff.  Carrots.  And Cream Cheese Frosting.  Period. 

So if you add any of those things to my favorite basic carrot cake recipe just don’t tell me, ok? (and I won’t tell you about how I used to eat bologna and BBQ sauce sandwiches in elementary school)

carrot cake

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups shredded carrots (the finer the better!)
1 cup cooking oil
4 eggs
1/2  Tablespoon vanilla

- Combine dry ingredients in a mixer bowl.
- Add carrots, oil, eggs, and vanilla and mix until combined.
- Pour into paper lined cupcake pans.
- Bake at 350 degrees until a cake pick inserted into the center comes out clean.  I don’t have the exact minutes written down but a safe bet is to check them after 10-12 minutes and go from there!

This makes 24-30 cupcakes but the recipe can easily be halved. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

- Beat together: 6 ozs. of softened cream cheese, 1/2 cup softened butter, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla until light and fluffy.
- Gradually add about 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar.  Add slightly more sugar for a stiffer frosting or a few drops of milk/cream to make it softer.