Summer, Cicadas, and Cupcakes

It is official! Summer is here! With the Memorial Day holiday upon us and my sighting of the first lightning bug of the season while grilling burgers on the deck, it IS Summer in Tennessee.

This spring and summer have had a bit of a (noisy) twist to it with the arrival of the 13 year Cicadas. For those of you not in a region where they are burrowing out of the ground in droves and filling your mornings and afternoons with their deafening hum, let me tell you a bit about what we are experiencing here in Nashville.

Cicada

Checking each other out

Cicada

Cicada Foreplay

These 1.5 inch long bugs make such noise that it comes in waves and sometimes resembles the sound of a loud electrical hum in the background of the high volume chirping. I have witnessed neighbors yelling "Shut Up", blindly into the trees. (it doesn't work, by the way) A friend tells me that the sound made when snapping one's fingers resembles the mating "click" that they make to attract each other. He tells me he tried it out and it worked. One actually turned around at the sound. Since these insects are far from shy and love to land all over your body when you are making no noise at all, I am not brave enough to try this experiment for myself. Even though they are harmless and will not bite or sting, I really do not want to have them swarming all over me more than they do already. Horrors! (just look at the creepy eyes on these things!)

One little known fact about cicadas is that they are a favorite treat for dogs, so Allie has been in bug heaven since they emerged this Spring. When we go out to walk during the day, she hunts feverishly for the perfect cicada, looking up into the trees and into the grass. She finds the perfect snack sized insect and moves on to the next one. Supposedly, they are full of protein, but a binge can cause trouble so we have to limit her snack time to no more than 3 per walk if at all possible. They quiet down at night, but in areas, they swarm the ground, similar to singles at a bar on a Saturday night. When we come across one of these cicada "speed dating" locations, Allie will practically pull my arm off trying to eat as many as possible in one gulp.They say protein is a Good thing??

In a couple of weeks, they should disappear into the ground and do whatever they do for the next 13 years before they come back again. I admit I will not miss the skeletal remains that litter the sidewalks and driveways, but the pups around here are sure going to miss their snacks!

A bounty of bugs on a night time walk.

Speaking of snacks... for Humans...A welcoming thing that summer brings is a taste for fresh, light desserts and treats. With all of the fresh fruits and vegetables that make summer so delicious, I see many cobblers, pies, and tarts in my future. But today, I am putting together cookies and cupcakes. The ease of packing up these goodies for a picnic or a road trip make them fit right into the "living easy" we all love this time of year. I have made some lemon custard to fill some citrus cupcakes, some monster cookies, and chocolate drop cookies to fill some orders and send to Jason's Memorial Day party on Monday. I also tried mixing up a whole wheat chocolate chunk cookie, and with some dibs and dabs of this and that, I have a crunchy, whole wheat cookie filled with chunks of chocolate and the faint hint of molasses. Pretty darned good, folks! But you can never go wrong with a Monster Cookie filled with peanut butter, oats, candy, and chocolate. Yummy!

Monster Cookies

Have a Wonderful Memorial Day!! Check back soon for some new step by step recipes. This week is going to be good!

Banks, Beaches, and Canine Diabetes

What a mix of things going on in my life over the past 3 weeks! Where to start...As you know, I have been unemployed since a lay off in September and have been carrying COBRA. Well, those good folks with the COBRA Administrator decided to Double debit me for the month of May. (No. Not my idea!) This has turned into a chaotic nightmare of phone calls, red numbers, and financial madness. The bank wants "Bad COBRA Administrator" to pay the fees and They want the bank to send them letters, further extending this nightmare. Banks and Insurance companies...Grrr. No reserve funds for me, so this started a chain reaction of Red in my account. I am hoping to have this cleared up and behind me this week, after 2 weeks of trying to turn it around.

The same day this happened, I was given the opportunity to escape to Florida for a few days and take in some of the Players Championship and enjoy some R&R with a friend. Kind of hard to say no, but with no extra pennies, and my pup Allie, being newly diagnosed with canine diabetes, spontaneity was a challenge. But I got the green light from my amazing Vet (Thank you Dr. Malone), My angel of a pet sitter (Thank you Karri), and my BFF (Thank you Linda) and the generous heart of a special friend (Thank you Scott), I was able to jump in the car the next day without a penny to spend and head South.I knew my Felines and Canine were in the best of hands and so was I, so I said a few prayers and hit the road for the beach.

Before I left for Florida for some rest, change of scenery, and to visit with my family at the same time, I burned some midnight oil making my Espresso bark, cookies and toffee to share with my family. Cooking therapy was in order and it was packed up and ready for the cooler come Thursday morning. It was worth it and they loved the goodies. Seems that Espresso Bark makes everyone smile that takes a nibble. Makes my heart smile. :)

Espresso Bark

After a week off from making confections, I am ready to jump back in and get the bus rolling again. I did take a different route for my cooking therapy this past weekend and put together a Southern BBQ dinner. I love BBQ and I always enjoy making and eating my special pulled turkey breast BBQ, Mashed Potato Salad, and Secret Recipe Coleslaw.

Skinless Turkey Breast in the Special BBQ Sauce

This is how it all starts out after putting together a special sauce of vinegar, onions and tons of spices.

Cooked Turkey Breast 

 Cool the turkey until you can handle it easily enough to shred into long strips. Add a few more spices, stir it all together and after 2 more hours, you have delicious, low fat, spicy, "slap your Mama" BBQ.

Voila! 8 hours later, time to dig in! Worth all the time, love and effort.

By the way, the beach was incredible! Great visit with family, wonderful trip with my friend, fresh seafood, A+ golf, Shuttle launch viewing, successful shark tooth hunt, and just a tad of sunburn. Allie is doing well with her insulin so far, but it is a process we will walk through. I have plans to start making some gooey goodies in the next few days and hopefully sharing them with a lot of folks, so... Life Is Good! Oh! That Bank and COBRA thing? Not so great! Since this is my place of peace and smiles, let's just let it go for now! Great to be back!

Cupcakes and XBox 360

It has been a little while since my last post. Let me catch you up! I have been busy cooking, baking and trying to switch things up a little bit. So far, it has been a wonderful 2 weeks full of  very enjoyable "social outings", cakes, truffles, toffee, and a bunch of pretty pink cupcakes. Life has been very busy for the past few months, with a lay off, a hip replacement, surgery set backs, pets, and life in general. Cooking has always been my passion, so once I began "self therapy" via the kitchen, everything seems to be brighter around Muffin's house. And it all started with the gift of a Kitchenaid Mixer. Life is good.

With a special family birthday coming up, I decided it was time to spread my culinary wings and try something new.  My oldest son turned 26 in April and I decided to try my first "free hand", special fondant cake. Jason being the avid gamer that he is, I decided it had to be a cake to reflect his passion. This was the result:

XBOX 360 Controller Cake

This was before the black outlines and final details were added to the cake, but I was happy with it for my first attempt. But more importantly, my son was very happy with it. I made my own recipe for Chocolate Marshmallow Fondant and the cake was covered with a crumb coating of homemade chocolate buttercream, then covered with a healthy layer of the chocolate buttercream. All of this yummy chocolate was covering a triple chocolate layer cake. ( The Bomb!) My son shares my love of really good chocolate, so it was a hit! I have to practice every ounce of self control Not to eat gobs and gobs of frosting as I go along, but it is almost impossible for me not to pop pieces of the fondant in my mouth. Edible play dough for grown ups!! If any of you do not think fondant tastes good, you have not tried really good marshmallow fondant. It is irresistible!

The next special event I was asked to help with was the 1st birthday of a very special little girl. Zoey was a miracle baby and to be part of her celebration as both the cupcake baker and a special friend of the family was a blessing and a half. They asked me to go for a Princess Theme full of bright pinks and Princess colors. I gave it my best shot and made red velvet, chocolate filled, lemon filled and vanilla, all with cream cheese and buttercream frostings. I had a blast. I made an attempt at little pink fondant crowns. The weather was wet and rainy for quite a while, so they all didn't dry, but I was able to get a dozen of them made to top some of the pink ones. 

Red Velvet and Lemon Filled Cupcakes

Here was the pre-party table. It was a good time had by all and I was so happy to be able to be a part of it. It was a wonderful day!

I will be updating the week just past very soon. So much is going on and I have hopes and wishes that it will continue to be filled with confections and friends. Till' later...