Green Eggs and Ham Cupcakes

Our poor little guy is sick on his birthday!  Fever all day long.  We'd planned on doing a laid back celebration with the family but Asa's spent all day in his pjs not wanting to eat (which is a first for him - no exaggerating - he LOVES food).

  

 Don't worry, we're not eating all these ourselves - we'll save them for tomorrow! 

Since we're doing so much Dr. Seuss theme for his bday party we decided to keep on going and do it for his actual bday.  So yesterday, before Asa was sick, Mike and I made these (from What's New Cupcake's Cracked Eggs).  Such a fun cookbook!

  

We used Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate Cake instead of the box mix yellow (just be sure not to overfill your liners, this is a very runny batter and it's easy to do!), dyed the lemon curd green for the yolks and used a canned vanilla frosting as recommended in What's New Cupcake.  The shells are white chocolate formed from plastic Easter Eggs.  *note - make a nice thick coating of chocolate - chilling and adding more in order for them to come out without cracks*  (Took us a number of tries!)

Budget Savvy: Bulb and Seed Favors

I've been thinking about spring bulb and seed favors a lot lately - most likely because we have about two inches of tulips showing outside and seed lamps running inside!
These can be a cheap and personal way to send a small thank you to those who attended your wedding. To make it even more unique you could hand out seeds of the same kind of flowers you used! You could also use them as placecards.

Happy Spring!

Supper Club: Salmon Beurre Blanc and Baked Alaska

  Pommes Frites from Thomas Keller

Salmon Beurre Blanc from Thomas Keller

Martha Stewart's Baked Alaska (featured in the Feb issue) 

DIY Easter Wheatgrass

After Melissa's comment about wheat grass I saw this posted. This idea is from Project Wedding (courtesy Jordan Ferney link here with full instructions). The wheat grass is used to hold placecards for a wedding but you could just as easily put it in any size of pot and make it an Easter Basket, individual Easter placedard holders, etc...

DIY Easter Crepe Paper Carrots

I saw these crepe paper carrots in the latest Martha Stewart and I can't wait to try them for Easter!! They'd be such a fun addition to an Easter Basket or a fun place card if you added a name on there.

They seem quick and easy too (...famous last words though!)!

Here's the link for instructions.

(picture from Martha Stewart)

Thinking Spring

Isn't this monochromatic table fabulous?! And all the bright cheerful yellow is perfect for any springtime party or just to dress up your house!  This would also make a spectacular Easter table.

The flowers they used are tulips, snapdragons, spider mums, carnations, gerbera daisies, billy balls, stock, and freesia.

(photo from She-N-He Photography via The Sweetest Occasion)

Budget Savvy: Wedding or Bridal Shower Cake

Isn't this cake fabulous!?  Especially if you're doing a vintage themed wedding or bridal shower.  And the best part is it's super easy to do.  You could head to Trader Joe's and get some of their fantastic cakes and have friends frost a bunch of these for an impressive and inexpensive dessert table.
(from I am baker)

Cat in the Hat Party Hats

Sneak peek of the party hats for Asa's 2nd bday! I had to wait for his nap to work on these because he kept wanting to try them on! I'll try to post a tutorial later.

Green Smoothie

I've been wanting to see if Asa would like the green smoothie for awhile.  This recipe sounds pretty good to me - we'll see if he gives it the approval!
Recipe and pics from One Charming Party.

Free St. Patrick's Day Bottle Labels

Benign Objects has a free download for Irish Bottle labels!  Fun way to spruce up your beer/root beer etc...
(via How About Orange)

Shamrock Cupcakes

We had a St. Patty's Day dinner to go to and I didn't want to or have the time to spend hours on dessert, so I went with a basic vanilla cupcake from Hello Cupcake and just tweaked it a bit.  I added a mint "buttercream" to mimic the mint oreos and that was that!  (Asa LOVED helping out by adding/eating the oreos.)

Ingredients:

2 3/4 c + 1 T cake flour (I switched to cake flour they called for 2 1/2 c all purpose)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c milk (I used 1/4 milk 1/4 half/half since I had some that needed to be used up)

1/2 c vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 c sugar

3 large eggs

1 c chopped mint oreos

Preheat oven to 350.  Line 24 muffin cups

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Combine the milk, oil, and vanilla in a separate bowl.

With an electric mixer on medium, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy - about 3min.

Add the eggs, one at a time.  Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture alternately with the milk - beginning and ending with the flour.  Beat just till blended

Add the oreos.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups.

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.  15-20min.  (less on convection)

Cool on a wire rack.

Frosting:

(this is an approximation since I didn't measure)

6 T butter softened

3-4 c pwd sugar

vanilla

milk or half/half

mint extract

green food coloring

Beat butter with an electric mixer until fluffy.  Add pwd sugar on low and slowly incorporate.  Add 1/2 tsp vanilla and a few drops of mint extract.  Add milk 1 T at a time until it reaches the right consistency.  Add food coloring and beat.  Frost and top with an oreo!

 Hello Cupcake is a great and easy book for kid's cupcakes!  (As is the sequel- What's New Cupcake?)

Shamrock Cake

Isn't this Shamrock Cake great??!  This is from i am baker.  It's a similar idea to the rainbow cake I'm sure you've seen around - but really fun!

St. Patrick's Day Coasters

Twig and Thistle has some more great free downloads!!  St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner!

Budget Savvy: Centerpieces

Centerpieces can really start to add up on cost - especially if you want huge pomanders at each table. Clustering groups of vases, tin cans, pots, bottles, candles, etc... can provide a lot of impact without costing a lot! You can get away with single stems, or petals, or potted herbs!  You can spray paint them, cover in fabric, or tie on accent ribbon to tie them into your wedding theme.  The options are really endless!
Any favorite centerpieces??

Inspiration Board: Shades of Purple

Inspiration Board: Cat in the Hat Party

Asa turns 2 at the end of this month!! He adores the Cat in the Hat (probably because the cat wears a hat - he himself has to wear a hat at all waking hours of the day.) So we're doing a Cat in the Hat party!

I'm planning on having hats for all the kids to wear although I'm not sure what I'll make them out of. (I've at least got the paper straws and lots of ideas - we'll see how many of them actually end up happening!)