Lemonade Cupcakes

My kids had been wanting to do a lemonade stand for the past couple of weeks and finally the weather was nice enough. We made yummy raspberry lemonade and these fun summer cupcakes and set up the stand right outside our house. It was the perfect day for it! They looked so cute sitting out there! Business was actually pretty good. Not sure if it was the lemonade and cupcakes or just the cuties selling the goods, but they made about 10 euros...not too bad for their first lemonade stand!

Lemonade Cupcakes (recipe from Baby Cakes)
1 6 oz can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
1 box white cake mix
1 8 oz carton sour cream
1 3 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cupcake pan. Remove 2 tablespoons of lemonade concentrate from can and reserve for frosting or another use. In a large mixing bowl, combine remaining concentrate, cake mix, sour cream, cream cheese and eggs; beat at low speed until moistened. Beat on med speed for 5 -7 minutes. Spoon batter evenly into pan. Bake the cupcakes for 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the pans cool on a rack for 10 minutes before removing cupackes from pans to cool completely.

Pink Lemonade Buttercream Frosting
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice or remaining lemonade concentrate
1 tsp grated lemon zest
4 cups powdered sugar
Additional lemon juice
Pink food coloring
Candied lemon slices or drops, optional

Cream together shortening and butter. Beat in 2 tablespoons lemon juice and zest. Add powdered sugar gradually and beat until light and fluffy, adding food coloring and additional lemon juice if needed. Frost cupcakes and garnish with candied lemon slices or drops.

got milk?

Being that this is a blog about all the things that make me happy, it seemed only appropriate for me to blog about breastfeeding. Especially since it also happens to be National Breastfeeding Awareness Month. I am a big advocate of breastfeeding and am so thankful that I was able to breastfeed all three of my children. I knew from the moment I found out that I was pregnant with my first child, that I would breastfeed. I never even considered anything else. It really is a special bonding experience...one that I will always treasure. I loved knowing that I was giving my baby the absolute perfect milk! I also loved that I could always comfort my little one immediatly. Even though breastfeeding was right for me, I do realize that breastfeeding is not for everyone. But, I do hope more women consider it and seek out help if they are experiencing difficulties and thinking about quitting. My question to you is got milk?

photo from The Inspiration Room

Visit kellymom.com for more info/questions on breastfeeding

Banana Cupcakes

One of the things I enjoy most about the blog world is reading all the incredible blogs out there. There really are some talented people. I recently started reading this food blog and I absolutely love it! She posts the most amazing recipes. Whenever I get in a recipe rut, I turn to her blog for help. Last week, she posted a cupcake recipe, so of course, I had to try it. The recipe was for Banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting...you just can't go wrong with that combination! I made them and they were delicious! It's basically like banana bread, but in a cupcake version, and topped with a very yummy peanut butter frosting. I thought the cupcake was so good by itself that I didn't frost them all. I even gave my baby girl her first cupcake (without the frosting) and she ate every last crumb.

This is a good recipe for little ones to help with. I gave my son the job of mashing the bananas (perfect job for him) and my older daughter measured and mixed all the dry ingredients. It was a fun way to get everyone involved. And the result...another divine cupcake to enjoy!
(Recipe courtesy of Bon Appetit via Framed)

Banana Cupcakes
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 very ripe large bananas, peeled
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk

Heat oven to 350 degrees and prepare cupcake pan. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. In another medium sized bowl, mash bananas with fork until smooth. Mix sour cream and vanilla into bananas.

Using an electric mixer, beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add egg and egg yolk and beat until well blended. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with banana-sour cream mixture in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture beating just until blended after each addition. Divide batter evenly into cupcake pan (generous 1/4 cup for each). Bake cupcakes about 20 minutes, or until tester inserted into center comes out clean. Transfer cupcakes to a cooling rack and cool completely before frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (do not use old fashioned or freshly ground)
Chopped lightly salted roasted peanuts (optional)

Sift powdered sugar into large bowl. Add cream cheese, butter, and peanut butter. Using electric mixer, beat mixture until smooth. Frost cupcakes as desired.