Strawberry Lemonade Birthday

I created a Pinterest account shortly before my daughter's second birthday and, in collecting ideas for her party, I started to notice I was liking the same things: cupcakes, pink and strawberry lemonade. Her birthday was in August and somehow Strawberry Lemonade just fit. So that became the theme for her party.

I was all about going simple this year. The guest list pared down to family (which still amounted to quite a few people!) and the menu being dessert only. I bought a dozen pink and yellow balloons. My daughter is obsessed with balloons so I knew they would be a hit with her. I found some pink streamers in my party supplies. And luckily, I had leftover pink plates and napkins from her first birthday party.

Here she is eating her homemade mac 'n cheese birthday dinner before the guests arrived. (By the way: we kept the streamers and balloons around for several days after her party. She loved them!)



I found this recipe for lemonade cupcakes and they were so delicious! I turned them into pink lemonade cupcakes by using pink lemonade concentrate. Also, I finally learned how to decently decorate a cupcake as well. I used a 1M swirl tip and hot pink Americolor food coloring. Holy cow, food coloring really does make a difference. This brand is so much better than Wilton! (Sorry, Wilton.) I looked for a giant "2" candle and the store was out so I had to improvise. But I actually think the cupcake tree turned out better this way.



And what's a strawberry lemonade party without strawberry lemonade? This is Emeril's recipe via Everyday Living. It is easy and good! In fact, I nearly missed getting a picture of it at all: it was disappearing rather quickly.



Here's my daughter gearing up for the goods.



She went straight for the frosting. Love the pink mustache.

Lion and Lamb Cupcakes

Happy March! To celebrate getting to one of my favorite months of the year, I thought I would make Lion and Lamb cupcakes to go along with the old adage In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb.

Let's hope that is the case, anyway!

I found this idea on FamilyFun.com. Recipe and instructions are here.

Here is my version.


The lions look pretty close to the original.


However,

the lambs do not!


This recipe calls for the Hershey Swoops candy for the head. I could not find these (I don't even know if they make them anymore) so I used miniature peppermint patties instead. Also, the recipe calls for jelly beans, but apparently I should have used itty-bitty jelly beans because, as it is, I cut the jelly beans in half and they were still enormous. Finally (and I just discovered this one after looking at an enlargement of the original) the recipe calls for mini nonpariels, which I used. The original, however, uses those white nonpariel-covered chocolate chips. It makes a big difference! So I am a little frustated by the inaccuracy of the directions, and at my inability to spot these inaccuracies before I started making the lambs. Hopefully I will have spared the same frustrations to any readers who decide to make these themselves.

They do make pretty cute teddy bears, though.

Go Steelers! And have a cookie.

I married into a big Steelers family, so it is fun to have a reason to watch the superbowl this year.

I thought I would celebrate by making cookies. Cookie decorating is one of those things that I love to do but haven't quite mastered yet. I look for tips anywhere I can. This time around I found some new recipes for the cookies and frosting from my favorite baking blog. (Check her out, she's awesome!!)

Once my cookies were baked and cooled, it was time for the fun part!

First I found a picture of a Steelers helmet (that wasn't black--I cannot figure out how to make a decent black frosting.) I printed it out (only to realize that our non-photo printer doesn't have any color ink in it) and made some sketches and notes. This was the first time I'd done real prep work; I usually just wing it. It made a big difference having a map to follow.


Here's a picture of all of my cookies lined up and ready to go. I've found it helps to keep them on the cooling racks. They are slightly elevated so that, if frosting does run off, it won't pool around the cookie.


And here are the finished products.

The football:

And the helmet. Due to size limitations, I ended up opting to do only the red star on the helmet.


And here they are all together! Ready to be gobbled up by some hungry Steeler fans. I'm very proud that only one didn't make it to the party. I could have done some serious eating last night!!