Spring Cupcakes

Megan was asked to learn how to make these adorable cupcakes and teach them to our YWs last night. They are just too cute to eat!

Ingredients:

Cake Mix & ingredients on the box

Frosting

Large Marshmellows

Mint Leaf candies (find at Longs Drug)

Spring colored Sugars (regular consistency not large)

Gumdrops (find at Longs Drug)

Nonpareils (small little balls sold in cake decorating areas)

White sugar

Easter grass & small candies for decorations

1. Bake, cool and frost your cupcakes.

2. Take a large marshmellow and cut into 5 slices with sissors squishing it slightly as you cut so it looks like a petal.

3. Dip the cut sticky side of the marshmellow into the sugar leaving a white rim around each petal.

4. Take a mint leaf and slice it with a knife into 4 leafs. Dip the leafs that have been cut and do not have any sugars on it into regular white sugar.

5. Take a gum drop and slice off the very top to make it flat. Dip the sticky top just cut into the nonpareils.

6. Assembly your flower starting with the marshmellow leafs arranging 5 petals overlapping into a flower. Add two mint leaves carefully under the petals as you go or after. Add the gumdrop to the center and you are done!

Note: The marshmellows do harden so you might want to keep wrapped with cellophane and plan to deliver to a friend soon thereafter if they are a gift. Doiley's are a nice touch to hide the plate you are using.

Candle make over

I have had this big red candle in our living room for 8 years- it was a wedding present. I love the candle but we have recently changed the color scheme in our living room and the red just didn't work any more. So I found some scrapbook paper that matched our room wrapped it around the candle and tied a coordinating bow, now the candle doesn't look so awkward on my shelf any more.

De-Solv-it

This little bottle is a life saver!! My sister let me borrow some after I told her about my new shirt that I had worn once then washed and dried it mysteriously came out and had 3 small grease spots on it that I hadn't seen before it went into the wash. I thought it was ruined for ever. WRONG- not when you spray some of this on it and let it soak then wash it again, it's like magic! Oh and I thought I'd finally try and get the crayon off the walls from Claire's artwork a few months ago, I sprayed it walked away for 3 minutes came back and just wiped it away, no scrubbing involved! I don't know what stores carry this, but I am going to go and find me a bottle for my own home. Thanks Deb!

Beef Stew

This really isn't an exact recipe but a while ago I made a roast for dinner and knew we weren't going to eat the leftovers before we left on vacation, so I froze the meat and gravy. When we got home I threw it into the crockpot with some potatoes, carrots, celery, corn and peas and it turned out delicious!! The meat was even better the 2nd time around. Now I know not to waste any leftovers.