Happy Saturday!

Sigh: Paris...

Black Bottom Cupcakes

These are chocolate and banana cupcakes with cream cheese and banana topping. OH MY...they are so good! I'll start with a picture by Bakerella because mine simply don't do them justice. If you ever get around to making these, here's a tip: warm them up in the microwave for 15-20 seconds and they're like little molten cakes. These cupcakes are best when warm! It's too bad most of them didn't stay at our house. I made them for a dear lady from our church that just had knee surgery this past week. 

Photo by Bakerella

Here is the recipe:

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Cream Cheese Mixture
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 small banana, pureed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Chocolate Mixture
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large bananas, pureed
1/3 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the cream cheese mixture:

• Beat cream cheese and sugar until nice and fluffy.
• Add banana, egg and vanilla and mix together until combined.
• Stir in chocolate chips and set aside.

For the chocolate mixture:

• Sift together flour, cocoa, sugar, soda and salt using a wire whisk.
• Add bananas, oil and vanilla and mix together on low until combined.
• Use a large scoop to fill cupcake liners with batter.
• Repeat topping the cupcake batter with the cream cheese mixture.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until done.

Makes about 18 cupcakes.

A week in pictures

Finally got our puppy

Bentley is 10 weeks old

Burning off some energy at Jumpin

Actually sharing the ipad ;)

My new favorite gelato place in town.

Eating chocolate, chocolate chip gelato is serious business!

Setting up his army men for battle.

Only a few casualties

Found a heart in Loveland that I thought said 'Mommy loves princess Emma' Actually it said Mammy...but we'll pretend it said Mommy. ;)

Goobers in Sunday school. =)

Not pictured:

• Very high winds: 55-75 mph
• Puppy training
• Many walks with the dog
• Cleaning up messes
• Potato and corn chowder
• Ladies bible study
• Lunch with a friend at Sophia's Bistro (new fav)
• Planning Luke's pirate birthday...stay tuned for that one!
• Warm cozy slippers
• Favorite Scentsy smell: Sticky Cinnamon Bun
• Children's church: always fun =)

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

We had a Dr. Seuss themed day at school to celebrate his birthday. Here are some of our activities that don't require much prep work but still make the day fun for your child.

 You can print off your free activity book {HERE}

 Emma really enjoyed the activity book.

Take a break with some delicious parfaits! Layer equal parts of red jello and cool whip

 Enjoying their 'Cat and the Hat' parfaits.

 Little bro really liked this part of the day. ;)

Finish off the day reading your favorite Dr. Seuss books!

'

 Emma has 'The Cat and the Hat' Tag Reader and loved reading the story like that.

Stories of Grace

God's grace is always sufficient. What's your story of grace?

Lemon-Blackberry Cheesecake

On Valentine's Day our kids were sick. We didn't get a babysitter to have a night out so we decided to dine in. The menu included steak, creamy mashed potatoes, broccoli and to finish it off, some lemon-blackberry cheesecake.

My hubby loves cheesecake and I love anything lemon...so this was the perfect combo. It's a bit time consuming but not complicated. It's very worth the effort! It's from the cookbook "My Family Table: A Passionate Plea for Home Cooking"  by John Besh

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter, softened		1 cup sour cream
1 cup graham cracker crumbs		1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 pounds cream cheese		1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar		1 1/2 pints blackberries
3/4 cup milk		Zest and juice of 1 lemon
4 eggs

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350˚. Grease a 9-inch springform pan with 1 tablespoon of the butter. Mix the graham cracker crumbs with the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a medium bowl. Press onto the bottom and halfway up the sides of the pan.
  
  
• In a large bowl, use a handheld mixer to combine the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth. Blend in the milk, then beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in the sour cream, flour, and vanilla until smooth. Divide the mixture between two bowls.
  
  
• In a food processor or blender, purée 1 pint of the blackberries with the lemon zest and juice. Pour the purée into one bowl of the cheese mixture along with the remaining 1⁄2 pint of whole blackberries and mix well.
  
  
• Pour the blackberry filling on top of the prepared crust. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and pour the remaining filling over the top. Return to the oven to bake for 1 hour, until the topping is set. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
  

Pinkalicious Pancakes

My daughter loves the Pinkalicious books by Victoria and Elizabeth Kann and the color pink of course. Last Saturday I thought it would be fun to add some food coloring to my pancake batter to make them 'magically' transform into Pinkalicious pancakes. Needless to say...they were a success!
All you need is your favorite pancake recipe ... I like Martha Stewart's basic pancake recipe...find it {here}, some pink food coloring and your favorite toppings. We used bananas, strawberries, walnuts and syrup, of course. Naturally, they turned out pinkatastic! =)

 

This week in pictures...

Emma holding our new little puppy

Bentley ...our little labradoodle

Valentine mailbox downtown Loveland

Mailing their valentines to friends and family

A rare sweet moment of brother/sister affection

Not pictured:

• Decorating for a missions banquet
• Snow... over a foot =)
• Supper at Panera by the fireplace
• Practicing for our Easter cantata
• Studying for a ladies Bible study on Prov. 31
• Playing Kinect with friends...oh the laughs!
• Purell, boogie wipes, tylenol, humidifiers, cough drops...you get the picture
• Cabin fever
• Potty training, Lukee
• Cartoon marathon
• Pinning
• Starbucks...salted caramel latte

Recent Pinterest Favorites

I've tried several crafts and recipes this week that I found on Pinterest and thought I would share them. (The no-bake nutella cheesecake is a BIG favorite, now) =)

(No Bake Nutella Cheesecake) Go {HERE} for the recipe!

This guy, is SO delicious and easy to make! We had some friends over for supper and I made lasagna, garlic bread, tossed salad and these little bowls of heaven...mmmmm. =) On a side note, you can find these 'mini bols' and spoons at Pier 1. They come in a set of 24 and they fit this dessert perfectly!

Mini legos in your soap dispenser. =)

Germs have been going around our church and my kids got sick. Hopefully my husband and I will stay healthy?? Maybe?? =) ...wishful thinking, perhaps. But needless to say we've been washing our hands non-stop. I bought some Softsoap bottles at Target and took the stickers off and filled them with legos like in this picture. It makes washing hands more fun for the kids.

Boy Valentines

  I have a little girl and boy. It's super easy to find girly valentines but a bit more challenging to find boyish looking ones. I was excited to find these free printables this week. If you have a little man you need to give a valentine too...here are some more options. You can print them via SHE Paperie.

 

Valentine treats

We have a Valentine's party coming up this next week at our church and I'm bringing these fun little snacks. I love the girly colors!

Princess Paper Dolls

I found a website HERE with a ton of free Disney princess paper doll downloads. I remember printing off the Rapunzel paper doll as a party favor for my daughter's 5 year old birthday but I didn't realize this artist made a ton more paper doll designs. Paper dolls are so much fun! I remember playing with them when I was a little girl. Check them out!