Chocolate & Peanut Butter Layered Cupcakes

Okay. I know. Chocolate is bad...but so good. Very contradictory but thats just how it is. If you are having trouble not drooling after reading that title then this recipe is for you. I found it in Pillsbury's latest magazine. I tried it. I loved it. I can't wait to make more.

Stop drooling and start baking!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup baking cocoa
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup water
• 1 Tbsp white vinegar
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put baking cups in cupcake pan.

In large bowl, mix flour, cocoa, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Add oil, water, vinegar and vanilla to flour mixture, stirring just until smooth. Be careful! Don't overmix!

Grab another bowl and beat egg, cream cheese, peanut butter, and sugar with mixer until smooth. Then add powdered sugar for a nice creamy mixture. 


Spoon 1 Tbsp chocolate batter into cupcake cup. Spread 1 Tbsp peanut butter mixture on top of chocolate. Repeat layers. 


Top with peanut butter and chocolate chips. 

                                      (Excuse the horribly disfigured pan)
Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. If you can't wait you'll pay the price by ending up like me and have to eat half the cupcake by painstakingly  wrapper. Cool on wire rack for another 15 minutes.  


Prepare for chocolate and peanut butter heaven. You can thank me later ;)

Makes 18 cupcakes
Recipe from: www.pillsbury.com

Laundry Soap

One of the many ways I try to save money is by making my own laundry soap and cleaning supplies. In my house with 2 toddlers and 1 man (with lots of uniforms) there are always piles of laundry to do. The kids also have sensitive skin which means I need a gentle but effective laundry soap. One day I was watching the show 18 Kids and Counting and saw the older daughters making laundry soap on the stove top. I was instantly intrigued...especially when they said that it was about $2 a batch compared to the $11+ I usually spend! Here in California things are more expensive than they are in the rest of the country so it's a little more like $3. (Prices vary so be aware!)

Here's the recipe:

1 bar Zote or Fels Naptha soap ( I use Zote since it's the only thing I can find in my area without ordering online)
1 cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (Not baking soda!)
1/2 cup Borax
4 cups Hot water

Other Items Needed:

5 gallon bucket
Long spoon
Several soap dispensers

Directions:

Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan filled with 4 cups of hot water.

Stir continually over medium heat until soap is completely melted.

Fill 5 gallon bucket half full with hot water. Pour melted soap into bucket along with washing soda and borax. Stir until dissolved.

Fill bucket to the top with more hot water. Stir then cover.

Let sit overnight to thicken.

The next day stir and then pour into soap dispenser. Fill dispenser half with soap and the other half with water. Shake before each use!

How much to use:

Top loading washer- 5/8 cup

Front load washer- 1/4 cup

Makes 10 gallons

Laundry Softener
Use 1 cup of white vinegar in with load. Works great!!!

Recipe from The Duggar Family

Preparing for the worst...Hoping for the best

I’ve been watching the news quite a bit lately. A little too much probably. It’s scary and it’s worrisome. Inflation and gas prices are on the rise. I mean, have you seen your grocery bill lately? Sure you have. So in a fit of panic I fired up my computer and did some research. Wanna know what I found? Food storage. Something so simple and something I could do. I could be in charge (as much as anyone can be) of my family's future. So you're probably giving your computer a strange look or thinking how I must be off my rocker. Give me a chance here, will ya?

What is food storage?

It’s different for everyone. For many it’s stocking up on staples that your family already eats and uses. Ex: toilet paper, toothpaste, diapers, pasta, and canned vegetables. For me and my family it was planning for natural and economic disasters. 

Why?

Like I mentioned above there are many reasons. Here are some:

Natural disasters

Economic instability

Protect against food inflation

Religious reasons

Lower grocery costs

For me a huge plus was that I could be proactive and relieve worry about feeding my kids on a dwindling pay check.

 Did you know?

Did you know that FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) suggests having enough food and water to sustain your family for 3 days?! I sure as heck didn't know that. From what I've read, the government put out this new guideline after hurricane Katrina. Do you have enough water in your house to bath your kids, to wash your dishes, to cook your food, to drink if your water was shut off?

So…now what?

Start slow. Don’t get overwhelmed. There is a lot of information out there on this subject. I am by no means an expert. I just started my journey this year. Get a short term storage plan in order. What I suggest is to sit down and write down a menu plan. You can make it for a week, 2 or a month. Whatever works best for you. Then write down all the ingredients needed to make those meals. You can go out and buy those items or you can stock up during coupon sales. Work on getting a week of extra food and then work up to a month. Before you know it you will have 3 months of food.

This is a shortened version of a lot of research. Please do your own research and find out what is best for your family. I will expand on this information and my own personal process in other articles. I’m also looking for a guest author with more experience to add to this series.

Here are some wonderful resources that I have used to get started.

www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net

www.everydayfoodstorage.net

Next article to come about preparedness/food storage is on 72 Hour Kits. Please join us!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Muffins are a hit in our house. Anything that is easy to make ahead of breakfast time is also a hit with this mommy! I made these the night before and they were still super moist the next morning (even just sitting on a cake stand with a glass cover).I added more mini chocolate chips than called for in the original recipe since I had such a big bag of them. You can adjust the amount to your taste.But if you're making chocolate chip muffins then you're not too worried about calories. So just do it. Pour those chocolate-y goodies in there!

Ingredients

2 cups All-Purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

½ cup sugar

½ tsp salt

1 cup milk

1/3 cup + 1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 whole egg

1 to 1 ½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Directions:

1. Set oven at 400 degrees F.

2. Grease muffin cups or add liners.

3. Combine flour, ½ cup sugar, baking powder, chocolate chips, and salt. Mix well.

4. In a separate bowl mix milk, oil, and egg. Add dry ingredients to the bowl and stir until moistened.

5. Fill cups 2/3 full for medium muffins or add a little more for large-topped muffins.

6. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.

Cool on wire racks. Best eaten warm!

Makes 12

Recipe adapted from www.allrecipes.com

Busy days, lazy nights

Right when things were starting to calm down and I thought I would have time to blog, my deadline to finish school crept up on me. So it’s been awhile since my last post. I have to get some things out there so you know what you’re getting yourself into by reading/following this blog. Here’s what you should definitely know…

1. I don’t have much down time to write and I'm very bad at it. You should have seen my English grades from high school. It's a miracle that I passed.

2. I have a looming deadline to finish my medical transcription course. End of this month to be exact.Once that's done I'll be looking for a job that will allow me to stay home. I know, I know. You don't have to laugh. It's not polite.

3. I suck at spelling. Yep. Don’t pay attention to my punctuation either. If you’re one of those grammatical freaks then you will get very agitated and angry with me. I promise.

4. I’m not always politically correct…and I don’t care.

5. I’m proud of where I’m from. Yes sir, I’m one of those obnoxious Texans who brags about their state. I mean, why wouldn’t I? It’s fantastic :)

6. I use a lot of smiley faces. (Just look above)

 Any of the above things will surely annoy you at some point. But, I will do my best to provide some useful information/recipes that will interest you.

So…what do you say? Wanna read another military wife and mommy blog?

A taste of home...

Like most military families we live in a place that hasn't always been home. Being from Texas and moving to California has been a little bit of a culture shock. One thing that helps relieve some homesickness for my husband is some good southern food. On a recent trip home we stopped and picked up some kolaches for breakfast. These wonderful pieces of goodness are not sold where we live so we gorged ourselves. After we got back I began my recipe search so we wouldnt have to go a year without again.

Sausage and Cheese Kolaches

Recipe from:
http://offthemenunow.blogspot.com/2010/04/kolaches-not-just-for-breakfast.html

I added extra slices of cheese and jalapeno peppers. Sometimes you just need a taste of home.