over the weekend

Such a good weekend!

My heart is so full after spending the springy-est Easter Sunday with my little family. 

The perfect end to our March (WHAT?! Where did March go?)



Friday. Pretty big day around here.....

We got.....The Chicks. Our girls.

We named them and gave them a home (uh, it's a box for now).

We'll be back to introduce the ladies tomorrow.....



We  played outside and colored

Happy Easter-Feliz Pascua de Resurreccion

AMIGOS FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS, A WORLD OF BLESSINGS THIS EASTER AND ALWAYS!

Besitos,

Lizy

Washi Tape Spring Gumball Machine

Hola Amigos...Good Friday to you all! Today was a day I meditated about Love...Let's love each other as He Loved Us. Looking forward to the big celebration on Sunday, Easter Sunday!

Just a little note before getting into our project today, as you have noticed my pictures are now watermarked right in the middle due to some unscrupulous people stealing not only pictures but the entire content of my posts and claiming them as their own. This as we all know is illegal and I will try my best to at least deter them from doing so by having this stamp right on my picture. I have tried to make it not as intrusive so you can still appreciate the content. Thank You friends for your understanding.

Today I'm bringing you an easy last minute quick craft where I experimented with the current rage among crafters, Washi Tape. I didn't spend a whole lot of money on it either, my luck, I found it on sale at Target for  $1!!! Not bad if you want to give something new and unknown to you a try right?

Trying to find out a bit more about this Washi Wonder Tape, I learned it originated in Japan, Wa ( Japanese) Shi (paper)  and it's basically a natural fiber tape, a natural masking tape, pretty than the traditional but masking tape after all! Prices ranges depending on the quality, I was able to find them online  from $2.50 per individual roll to up to $8.00 per roll depending on the quality.

But back to our project, I decided to bring my good old Kiss Me Gumball Machine I used for St. Patrick's up to date with the season with a Spring Inspired Decor and Washi.

As you can see, I covered the base of my Gumball Machine with the Washi Tape and embellished it with a couple of flowers. 

The tape was fairly easy to use but it was a bit hard for it to stick permanently to the terracotta material. I made sure and used some ModPodge to keep it in place.

I painted pink the rest of the gumball's areas and put a little spring ribbon around the top one! I just love that ribbon, so festive, and matched the colors of all the designs on the Washi Tape which was a plus!

To top it all of, what else...a cute $1 store bunny I refinished it with white and metallic paints diluted in just a bit of antiquing medium.

A couple of eggs here and there and some moss...Voila! I just made a  very festive Easter Jelly Beans Machine to adorn the kids table for  Easter's brunch , kitchen counter or office desk throughout the entire Spring Season, watch it people will be stopping by very often! lol

So what it's my opinion about Washi...well..I think I rather use paint..Don't get me wrong, the greatest  advantage of Washi is that as any tape it's  easy to remove, just peel it off and you are ready for a new project,, but you could also cover some previous paint job with primer.

I believe that if it is used in scrapbooking, card design and origami it's an excellent tool since it comes in a variety of colors and designs and it's very flexible but resistant as well.

This is just my personal view of Washi. Perhaps you've found more creatives ways to use it than me and I would love to see your projects or for you to share your opinion. So far if you search the immense world of Pinterest on Washi, board after board you will find a few very creative projects but in the majority of them you will find Washi Tape use for what it is, a very fancy tape! 

Hope you got a little inspiration from today's project! Wishing you a very peaceful Good Friday Evening and an even better Holy Saturday.

Besitos,

Lizy

"Washing" with Fun at the Fabulous Parties:
Under The Table and Dreaming
Diana Rambles
Bowdabra
Just Us Four
Your Homebased Mom
iHeartNaptime
Flamingo Toes
Classy Clutter
Will Cook For Smiles
Sew-licious Home Decor
Keeping it Simple
Create with Joy
Frugal Foodie Mama
A Humble Creation
Clippie Dips
Sugar Bee Crafts
Nap-Time Creations
Do Small Things with Love
Love Grows Wild
Feeding Big and More
Memories by the Mile
With a Blast
No Holding Back
Judy H-J's Thoughts
The Ironstone Nest
Ginger Snap Crafts
Twin Dragonfly Designs
Clean and Scentsible
Adorned From Above
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Beyond the Picket Fence
Handy Man, Crafty Woman
Real Coake Family
The Mandatory Mooch
Marigold's Loft
No Minimalist Here
Simply Designing
Rose Chintz Cottage
The 36th Avenue
Mom on Time Out
Seven Alive
504 Main
One Artsy Mama
My Turn (for Us)
Chic on a Shoestring
Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons
The Home Girl
Sparkles and a Stove
Classy Clutter
Chef in Training

sixty degrees

sixty degrees. 

maybe that seems cold to you. ...

but to us.....

oh! to us, summer is just around the corner. 

there is talk of swimming and popsicles and late nights under the stars.

sixty degrees is shorts and taking off jackets. 

the breeze in our hair and the sun on our winter skin. 

sixty degrees is mud that jumps up our back and birds calling out from bare trees. 

sixty degrees is

Mango Cheesecake Smoothie

Hello Friends and good day to you all! Moving on with my Spring cleaning I'm workig on my refrigerator.
There are not that many of unused or old items there since every Sunday I go through the whole thing cleaning and tossing out those things that I know are not going to get eaten..like....Wednesday's left over tuna casserole!
But there's always that elusive bottom drawer where things get to "hang around" a little longer...out of sight, out of mind sort of speak..and that's where I found a package of Neufchatel cheese that I bought by accident  last Friday and  a couple of very ripened mangoes (yes I've been on a Mango kick lately!) . So before my mangoes expire I'm using them to make a cheesecake on the go...you know...just like my Apple Pie Smoothie! I want to free some space for Easter's treats and Ham!
Here we go then!

 Mango Cheesecake Smoothie

1 (8zoz) container of mango yogurt (frozen)

1/2 cream (chilled) 

1 Cup Peach Nectar (frozen) 

4 oz Neufchatel Cheese

The Pulp of 2 Mangoes

In a blender combine the yogurt, cream, nectar and cheese until smooth. Add the mango pulp until everything is smooth and creamy.

Listo!

Don't you love a recipe with only a few ingredients but packed full of flavor!

I tell you, I can live the rest of my life just on smoothies like this...well I have to replace the cream with something else, but that's another story.

Think about flavor possibilities using this simple recipe...just change the fruit flavor, nectar and yogurt and you can have a different flavor for every day of the week!

If you are missing the crunch of the cheesecake graham crackers crust, no fear guys, it's thick enough for you to dunk your favorite cracker, mine of course Chocolate Graham Crackers!

 Or just crush  a couple of them and sprinkle some on top!

Thank You for visiting my friends, tomorrow we will tackle the pantry...wonder what I'm going to find there! Stay tuned!

Never forget that everything tastes a lot better with imagination and a Pinch of Love!
Besitos,
Lizy

Bringing some on the go cheesecake to these Fabulous Parties
Under The Table and Dreaming
The 36th Avenue
Tumbleweed Contessa
Married Filling Jointly
Clippie Dips
Jennifer Rizzo
French Country Cottage
Bernideen's Tea Time
Sincerely, Paula
The Charm of Home
Rooted in Thyme
Rain on a Tin Roof
The Home Girl
My Turn (for Us)
Love and Laundry
One Artsy Mama
My Romantic Home
Chic on a Shoestring
Rattlebridge Farm
504 Main

Happy Hour Projects
Not Your Ordinary Recipes
Crumbs and Chaos
Call Me PC
Just Us Four
Your Homebased Mom
i Heart Naptime
Flamingo Toes
Classy Clutter
Keeping it Simple
Create with Joy
Frugal Foodie Mama
Pint Sized Baker
With a Blast

the weekly juice

My juicer is back in action! 

I love pouring the kids a glass as we start school in the morning. 

It's been icy and cold, with snow over the weekend--so not exactly feeling like spring quite yet.

But this green juice tastes like spring to me--lots of bright "green" flavor, a great way to start out the day.

My boy loves it (I have yet to find a juice he doesn't like), my girl wrinkles up her

Lunes de Chocolate-Chocolate Monday

Hola Amigos! Hope you all had a beautiful weekend. It might be Spring in the calendar but when you have to clean the snow off your car and driveway every morning it sure doesn't feel like it! I'm forcing Spring...yes I am,  the same way you force tulips or bulbs to bloom, I'm forcing Spring to show up so today I'm starting with  my Kitchen Spring Cleaning.
First place to clean, the freezer. Half full bags of frozen fruits, popsicles, ice cream cartons (which by the way way you open them they only have 1 spoonful left!!!), frozen veggies, well you get the idea.
Unfortunately, no chocolate in the freezer so no chocolate treat today but .lots of frozen fruit bags though, I think the best way to get rid of them is by making a refreshing fruit crisp with 1 full bag of frozen mangoes and 2 half bags of mixed berries. Let's start this week on a "Berry" Sweet Note!

Berry Mango Spring Crisp

4 Cups of Frozen (or fresh) Mangoes and Mixed Berries

2 Tablespoons of sugar

1/2 Cup of packed Brown Sugar

1/2 Rolled Oats

1/4 Cup Flour

1/4 TSPS of Nutmeg, Ginger and Cinnamon each

1/4 Cup Butter

Heat up the oven at 375 degrees

Thaw the frozen fruits keeping their juice and 

mix with the 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place in a baking bowl.

Mix Together brown sugar, flour, oats, spices and butter until getting coarse lumps.

Sprinkle them all over the fruit and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until the topping is golden brown.

Serve while worm by itself of with your favorite scoop of Ice Cream

Listo,

I can't decide if it's better with Raspberry Sherbet 

Or Vanilla Ice Cream

Or just tasting the big chunks of mango and crispy oats all by themselves 

The important thing is my freezer is frozen fruit free, ice cream carton free and I have a happy family enjoying a fruity dessert in a snowy Spring afternoon. 

Remember everything tastes better with a Pinch of Love!

Besitos,

Lizy

Sharing a Fruity Treat at these Fabulous Parties:
Under The Table and Dreaming
Sugar Bee Crafts
Do Small Things with Love
Nap-time Creations
Love Grows Wild
Pint Sized Baker
Clippie Dips
Hun What's for Dinner
Sugar and Slice
The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen
Townsend House
Tumbleweed Contessa
Jennifer Rizzo
Sincerely, Paula
The Charm of Home
Rain on a Tin Roof
The Home Girl
My Turn (for Us)
Love and Laundry
One Artsy Mama
Chic on a Shoestring
Rattlebridge Farm
504 Main
Happy Hour Projects
Not Your Ordinary Recipes
Crumbs and Chaos
Flamingo Toes
Keeping it Simple
Create with Joy
Frugal Foodie Mama

Really Moist Lemon Cupcakes for Lemon Lovers

 

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."

 

- Anne Bradstreet  

 

Hi everybody! I'm happy to be back to blogging! I've missed you. And I've missed baking. Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement after I posted an update in January. You guys are the best. I'm happy to say I'm feeling a lot better. And now that I've felt the first sun of spring, I feel positively  invincible and that all things are possible. I think I must run on solar. (I am a California girl after all.)

 

 

 

This recipe is full of lemon zest and juice for lots of fresh lemon flavor.

This is a great recipe to kick off spring. Lemons just scream spring to me, and lemon desserts are great for Easter. And it's almost here! These would be awesome for an Easter gathering.

I love lemon desserts, they are one of my favorites. I like my lemon desserts FULL of lemon. I need my lemon flavor strong. These cupcakes reflect that. The cupcakes themselves have a great straightforward lemon flavor. The buttercream is also full of lemon. This frosting would be great on white cupcakes, or even white chocolate cupcakes, yum!

This recipe is super easy. Basically you just add everything to a pot and stir.

If you are using another flavor of frosting and you like a really strong lemon flavor for the cupcakes, I would even say they could be a bit stronger, so I've added instructions in the recipe to do that.

I like to sprinkle the baking soda and salt to the top of the flour and then stir, so it doesn't end up in one lump. I think it makes them incorporate easier. Of course you could stir the dry ingredients together first, but I don't really think that's necessary in this recipe. And who wants to dirty a bowl if you don't need to? ** Edited to add, you will get the best results if you mix the dry ingredients together first (I've noted this in the recipe.)

On the other hand, if you want the flavor a little more toned down you can always decrease the lemon juice and zest to do that.

This is my finished batter. It's bright yellow/orange because I have my own free range chickens and their yolks are bright orange. I mention this because if you are using supermarket eggs your batter will be much more pale. Just an FYI.

Speaking of zest and juice, these are very important aspects to this recipe. You really do need to use fresh lemon juice and the lemon zest needs to be really fine. The best way to do that is to use a Microplane, this is one of my most favorite kitchen tools. I use it to grate Parmesan cheese and chocolate as well as zesting citrus. It allows you to take off only the top layer of the yellow peel, don't get any white pith into your zest or it will be bitter.

These are the cupcake liners I used and I'm loving them! They are thick and foil lined. So the cupcakes are easy to remove. They are greaseproof and I love that they stay true to their color even after they come out of the oven. They are cheap too! I bought these at Walmart. I will definitely be looking for more of these in the future. (Reynolds isn't paying me anything to say this, I just love them.)

For this recipe I took My Favorite White Cupcakes Recipe and adapted it to make it lemon . The great thing about this recipe is how easy it is. Seriously you really just throw it all into a pot and stir. This is the easiest cupcake recipe I've ever made. Which is great for a beginner, or for children. Or for those who don't like a lot of work, but appreciate a great homemade cupcake. (I fall into the last category.)

Pouring the batter into their liners

Another thing I love about these cupcakes is how moist they are. They really are super moist and tender.

Cupcakes cooling on a rack, these smell so good coming out of the oven!

 

 The buttercream recipe is a standard American buttercream, a butter and powdered sugar base. Which usually doesn't excite me and which most people think is way too sweet. But when you add something tart like lemons to all of that sugar, it really balances out the sweetness and turns this frosting into something special. I could eat this frosting with a spoon, I love it so much. In fact I needed to put the bowl in the sink and rinse it so I would stop licking the bowl.

 

 

Making the buttercream

I fed one of these to my husband (who isn't really a dessert lover) and he really loved it. I sent the rest of the batch to his work and they received rave reviews! Especially from the lemon lovers.

I wish you a happy Easter! I hope these cupcakes bring you and your family as much joy as they did for me!

 

 

 

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Oneida silverplated butler's tray and Pretty silver cake server from Italy available at my Etsy shop, House of Lucien. For updates on future coupon codes like House of Lucien on Facebook!


Edited to Add - Some people were having issues with these not rising, this has been fixed! Thank you for all who helped in figuring this out. I've adjusted the recipe to note the changes.


Really Moist Lemon Cupcakes for the Lemon Lover

an original recipe by me, Melissa aka The Alchemist

makes about 20 cupcakes, the recipe can easily be doubled if you need more.

Like I mentioned in the post, this recipe has a great lemon flavor and the buttercream also has a strong lemon flavor, I believe they pair very well together as written. But if you are using a different flavored frosting recipe and want the cupcakes to have a really strong lemon flavor, I would increase the lemon juice to 3/4 cup, and decrease the water to 1/4 cup. If you want them with less lemon flavor I would use less zest, about 1 Tablespoon.

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) (228 g.) butter

1/2 cup (4 oz)  (118 ml.) fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup (4 oz) (118 ml) water

1 1/2 cups (300 g.) sugar

2 eggs beaten

1/2 cup (4 oz) (118 ml.) sour cream or plain yogurt

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 Tablespoons fresh lemon zest, lightly packed

2 cups (250 g.) flour

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, 180 degrees Celsius, gas mark 4.

In a large saucepan melt the butter with the lemon juice and water on medium high heat. When the butter is melted remove from heat. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add the sour cream (or yogurt), beaten eggs, vanilla extract and lemon zest and whisk together. Let this mixture cool completely before preceding, in the fridge, or room temperature is fine. Just make sure it's not warm. In a separate bowl whisk the flour, salt and baking soda together, then whisk the dry ingredients into the batter. The batter will be somewhat thin, you will be able to pour it in the cupcake liners.

Prepare muffin pans with cupcake liners. Pour (or ladle) the batter in a measuring cup with a spout (or a similar vessel with a pouring spout) and pour the batter into the cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full, this is important to the success of the cupcakes, don't fill them half way full, or fuller than 3/4 of the way. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.

Don't open the oven until 18 minutes have passed. Sometimes recipes say to turn the pan half way through cooking time, don't do this here. The reason is because there is so much moisture in this recipe you need that cooking time before opening the oven or else they may fall, and never rise.

Cool cupcakes on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely before frosting.


Lemon Buttercream

This recipe has a great strong lemon flavor. I think it's perfect as is. It would be great paired with a different flavored cupcake. If you are concerned about the lemon flavor being too strong, I would start off with less zest, (start with half of the amount) and start with half the amount of lemon juice and taste it. You can always increase the zest and juice to your liking.

This recipe makes enough frosting to generously pipe the buttercream on the cupcakes. I had just a bit left over, (you can see from the pictures how much I used on each cupcake.) If you are spreading the frosting on, or if you know you will use much less, I would halve the recipe.

Ingredients

1 lb. (4 sticks) (456 g.) unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/2 lbs (652 g.) powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon lightly packed fresh lemon zest finely zested from a microplane

1/3 cup (78 ml.) fresh lemon juice


Directions

Using a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer beat the butter well, about 1 minute with a stand mixer, 2 minutes with a hand mixer. Add about half of the powdered sugar, the vanilla, lemon zest and juice, then beat well, but start off on low until the sugar is mixed in, so it doesn't go flying all over the kitchen. Once it is incorporated add the rest of the sugar, (start on low again) then increase to high speed and beat until very fluffy, about 3 minutes in a stand mixer, or 5 with a hand mixer. If you want the frosting more stiff, add more sugar, if you want it more loose, add a little milk. Use right away. If you aren't going to use it right away keep it at room temperature until you do, for a few hours anyway. If you aren't going to use it until the next day, refrigerate it. The next day you will first need to bring it to room temperature then beat it again. Refrigerating it will make it hard since it is mostly butter. This frosting freezes well for at least 6 months. Make sure it's wrapped very well so air doesn't get into it. When ready to use, bring it to room temperature and then beat again.


I hope you (and those you serve them to) love these cupcakes as much as I do!!

Yuca Frita-Yuca Fries

Hola Amigos! Happy Weekend...this is a make up post for the absence of Quicky Friday yesterday, so I worked really hard trying to find something fun and different for you to enjoy.

I found what I was looking for in a very odd looking root, Yuca! yes,,,if you are tired of your usual french fries or  even sweet potato fries...keep reading, you are going to love these.
Yuca, also known as cassava, manioc or mandioca is a shrub from South America, Africa, Asia and any other tropical weather region. It's root is rich in starch which makes it a main source of carbohydrates. When it's dry and powdery is called Tapioca (I'm sure you have heard and tried this before).

I was happily surprised that one of my favorite restaurants, Bahama Breeze serves them as appetizers under Crisp Yuka Fries (this spelling is actually the name of a Mammoth from Yukatia, a whole different thing, but it sell I guess, lol). So if you happen to be at a Bahama Breeze, after reading this post perhaps you'll feel more comfortable ordering them.

This is a Pic of Crisp Yuka Fries from Bahama Breeze

The location of the restaurant is quite far from where I live, so since I like them so much I made my own batch as I'm showing you here so you can also make them at home if  you see this funny looking root at your local market.

Yuca Frita- Yuca Fries

1-2 Yuca Roots

oil for frying 

salt, pepper or lemon pepper to taste.

First you need to take a good look at your yuca so you can assess  where to cut it in chunks, you know, 3 or 4 chunks out of one, pretty much the same thing you do when you have to cut a potato or a squash.

Once they are cut, peel the thick skin until they are all white, again, just as you would do with a potato.

(I went and cleaned these chunks a bit more after this pic)

Drop them in a large pot with salt and boil them until they are soft but still somewhat firm (imagine you are making a potato salad and not mashed) about 20 minutes.

Remove from heat and drain them, let them dry on paper towel for a minute or 2, cut them in little chunks while your heating up the oil in your fryer.

  Fry them until they are crisp and golden brown.Sprinkle them with salt, or if you want a little bit of pepper or lemon pepper to kick them up a notch.

Listo! 

They are so good! As a snack by themselves with some ketchup if you want.

As a side dish with your hamburgers

or instead of hash browns for breakfast

They are addictive I tell you...if my picky 4 yo loves them you would too!

Hope you enjoyed this post and give my Yuca Fries a try this weekend. Remember, everything tastes better with a Pinch of Love!

Besitos,

Lizy

Sharing a tropical snack at these Fabulous Parties:
Spatulas on Parade

Life on Lakeshore Drive
Flamingo Toes
Chatting over Chocolate
Under the Table and Dreaming
Couponing and Cooking
The Chicken Chick
Top This by Leanne
A Humble Creation
Judy H-J's Thoughts
Sugar Bee Crafts
Nap-time Creations
Pint Sized Baker
Clippie Dips
The Home Girl
My Turn (for Us)
Rattlebridge Farm
Happy Hour Projects
Not Your Ordinary Recipes
Crumbs and Chaos
Your Homebased Mom
i Heart Naptime
Feeding Big and More
With a Blast