Tina Cocolina

Adorable book.



I love the illustrations,they are very colorful and Tina is as cute as can be. I have been thinking of making Sophie and Evie a Tina costume for Halloween, yeah I know, its still early in the year but I have always been a planner.  I love that the book has cupcake and frosting recipes at the end, the story itself is kind of awkward. Its about a girl trying to find her cupcake topping in order to enter The Cream of the Top Cupcake contest.

Anyway, since the kids and I were stuck at home we read the book and tried the "Tina Cocolina A Sweet Plain Vanilla Cupcake" recipe. The kids kept putting them on their head just like the characters in the book.

Here they are looking for "their topping" just like Tina.

Yup, Even used Honey Nut Cheerios.




and the creations




A little heavy on the sprinkles there.

Pink Pixie Cakes

Made the kids a fun lunch today. Strawberry pink cupcakes topped with pixies (pink pixie cakes :) )

I made the picks myself. Found the cute pixies at the dollar store (dollar tree) in the scrapbooking section and since the backs were already sticky all I needed was toothpicks.





You can buy two sheets and sandwhich the toothpick inbetween two stickers so you don't have a blank back.









The kiddie table. This is where the girls usually take their lunch. found the cute tablecloth at the thrift store for $1.99. I'm thinking of dying it either pink or dark green.


mac & cheese, cupcake and a tuna sandwhich shaped like a butterfly.



The kids thought it was neat, Its so much fun to make lunch special sometimes

Happy st. Patrick's Day

We had a wonderful Irish feast today. My Mother in Law Edie was over and she always helps with the meal. She makes the best blarney stone cookies ever!

Found some info on our family last name:

The surname Flynn/Flinn comes from the Irish clann name O'Flynn who in ancient times were chiefs in the area known as Munster.


Pretty cool huh? :)

We had the traditional Irish meal of corned beef and cabbage. My kids LOVE cabbage. That's mostly what they ate today.

I tried to ice a shamrock cake but it kept looking like a round cake. I finally gave up and used my fondant. Yayyy for fondant, It was a white cake filled with pistachio pudding. very tasty if I do say so myself.



I decorated it with skittles, taste the rainbow!






Best cookies ever! I swear these things are addicting. I'll have to post the recipe


I also made lemon cupcakes, I got this tea cup and saucer at a garage sale long time ago when we were living on the border of KY and TN. Gosh I miss the south.



Green mashed potatoes




corned beef.


Home made rolls.


cabbage


and my kryptonite, watercrest salad.


















And the family


Bonus pic of me that the hubby took.

My Many Aprons

Every girl needs a cute apron or two. It just makes baking so much more fun. I have a few I would like to share.

This one is my go-to apron. I use this one the most since its a full apron and provides the most coverage/protection. I take this one to my cake class. Got it at Target for about $10



This one is also from Target and was only $2.50. They had matching daughter and Mommy aprons so naturally I picked some up for my lil cupcakes.



The two red ones are vintage aprons I found at the thrift store for $1 each






This sheer one I won on ebay maybe like 10 years ago. I won an auction of two aprons but I have no idea where the other one is. I remember it was advertised as beign from the 50's, its super small, I could barely tie it around my waist.



And as a  Disney loving  family that we are, of course I needed  Minnie Mouse Apron. Picked this one up at Disneyland.



Joe even got the matching Mickey Mouse one, Yes, My husband has an apron :)


Also, This picture shows my WHOLE kitchen, Its a pain trying to cook in it, There is no counter space and you cannot open stove and dishwasher at the same time. My camera was on the dining table so you can get an idea of how small my kitchen is.

Anyway, stay tuned for my post on our big Irish meal coming up here for St. Patty's day.

Fat Tuesday, Cooking like Princess Tiana

To celebrate Fat Tuesday we decided to have some Southern food. I got this cookbook last year and we have actually used it quite a bit.
"The Princess and the Frog Tiana's Cookbook Recipes for kids"






I highly recommend this book. The food is good and its really neat cooking recipes from the movie. Plus they are really easy


Here are Tiana's Famous Beignets (pronounced "ben-YAYS")They are a traditional New Orleans deep-fried pastry.



Displayed in my vintage Pyrex. I have ton of pieces I have collected though the years.

love the one that turned out like a heart



Joe also did some southern cooking with me. He made the Jambalaya, we were going to make the famous Gumbo but I was craving the jambalaya instead.





"Just a shot of Tabasco, and its the bee's knees" Tiana

My fondant cake.

This was my final project for the Wilton class I'm taking at our local Michael's craft store. I had planned for a cake covered in daisies but right before leaving the house, Evie got a hold of the box containing all my fondant daisies and smashed it to the floor. Only 3 survived. My cake still looked good, at least I think so.





made a yellow cake filled with cheesecake pudding and frosted with royal icing. Then topped with Wilton brand fondant. I have not tasted it yet, Therefore  I cannot confirm or deny that its yummy