What's Baking Round Up & C25K

Hello Dolls,

Do you know what the best thing about Tuesday is? It isn't Monday.

Aren't Mondays just the worst? They definitely are for me. They just show up out of no where and scream "Hey! You're weekend is over!" By Tuesday I am a little less bitter about it and I can get on with my week.

I hope you guys are having a good day but if not, here is a little something to brighten your day. The Mess Pot hosted our What's Baking challenge this month and has posted the monthly round up..

I will definitely be trying some of the recipes posted this month and I am sure that you will too.

These round ups always remind me that I desperately need a new camera :) Christmas present, perhaps? Hint, hint, Colin if you're reading this haha.

On a completely unrelated note, I started Couch to 5k yesterday. I have wanted to run a 5k for awhile now and even tried C25k with my best friend Stacey last year but didn't stick with it. Being healthy wasn't really a priority until recently when I started having some minor health problems. I don't want those minor health problems to open the door for major ones so I am getting serious about what I put into my body and also getting exercise.

Not to mention, Colin's family is taking us on a cruise in March of next year (there is like a billion of us going) and I need to drop twenty a couple of pounds lol.

Anyways,
Have a lovely Tuesday and enjoy the round up post!

What's Baking? - Strawberry Pie

When the theme for August was announced in the What's Baking group as Celebrate Summer, the first thing that came to my mind was a fruit pie. To me, fruit pies basically scream Summer and as we are winding summer down and heading full force into Fall, I jumped at the chance to make one. I have very limited experience making pies. Some of you may remember my attempt at pumpkin pie when I tried to make a homemade pie crust... And failed miserably. This time I decided to go with a store bought pie crust and Annie's strawberry pie recipe.

I learned a couple things while making this pie...

1. When a recipe tells you to use pie weights, it is probably necessary. I skipped that part and my pie crust rose dramatically.

2. Don't take a shower and ask your husband to watch the pie crust.. It will most likely be over cooked..

3. Don't do dishes while your Kitchenaid mixer makes whipped cream unsupervised. To say the whipped cream was over whipped is the understatement of the year.

4. Things that don't look very good can still be delicious.

I was not excited about how this pie looked... At all. However, when I tasted it, I completely changed my mind about it. This was the first time I have ever had strawberry pie but it definitely won't be the last, I'm in love.

So, Goodbye Summer 2011, I will miss you dearly in just a few short months when the snow starts coming down in Chicago again :)

I will direct you over to Annie's blog for the recipe because I didn't change anything except I used Ball brand fruit pectin instead of Sure-Jell.

What's Baking?-Vanilla Cupcakes

This is my first month participating in the What's Baking Challenges! The challenges are decided by different members of the group each month and February was chosen by Dunne at With a Cherry On Top. The theme is "Baked With Love" and these cupcakes were baked with plenty of it!

I also really loved eating them. :)

Recipe from: 250 Treasured Country Desserts

Vanilla Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter- Room Temp

1 1/2 cup sugar

4 large egg Whites

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1. Preheat the your oven to 350 degrees and prepare your muffin pans by putting a liner in each cup. You will need two 12-cup pans as this recipe makes 24 cupcakes. You can use the same pan twice, it will just slow you down a little bit. 

2. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg whites, one at a time, until well combined and light. Beat in the vanilla. Scrape the bowl.

3. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and add, a little at a time, into the butter mixture. Mix for around two minutes. Add milk gradually and beat at high speed until fluffy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Taste the batter. It is delicious. Don't take my word for it, go ahead, try it for yourself.

4. Spoon half of the mixture into a large pastry bag. Cut off the tip of the bag and twist the top, making sure the air is out of the bag. Use the pastry bag to neatly and uniformly distribute the batter into the paper liners.

5. Bake for about 20 minutes. Oven times vary but mine were done at exactly twenty minutes, exactly like the book said. 

6. Cool the pan on a wire rack for ten minutes. Using a small spatula  or knife, remove the cupcakes from the pan. Finish cooling on wire racks.

7. Frost as desired.

The frosting I used was a simple chocolate frosting recipe from allrecipes.com.

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• Ingredients: 
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• 1/4 cup margarine, melted
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
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• Directions:
• In a large bowl, beat margarine and cocoa together until combined. Add milk and vanilla; beat until smooth. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until desired consistency is achieved. Adjust with more milk or confectioners' sugar if necessary.
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