I’ve read in several places that a blogger should take time to write good headlines. Seems it can help your SEO and Google ranking and what not.
Pretty sure no one will be searching for cupcakes and horses but it is the first thing that came to mind when I sat down at my laptop to write this.
The cupcakes and horses are actually unrelated except for the fact that I wanted to share pictures from Easter weekend and Easter weekend seemed like a really lame headline since I’m writing about it a week later.
I know you like to get a glimpse of the inner workings of my mind.
Horses
Friday night that sweet sister Roger Leroy came to the house and picked up Scary Baby and took her up to her college dorm to spend the night.
A twelve year-old’s dream. She might have changed outfits 3 times before her sister arrived.
I reminded her she wasn’t going to any college parties.
Ahem.
Instead, her sweet sissy was taking her horseback riding.
This is a HUGE deal because she has had this obsession idea since Thanksgiving and is relentless about not letting an idea go until one of the Humpfreeze family members gives in to silence her begging.
Does she look excited? I love that she accessorized with a scarf.
She said she was eight feet in the air.
The trail ride was in the beautiful North Georgia mountains.
Parts of the trail up the mountain were very narrow. I heard it was a bit challenging to snap pictures from the saddle.
Apparently, Meadows’ horse had some personality and she had to pull over to adjust her saddle.
And Rachel’s horse had no personality and was a bit of a slacker in keeping up with the group. Our speed demon circus baby is not familiar with coming in last.
Thank you Roger Leroy. From the bottom of our hearts.
Cupcakes
I cooked my heart out for Easter this year. The twenties and the tween each invited a guest so we were feeding ten.
Cooking all day on Saturday so we could enjoy a meal together was my plan.
Our menu included a marginal Costco ham but the side dishes made up for it.
If you haven’t made Pioneer Woman’s Au Gratin potatoes yet, do so immediately. Your family will thank you.
PhilBillPaul said the macaroni and cheese was the best ever. Big compliment because I’ve always made fabulous mac & cheese. I tried a new recipe that I’ve had for years but just got around to trying. It’s a keeper.
Love that you don’t have to make a roux or melt all the cheese. My changes to the recipe: I used muenster and mozzarella in the pot with the noodles and then topped it with shredded cheddar before baking. I omitted the onions and added a little onion salt. Loved the dry mustard, nutmeg, cayenne and Worcestershire sauce. Yum!
Mose-e-ack jello a.k.a. mosaic jello was a special surprise for Roger Leroy. My little thank you for taking Scary Baby horseback riding.
I did manage to snap a quick picture of the Easter treats. I even whipped up little cellophane bags for the guests.
Don’t worry, that concludes any attempts at craftiness from me for the year.
Obviously, I failed in Easter picture taking this year since I didn’t take any pictures of the people. But I think I passed in the cooking category.
It might be because I have cut way, way back on sugar and the idea of making TWO desserts made me dizzy.
Or not.
Just know that in addition to making my absolute favorite and perfect lemon cake, I made the best cupcakes I have ever made or eaten.
Please admire the white, wrinkled sheet we used as a tablecloth.
Fan-cee is how we roll.
Special thanks to My Baking Addiction for the Chocolate Malt Cupcakes recipe inspiration on Friday night.
The cupcake recipe is very close to our favorite doctored up cake mix recipe which is the one I used. One subtraction: I left out the espresso granules. One addition: 2 cups of chocolate chips.
The buttercream frosting is so freaking good that we are still talking about it this week and I’m making them again on Wednesday. One change on frosting recipe is that I used 1/3 cup of regular baking cocoa and 1/3 cup of Hershey’s® Special Dark cocoa…only because I ran out of regular baking cocoa. Pretty sure it will be sublime with what ever cocoa you use. Maybe it’s the 4 sticks of butter and/or the 5 minutes of beating.
I recommended them to my friend Leigh Anne and suggested she might just want to make the frosting. No cupcake necessary.
But if you want something to hold the frosting other than a bowl, go ahead and make the cupcake too.