(Not So) Manic Monday

As I have previously mentioned, life is hectic. This isn’t news to you as I’m sure your life is probably more hectic than mine (I probably just whine about it more than you do!) When life gets hectic, I list. I’m a lister. Seriously, if I don’t have two different sizes of notepads and three different sizes of post-it notes within arms reach, I could spontaneously combust. I’m not joking. I was once interviewed for a job and my way of reassuring them that I could handle anything was to say “…as long as I have a limitless supply of sticky notes, I’ll figure out the rest.” Truth.

In the spirit of my NEED to make lists and to-do’s and scribble crap on any piece of paper within my grasp, I decided that I’ll start a little series on Mondays dedicated to my listing addiction. I haven’t figured it all out yet, but I’m thinking anywhere from my fave finds in the internet world, to lists I make in life, to doodles I draw on a foggy mirror. This will be an adventure and a journey to break up the monotony of strictly food blogging.

Who knows, this might turn into something inherently swell.

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Homemade Flour Tortillas

I’m horrible at posting delicious recipes in time for holidays. I think I went through about half of my day not remembering it’s Cinco de Mayo.

It’s the friggin fifth of mayonnaise. HOW COULD I FORGET?! I live in Texas, for crying out loud. I should be knee deep in amazing mexican food, margaritas and tequila! Instead, I’m on my couch watching Moneyball.

BUT to my defense, I did tell my hubby that I wanted at pina colada at 9am. I thought it was noon. I’ve been up since 5:30am, leavemealone.

Anyway, if you’re like me and you’re a plight on this world and forgot to celebrate Cinco de Mayo (which Mexico doesn’t even celebrate), make up for it by making homemade tortillas. Or as my very German mother would say “tor-tee-lee-ahs.”

Make em and then stuff them with barbacoa, roll them into enchiladas, fill em with good stuff for quesadillas or shove some chocolate peanut butter and strawberries inside and call it dinner. I’m so grown up.

Homemade Tortillas
makes 12 – 7″ tortillas

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour*
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cups canola oil (I used vegetable oil)
1 cup hot water

Note: I used 1/2 whole wheat pastry flour and 1/2 all purpose and they came out yummy. A bit thicker but definitely still tasty!! The original recipe yielded 12 tortillas but my dough weighed 650g and it was just easier to divide that evenly into 13 tortillas (at 50g each).

Instructions:

In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder with a whisk until completely combined. Add the oil and mix it together with your fingers until all the oil is incorporated and the mixture looks like fine crumbs. Add the hot water and resume mixing with your hands until it begins to come together. Lightly flour your surface and knead for a minute until you get a smooth ball of dough. Put your dough in the same bowl you mixed the dough in, cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for about 30 minutes (mine ended up sitting for about 2 hours, oops). You can make this dough up to a day in advance and just let it rest, covered in the refrigerator.

Divide the dough into 12 balls (if you have a scale, weigh the dough and divide accordingly). Flour your surface and pat the ball down a bit with your hands to create an even, flat surface. With a rolling pin, roll the dough flipping and adding flour as needed until it is uniform in thickness and about 8-inches in diameter. Cook on a hot, ungreased skillet over medium-high heat. Working one at a time, cook until brown blisters form on one side, then flip. Wrap them in a clean dish towel to keep them warm, before serving.

Keep in mind that these don’t have preservatives and junk so they won’t keep for weeks like store bought ones will. Aim to eat them immediately or at least within a day or two.

Recipe adapted from Tasty Kitchen

Some of my favorite things.

I know you probably came here for something to put you into a deep sugar coma.

Candy, stuffed in a cookie, deep fried and dipped in chocolate. Or something along those lines, right?

Well, I don’t have a recipe for you today.

I DO, however, have something ridiculously sweet to share with you!!

As I was perusing Etsy (as I do all too often!) I chanced upon an adorable shirt shop: Dressing On The Side.

I stayed and ogled her shirts for an embarrassing amount of time, looking at each shirt and proclaiming “Ooooh I want that one too!!” after each viewed shirt. And if I had an endless supply of moneys, I guarantee you I would own each shirt. Even a dude shirt or two. Let’s be honest here people, dude shirts are just more comfy simply because they’re dude shirts.

But let’s get down to brass tacks…

I want this. Now.

Holla!!

Let’s make whoopie. pies.

Dude shirt + bear + tower of cupcakes = win!

See what I mean? Too cool for school. Ahem, I’m a Large. In case you were wondering ;P

I don’t want to take up any more of your time. Head on over to Dots shop and peek at her tees.

And because she is super awesome, she has offered a 20% discount to all Whimsical Cupcake readers. THAT MEANS YOU!!

Add your shirts to you cart, click on “apply shop coupon code” and type in whimsicalcupcake to get your 20% discount. Ta-da!! Enjoy your awesome shirts!!

❤ J.

Merry Christmas!!

I’ve done all my shopping.

I’ve sent out my Christmas cards.

I meticulously wrapped and beautified all the gifts I gave.

The tree was alight.

The family was gathered anxiously by the tree.

The gifts were handed out.

Five minutes.

Five  minutes later, it was all over. All that preparation for 5 minutes of glory. 😉

It was all worth it to see the smiles on the faces of those I love!

I hope your holidays are filled with the same kind of joy!!!

Saturday Stuff

I just ate 8 Hershey’s Kisses with almonds for breakfast. I’m not kidding.

I spent several days in the kitchen to bake Christmas goodies and realize I might have started too soon. I hope all of these goodies will keep until I can give them away.

I am currently reading this book. I don’t know what it is about trilogies and sagas but I power through the first few books, and it never fails, I get stuck on the last one. Like my subconcious is telling me that once I finish it, that’s it. It’s the end. No more book for you!! It’s rude. And quite annoying!!

My obsession with glitter has finally invaded my fingernails. I just bought gold and silver glittered nail polishes. And I want so many more. Christmas wish list, amen.

Reading the above statement, I realized that I am also picky about the TYPE of glitter I like in my polishes. I don’t like the glitter to be added to a colored base. I also don’t like there to be a large ratio of base to glitter. If I paint it on my nail, I want the glitter to be prominent without having to swipe the brush 9 times.

Reading the above statement, I realized that I am insane. And picky. But mostly insane.

Holy WOW Christmas is tomorrow!! May all your gifts be wrapped, cards be mailed, and dinner be made by someone else. Merry Christmas Eve!!

Pumpkin Pie Spice

I never have pumpkin pie spice when I need it. Do you?

Fret no more. You can make it at home!!

As far as I can tell, everyone’s perception of what pumpkin pie spice should be is different. This one works for me and caters to my taste. If you like a little more clove, go for it. Cinnamon-a-holic? Have at it. Ginger lover… go to town. I would suggest not going overboard with the alterations but do make it your own.

This is a guideline.

Pumpkin Pie Spice

Note: This recipe makes about 2 tablespoons, I quadruple it so that I have plenty on hand and I’m not making a new batch every time I need a bit of spice. Do what works for you!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
big pinch of cardamom

Instructions:

In a small bowl, whisk all spices together, working out any lumps that might occur. Store in an old spice jar. Be sure to label it 🙂

As you can see, I made my own nifty label: I scribbled on a torn off piece of notebook paper and taped it to my old cinnamon spice jar. Ta-da!!! Instant class.

Oh, Happy Day

Today marks the one year anniversary of the day that I married my best friend.

I love you honey.

Here’s to a million more happy years together 🙂

What 9/11 Helped Me Remember

photo credit

I debated all day about writing this post. Would it be too controversial? Too commonplace? Come across as too insensitive, picked apart, taken the wrong way? Then I went through the entire day and everything I witnessed gave me the courage to write it.

Today was a great day.

In spite of everything that happened on this date, 10 years ago, today was a reminder of the common woes of all Americans. Stay with me, it will all make sense.

When 9/11 happened, it was a tragedy. It was unspeakable. Many great and brave people died, a lot wounded and everyone impacted. Every. Single. American. Impacted.

It reminded me of the unity we found that day, ten years ago. Unity that I think we forgot about going along with our lives judging, banishing, misunderstanding. One split second later, everything changed. We depended on the help, information and comfort of total strangers. We welcomed it. We remembered that we were all just people. Beating hearts.

Today, I was lucky enough to attend the Texans game where I witnessed the most beautiful rendition of TAPS on the jumbo-tron and I was instantly united with all the other fans and players of various teams across the United States who, in that exact same moment, were doing the same as I: watching, listening, thanking, crying.

And as that 100-yard long American Flag was beautifully spread across our field and Clay Walker started singing our National Anthem, we all sang along. Remembered, held hands, comforted. Once again, ten years later, we stood united. We remembered.

Unfortunately it was a travesty that united us, but it is pure and simple human choice to stay united long after. 9/11 reminds me that we’re not so different, you and I. And THAT, makes it a good day.

photo credit

I Am Humbled and Quite Astonished!!

When I posted about a zebra stripe cake I made a while back, I had no idea that it would impact a tiny corner of the internet world!

I’m new to this StumbleUpon business but when Katrina enlightened me that my cake was doing great on SU, I had to take a look for myself. And whoa dang.

And to those of you who stumbled, commented, and passed it along: Thank you so much. You’ve made my day!!

Now back to your regularly scheduled sugar-coma.

 

Oh, Labor Day

Today is a holiday.

Did you know? I’m sure you did. I almost missed it until all the TV commercials reminded me that I need to spend my hard earned money in everysinglestore because it’s Labor Day and apparently that’s what it means. To spend money.

To me, it means relaxation. It means BBQ. It means family. It means sitting on your lazy butt and enjoying your national Monday off.

But just in case you’re like me and you can’t fully enjoy your Labor Day without sweets to snack on, here are a few of my favorite things:

S’mores Brownie Bars. Just put it in your face.

Buttercrunch Toffee. Super easy to make, even easier to scarf.

Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars. OMWOW.

If you like brownies, try these, these or these. Or these. (Or these.)

One Pan Chocolate Cake. It’s mixed in one cake pan. Just one.

Want some cookies? Try these hot chocolate cookies, my favorite chocolate chip cookies, or one giant skillet cookie. It’s a cookie, in a skillet. Awesome.

    

Pancakes for breakfast (or dinner?) try these, they taste like cinnamon buns!! Or these, they taste like red velvet cake!!

  

Don’t see anything here that strikes your fancy, just have a look around, I’m sure you’ll find something 🙂

Have a relaxing Labor Day!!