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Cupcake Tips from Hoosier Homemade

June 22, 2010 By Kate 3 Comments

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Shortly before the school ended for the year, I took birthday treats in for our son’s summer birthday celebration. I really wanted to make cupcakes. But I didn’t want just any cupcakes. I wanted something special like Liz makes. I debated doing it on my own, wishing the whole time that I had Liz there to guide me every step of the way. In the end, I chickened out and opted for dirt cups instead.

Thankfully, Liz agreed to share some of her top cupcake making tips with all of us. These just might give me the courage I need to go for it next time!

Hello, Cooking During Stolen Moments fans! I’m Liz, the Hoosier Momma from Hoosier Homemade. I’m a SAHM of 3 teenage boys, that keep me running with their sports and school activities. I’ve been blogging a little over a year, I share lots of baked goods, Budget Friendly Meals, and decorating tips and tricks, all to help you “Make Your House a Home.” You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook.

Kate has asked me to share with you some of my tips for baking and decorating cupcakes. While I have been baking for a very, VERY long time, it’s just been the last year or so that I’ve been baking and decorating lots and lots of cupcakes.

First…Baking:

When I use a box mix, I simply change the ingredients a little to make it taste more like homemade.

  • Box Cake Mix
  • 1 cup of Buttermilk (you can use 1 tablespoon vinegar in a 1 cup measuring cup and fill the rest of the way with milk, set aside for a few minutes)
  • 1/3 cup Oil (or amount shown on box)
  • 4 large eggs

Mix and bake as usual
I also bake from scratch quite often and have several recipes on my Cupcake Heaven page. In fact, I have Kate’s White Cake on it, along with over 70 cupcake creations.
Now for the decorating:
I think using the right tools makes all the difference in the world. You can easily just use a ziploc baggie with the corner snipped off, but if you want your cupcakes to look really nice, spend a little (it’s not really very much, less than $10) and buy the right tools.

  1. 90% of the time I use Buttercream Frosting and this Cupcake Decorating set that was a Christmas gift
  2. Tips from the Decorating tip make these designs
  3. Using a Wilton Disposable bag, I insert the plastic coupler and make a mark on the bag at the first thread, and cut the tip off to that mark
  4. Add the Decorating tip and the ring, fill the bag with frosting and you are ready to decorate

Now, if you want to get a little fancier and decorate your cupcakes with designs or a theme. I have lots to choose from. I have several videos on Hoosier Homemade as well, that show you step by step how to decorate cupcakes. I also host Cupcake Tuesday every week, where you can link up your cupcake creations and get inspired by others too.
The most popular cupcakes during the month of May were my Memorial Day Cupcakes…they were so much fun to make! I think they would even be great for Fourth of July or any summertime picnic.

And in June, the favorite seems to be my Snow Cone Cupcakes…

I also bake a lot for the Holidays, my most recent holiday favorite, are the Easter Chicks. Very easy, with just a little added frosting.

One of my readers favorites, were the Nuggets and Fries that I created for my son’s birthday…he’s a HUGE McDonald’s fan!

I also enjoy creating many different cupcakes with special flavors and toppings, the Black Forest, are my favorite.

Come join in our cupcake conversation in my Hoosier Homemade BlogFrog Community!

Thanks so much Kate for having me!

Do you have any tip or tricks for cupcake decorating you would like to share? I’d love to hear them!

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Frizzled Lunch Meat

June 9, 2010 By Kate 7 Comments

Although lunch meat is not daily fare in our house, it does make an appearance on our lunch plates at regular intervals. I gotta admit, every so often there is nothing better to me than a ham sandwich made with toasted bread and mayonnaise. And the rest of the family would never turn down a lunch meat sandwich when it’s offered.

So even though that ham sandwich isn’t a daily thing for me, I do miss my sandwiches when I’m pregnant. Lunch meat is taboo during pregnancy. The only safe way to eat it is to heat it until steaming. Personally, that’s not the taste I’m going for when craving a sandwich.

Fortunately, I’ve got this great trick up my sleeve that I learned from my dad. It allows me to enjoy my favorite lunch meats safely while still getting that taste I crave. It’s called frizzling, and man, is it fantastic! In fact, this is so good that we frizzle leftover lunch meat on a regular basis.

What exactly is frizzled lunch meat? Allow me to explain.

To frizzle lunch meat, cut slices into thin, long strips.

Then melt about a tablespoon of butter in a small skillet. Add the meat and cook for about 3-5 minutes, until ends are curled and meat is lightly crisped. I tend to cook mine a little longer because I like it really crispy.

This works great on a sandwich (think BLT), stirred into or served alongside scrambled eggs, or just eaten as is.

The frizzled method is typically reserved for ham lunch meat, but we’ve found it works just as well with turkey, bologna or even roast beef.

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A Basic Pantry

March 25, 2010 By Kate 8 Comments

Observant readers of this blog might notice that many of my recipes use the same ingredients over and over again. That has a lot to do with the way I grocery shop and stock my pantry. I buy the same things again and again each month. This method is a huge time and money saver for us.

You might think that sounds boring and that we eat the exact same thing all the time, but I promise you that couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s all about being creative with the ingredients we love and mixing things up easily with different meats, spices, starches and veggies.

I have designed our grocery list so that it reflects these staples. That way, I just go through the list and tally about up how many of each item I need. Any additional, out-of-the-ordinary ingredients get written in by hand.

Here is a copy of the master grocery list we used last year. I’ve updated it a bit since then to reflect some changing tastes, our new snacking habits and price differences. But overall, it should give you a good idea. And please keep in mind, we do not buy each of the items listed on that list each month.

I work through our pantry basics each month as I plan our meals. If I want to try a recipe or have an idea for a new meal that includes an item not in our pantry, I’ll pick it up during one of our quick produce/dairy runs during the month. If I’m getting close to our budget limit for the month, I’ll just wait and add it to the list for the next month.

I use this same basic principle when I write customer menu plans for Stolen Moments Menu Planning. I figure it’s a proven system that has worked so well in our house, it’s easily adjustable for every family. Plus, I know first hand the time and money saving benefits of cooking this way. (And I’ve yet to receive a complaint that there is not enough variety in the plans.)

How do you stock your pantry? Do you have a list of staples you buy and cook with each month? I think my favorite pantry staples are all of the spices I buy. Different spices make different meals so easy. What’s your favorite pantry staple?

Don’t forget to check in with Jen and Toni to see what they’ve been up to in their kitchens this week at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam and The Happy Housewife.

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