Vanilla Vanilly

I have been on a lifelong (ok maybe just since college) search for the perfect vanilla cupcake. One that tastes perfect and doesn't dry out seconds after escaping the oven. This one is pretty close, my friends. It is a vanilla bean recipe from Evil Shenanigans that I only slightly tweaked. Try it out for yourself, unless you were one of the lucky space shuttle mission workers that already had a taste complements of JP.



Recipe
Vanilla Vanilly Cupcakes
1 1/4c flour
1t baking powder
1/4t baking soda
1/4t salt
3/4c sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
4T butter, melted and cooled
1/3c buttermilk
1T vanilla bean paste
1t vanilla extract

Frosting:
1 stick butter, softened
1T vanilla bean paste
1t vanilla extract
1/4c milk
powdered sugar

Cupcakes:
Preheat to 325F. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until well combined and lighter in color. Add the eggs and whisk until completely incorporated. Whisk in buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients slowly, until just combined. Scoop batter into cupcake liners using a large cookie scoop (about 2/3 full). Bake for about 14 minutes. Cool completely.

Frosting:
Beat butter until smooth. Mix in vanilla bean, vanilla extract, and milk until well combined. Add powdered sugar until desired consistency is achieved.

I also made a orange frosting and mocha chocolate frosting for those that don't like their cupcakes plain Jane. The orange ones just subbed in orange zest and freshly squeezed orange juice for the vanilla bean paste. The chocolate added cocoa and espresso powder. Enjoy!

Puffy Quilt Tutorial

If you like the puffy quilts that I make and want to learn to make them yourself, check out today's GroopDeal: It's half off HoneyBear Lane's tutorial!
Enjoy!

SCFA Regular Season Champs!

This post is over a month late, but my Friday night soccer team won the league for the regular season! We've started a summer season with a few more teams, so hopefully we'll keep the winning going :) Here's a post-game sweaty pic for your enjoyment:

Go Comrades!

On a walk...

Lookey what Baloo found on our morning walk today:


I think it's a common snapping turtle, but I'm no herpetologist :)
Have a great day!

Baloo and Bernoulli Update

Just a few pics of my hansome boys, can't wait to visit the Noodle this month!






*Bernoulli pictures complements of Christine
Enjoy!

Cinco De Mayo Soccer Tournament in San Antonio

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!! This past weekend was the Cinco de Mayo Soccer Tournament put on by SASA. I played with my Friday night coed team (the Comrades) and it was lots of fun! We went to Chuy's on Friday night as a bit of a team dinner once everyone had made it into town. Then Saturday was bracket play starting with our first game against a fellow Houston team. We ended up winning 1 game and getting 2 ties on Saturday to advance to the playoffs on Sunday. Unfortunately, due to a combo of very few subs, a redic first day schedule, and probably a bit of out of shape-ness we ended up losing our Sunday game and getting 3rd in the tournament. All in all it was a great time, good to see some different teams for once and get some really great competition. Here are some pictures from the weekend compliments of Gina (I was far too tired, sweaty, and preoccupied to properly operate a camera):







The serious level pain I experienced on Monday tells me I am no longer in excellent tournament shape, but I did survive the weekend so it's a win in my book :)

A Sweet Intent Confectionary

A few weekends ago I went to the Kemah Crawfish Festival with some peeps. There were lots of vendors and, of course, a ton of crawfish. Let me just tell you that the crawfish was terrible and not worth the money I paid to park, enter, and buy the crawfish. The mud bugs tasted literally like mud and had zero seasoning. I highly recommend staying away from this event in the future. However, I did run across a cupcake vendor at the event that wasn't bad. A Sweet Intent Confectionery was selling their wares at the festival and I decided to try a creamsicle cake pop. The cake pop was orange creamsicle coating with chocolate cake. I wasn't really expecting the chocolate cake since creamsicle means vanilla to me, but it wasn't bad. I know a lot of people like that chocolate and orange flavor combo, so it probably is a good seller. This place is only special order for now, but you can check them out at their Facebook page and maybe catch them at their next event!


Enjoy!

Sea Life Puffy Quilt

Phew I am behind on my blogging! I finished this quilt a few weeks ago and am finally telling you all about it, for shame! I absolutely love how this one turned out! I love navy and the other colors look so good with it in the finished product. This is a quilt for a new boy nugget who's daddy is a fisherman, hence the fishes in the main print. Check out the last picture for a larger piece of the main print I used, it's super fun and cute for a little one without being barf cute (you know what I mean):





Thanks to Corina for requesting the quilt and to HoneyBear Lane for her awesome tutorial. You can get your own tutorial to make a similar quilt from HoneyBear Lane here: QUILT
Enjoy!