My baby had a birthday party this past weekend.  I normally buy pretty cupcakes for the kids’ birthday parties… or whenever strikes my fancy.  However, with my addiction use of Pinterest, I was feeling extra crafty this year and wanted to give it a try myself.  Which is sort of a HUGE leap for me as I am NOT a baker.  Crescent rolls are always a little black on the bottom in this house.

I’m quite proud of my non-baking self.  Were they perfect?  Nope.  Did my baby love his cupcakes?  Yep. 

Yeah, that’s right.  I used BOX mixes… but they didn’t taste like box mixes!  Recipe below. 

And just because this is how we roll in the Fowler family… here are 2/3 of my brood being vampires with their ticket prize loot. 

Cupcake Recipe

• Box mix of choice
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup water

Mix all ingredients on low speed for 1 minute.  Then mix on high speed for 1 minute.  Fill liners (I used an ice cream scoop) and bake for 20 minutes.

…
Buttercream Frosting

• 2 sticks of butter softened
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 bag powdered sugar (2 lbs)
• 5 tbsp heavy cream

Cream butter. Add in vanilla. Add 1.5 cups powdered sugar beat well.  Add in 1 tbsp heavy cream and beat. Alternate adding powdered sugar and heavy cream until all mixed in. Then whip it all for 5 minutes.

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LINKS: Piping frosting tutorial,  Edible picture topper and Lollipop style paper cutouts.

Anyway, this is my most recent photo for this project.  This is Olive Tapenade; The Old Spaghetti Factory style.  My hubs and I visited The Old Spaghetti Factory this past weekend and had their olive tapenade.  I was hooked!  I love olives and knew I had to find a copycat recipe stat.  I found the perfect recipe and now have a bowlful of this yummy goodness in my fridge!

Ingredients:

• 1 jar pitted kalamata olives (1 1/2 cups)
• 2 cans pitted medium black olives (2 1/2 cups)
• 1/4 cup capers
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Toss all ingredients in a food processor and pulse till smooth.

Serve with toasted fancy bread, crackers, pretzel rods or just eat with a spoon.  Yeah, it’s that good!

I’m not sure about how long it’s good covered in the fridge, so use your own judgement there.  However, I think it should be good for a looooong time.  And it makes a loooooot.

Enjoy!!

Anyway, to get to my formspring questionnaire page, please visit at http://www.formspring.me/marindafowler.

One of my most favorite things to do is soak in a hot bubble bath for a long time while browsing magazines. So, that is what I wanted to take my self portrait of.  Couldn’t be too hard, right?  Bwahahah!

Self portraits aren’t easy to begin with.  When you lose your tripod and don’t own a remote shutter trigger, it makes that job even harder!  However, I really wanted to enter this contest.  So, I did what most photographers would consider crazy!  I wrapped the strap of my camera around the top of my step ladder and angled it downward.  Yep.  My camera was hanging over the edge of my bathtub by just it’s camera strap.  Yep.  I’m crazy!  However, I got exactly the image I had envisioned on the second try and couldn’t be happier! 

Here is My Guilty Pleasure self portrait…

While this might not seem like a “guilty” pleasure to most, it is to me.  Taking a long hot bubble bath is a sanctuary for me.  And allows me to escape Mommy duties for a while. 

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the I Heart Faces blog, I encourage you to do so.  But be warned, you’ll spend a long time pouring over those pages!