Hopeful Homemaker

Cupcakes and Friends

August 1, 2009 jennifer Musings on Life and Beauty

My girls had some friends over earlier this week, and I let them loose in my kitchen for an adventure in baking cupcakes.

Part of me wishes that I’d taken pictures of them while they were making the cupcakes. They had a great time. But I think it was best that I didn’t get the camera out until the end of the project because I think they would have been a little intimidated by the camera. They would have felt more like they had to do it “right” and less like they could have fun. So it all worked out well, I believe. I just sat in the other room and listened as they mixed batter, poured it into muffin tins, baked, checked for doneness, mixed up frosting, decided how much sugar they should add to the frosting to make it thick enough, and on and on. It was great.

And in the end, the cupcakes they produced were great, too.
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The icing set well, and they were very cheerfully decorated. The cupcakes themselves even tasted good.
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Best of all, we had five happy girls who were very proud of their creations.
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We also had an amazing kitchen counter when it was all said and done:
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Have you ever seen a batter bowl like this?
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Yep. We had a pretty decent mess.
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And some scrubbing to do.
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We even had a few cupcakes that had been forgotten.
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But more importantly, we had happy faces.
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And a fun memory, not to mention sweet treats.
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I also think they learned. This was a building block in their baking skills experience.
It will help them get better at it. (In fact, my girls baked some miniature cakes the next day for their dolls, and they did it in less time and with much less mess.)

Sometimes I forget that learning makes some messes. But we get better at it, if we keep trying.

It gets easier to clean up, and we make fewer messes as we learn and grow. But isn’t it wonderful that we can try?
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I know that I make a lot of messes, both in my kitchen and in many other aspects of life.
I’m grateful I can keep trying and make fewer messes as I improve.
And hopefully, in the end, I’ll have some yummy cupcakes to show for it.

Leave a comment 8 kids, baking, cupcakes

Shades of White

August 1, 2009 jennifer Color

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Someday I will have a clean house, all the time. Right now I have a clean house, some of the time, and it lasts about 20 seconds or less. Less, usually, because my little ones just go play in the clean rooms while I work in the dirty ones.

So when I’m craving the feeling that things are tidy and relaxing, sometimes I have to take myself on a little tour and just pause to enjoy the spots and corners that are inviting.
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I realized that one of the things I appreciate the most is the color white. I love the way white lets you appreciate texture so much. I love how calming it is. And I love the way it looks with blue. So I decided to snap a few photos of different shades of white in some of my favorite little spots.
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Mirrors, linens, frames… I love the simple beauty of white.
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I think that patterns, texture, lines and so forth all show up better on white, where there’s no color to interfere with my appreciation of it all. This is a vintage runner that I bought for around $5. It’s not a fine linen, but I really like it.
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This star hangs over my front door, which happens to be where my boys most love to throw balls (go figure). So….. every so often, the wonderful vintage star comes crashing to the floor, gouging walls and floor, losing countless pieces of paint, and getting all bent up on the points. At this point there is always much apology, much discussion over the fact that we have bedrooms, basement, toyroom, and, heaven forbid! the outdoors in which to throw balls instead of in the entryway, and I always walk away shaking my head a little at the workings of a boy’s brain. So we’ll just say that I really appreciate what white is left on this star and I sincerely hope we’ve learned our lesson. I suppose I could give in and move it, but it’s really quite perfect where it is, and I’m really quite certain that we can learn to throw balls in more appropriate locations.
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For Mother’s Day, my sweet parents bought us an old, used piano. It is wonderful. Somebody painted it white.
In any other room, in most any other house, it would look out of place. But in this room in this house, it is perfect.
I love it. I love the legs on it. And my kids love to play it.
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I love little spots that are serene and attract light.
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If you were going to wander your house in search of happy glimpses, what color would you pause most often to gaze at?
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For me, today, it was definitely white against a blue backdrop. They’re both lovely colors!

Beef Tips and Rice

August 1, 2009 jennifer Main Dishes

This is the simplest, fastest, most delicious crockpot dinner that I know of. Bless my Mom’s heart for sharing it with me years ago. My husband and children love it as it is always tender and filling. I love it because it takes me about 3 minutes to assemble. Then all I have to do is cook the rice later and dinner is done!

It contains 4 ingredients: Beef stew meat, cream of mushroom soup, onion soup mix, and cooked rice. Sound easy enough?

First, put at least 1 pound of stew meat into your crockpot.
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Then add a can of cream of mushroom soup IMG_5306 (Large) Mix well.
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Pour 1 envelope of Lipton’s onion soup mix over the top.
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Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours, or longer if you’re cooking a lot of meat.
Cook some rice, and serve!
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This isn’t a fancy meal, but it is always tender and delicious. I’ve served it many times for company, and they always love it.

Beef Tips and Rice 1 pound beef stew meat 1 can cream of mushroom soup 1 envelope onion soup mix cooked rice Note: for my family I usually cook about 2 1/2 pounds of meat and add 3 cans of soup. But I still just use one envelope of soup mix. Just one seems to do the trick just fine.