National Carrot Cake Day

It’s the last few days of January and we are finishing up our mini theme of National Days and a good one to finish on is a super yummy one, Carrot Cake Day.

Monday, February 3^rd is National Carrot Cake Day. Every year Carrot Cake day is celebrated on February 3^rd and it’s a day to eat this yummy dessert. Carrots are a natural sweetener and have been used as sweeteners since the Middle Ages and in a way this cake is a healthy option because it has vegetables in it. If you have a favourite recipe then pull it out and make it, you still have time, Carrot Cake Day isn’t until Monday, but if not we have provided one of our favourites for you to try out. If you’re not into baking then head out to the local bakery or grocery store and pick up a cake (see if they know that Monday is National Carrot Cake Day).

Carrot Cake:

2 cups of flour

2 cups of sugar

½ tsp. of salt

1 tsp. of baking soda

2 tsp. of cinnamon

3 eggs

1 ½ cup of vegetable oil

2 cups of finely grated carrots

1 tsp. of vanilla

1 cup of well drained crushed pineapple

Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 packages, 3 ounces each, of cream cheese

3 cups of icing sugar

6 Tbsp. of butter or margarine

1 tsp. of vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 13x9 inch pan and put aside for now.

In a mixing bowl combine all of the dry ingredients.

Next add the eggs, oil, carrots, and vanilla. Beat until combined.

Stir in the pineapple and then pour into the greased baking pan.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean.

While the cake is cooking you can make your frosting. Combine all of the frosting ingredients in your mixer’s bowl and beat until well blended and fluffy looking.

Once the cake is out of the oven, allow it to cool before icing.

This cake makes 12-16 servings and can also be made into cupcakes which are yummy as well. You can even leave them unfrosted too.

Mimosa Sunrise

A few weeks back we glass etched some champagne glasses and this week we are going to make something that can go in them...Mimosas. Our colour is called “Mimosa Sunrise” and it’s in one of the Fenty palettes and is described as a “tangerine metallic.”

Mimosas are great for so many occasions. You don’t just have to have them for breakfast! Plus there are so many varieties so you can experiment and try something a little different from your typical orange juice and champagne mix, you can add some other additions too.

Original Mimosa – Basically you need two ingredients...orange juice and champagne. Fill half your glasses with orange juice and the other half with champagne and you’re set! Here's ours in our etched glasses.

Pomegranate Mimosas – Fill your champagne flute ¼ of the way full of pomegranate juice and top it off with champagne. Then add some pomegranate seeds for a garnish on top.

Pineapple Mimosa Slushies – This one serves four but you can add more if you have more people to serve. In a blender, add 3 cups of Prosecco, 1 cup of frozen mango, 1 cup of pineapple, juice of half of a lemon, and 2 cups of ice. Then blend it all together. Fill your flutes and garnish with fresh pineapple.

Strawberry Mango Mimosa – You’ll need 1 diced mango, 1 cup of diced strawberries, 1 cup of orange juice, and 1 bottle of champagne. Blend the fruit together then add the fruit mix to each flute, fill them half way. Then add in the champagne and enjoy.

Sparkling Raspberry Lemon Mimosa – Pour chilled champagne into your flute (2/3s full is good). Then add some raspberry lemonade in so that it’s filled to the top. Top with fresh raspberries.

Cinnamon Pear Mimosa – Heat 2 cups of pear juice up on the stove. Add in 2 cinnamon sticks after the juice has boiled and cover with the heat turned off.  Let it steep in the pan for 30 minutes first then put into a sealed container and refrigerate overnight. Fill your flute half full of the pear juice and fill up the rest with champagne and top it off with a slice of fresh pear.

Sherbet Mimosa – Add four small scoops of your favourite sherbet to a champagne glass. Add a tablespoon of clementine vodka and top with champagne. Add some fresh fruit on top if you like.

Summer Slushie Drinks

Ok so as promised...here is our finished DIY Mod Podge tray. It’s all dry and we added on a black decorative ribbon around the edges.

Now for the drinks...

We tried one called Summer Slush. It ended up being quite sweet so I would cut back on the sugar by at least half, maybe even more. Both of the juices are sweet along with the 7 Up that we used.

For the Summer Slush you will need 46 oz. can (4 ½ cups) of pineapple juice, 12 oz. can (1 ¼ cups) of frozen orange juice , 3 cups of sugar (this made it super sweet so try cutting it down to 1 ½ cups), 46 oz. (4 ½ cups) of water.

Combine all of the ingredients together in a saucepan and boil until the sugar dissolves. Pour into a 13x9 inch pan and a loaf pan. We used some recycled containers along with a reusable container. Freeze overnight. We let it sit for a couple of days. 

When you are ready to drink, chisel some of the frozen slush out into glasses and pour 7 Up over it. You can also pour Ginger Ale, Club Soda, or even some of Vodka, Tequila, or Wine!

Some other drinks that we thought sounded interesting are...

Mango Pineapple Frozen Sangria – Combine in a blender, 1 bottle of sparkling wine (half frozen), 1 ½ cups of frozen apple juice, 1 cup of frozen mango, 1 cup of frozen pineapple, and a 1/3 cup of triple sec. Blend it until fully mixed and serve with a garnish of fresh pineapple.

Watermelon Frosty – Combine in a blender, 2 cups of frozen watermelon cubes, ½ frozen banana, juice of half a lime, ½  tbsp. of honey, 2-3 mint leaves. Blend until incorporated but still thick. Garnish with mint and lime.

Pina Colada Smoothie – Combine in a blender 1 cup of pineapple, 1 cup of frozen mango chunks, ½ banana, and 1 cup of coconut milk.  Blend until smooth.

Maybe we’ll give some a try in the warm weather ahead. Enjoy!

Banana Muffins

Spring is here and now it’s time for a mini theme once again!

Our focus is on muffins. They can be enjoyed for breakfast, as a snack, or even as a dessert. You can put many things in muffins. Fruit and berries are often common ingredients as are oats and chocolate chips.

For our first muffin post, we are looking at bananas in muffins. They add the right amount of sweetness and moistness to a hearty muffin.

We had a banana muffin baking day and we made over 500 muffins with bananas that we had in the freezer that turned brown fast in the heat last Summer. We don’t like to waste them so we make muffins for all of our friends and families and of course ourselves.

One recipe that we always use is my Grandma’s Banana Muffin Recipe. We’ve been making these muffins together since we were little.

Banana Muffins

½ cup vegetable oil

¾ cup white sugar

1 cup of mashed bananas or you can use ½ cup of mashed bananas and ½ cup of crushed pineapple which is what we always do

1 egg

1 ½ cup of flour

1 tsp. of baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. vanilla

Whisk all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

In your mixer’s bowl, add in the sugar and oil and mix.

Then add in the eggs and mix.

After mixing in the egg, add your mashed banana in along with the vanilla and give it all a good mix.

Slowly add in your dry ingredients and incorporate well.

Remove the mixing bowl from the stand and stir in the crushed pineapple.

Spoon into lined muffin tins, about ¾’s full is good.

Bake in a 350 degrees oven for 15-20 minutes. All ovens are different of course so it may take less time or in our case more time. Cool on wire racks.

You can add some semisweet chocolate chips into some of the muffins if you can’t do without a little bit of chocolate in your muffins!

This time we threw another banana muffin into our muffin baking day. We made banana oatmeal muffins which I think are so delicious. We actually made a mini version of this muffin back in February so that’s why you’ll see the some mini ones and some big ones. The process is still the same though. 

Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins

1 ½ cup of flour

1 cup of quick oats

½ cup of white sugar

2 tsp. of baking powder

1 tsp. of baking soda

½ tsp. of salt

½ (heaping) cup of semisweet chocolate chips

¼ cup of vegetable oil

2 eggs

¼ cup of milk

1 cup of mashed bananas

Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

In a separate bowl whisk the eggs.

Mix in the oil, milk, and bananas.

Add to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Since we are making so many batches, it was easier for us to add the dry into the wet, but you’re really supposed to add the wet into a “well” in the dry ingredient bowl. 

Lastly, stir in the chocolate chips.

Spoon into lined muffin tins, ¾’s of the way full and then bake at a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack.