I’d been wanting to make these for a long time and I finally came across a recipe I like at Tidy Mom. She mentioned in the recipe to cut the amount of Root Beer concentrate because it was too strong but I think my flour made the taste change because there wasn’t nearly enough flavor for my liking. I am going to try next time with all purpose flour and see if that changes. The frosting recipe is spot on though!

They were definitely kid approved though!

Root Beer Float Cupcakes – Adapted from Tidy Mom – This is the recipe on her site that she adapted from Bittersweet

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

(from Bittersweet)

yields 12 cupcakes

1 Cup Rootbeer Soda (non-diet)
1 Teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Canola Oil (Didn’t have canola I used corn oil)
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 Teaspoons Root Beer Extract *(if you use root beer concentrate then only use 1/2 teaspoon)(Candy’s Note: I did not follow this for me it wasn’t enough I used nearly 3 TSP)
1 1/3 Cups Flour
3/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt

• Preheat your oven to 350

• Combine root beer soda and vinegar and let stand for a few minutes.
• Add in the sugar and oil, whisking until slightly frothy.
• Mix in your extracts, and slowly add the flour, along with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Careful not to over mix.
• Fill cupcake liners approximately 3/4 full. (At first I thought I had a lot more batter than 12 cupcakes, but then I noticed the batter would settle, so I went back and added a little batter to each liner, which made 12 cupcakes)
• Bake for about 18 – 22 minutes.

Vanilla Frosting

The vanilla frosting gave the flavor of  the “ice cream”, though like I mentioned, these might even be good unfrosted and served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream instead.

1 (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1.5 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

We got this SKLZ Pro Mini Hoop at Meijer because our three year old loves basketball so much.  He is always playing Carnival Games on the PS3 and some Hoops games on our iPhones and tablets, so thought we’d see how he did with the real thing.  He loves it.

SKLZ also has a lot of products to help with training for sports.

We were not compensated for this in any way, we just really like the product and price. 

Its obviously no secret that I am a super busy mom. I am busy so much that I don’t often get to cook a hot meal for my family. Recently I was invited to try Bertolli Meal Soups, which are purchased frozen but take only 5 minutes to cook on the stovetop. All you add is one cup of water. Sounds simple enough. The plan was to make my husband and I a nice hot meal and enjoy it before evening activities.

I just openend the bag

cooked it

and in 5 minutes I had set a beautiful rustic place setting with our bowls and garnished the soup with toast.

…and then my husband and son proceeded to eat both bowls in lighting fast speed. So much for a special dinner for me and hubs! But I do appreciate the fact that in 5 minutes I was able to easily make a nice hot delicious meal, something I can’t do from scratch in that time as I usually do being that I am a culinary student who will be a chef soon! So even though the challenge was sort of successful I hope I at least get to taste it next time. Or plan to feed the hungry teenager before he eats my entire bowl while I am cleaning up! And the fact that my guys loved the flavor I am pretty convinced that it tasted good!

About Bertolli Meal Soups:

• Bertolli Frozen Meal Soups are hearty and fresh-tasting with vegetables, meats, pasta and herbs individually flash frozen at the peak of freshness.
• Bertolli Frozen Meal Soups are available in the frozen aisle, and can be prepared on your stovetop in minutes.
• With robust flavors and rich textures, new Bertolli Frozen Meal Soups are available in four varieties: Chicken Minestrone, Roasted Chicken & Rotini Pasta, Tomato Florentine & Tortellini with Chicken, and Tuscan-Style Beef with Vegetables.
• Bertolli Premium Meal Soups for Two are available in 24 oz. packages, and with the addition of one cup of water, yield 32 oz. of mouthwatering soup. The new line of hearty, fresh-tasting meal soups are available in the frozen aisle of grocery retailers nationwide, including Walmart and Target, in four varieties reminiscent of flavors created by Italian Chefs:
• Chicken Minestrone – Roasted white meat chicken, beans, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, tomatoes and pasta in a hearty vegetable broth
• Roasted Chicken & Rotini Pasta – Roasted white meat chicken, pasta, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots and celery in a savory chicken broth
• Tomato Florentine & Tortellini with Chicken – Cheese-filled tortellini, white meat chicken, spinach and tomatoes in a rich tomato bisque with a hint of basil
• Tuscan-Style Beef with Vegetables – Tender beef, mushrooms, yellow squash, zucchini, carrots and celery with bowtie pasta in a savory broth

About Bertolli:

With a brand heritage dating back 150 years to Lucca, Italy, Bertolli celebrates the authentic restaurant-quality Italian dining experience. Through their variety of pasta sauces, frozen meals and olive oils, Bertolli brings flavors reminiscent of kitchens of notable Italian chefs.

Connect: Want to know more about these soups and other Bertolli products? Fan them on Facebook and Follow them on Twitter!!

——————————–

I was compensated by Bertolli to participate in the Weeknight Meal Special Challenge.

My newest favorite is those french vanilla snowmen marshmallows with the Milk hot chocolate. My 3 year old son calls them “frenchfellows” I call them delicious in this cocoa and since it was raining slushy stuff on my drive home from work tonight, having a warm cup of yum helped me escape for a minute from the dreary frozen tundra!

SAVE$$!!! USE MY DISCOUNT!! Just use the code AM0016-3603 to save 15% on your order and free shipping at www.greenmountaincoffee.com! offer valid through Feb. 29th.

Another thing they sent was samples from Birchbox, a company that sends monthly shipments of cosmetic samples from brand name companies. For just $10 a month you get:

Every month you’ll receive 4-5 hand-picked beauty samples form the best brands around – from the luxe lines you covet to the new and niche companies you’ve yet to discover.

But Birchbox is so much more than that! Your will also enjoy:

-An online mini-mag filled with how-to videos, articles, and tips from the pros

-An online Shop filled with the best skincare, haircare, makeup, and more – we’ve done the editing for you!

-Birchbox Points, a super generous rewards program – so easy to earn, track, and redeem points

-Great shipping offers on full-size orders, including free shipping on monthly product picks, and all orders $50+

If your escape is to try new cosmetics than you should look into it and you can buy full sizes if you like the samples! I know I am guilty of not branching out and trying more cosmetics but the truth is I wear makeup every time I leave the house so trying some new products is something I am planning on doing this year for skin care and cosmetics!

YOU CAN WIN A ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION TO BIRCHBOX!!  The wonderful folks at Green Mountain want you to take your moment of me time too! To enter just use Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I don’t get food from the arches often but when my son handed me his little fry box I thought it was the cutest little thing! And by little I mean tiny compared to my husband’s large fry!

My best friend of 7 years and avid blogger at onescrappymom.com was recently in a car accident. My husband and I are so close to her we ended up tracking her down and got the report on her injuries. She has seriousl injuries to her leg and face and right now is sleeping and has had surgeries. Thank heavens her kids were not hurt. Her husband has minor injuries. Many MANY bloggers and friends have shown an immediate outpouring of love and donations for her for flowers and gift cards for meals and things. She has a rough recovery ahead of her.

I am holding it together for her because I know she would do the same for me. She is the sweetest person you will ever meet. Every blogger that has met her has said the same thing. She asked me about a year ago or so to help her start blogging like I do and she has taken off like a lightning bolt. She is invited on brand trips even more than me. She works hard and she is the same with her friends she works hard to make sure you feel loved.

Please keep my dear friend Bobbie in your prayers, I know she would appreciate all the prayers of healing that she can get!

My oldest son is a normal 14 year old. Ok that isn’t true either. Most kids his age have a cell phone with calling abilities, he does not, because I am not supporting his iPhone habit when cell service sucks out here and, well, the poor kid never goes anywhere. The sad part is now that I have money occasionally he could ask for extra allowance but he doesn’t. What is worse is we live in a town where there is NOTHING to do, no theaters, no shopping, NOTHING but farms. Sadly the coolest hangout just happens to be the pizza place that I am currently interning at.

I try so hard to connect with this kid as a friend. Its not often that I have to discipline him he minds us very well and does his chores without fuss. He is extremely helpful with Aiden who is very high energy and demands attention a lot. He knows that when we really need a break that we love him forever because he will take Aiden and play in his room on guitar or something. I don’t have to be his best friend but being his mom I want to make sure I am connecting with him. I don’t want him to ever feel sad. I want to make sure he is doing well.

Its a hard thing to know that I have no idea what I am doing I am just parenting with my heart. Our kids have a bit harder life than most because we aren’t rich. Colton never complains but deep down I feel bad that we can’t offer him the same things that his friends have. Within reason of course, there is no reason for him to have a $250 jacket for a stupid logo. I count myself as lucky because we haven’t yet dealt with any big major problems (knock on wood) . I feel bad this kid had to have rookie parents and honestly I am shocked that he is such a good kid at this point. I will say I am glad he is around because parenting him has made it so much easier to parent his sister and brother. That is of course until said sister hits puberty. Why can’t kids just stay young and innocent?

There is one thing I need to mention and that is that I am so happy I am taking THIS class because Chef Nick said at the beginning of class that we would be required to do plate presentations from now on. This means all that artistry that I didn’t learn from class last semester will have a chance to enter my brain this semester. I nearly hugged the chef when he said it and of course had to explain to him why I am so happy. He wasn’t very pleased when I told him what happened. But we get along so well. I was nervous he is pretty acclaimed and a bit of a celeb around Lansing but he is funny and smart.

In my class there is one other guy that has been through the program and this is his last class, everyone else is new. It feels weird to be the 2nd year know it all sometimes but hey I know where everything is and little secrets, and I don’t mind helping anyone so it makes it fun. So far there is only 6 or 7 people in the class though. its nice its not crowded! I think my favorite, aside from cooking PRETTY food again, is the fact he is teaching us authentic recipes.

Without further ado I will just go ahead and share what we made. As a class we each had to make 2 dishes for a total of 12. I made the Caprese..

and Tiramisu. I have made Caprese before but Tiramisu was completely new for me, I hadn’t even TASTED it prior. It is SO good!!’ My caprese has olive oil, this one has balsamic vinegar.

(Caprese Salad, Peach Cobbler, Risotto, Spaghetti Squash with lime and basil, Prosciutto Melon, Three Pasta, Tiramisu, Seafood moule (stew), Potato Gnocchi, Pasta Carbonara)

Like Delorme, I dove in without instructions and found my way around.  You have to use instinct and survival skills sometimes (or admit you’re a typical man and have no idea what you are doing and don’t like to ask for directions or having someone tell you to read the manual, so that’s not an option).  Some things I really love, like flipping through different views by scrolling with the mouse.  This makes it so you don’t have to keep going back to a dropdown and selecting, and I always appreciate it when you can expect to find some kind of right click menu or feature without digging around for it in menus.

Setting the route is much like Google Maps or any other online mapping service.  It seems the intention of Streets & Trips 2011 is to bring the online experience with you on the road when you don’t have internet access.  You can also search for nearby services and points of interest, restaurants, lodging, etc.  From the standpoint of how many things have become common to find through free online services like Foursquare, I was a little disappointed to see very little locally showing up so noticed I wasn’t online in a few minutes.  No gas stations, restaurants, parks, libraries, car repair, etc.  I live in a small town so don’t expect a lot of stuff to be here, as you will see it when you drive by and hopefully have a reason to be here to begin with.  But it would be nice to know if I were lost that I could see that a gas station was not too far away.  There are three of four gas stations within 5 miles from me but there’s a lot of roads that go on for 20 miles to get to larger towns.  If someone were on one of those roads and had an emergency, they would only find a campground and a library.  Not real helpful.  Seems like Delorme used to have so many different places, I had to turn them off.  When I zoom in on Streets & Trips, looks like there’s a park where I know there’s a major fuel & food exit on the highway and it’s not there.  These things should show up by default, on the map. 

What I liked the most was the night view.  I’ve driven around a lot of night both by car and truck with my laptop and Delorme Atlas running. I had to make a special theme for my computer and turn the brightness way down so it was distracting.  This looks really good and is darker than I could get it to be and yet since it is an intentional design, the map lights up well in a “night vision green” color.

One thing that will be useful for many who are hauling trailers or moving is the terrain view.  You might want to plan on extra fuel, making sure your brakes are checked before going over the mountains, be ready for snow, and bring extras in case of an emergency.

Planning multiple stops is as easy as it is with Google Maps, of course.

The night view, and how incredibly fast and easy this is to use is well worth the $40.  Like Delorme, you can add a locator to make this a real time GPS.

On the Streets & Trips website, there are videos and a demo if you would like to try it out.  I myself would like to see what Microsoft Map Point is like as I like to feel like I have a complete resource at my fingertips and can plan and research as much as possible before jumping into a trip.  I felt Delorme software delivered that more.

It is really amazing that I haven’t had to get out a real map in more than 5 years thanks to software like Delorme Street Atlas USA and Microsoft Streets & Trips.  $40 is a great deal for this, and being able to download it if you need it tonight for tomorrow’s sudden emergency trip is a convenience that is noteworthy.

I believe they have still have some competition with Delorme especially with the current going prices, but this will appeal to the crowd that likes to use Google Maps and it should run much smoother and faster than Delorme on older laptops.  I hope they continue on this “bring the online world with you” mission and team up with Foursquare to bring a more complete offline experience (maybe with the option to do a post trip check in of all the places you visited?) Foursquare a really useful service to have with you and has recently updated to show me there’s more places even in my hometown than I even knew about.

UPDATE (1/18/2012): I would like to thank Laptop GPS World, who has a forum you can visit for many tips & tricks on using Microsoft Streets & Trips.  I love the idea of a constantly updated POI Megafile (as mentioned in the comments below).