Five little lady bugs climbing on some plants.....

I teach first and second grade and this poem came to mind when I made these cupcakes. Mike and I had cookout over the summer and some of our guests were of the age to appreciate these cute little bugs.
Unfortunately, the frosting was more pink than red when I mixed. I made these out of a box cake mix. I made the spots on the bugs with black gel mixed with white frosting. The antenna are made from black licorice. I made 5 of these bugs and then decorated the rest with sprinkles and candies.


Watermelon seed rating: My little friends loved these cupcakes and many of them walked around the party with pink frosting covering their faces.

Mrs. Watermelon rating: These cupcakes were so fun to make! I just wish I had a darker red frosting!

Another great fall recipe!!!

One thing I love about the fall is that I am always in the mood to bake. I made these bars because Mike was going to a Pats game and I thought the guys would like these to tailgate with. I was right. However, before Mike brought them to the game, I brought them to Amy and Kevin's house for them to try. This recipe is definitely a winner!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs1 (12 ounce) package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions : Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9x13 cake pan. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, both sugars and vanilla in large mixer bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Gradually beat flour mixture into butter mixture.Stir in chocolate chips. Spread into prepared pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Mr. Watermelon rating: He loved these! I'm surprised he shared.

Mrs. Watermelon rating: I liked them, it was like eating a square cookie.

Watermelon friend rating: These were gobbled right up. There were requests for more.

Sunny sunflower cupcakes

Sunny days, keeping the clouds away.....Mike needed to bring a treat to a class, so I thought I would try my hand at making sunflower cupcakes. I made the cakes from a box mix, so I could concentrate on the decorating. I love using cake decorating tools. I got the idea from Hello Cupcake!

I used green frosting to frost the cupcake. Then I attached an Oreo cookie. Around the Oreo cookie I used yellow frosting to make the petals.





Watermelon rating: Everyone loved these! Especially my good friend Patrick (he's 3)!

Fall Favorites

Fall is here! It is my favorite season! Pumpkin picking, apple picking, and all the fairs and carnivals! So I decided to remind you of some of my favorite recipes that I have made for the fall. You can click on the link to get the recipe, remember if you try one to leave me a comment and let me know how you made out.

Apple Pie

Apple Spice Bars- just made these this past weekend. Always a favorite!!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Potato and Cheese Soup

Hope you enjoy some of my favorite fall recipes! Coming soon.......

Chocolate chip cookies bars and some recipes that I made over the summer....better late than never!

Still the best....

One of the best recipes for Chocolate Chip Cookies is Nestle Tollhouse. You can never have enough chocolate chips!

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels




Directions: Preheat oven to 375° F.Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto baking sheets. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.



Mr. Watermelon rating: He loved these! He loved that I added more chocolate chips.

Mrs. Watermelon rating: Love these! Definitely wait until they are cool before moving them onto a plate.

Strawberry Vanilla Cupcakes

When I saw these cupcakes on CB's blog I knew I had to try them. I loved that she used a recipe I gave her for a fruit dip as a frosting! I made some variations to her recipe. I made vanilla cupcakes and I added chocolate sprinkles to the top.

I was thrilled with the way this recipe came out. I finally found a vanilla cupcake recipe that I love. My wonderful husband bought me Hello Cupcake! for Christmas and the vanilla cupcake recipe is in the back.

Vanilla Cupcakes

(From Hello Cupcake!)

Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

Strawberries

Frosting:

1 8oz container marshmallow fluff

1 block of cream cheese, softened

Chocolate sprinkles

Directions: Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin cups with liners. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine milk, oil and vanilla. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each egg. Add flour mixture alternately with milk mixture. Beat until blended. Fill cupcakes liners. Bake until golden and toothpick comes out clean.

Once cupcakes have cooled, I used a small flower cookie cutter and cut out the center of the cupcake.

I made sure that there was cupcake left on the bottom.

Then I put a strawberry in the hole I cut out. Some of the strawberries were larger than others, I cut those in half to fit them.

I mixed the fluff and the cream cheese using a hand mixer. I frosted the cupcakes and sprinkled on sprinkles.

I put them in the fridge so that the frosting would stay before I brought them to the party.

Mr. Watermelon rating: He liked the frosting and the cake. He said he could do without the strawberry.

Mrs. Watermelon rating: I really loved the cake, it was very moist. The dip worked very well as a frosting.

Other Watermelon rating: Everyone really liked them. The cupcakes were a little beat up when I got to the party, but they still tasted good.

Chinese cole slaw

Every time I am invited to a cookout and ask what I can bring - the answer is Chinese cole slaw. It has met with such rave reviews every time it makes an appearance. My husband's cousin JudiAnn gave me this fantastic recipe. It is so easy to make and definitely worth it.

Ingredients:

2 16oz. bags of shredded cole slaw mix

4 - 6 scallions (optional) I don't use

2 pkg. chicken flavored ramen noodles (uncooked)

1 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup oil

Dressing:

3/4 cup oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tbs. vinegar

Directions: Take the sunflower seeds, flavor packets, and broken noodles and brown them in a sauce pan in the oil. Mix the shredded cabbage and the chopped scallions. Prepare dressing by mixing all dressing ingredients. Add browned noodles to slaw mix and pour dressing over all and mix.Enjoy!

Mr. Watermelon rating: I don't know that he has ever tried it.

Mrs. Watermelon rating: I love it. I have memorized the recipe, I have made it so many times!

Watermelon friend rating: Everyone loves it! I even wrote the recipe down at the cookout for a friend's mom!