My week of convenience foods......

These little guys were on sale at Meijer a few weeks ago, and since they are a new product I was able to get them for a great deal (remember....new product+high value coupon+debut sale=HUGE $AVINGS!!).

I shall dub this product "The lazy man's muffin mix". You pour a half cup of water in the container, shake, and pour into muffin pan. No mixer needed. No bowls or spoons to clean. The only 'issue' I had with this muffin mix is that the batter is too thick to really pour. I used a butter knife to scrape the batter into my mini muffin pan. One container of mix made 12 mini muffins. They were great!

I previously mentioned that I scored an awesome deal on some frozen Dole fruit smoothie shakers.. This is also a newer product, so I was able to buy them for about a dollar each at Meijer. This is actually very similar to the muffin mix I just talked about. You unscrew the lid, add orange juice, and shake! The only snafu I had with it, is that I had to stab the frozen mix with a butter knife a bunch of time to break up the pieces and allow the OJ to blend in and create a smoothie. It was well worth the effort though, because they taste great!

So overall I am pleased with my venture into the world of 'shakeable' foods! Just don't forget to pack your butter knife!

Cupcake recipe

Gather up the following supplies:

2.5 cups Flour

1.34 cups Sugar

3 Eggs

1.25 cups Milk

1 tsp. Salt

2.5 tsp. Baking powder

1.5 tsp. Vanilla

3/4 cup Butter-the real stuff, not margarine

1. Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, beat the softened butter alone for 30 seconds
2. Gradually add the sugar, while continuously using the mixer to whip things together.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time. Keep mixing. You want things as fluffy as possible.
4. Now you want to alternate adding the milk and flour, a little bit at a time.
5. Add the vanilla, baking powder, and any thing else you want to use for flavoring. Mix well.
6. Line your cupcake pan with paper cups and fill each cup about 1/2 to 2/3 full with the batter.

Bake at 375 for about 12 minutes. The time may vary depending on the size of your cupcake. Cool them down and frost them. Yields 24 cakes.

I added shredded orange peel to my cake batter and created these Zesty Orange cupcakes for a Halloween party we are going to tonight.

 

For the frosting, I used 1 cup of butter flavored Crisco and 1lb of powdered sugar. Start with just whipping the shortening up by itself, then gradually add the sugar. Use about 2 tbsp. of milk to thin it out a little bit.

I added a little bit of vanilla and almond extract, and red and yellow food coloring.

Enjoy!