Monthly Archives: February 2011

It looks like I will be doing a lot of baking this weekend.

I need to do my review on the set of acrylic cookie stamps I received today from Gourmac.  Michael’s birthday is the 13th so that will require a cake and I do have the supplies to try the cake pops again.  Last but not least, I wanted to bake some cut-out sugar cookies with Ethan and Luke for Valentine’s Day.  All this should make for a very sweet weekend.  I will be having another contest for a set of brand new cookie stamps just like the ones that I am reviewing.  They will be sent to the winner direct from the company and I will post rules later.  We still have the “My Little Cupcake Pop Mold” giveaway going on so be sure to get in on that as it ends on the 14th.  I have lots of other reviews and give-aways coming up so stay tuned.

Are you all doing some yummy baking for Valentine’s Day?  Do tell.  Well, I better rest up for my baking marathon.  Have a good night everyone!


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Baking Flowers!!! My Review of the John Wright Flower Cast Iron Muffin Pan!

The UPS driver had a treat for me today.  The John Wright Company sent me one of their cast iron flower muffin pans.  The original Wrightsville Hardware Company was founded in 1880 near their  present location in Wrightsville, Pennsylvania. Along with their foundries, they have a retail store and outlet in a converted turn-of-the-century warehouse on the bank of the lovely Susquehanna River.  John Wright remains America’s oldest continuously operating manufacturer of cast iron products!!  Their products are proudly made in the USA.

The first thing to note about this pan is its weight.  One could easily get a great bicep workout just by lifting the pan a few times.  The detail is also amazing.  There are 7 different flowers and the name of each flower is written into each cast iron mold.

A nice assortment of recipes accompanied the pan.  I chose to make the corn bread muffins.  The recipe is as follows:

Corn Bread Muffins

1 Cup All-Purpose Flour

1/4 Cup Sugar

3 Teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 Cup Yellow Corn Meal

1 Egg Well-Beaten

1 Cup Milk

5 Teaspoons Butter, Melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Add corn meal.  Add to mixture: egg, milk, and melted butter.  Beat until smooth, but don’t overmix.  Bake in the greased muffin pan at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

I made the above mixture and it filled the muffin pan exactly.

 

The muffins are a very generous size.  As soon as they achieved the desired golden brown color, they were removed from the oven.

 

The muffins just lifted right out of the pan without any problem or sticking.  The muffins were beautiful, big, and airy.

Add some butter and enjoy!

Don’t they look delicious?

 

I give this pan and the John Wright Company 2 thumbs up!  I think I am going to have to try their cookie pans next.  They have great cookie pans that have lots of neat designs like: Alphabet Cookie, Sweetheart Cookie, Sleigh Full O’Toys Cookie and many more.  Their molded cookie recipes with these pans, I just have to try.  All of the John Wright molds are coated with their exclusive non-stick coating, “Ironclad Non-Stick Coating”  If you would like to purchase one of their pans you can call their toll free number for the nearest store, 1-800-444-9364.  You can also order from their website at http://www.jwright.com

I hope you give their pans and recipes a try.  I am telling you these are the most delicious corn muffins I have ever had.  Try it, and see if you do not agree.


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Some Cake Pop After-Thoughts!!!

Can you believe it?  I am writing about cake pops once again.  Over the hours I have had to reflect after making them yesterday, I have had a lot of thoughts.  First, since I wrote my review last night right after making them, I do not think I was far enough away from the process to truly form an evaluation.  We all know that recipes are trial and error and that we often come away with things we would do different next time to improve the process.  So now that I have had the proper time to contemplate everything, I can say that I will attempt to make cake pops again.  I have to give it at least one more shot.  I think I will try the mold inventors recipe of using 1 package of Oreo cookies and one brick of cream cheese.  I do not think I will ever make cake balls again with red velvet cake.  It is not that the cake did not taste good but being they were on traveling sticks and having 5 kids that include two toddlers,  it had its problems.  Since the cake balls can fall off the sticks and some little children may then accidentally step in the fallen cake balls or go to pick them  up and accidentally make contact with my walls, there are some issues.  See, my kitchen tile floor and the hallway look like they would in the aftermath of a mob hit.  There is even a red hand print on the window of my side door.  Looks like the person fought until the end.   So today as I have been scrubbing up the evidence of the cake ball massacre, I have come to the conclusion that said children will only be allowed to eat the cake balls in their appropriate chairs.  Beyond that, I have found that it would have been easier if I had thinned the dipping chocolate with Crisco.  I hate using Crisco so I don’t have it in the house but after researching the web it seems that it is the thinner of choice.  Also, I think I would use different dipping chocolate.  I spent twice the price getting some premium brand and it seems I would have been better off with one of the more inexpensive choices out there.  So I guess we live and learn and I am no exception.  Sometime this week I will get to the store to get some more supplies and try this adventure again.  As I look at some of the alternatives to how others get a cupcake shape on the stick using a series of cutters and molding, I can safely say the “My Little Cupcake POP Mold” is a much easier and friendlier option.  You can also use powdered sugar on your hands to make handling the mixture less sticky.  So with all this said, I will indeed embark down this road again with my newly gained knowledge.  I will of course let you all know with pictures and words how it goes.   So yes, there will be more posts about cake pops in the future.  I certainly hope the winner of the give-away mold will send me some pictures of their creations so I can post them for you all to see as well.  Hope you all are enjoying Superbowl Sunday.  Jimi made a huge spread of goodies, wings, spiedies, dips, veggies, and more.  I love being married to a man who can cook.


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My Little Cupcake POP Mold Give-Away!!!

Here are the official rules for the My Little Cupcake Pop Mold give-away: You must subscribe to this blog, you must LIKE my blog Facebook fan page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mommy-Ramblings/142284565832382 , then you must share this contest on your Facebook status and have all friends you refer post a comment on my blog fan page that “you” sent them.  When you have done all these things, post a comment on my blog fan page that you have done these things and put a link to your Facebook page with the shared status.  The person who has the most referrals at the end of the contest will win the mold.  Good luck everyone!!!  If you can’t wait and have to have one right now, you can visit the website at http://www.mylittlecupcakepop.com/ and order direct from there or they are available on Amazon.com.

Contest is for one new boxed mold!


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My Little Cupcake Pop Mold Review.

Well, I just got done making about 40 cake pops.  The “My Little Cupcake Company” sent me a mold and one to giveaway to a reader of my blog.  They sent everything out so fast and gave me a nice history of the company and business cards and brochure. The mold was invented by a mother of 3.  I love mom-invented products.   The mold itself is very sturdy and easy to use.  It has a hinge on the bottom which is very handy and makes the mold really easy to operate even with sticky hands.  The company will be coming out with at least three more designs in the near future.  If you can’t wait to see if you win the giveaway, you can visit their website at http://www.mylittlecupcakepop.com/ You can purchase the mold direct from there or they are available as well on Amazon.com.

The first step is to take your cooled baked cake and put it into a large bowl and break it up into small pieces.

Then I added my cream cheese frosting and mixed it all together.

Then take the mixture and scoop it out with a cookie scoop and put the balls in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

You will have about 40 balls.  Then take your “My Little Cupcake Pop Mold”

Open the mold and put one of the balls in.

Close the mold and let the excess squeeze out.  Then wipe off the excess and put it into a bowl to re-mold later.

Open the mold and you should have a nicely formed little cupcake.

Repeat with the rest of the cake balls and then put the formed cake balls in the freezer again for at least 30 minutes.

Melt your chocolate, then dip the bottoms of the cake balls into the melted chocolate.

After you dip it in the chocolate, put a pop stick in it and let it dry upside down.  When dry, melt the white chocolate and dip the top in white chocolate and sprinkle with decor of your choice.

Stick the pops into Styrofoam and keep going.

Okay so that is it.   Now for my review.  This was not a lot of work until the end.  The dipping of chocolate is messy and tedious.  There are also some casualties where the ball falls off the stick.  I think that is why some people just make cake balls and not pops.  The mold itself worked well.  It is just a lot of work and for me I do not know that I would do this again.  I mean the end result was okay but nothing that spectacular that I would have to make these again.  Maybe it is me.  Maybe I am not that creative or this just is not my thing.   I do not feel the need to rush and make another batch.  Like I said, someone else may have a knack for it, and I do appreciate that the mold was designed by a mom.  As I said in a previous post she does recommend using a pack of Oreo cookies and a brick of cream cheese.  Maybe that mixture holds better and definitely is less work than making your own cake and frosting.  Maybe sometime soon I will give that a try, who knows?  It depends how fast I forget.   I am giving away one brand new mold.  If you want it and you will give this a try then you need to subscribe to my blog and like my Facebook blog fan page.  In the next day or so I will post a post about the giveaway and it will have the instructions for the contest.   I think I am going to spend a bit of time with my treadmill now.  Have a great Saturday night!!!

I will leave you some pics of the little guys eating them.  Luke had a problem with it falling off the stick but he solved that by just stuffing the whole thing in his mouth.  : )


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Cake Pop Prep and Funfetti Brownies.

The first step to making the cake pops is to make a cake.  Actually, the recipe on this mold recommends using a bag of crushed oreos and a block of cream cheese but I want to make more traditional cake balls so I am going to use red velvet cake and make my own cream cheese frosting.  Anyhow, once Ethan heard I was baking a cake, it was all over.  I knew I better whip up some funfetti brownies at the same time because he could never wait through all the steps for the cake ball pops.  He sat right up next to the island in his high chair to watch every detail and to help clean away the evidence.

The brownies before baking.

The Red Velvet Batter

Pouring into the pans.  I did use a mix for the cake but I am making my own cream cheese icing.

Licking up the evidence.

 

 

 

Brownies are done!  Ethan was so anxious for them to be done that when they had about 5 minutes left he told me to go to the oven and push the button.  I am flattered that my son thinks I possess that kind of power, that I can miraculously just make brownies done by pushing a button.  I explained to him that they would be done when the time was up and that me pushing buttons would not make it any faster.  Silly kid.

There was no cooling that was going to happen.  I had some very impatient customers.

When I asked Ethan to smile, he told me he was eating.  Then he quickly shoved another bite in his mouth.

A mouth full of brownie and a truck, is there anything better?

Got Milk?


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2 New Product Reviews and Give-Aways Coming Up!!!

I am so excited.  I have two product reviews and give-aways coming up and many more to follow.  I will let you know that the first is a “My Little Cupcake POP Mold.”  It is super cute and I will be doing a full review and making the cake pops hopefully today or tomorrow.  I will also update with the specifics of the contest later but I will tell you, you need to subscribe to my blog and like my Facebook fan page to be elgible for this and all future give-aways.  I have a lot of great stuff coming up as well, so stay tuned.


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Ethan’s first day of pre-school!!!

Well, after a few false starts due to snow, we finally were able to take Ethan to his first day of pre-school.  I think it worked out well because Friday there are only 6 other kids there, so it was not overwhelming.  All the other kids were boys and everyone seemed to be very well behaved.  Ethan adjusted quite well.  When I told him I was going, he gave me a kiss and then said rather matter of factly, “Don’t go.”  When I explained I had to go home for a bit and would pick him up later he was fine.  Ms.  Jackie told me he was great and no tears.  When I went to pick him up he did not want to leave.  He cried because we were leaving.  Silly boy.  I got to meet some nice mommies too, and I can always use new mommy friends.

Here are some pictures before we left this morning.



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Groundhog Day!!!

Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow!!!  I am so happy that he did not see that groundhog shadow.  I am doubly happy because Staten Island Chuck did not see his shadow either.  We will have an early spring!!!  Did the groundhogs in your neck of the woods see their shadows?   I hope not, hoping for an early spring.  I feel that is what we are going to have when we get out from under the new snow and ice we got pelted with the last 2 days.  Spring is right around the corner people!  Rejoice with me!!!

Phil

Mayor and groundhog 2011 Chuck


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Woombie Prices Slashed!!! Hurry and take advantage of this super clearance sale before they are gone!!! SOLD OUT

I am slashing the price again off the already marked down price on the original Woombie Swaddle.

I am an authorized Woombie distributor and I have to clear out some stock.  I am having a huge sale.  I have many styles and sizes (see below) and I am selling them for 16.99 a piece (that is a huge savings on retail).  I will ship 1 in the USA for 3.25.  Add 2.00 for each additional.  Or I will fit as many as I can in a flat rate envolope or box for you, for the actual shipping.  Send me a pm if you want to order and I can send you an invoice and you can pay by Paypal.

Thanks for the interest ladies here is what I have on sale (hurry they are going fast)

SOLD OUT

The Original Woombie Baby Cocoon Swaddle

All are packaged and brand new!


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