Tuesday Muse-Day

Oh how I love color. Bright, bold, eye-catching color!  So for today’s Tuesday Muse-day, check out this ah-maz-ing Bubblegum Centerpiece by Sweet Tea with Cindy!

*swoon* How fun & elegant!

Cindy shares how she did it, plus other on her blog, Sweet Tea with Cindy.  And she scored the gorgeous apothecary jar for only $5 at Marshall’s – what a bargain!

This centerpiece is a festive and inexpensive way to dress up any party table!  I can’t wait til I have an excuse to make my own version! 🙂

xoxo,
  Kim

Back to School

I don’t have any children yet, but my Facebook newsfeed was full of pictures of my friends’ kiddos all dressed up for their first day back to school today.  Seeing all of this brought back so many memories.

When I was at Staples last week, I actually got a little nostalgic seeing all of the new “must-have items” for students to stock-up on.  I used to love the excitement of picking out a new back-pack, lunch box and all of the other supplies for the coming year.

But when I was in grade school, the #1 thing you needed…

A Trapper Keeper!!!  Remember these things?  Do they even still make them? 

Oh my gosh, it was such an ordeal to pick out the perfect folders to go in them too.  I remember spending so much time going through boxes of them at the store… funky colors, animals, cartoons.  I also remember Lisa Frank items being wildly popular.  Bless my mom for putting up with it, because I don’t think I ever used half of them.

What do you remember about back-to-school? 

xoxo,
  Kim

Come on Irene, er, Eileen

Living in South Jersey, all I’ve heard for the past few days is Irene, Irene, Irene.  Hurricane Irene, which is working its way up the east coast, has everyone in the area on high alert.  Worse than all of the storm hype, I’ve had Come on Eileen stuck in my head, except its stuck as “Come on Irene”.  Seriously, its been stuck in my head for the last two days.

After having dinner with my parents, my mom insisted that I get a few cases of water, just in case. So hubby and I went to the grocery store last night, and wow… what a sight!

No bread…

Only a few cases of bottled water…

Milk? Not so much… down to gallons-only of Skim (thank goodness I drink almond milk)

Right now its just drizzling, sometimes lightly and sometimes a little more steadily.  Only time will tell how bad this storm really comes through.  We have no plans to venture out, so I have a decent amount of Law & Order re-runs on DVR (love L&O!), and if the power goes out, I have 7 new books waiting to be read, thanks to Borders going-out-of-business sale 🙂

If you’re in the storm area, please take the proper precautions. Its definitely better to be safe than sorry.

xoxo,
  Kim

Is This Thing On?

As I’m writing this, there’s just 12 hours left on our cake pop stand auction… it will end at 9:00pm tonight, so we are in crunch mode!!!

I promise I’ll go back to blogging about cake pops, recipes and other mumbo jumbo next week, but I’ve devoted this week to #AFundForJennie, so I’m seeing it through.  She deserves it, as do her young daughters.

Right now I’m in awe of Mike (@MikeVFMK) from Toronto. He rounded up FIFTY (50) cookbooks, donated by the chef themselves (including Bakerella); some are even autographed!  Can you even imagine 50 books?  The winner of that auction will be one lucky individual! 

1. Bid on one of the many auction items on BWOB’s auction list.

2. Donate what you can, whether its $0.01, $1 or $10  (click on BWOB icon at top-right of my blog).  

3. Help spread the word – that is free! 

4. Start your own #AFundForJennie Fundraiser 🙂

*tapping my microphone* Is this thing on?  Please share if you’ve helped promote #AFundForJennie or are doing your own fundraiser; I genuinely would love to hear from you.  Happy Friday ya’ll!

xoxo,

  Kim  

Earthquake, Hurricane and #AFundForJennie!

Hey everyone! I hope you’re all recovering ok from the East-Coast earthquake on Tuesday (if you felt it) and are taking the proper precautions if you’re in the area of Hurricane Irene!  It is so crazy to watch the news these days, the world is certainly keeping the reporters busy.

I honestly am so overwhelmed by the massive outpouring of support for #AFundForJennie.  I don’t know her personally, and sadly, I didn’t even know of her blog before learning of her tragedy.  But something connected with me (maybe because my husband’s name is Mike), that made me want to do anything I could to help her out.  I may complain about not wanting to workout, or doing chores around the house, but all of my “woes” seemed so minute in comparison.

If you haven’t visited the Bloggers Without Borders auction list, please go there now… I can wait 🙂

* humming a little tune… filing my nails… going to get a drink of water * 

Did you check it out yet?  There are over 58 auctions, and every cent goes to #AFundForJennie.  There is something to bid on for every type of interest… cookies, bakeware, photography, one of a kind experiences, classes… even a custom Cake Pop Stand by yours truly, KC Bakes!  And I’ve seen on Twitter that there are still many more fundraising projects in the works as well.

Here are the facts… Jennie has two daughters, ages 3 and 8.  She is overwhelmed not only by her grief, and the sudden responsibility of raising two children by herself, but she is also struggling with this financially. She just learned that she cannot collect widow’s benefits from Social Security because she earns too much money each year. The health insurance for her and her kids runs out in December and she just learned that the total she will have to pay will be more than her mortgage. It’s possible she’ll have to pay off the entire mortgage in one lump sum because the apartment was in his name alone.

How can you help?

1. Bid on one of the many auction items. Honestly, the item you win is a bonus… the money your spending will truly effect the life of a mother and her children. 

2. Donate what you can, whether its $0.01, $1 or $10  (click on BWOB icon at top-right of my blog).  

3. Help spread the word – that is free! 

xoxo,
  Kim  

Tuesday Muse-Day #AFundForJennie

Every Tuesday here on my blog is Tuesday Muse-day.  This morning, I took a minute to really look at the word “muse”…

muse (/myuz)
     verb (used without object)
        1. to think or meditate in silence, as on some subject.
        2. Archaic . to gaze meditatively or wonderingly.
     verb (used with object)
        3. to meditate on.
        4. to comment thoughtfully or ruminate upon.

All of these uses of the word aptly apply to #AFundForJennie, and the viral support being shown for Jennie Perillo.  Twitter is simply abuzz with love.  I even saw my favorite celebrity chef, Richard Blais of Top Chef fame, retweet a #AFundForJennie tweet, because one of his fans asked him to.  How cool is that? 

Please look the growing auction list below and see if anything strikes your fancy, and consider taking part.  If you’d like to contribute to Jennie’s cause, but aren’t able to participate in the auction, there is a donation page that is set-up where you can PayPal your contribution (click on the BWOB icon at the top-right of my blog).  And if you aren’t able to contribute financially, help spread the word – that is free!  Facebook status, tweet, blog, email, heck – put a flyer up at your office!

Here are current auctions taking place for #AFundForJennie.

KC Bakes: Custom 30-Pop Cake Pop Stand

One Tough Cookie: 24 Back to School Cookies

Raleigh Cake Pops & Goodies For Gifts: custom Peanut Butter Pie “Mikey” Cake Pops

Pieced Together Mosaic: A Sushi Mosaic for Jennie

Nomnivorous: One Day Personalized In-Home Cooking Class

Run With Tweezers: A Spot at an Upcoming Food Styling Workshop

Gluten Free Girl & The Chef: Gluten free dinner party for six in Seattle

What Gaby’s Cooking: Two dozen homemade Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies

Food Woolf: Wire Sculpture and a Visioning Workshop

A Thought for Food: 8×10 Brian Samuels photograph and 30 watercolor note cards

Use Real Butter: Two beautiful 12 x 18 photographs

Big Summer Potluck: Two tickets to next year’s gathering

Penny De Los Santos – A Day of Photography on Assignment 

The Peche – Chocolate Chunk Cookies (raffle entry for donation)

Kudos Kitchen by Renee: Four Jack O’ Lantern Wine Glasses

Grampa’s Gourmet: Four-Pack of Varietal Honeys

Three Many Cooks: Pam Anderson Cooking Class for 6 Guests + Pam’s 6 Books, Autographed

Monica Dalkin: Original Ceramic Work for Food Styling

Chicago Metallic Bakeware: Basket of 15 Different Baking Pans

Miss in the Kitchen: Two Sets of Flour Sack Towels (raffle entry for BWOB donation)

For even more auctions, check out Bloggers Withouth Borders Master List

#AFundForJennie

This is a long blog, but please take 5 minutes to read every word. Please.

I’m new to the world of blogging, but I’ve quickly learned that Jennifer Perillo is a well-respected member of the food blogging community. Readers all over the world love her for her delicious recipes, as well as her honest, straight-from-the-heart writing about her life and her family.  

If you aren’t familiar with her, you many not know this, but two weeks ago, Jennie’s beloved husband, Mikey, died suddenly of massive heart attack.  Word spread quickly through social media, which is how I found out.  Barely two days after losing her husband, Jennie  shared a recipe and asked that we remember Mikey by feeding our own loved ones with his favorite pie.  With that simple post, an internet movement was born.  THOUSANDS of people have made pies and shared their stories. I even saw a restaurant offered their own pie on their menu as part of the movement.

Jennie & her husband, Mikey. Picture from her post Looking for You (I Was)

I posted their picture here because I feel its important to put faces to names. There are so many causes out there, but none has touched my heart so profoundly as this tragic loss for Jennie and her daughters.  My eyes start tearing up everytime I read Jennie’s recent blog posts. I’m sitting here sniffling, with a lump in my throat and literally wiping away tears, as I type this very post. 

I can’t imagine the “new normal” Jennie and her girls now have to deal with.  There’s a mortgage to pay.  New medical insurance policies come with huge increases because Jennie’s not employed by a single corporation.  Needless to say, these are mind-numbing realities under the best of circumstances.  Needless again to say, we all want to help bridge these gaps that are left when lives are forever changed.

That’s why #AFundForJennie* has been created by Shauna Ahern and Maggy Keet, and it’s one of the very first projects the new organization, Bloggers Without Borders is taking on.  But, the ante’s been upped a bit here.  Monies collected are the primary objective, of course.  However,  there’s a little twist here.  Bloggers will be auctioning off  what they do best to help one of their own.

SO, beginning today, we’re auctioning off a custom 30-pop cake pop stand**.  You design it, we will make it.  If the winning bid is $100 or more, I will personally pay for the shipping – US or internationally.

You can leave your bid in the comments section of this post, or if you wish for your bid to be kept private, you can email it to me at kcbakes@hotmail.com.  We’ll keep the auction open until 9 p.m. Friday, August 26.  Highest bidder will be announced here and on Twitter by the morning of Saturday, August 27.

Let’s start the bidding at $40. Who will make the next bid?

xoxo,
  Kim  

*Bloggers without Borders is a charity that was founded by Maggie Keet ofThreeManyCooks, Erica Pineda-Ghanny of Ivory Hut, and Aimee Wimbush-Bourque of Simple Bites.

**We will make every effort to accommodate the winner’s custom design; however we are slightly limited with our equipment, so a comprimise design may need to be made.

Marathon Popping

Hi everyone!  I’m sorry I’ve been MIA this week, but if you following me on Twitter (@KCbakes), you know I have been busy with a ton of cake pops!  Here’s how my work looks in numbers:

– 160 cake pops hand-rolled, dipped & bagged
– 100 cake pop tags
– 13 hours of work
– 11 colors of chocolate
– 2 types of cake
– 1 sore & exhausted baker

I soooo need to get one of those kitchen gel mats, because my feet/back are KILLING me!  Anyhoo, check out the fruit of my labor 🙂

25 vanilla pops,  “Good Luck James” at California University of Pennsylvania

50 red velvet pops, “Good Luck Keneysha” at Delaware State University

25 vanilla pops, “Good Luck Jade” at Neumann University

30 vanilla pops, pastel rainbow drizzle



I had leftover pops, so I made 20 of these. Gotta love hot pink & black 🙂

xoxo,
  Kim

Tie-Dye Cupcakes

Tags

Cupcakes, tie dye cupcakes, tie-dye

Today’s muse is a little something I whipped up myself, tie-dye cupcakes!  A lot of people loved these when I posted them on Twitter (@KCbakes), so I thought I’d make a tutorial.

Tie-Dye Cupcakes

• 1 box of vanilla cake mix (& ingredients it calls for)
• Food dye (I used Wilton’s gel colors)
• # small bowls for the amount of colors you’ll have (I made 8 colors)
• One spoon for each small bowl
• Prepare the cake mix as instructed on the box.
• Divide the batter equally between the small bowls.
• Use a toothpick and put a small amount of the gel color into the batter.  Note: Gel food dye is very concentrated, so start off light… a little bit goes a long way.  Remember, you can always add more coloring, but you can’t subtract it.
• Tip: if using colored bowls like we did, don’t use the same color bowl for the same color dye (i.e. yellow bowl for yellow batter); its very tough to tell if you’ve mixed the batter thoroughly, or if the batter is reflecting the color of the bowl.
• After you’ve mixed all of your colors… fill up those cupcake pans!  A scoop of blue, a scoop of pink… there’s no rhyme or reason to it.  In fact, the more random your color pattern, the better!  Be sure to only fill the cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full to avoid them spilling over.
• Bake cupcakes according to directions on the cake mix.
• Since there’s so many colors in the batter already, pair your cupcakes with a beautiful white frosting.

Great project to get the kids involved – they had so much fun!

A rainbow of cake batter!

Fresh out of the oven – I was surprised the colors stayed so bright!

Sprinkle decoration courtesy of the kiddos.

My cupcake, sans wrapper. Yes, those are Christmas Tree sprinkles, haha.

The middle – look at those layers of color!

Different color patterns.

We used tiger-print cupcakes, which made them even cooler.

Icing mustaches for the hard-working sous chefs 🙂

 

These cupcakes were so fun to make… I can’t wait until I have a reason to bake them again!

Kids and Rain… Lots of Rain

Well, as I anticipated, I had SO MUCH FUN babysitting this weekend.  And before I say anything – my baker’s hat off to all parents out there!  I’ve been babysitting since I was 13, so thats nothing new… but this was the first time I had two kids, by myself, for more than 24 hours.  After I put the kids to bed on Saturday night, I didn’t even turn on the TV, the silence was so soothing, lol.

On Saturday, we first went to a local playground.  Of course I had my camera along.  I only snapped a few pictures, since I was busy chasing the kids around, but I think I got some good shots…

Sylvia peeking over the slide.

Oscar on the monkey bars.  He’s in opposite mode right now; I told him to smile, and this is what he gave me, lol.

This painted canvas was hanging on the playground fence; the wind picked up, and I snapped this picture of the backside of the canvas.

Spotted this Coke cap on the ground; couldn’t resist 🙂

On Sunday, we woke up to rain, rain and moreeee rain.  Anyone in the PA/NJ/NY area knows what I’m talking about.  We handled our cabin fever very well, keeping busy with arts & crafts, puzzles, games.  After the rain finally cleared late in the afternoon, I snapped this fun shot of their dad’s bike in the backyard.

We made the coolest cupcakes too, but more on that tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

xoxo,
  Kim