Cupcakes for Breakfast..... Yes Please!!!

One of my biggest obsessions is CUPCAKES!  I love all things cupcake, and making them is so much fun! I think cupcakes are so awesome we should be able to have them for or with every meal! So imagine my excitement when I found a recipe online for stuffed pancake cupcakes.  YAY! 

So this morning we made the Tin Palace version and we like to call them Stuffed Flapjack Cupcakes.  (We like the name Flapjack for pancakes!!) They are super easy to make and you can change them up and make them different everytime by changing the filling that you stuff into the flapjack!  Today at the Tin Palace we stuffed our flapjack cupcakes with Whitney's Homemade Strawberry Jam (THANKS WHITNEY!!)  Delicious!!!

Sprinkled with powdered sugar and ready for syrup!

Ready to enjoy breakfast!!     

STUFFED FLAPJACK CUPCAKES:
(recipe found on www.allthingscupcake.com/ )
Ingredients
2 cups Original Bisquick mix
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 stick butter
12 tbsp filling: try Nutella, fruit jam, or cream cheese
confectioners sugar for sprinkling
maple syrup for serving
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously coat the bottom & sides of a 12-muffin tin with butter. Make Bisquick pancakes per instructions on the box. Fill each cup in the muffin tin half-way. Add 1 tbsp of filling to the middle of each muffin, then cover with the remaining pancake mix. Bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven, place on serving dish & use a flour sifter to sprinkle with sugar. Serve with warm syrup.
Serves 6

Dinner and A Show Maltby Style!

Matt before the show!

Last night was a night out for the family! It was the 2nd grade Concert at Maltby Elementary, so fun to see the 2nd graders together singing songs and playing instruments. All of the kids bopping to the beat of music. They closed the show with a number entitled Barnyard Dance, where the kids had some "dance" steps that went along with it.  I could tell that was one of Matt's favorites because I could actually see his mouth moving as he sang out the words and the "dance" made him laugh and smile!
  Makes me reminisce about my elementary school concerts, which if you asked Matt was a long time ago, since this morning he asked me if they had electric guitars when I was a kid. When I replied yes, he had a hard time believing it.  I thought I was going to choke on my coffee!

Anyway - the night started with a show at Maltby  Elementary, and ended with a celebratory cup of cocoa (and pizza) at Maltby Pizza!!



Matt in front of Maltby Pizza. (It was hard to get a good pic, a car was coming!)



First sip of cocoa goodness!!

Good Music, Good Food, Great Family, Perfect Evening!

Sunday.... A Day of Rest???

Happy Sunday from the Tin Palace!  There was definitely no rest around the Tin Palace today!!  I was busy busy busy!  Made soup, did all the laundry, cleaned up the palace, and had the oil changed in the Royal pickup. When I look at the list of things I did today- it doesn't seem like much, but I felt busy. 

This is a picture of the soup I made today!  This is a Black Bean Soup - that I LOVE!!  It is very delicious! The recipe has you blend the soup with a hand blender - but I love my soups to be chunky and hearty! So I cut the produce larger and don't blend it.  SO DELICIOUS!!                                                                                                                                                                                                   

 

Maui Black Bean Soup

(from Clean Eating Cookbook)

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 2 ribs celery, diced 1 fat carrot, peeled and chopped 1 small purple onion, chopped 1 red pepper, chopped 1 green pepper, chopped 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 tsp. dried cumin 1 tsp. dried oregano 1 tsp. dried basil 1 tsp. chili powder 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth 2 15-oz. cans black beans, rinsed and drained 1 can diced tomatoes (15 oz) 1 cup corn kernels salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add celery, carrot, peppers and onion and saute until onion becomes transculent, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and spices and cook another 2 minutes.
Add stock, beans and tomatoes. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 20 minutes. Using a hand blender, puree soup to desired consistency (it is best to leave some chunks). Add corn and let simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

Number of Servings: 7

                   ENJOY!        

A Champagne Celebration

Tin Palace Cupcakes strikes again!     

Tonight we celebrate the fact our friend Cassie has found her Prince!  So in honor of the occasion the kitchen staff at the Tin Palace (ME) was busy with the cupcake selection for the evenings event.  CHAMPAGNE CUPCAKES! 

So raise your glass (or your cupcake) and join in the celebration.

Tonight the Queen of The Tin Palace passes her tiara over to the future Mrs. Prince.

Yes she has really found her Prince, and yes I really have a Tiara! (Thanks Aunt T!)

Congratulations to the Princes may the future hold for you nothing but happiness!

Anthropologie Inspired

Okay so it has been almost 10 days since my last post.  Does that mean I am not keeping up with my New Years Resolutions already???  I guess I have to get to the blogging and make up for it.

In the Tin Palace we don't have our Family Crest hanging on the wall- instead we hang the current Anthropologie catalog!  So right now hanging by my front door is:

Isn't it beautiful?? 

So whenever the new catalogs are issued my Mom and I can't wait to dive in and see all of the amazing items they have- and the layouts are incredible.  We always find so many things to inspire us!  Most recently we found these amazing bags in the catalog by Leslie Oschmann. (for more about  Leslie Oschmann go to:
http://swarmhome.com/index.html ) These bags were so fun!

To see one of Leslie Oschmann's creations on the Anthropologie website click here


So inspired by the December 2010 Anthropologie catalog my Mom set out to make me this FABULOUS Christmas gift:

One side is a flower and a skull.

The other side is a lady in a blue dress.

      

Isn't it COOL!!  My Mom is so amazing and crafty!  If I could only have half of her creativity! She took two canvas paintings that I believe she find at the Goodwill, some vintage fabric (on the top), and  an old needlepoint (on the sides) and turned them into my new bag.  Handles are bag handles that she purchased at a craft store.  I LOVE THIS BAG, and have used it everyday since Christmas!  Thank you Mom for my fun new purse!  It is perfect!  You are amazing and I LOVE YOU!!

A New Year is Here!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  Though a little late! Hope you all had a safe and Happy New Year!

The Hustle Bustle of the holiday season kept me from my computer for most of December!  A lot of baking and wrapping was going on at the Tin Palace, and unfortunately this Palace does not have an Elf on staff.

Welcome 2011, I have a feeling you are going to be a great year!!
One of my resolutions is to blog more frequently so we will see how it goes! Wish me luck!

Isn't this picture adorable!!  This is Matt and I at Sam and Ian's Wedding in October! (Thanks for the photo Sam!)  I just got this photo today and couldn't wait to share!