Sisters Baking! Cupcakes from Scholastic Books!

My 10 year old daughter LOVES to read. We can't keep her in books so she usually reads her book 2-3 times!

A new series we have found, that she LOVES is the Confectionately Yours Series by Lisa Papademetriou from Scholastic! She loves reading about Hayley and her baking, and is always bringing recipes to me to check if we have all the required ingredients.

The most recent book she has been reading is Book # 3 in the series Sugar & Spice and she just HAD to try one of the recipes!

So she got to work (with a little help from her little sister) on the Orange-Creamsicle Cupcakes!
The recipe is found on pages 69-71.

Orange-Creamsicle Cupcakes
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for Orange Drizzle
1 cup confectioner's Sugar
3/4 teaspoon orange zest
2-4 teaspoons orange juice


Instructions
1) Preheat Oven to 350F. Lin a muffin pan with cupcake liners
2) In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, orange juice, oil, , sugar, orange zest and vanilla extract and set aside

team work

3)In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4)Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ones a little bit at a time, and combine using a whisk or handheld mixer, until no lumps remain.

mixing

 

no eggs mean we can lick the beaters!

5) Fill cupcake liners 2/3 of the way and bake for 20-22 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.

ready for baking!

All that is left is the tasting!!

Lactation Cookies for Breastfeeding Moms

At momstown Central Alberta's Christmas cookie exchange, I was given a gift from one of our members, an extra package of cookies! I was very pregnant at the time, and I love cookies so I couldn't wait to try them.
But then I was told to WAIT! Why would someone give a pregnant lady cookies and tell her NOT to eat them? Well because they are lactation cookies! I was told I SHOULD wait until after baby was born and then I could eat them ALL!!
I instructed everyone in my house that these were JUST for me, as they were BREASTFEEDING cookies, (my emphasis) so my husband didn't dare touch them.

These cookies are absolutely delicious and I have patiently waited for the recipe, and now that I have it, I will be making another batch!

Lactation cookies for Breastfeeding moms

Introduction
These cookies are healthy and yummy, and help boost milk supply in breastfeeding mothers!

Minutes to Prepare: 15

Minutes to Cook: 12

Number of Servings: 82

Ingredients

1 Cup margarine
1 Cup sugar
1 Cup brown sugar
4 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp flax seed meal*
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 Cups oats (thick cut if you can find them)
2 generous Tbsp brewer's yeast**

Optional:
1 Cup chocolate chips, raisins, etc.

*Can be found at any health food store.
**It MUST be brewer's yeast!

Directions  

Preheat oven at 375 degrees F. Mix together 2 tablespoons of flax seed meal and water, set aside for 3-5 minutes. Cream (beat well) margarine and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mix well. Stir flax seed mixture and add with vanilla to the margarine mix. Beat until blended. Sift together dry ingredients, except oats and chocolate chips (if using). Add to margarine mixture. Stir in oats then chips. Scoop or drop onto baking sheet, preferably lined with parchment. The dough is a little crumbly, so it helps to use a scoop.

Bake 8-12 minutes, depending on size of cookies.

Yields: 6 dozen cookies

Here are some of the notes from MY COOKIE Baker as posted on our message board

Tanya had asked me to send her the recipe I use to make my breastfeeding cookies. I truly believe these cookies help in milk production and quality. However I might just like to eat cookies.

I store them in the freezer and eat 1 or 2 a day. You can find the brewers yeast at Nutters, I use just ground flax from Superstore, and I use regular oatmeal. Otherwise they are OK for anyone to eat and will not make you produce milk if your not already so it's okay for kids or hubby to eat....although I don't normally share ;)

 *Recipe credit

Cookin' up a storm!

We did just that this past weekend at our first ever Big Cook event here at momstown Central Alberta.  What's a Big Cook you ask?  It's just that - a few of us got together and assembled a TON of food to stock up our freezers with pre-made food.

We each took care of the preparation for one recipe ahead of time, and came with everything pre-chopped and ready to go.  Here's what 18 Lbs of cooked ground beef looks like... all ready to go for our Lazy Man's Lasagna!

Then we gathered together to assemble our meals.

A great meal is perfected with a great bottle of wine, and the perfect addition to the big cook was the Generation Seven Wine provided compliments of Chateau des Charmes.  Kristin took home the door prize - a bottle of red, and a bottle of white - congratulations!

At the end of the afternoon we each had 12 meals to take home to our freezers.  We sat down and enjoyed another glass of wine knowing that next time the mad "what are we having for supper?" hour was upon us - we would have the answer!!

We'll be doing this one again for sure!  Make sure you join us and keep your eye on the calendar!