YUM!!!! Gluten-Free Fudgy Brownie Cupcakes

You've heard it said....I'm sure....horses sweat, men perspire and ladies glisten. Well, I must be a horse because I am sweating! I've been in the kitchen all day.

First I met 2 friends for coffee at 8:30 am. Yup....on a Saturday! That's kind of early. But it gave me the rest of the day to accomplish some things. Yesterday I had gone to Carpinito Brothers produce stand and got 2 flats of raspberries as well as one of the biggest sweet potatoes I've ever seen! Only need one for the 2 of us, and that will be too much. Anyway, I also got some carnations and asters for color outside this fall. But I digress....

After coffee this morning I hopped to it and made some raspberry jam. I cut back on the sugar and man is it good!! Got them all cooled and now they are stored away in the shed. Lots of clean up. Then I made some pumpkin cupcakes with maple cream frosting.

 http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2011/10/pumpkin-cupcakes-with-maple-cream.html

 It only made 13 cupcakes and since I am bringing them for Charlotte's 3rd birthday tomorrow, I decided to try these:

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2013/04/gluten-free-fudgy-brownie-cupcakes.html

Only made 11 and one broke apart so Dave and I split it. He couldn't even tell it was gluten-free which was wonderful.

Here they are at the party!

Then I put a pot roast in the oven with carrots, potatoes, onions and mushrooms, made gravy with red wine, used the 2 ears of corn I got from the produce stand and cut the kernels off and cooked it in a pot. So good! Best corn we've had so far. Then a LOT of cleanup.

I wasn't finished yet. Still needed more cupcakes so made a quick trip to the store to get more chocolate squares which I discovered Bakers brand has now shrunk its package to include 4 count it FOUR ounces of chocolate so needed to get 2 boxes. (WHAT A RIP OFF!!)

I made a double batch of the chocolate cupcakes and then frosted the pumpkin cupcakes. More clean up and I'm POOPED!! And I'm glistening.....

Now to go watch Shark Tank since I was gone playing pinochle last night and we didn't have a chance to watch it when I got home. I think I need to go hose off first.

Coffee Time!

Here is the latest creation from my craft room. Mug Rugs. When you have a girlfriend over for coffee or tea and you don't want to just set the mug or cup on the table, viola!

Kinda looks like a watercolor effect, but no, just pieces of fabric and rayon embroidery thread. I have several other designs in mind to stitch up. These took longer than the others that I'm planning on making. The binding is always more time consuming because I need to hand stitch it on the reverse side. Here is what I did. I backed some green, blue and turquoise fabric with Steam-a-Seam (or you can use Wonder Under) and then cut out the leaves and circles and ovals. After ironing them in place on some plain white cotton I added the green borders. Then I put some InsulBrite (batting meant for use with hot items) in the middle, with a piece of white cotton for the backing, used more Steam-a-Seam to hold the layers together, pinned it and began stitching the outlines of the leaves and created the flowers freehand. After trimming it to make sure it was square I added the binding. Simple! Here is the book I used where I found the idea and I'm showing the very beginning for some other mug rugs.

I guess I'm really gearing up for fall. I harvested the last of my potatoes that I grew in a big Rubbermaid tub (red potatoes way out produced the yellow ones) and I'm once again making sprouts. This time I'm using red clover seeds. I'm not too happy with how long it is taking them to get going. My favorite is mung beans or alfafa. I haven't sprouted seeds for years!

Just call me Martha

I snatched this idea from another site (probably Pinterest but I can't remember) and if you want to try it yourself or adapt it, go for it! I LOVE my Kitchenaid mixer, even if it is 30+ years old. It still works! Since I don't plan on investing in a new one, and I so love all the new colors they come in, I decided to make some decals or rather "paintable clings" to make it look less boring. Here it is:

It was super easy. I purchased the Martha Stewart brand clings from Michael's Craft Store a few months ago. I know I'm slow! I have so many other craft, sewing and knitting projects going on that I'd forgotten to do this! I also purchased 5 of Martha's Liquid Fill Glass Paints. Here is a link to Martha Stewart's website and you can watch the short video and maybe you will find something that you want to decorate.
http://www.marthastewart.com/938184/martha-stewart-crafts-paintable-clings?search_key=PAINTABLE%20CLINGS

My mixer has made loads of chocolate chip, peanut butter, snickerdoodles and wookie cookies, sweet breads, pie dough, whipped cream, cakes and frostings. I still have all the original beaters and I'm very particular about not washing any of them in the dishwasher. They always get a good going over with someone's tongue before being hand washed. I really don't know how I could survive without this trusty mixer.

A few nights ago I canned some delicious apricot-pineapple jam. So good!

 
I had sold all my canning supplies before our last move, and I had sold hundreds of canning jars at the move before that one! My mom used to can all sorts of fruits, jams, beets, pickles and green beans. She made other pickled vegetables but as a kid I never could choke them down! When our kids were grown and out of the house I figured I wouldn't be doing any more canning for just my husband and me. Oops. Now that daughter, Shauna, has expressed interest and daughter-in-law, Kari, has been doing some canning, my creative juices have gotten the best of me. I found a water bath canner at a garage sale in our neighborhood for $4.00 with a few jars which allowed me to be back in business. I went to Shauna's about a week ago and helped her can peaches and dill pickles. It was so much fun to help her accomplish this task. She already had canned pickled peppers and some other pickled vegetables the night before. She has a good beginning to her future as a home canning mom! I just wish Kari lived closer so the three of us could combine forces and really get some food put up.

I guess that is it for now. I've got a few sewing projects that need my attention.