Box Full of Letters

Busy week, man!!! :D

Clover had a great time at her college orientation. She's going to St. Edward's University, which is a small school in Austin. They call UT, where my son attends, the "big cattle ranch up the road." I must say, this orientation was very different than the one we attended when Cam started UT four years ago. Very small, very, very, almost to the point of ridiculous, thorough. I know more things about St. Edward's than my own alma mater! It's nice to be back home though and cooking again. We had some nice meals out and I even ventured out on my own at lunch one day and totally enjoyed the solitary dining experience. Austin is a fun, fun town to visit and I always enjoy a trip that way...

When I got home Saturday, my first order of business was grocery shopping, then I made my second recipe from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Frosting for my dad, my father-in-law and for my kids' dad, BK! BK told everyone all weekend that they were really rich, so much so that he could "only eat two at a time." *shakes head* He's a nut. This recipe was much more time-consuming than the first ones I made...the cupcakes themselves weren't too difficult, but the frosting took a ton of work. I had to chop a POUND of semi-sweet chocolate, melt it *AND* make a cocoa powder mixture to add to the butter/sugar frosting. It was a PITA, to be honest, probably because I don't really like chocolate that much. I was totally sick of it by the time I finished the frosting! I decorated them very simply and added a few sprinkles. There were plenty from this recipe to take a bunch to both dads and we still have a bunch left here...including some cute little minis.

Mixing cupcakes

Filling cups

Chocolate frosting I

Chopping chocolate

Chocolate frosting II

Father's Day dinner for BK was Mango Salsa Chicken...he really loves it, so I made it again not long after we just had it. Roasted some asparagus and made a big green salad and it was yummy! On Saturday, I made Grilled Spiced Rubbed Chicken with Alabama Barbeque Sauce. It didn't have a picture, so now it does! This was really, really good and I made Pioneer Woman's Crash Potatoes to go with it, along with the obiquitous green salad...we do love our salads, especially in the summertime!

Yummy grilled chicken

My agenda for cooking this week isn't very experimental...sort of the same old favs. We're definitely taking it easy for a few days. I worked this morning in my classroom and am going to make Jay's Signature Crust in a bit and then get into the pool to catch some rays this afternoon. We'll just have a cheese and basil pizza for supper. No stress at all.

I made this dip today for lunch. Not that healthy, but man, it's yummy. I'll just workout a bit longer to keep all the fat from the cheese from settling in to stay!

For the rest of the week, I've got Chicken in Caper Cream Sauce planned one night and turkey burgers with mushrooms another night. That pretty much gets us through Wednesday and I'll worry about the rest after that...I really am being lazy!

Here are a few more pictures of my adventures in cupcaking: