Soda Pop CUPCAKES

Simply take any flavour of cake mix and add any flavour can of pop (one room temperature can)

Mix very well and bake according to instructions on cake mix. (we made cupcakes as I love them)

For Valentines Day we used white cake mix and diet cream soda.

It was such a pretty pink! And quite yummy!

This was the third time we made it.

Each time a different combination.

Really, the choices are almost endless.

These were as yummy as they look.

Only thought to grab a picture with my phone at the last minute though... sorry about the quality of image.

We used chocolate mix and orange pop this time. It was great!

We also tried sprite and yellow cake mix. Also delicious!

The kids love how it foams in the beginning!

This really works! No eggs, no oil, no water.

We tried diet and regular pop and both were great.

The batter was really easy to work with filling the cupcakes. Less messy than usual actually.

Next we want to give rootbeer a try!

Or grape and white cake...

Or orange and whitecake - like creamsicles...

Or coke and vanilla - like a float

Or Dr.Pepper and chocolate

really - I think these will be a favorite for a long time.

Let me know if you try it!

cookie pops

Had a lot of fun making cookie pops with the kids for valentine treats for their friends.

Here is what I learnt.
If you want to use "real" oreos you need the "double stuff" ones. If you use the regular ones then there is not enough cream filling and the lollipop stick is actually thicker than the cream and you get a crooked cookie with chocolate creeping into and all over the middle. This was messy and tricky to work with, and would frustrate kids. This happened with me alone and I was plenty irritated. The pics I am including are with a store brand of cookie and they had as much filling as a double stuff oreo and the stick with chocolate melted on sunk right in... so easy... so perfect. Thankfully that was the batch the kids helped with. I also found the oreos very difficult to pull apart and had to microwave them four at a time for 9 seconds. The store brand was so easy and almost none broke. I had a pile of broke oreos, but there are worse things than a pile of broken cookies you are forced to eat.

I also did a batch with a gluten and dairy free cookie and this worked just fine - except I think I blew the dairy free with the chocolate - hehe. These were hard also to separate and I had to microwave four at a time for 9 seconds to get them to separate easier.

Chocolate choices:
My favorite to work with (and conveniently eat) was Chipits semisweet chocolate chips. Get the big big bag!
Milk chocolate chips dipped nice but was much thinner it seemed, even when I used it at a cooler temperature.
I did try white chocolate and red but did not love how this coated the cookie, but the kids thought it was awesome. I ended up using this mostly for drizzling on the dark and milk chocolate. Never did get any pics of these, but they were quite pretty.

and it goes... and it goes.

it being time of course.
It is so hard to believe it is already February, and 2010 for that matter.
I am really trying to focus on a few things this year. One being health of my family and I, and with that staying on top of check ups and such. The and such being my sweet babys' innoculations. OOPs, forgot the 18 month ones, and when I finally called they told me I missed the 12 month ones. WHAT????? He is 20ish months now. This news stunned me. Really stunned me. Now I know all kinds of kind folks out there do not immunize their children, and for the record I am willing to say I disagree with this, and YES I have studied up on it more than most - anyways - these kind folks would not be in the stunned panic state I am in. Exactly how did this get by me? A super organized mom. ( admittedly I may be exaggerating on the super and organized parts...)
anyways, sweet baby is booked for next week. done.

what else got by me? well garbage day for one, or two, or three weeks. Thank God it is winter.

Darling daughter joined girl guides this month. How did we not know how amazing that group / organization is? She is totally loving it, as am I. After three meetings she went on a sleepover with them, which was a first. She did not even know any girls when she joined. Such a welcoming group.

Family wise - we are all still heading to the pool every Sunday... fitting it in with Hockey and church. I love that we have managed to do this for over two months now, and cannot believe how strong the kids are getting at swimming. Yay US!