Friday, May 20, 2011

End of the year party cupcakes





I really can't believe that this school year is almost over! My sweet 2nd grade daughter has flown through this year with flying colors! She is such a smart and dedicated student. She LOVES to learn! She even does random reports (unassigned) because she enjoys doing research. (Insert confused face here???) Anyway, I can only hope that will continue through the rest of her school years. My baby boy is about to complete kindergarten. I must admit that at the beginning of the year I thought that we were going to have trouble with him. He DID NOT want to go to school. The whole week before classes began, he begged me to "home school" him. LOL! (I can promise you that was not happening!) Anyway, once he started school, he LOVED IT!! He loved his teacher and his "mates" (his way of referring to his classmates) and he did wonderfully! I can honestly say that both of them had a terrific year with much less drama than I had anticipated. Whew! (I know, I know . . . middle school awaits one day and the drama will be a plenty)!
So today, Mary Chandler had her end of the year party at school and she wanted me to make some cupcakes for the class. I was sort of stumped. Do you do something with a school theme? No, that wouldn't work. I had to think of something to celebrate the end of school and the beginning of summer. What fits that description better than a bright Mr. Sunshine?? I decided on these super cute Mr. Summer Sun cupcakes and then created a cupcake topper that stated "Welcome, Summer!" Now that just screams, "good-bye school" and "hello sun and fun"! Welcome, Summer! The Keels family has been missing you! :-)





Sunday, May 8, 2011

Kentucky Derby Party


Every year some of our college friends throw a Kentucky Derby party at their home. It is always so much fun! Everyone dresses up and they have bounce houses and a great playset for all of the kids to play on. It is truly a wonderful time for all! There is also always great food. (What great southern party doesn't have great food?)


My friend Christina from Pluff Mudd Studio designed some PRECIOUS cupcake toppers and my friend Becki baked some adorable cupcakes for them to go on! There was also some great southern BBQ and other wonderful appetizers. I ventured out and decided to try out a new recipe for Shrimp and Grits. The recipe came from the Kentucky Derby website (www.kentuckyderby.com) but I also posted it below. It was FANTASTIC! I will definitely be using this recipe again very soon!

Shrimp and Grits with Red Eye Gravy

GRITS:

1CUP STONEGROUND GRITS
4 CUPS MILK
1 CUP HEAVY CREAM
2 T. UNSALTED BUTTER
1 CUP GRATED PARMIGIANO REGGIANO CHEESE
SALT AND PEPPER TO TASTE

~ In a sauce pan combine milk, butter and cream. Bring to a light simmer, add grits. Reduce heat to low, stir frequently until grits are creamy ( approx. 10 minutes). Stir in cheese and salt and pepper to taste.


RED EYE GRAVY

2 T. UNSALTED BUTTER
3 OZ. KENTUCKY COUNTRY HAM (MINCED)
½ CUP SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS (SLICED)
½ CUP ONION (JULIENNE)
¾ CUP GREEN PEPPER (JULIENNE)
¼ CUP MADEIRA WINE
½ CUP BREWED COFFEE
1 CUP CHICKEN BROTH
½ CUP TOMATO (CONCASSED)
1 T. FRESH THYME (MINCED)
1 tsp. CORNSTARCH SLURRY ( 1 tsp. cornstarch mixed with 1 tsp. water)

~ In a large sauté pan over high heat melt butter, add ham and brown. Add onions, green peppers, shiitakes and thyme sauté until the onions become translucent. Pour in Madiera, coffee, chicken broth, and tomatoes and bring to a light boil, stir in cornstarch slurry. Reduce heat and simmer sauce until it reduces by a third.


FINAL ASSEMBLY

20 SHRIMP (PEELED AND DEVEINED)
2 T. UNSALTED BUTTER

~ In a large sauté pan heat 1 T. butter and cook shrimp until pink. Add red eye gravy, finish sauce with 1 T. butter. Divide warm grits among 6 plates and top with shrimp and gravy. Garnish with grated Reggiano cheese and chives

Friday, May 6, 2011

Teacher Appreciation Cupcakes

This week is teacher appreciation week. I had every intention of doing something every single day for the teachers, but things got crazy and I missed day one and two. I will make it up next week though. Anyway, on day three I sent a bag of peppermints with a cute tag that said "You were 'Mint' to teach. I took pictures and then I lost them. :-( Long story, but I had to buy a new computer earlier this week, so I downloaded the pictures to it, erased the memory card and then within a 36 hour period it crashed- TWICE! Obviously, it went back to Costco. Along with my pictures. Boo. Anyway, on day three I sent a copy of the Rachel Ray EveryDay Magazine with a tag that read "Thanks for teaching me new things 'EveryDay' . . . You are the best!" It was very cute as well. Wish you guys could have seen it. Sigh. On a brighter note, I got a new computer and was able to download pictures of my day five gift! Caramel Apple Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream Icing. YUMMMMMM!
I found the recipe at the PRECIOUS blog Skip to My Lou and then I went to Publix and purchased three of the clear plastic cupcake containers. At $.75 per container, it is a no brainer- PERFECT for gift giving. Then I downloaded the FREE cupcake toppers at Lauren McKinsey Designs. If you don't know about this site- go there. Immediately. She has some adorable things!
Last, I downloaded the cute note card from http://dimpleprints.blogspot.com/2010/05/free-dowload-teacher-appreciation-week.html and altered it a little bit in Publisher to list the name of the cupcake creations. The final step was digging through my ribbon collection and tying them up all "pretty" for presentation! I hope that the teachers will like them!

My new blog

So . . . I got an email two days ago telling me that I had not published anything to my blog since 2008. Wow! Has it really been that long? Anyway, I went in and checked it and sure enough, the really cute background that I had purchased was gone. My photos that were stored in photobucket were gone. It was basically just a lonely blog header photo of me and my family. When my babies were 3 and 5. They are now 6 and 8. Yes, it has been a long time. I decided that I needed an update. Even a new name. So here it goes. After much thought and deliberation (about five minutes) I decided on " Mi Vida Loca, Y'all!" It seemed to fit perfectly and was much more creative than my previous blog name, "The Keels Family" . . . I mean, really. Were my creative juices not working on the day that I created the last blog? Whatever. I digress. My life is pretty much crazy most of the time, hence, the new name. The blog will be full of my thoughts and ramblings on the things that I love: Family, Friends, Food, Photography, and all things Southern. I hope that you guys will enjoy it. Oh, and not to worry . . . my next post will not be in 2014! :-)