Don't Forget to Vote, Polls open Today!!!

Isn't this a lovely ring. This is just one of the prizes I could win in the Iron Cupcake Contest. This month's ingredient is Basil, as I posted in a previous entree here on the blog. There are so many great entrees, the competition is tough. So please take the time to look at it and don't forget to vote,polls open today! They will close October 2nd at 12 noon.

Apple Picking Anyone?

Now is the time of year when the air gets crisp and thoughts go to hot apple cider, or warm apple pie. Yummo! Well this past weekend we went on our annual trek to the apple orchard to pick as many apples as we could carry. Around here it can get quite expensive because of the quaint aviance that the apple orchard holds. The further away you get from the city seems to be the cheaper you get. These farms are making out this year, the rain fall we had did them wonders. All you had to do was pretty much stand in one place and your 20 lbs came to you quickly. Check out the video of the place we went. Very family friendly.

I myself prefer the "HoneyCrisp" brand of apple, a cross between a Macintosh and a Granny Smith --Sweet...Tart..and Juicy!!! They make a great baking apple. So with my 40 pounds of apples I returned home to start my daily bake off apple projects. The best yet is still my Apple Cake recipe which I posted earlier here. Whatever you may make, doesn't an apple sound wonderful right now? .....

Apple Crumb* Apple pie* Apple Cake* Apple Cider Donuts

Iron Cupcake Basil Cupcake Entree....

Tomato Basil Soup Cupcake???? Sounds crazy right.... Well, I needed to think out of the box, or can so to speak for this one. I'm up against some great bakers! The ingredient for this month' s IRON CUPCAKE CONTEST was BASIL. I knew I had alot in the garden, but how could I put that into a cupcake flavor. I also have alot of tomatoes in the garden.Thinking back, I knew that tomato soup went into chocolate cake in the fifties to make it moist and to use up any leftover soup hanging around. So I did a search engine to find tomato based cake recipes. I tested and tweaked, and here is what I came up with..

Now that I have posted this recipe it is up to all of you out there to go to the "Cupcake Queen" blog spot and vote for me. Voting starts September 28th and runs thru October 1st. There are some great prizes that come with this win such as:METAL SUGAR; The Cupcake Courier; Jessie Steele Aprons; Taste of Home Books; Fiesta Products Head Chefs; Hello, Cupcake by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson. That's a over $225 retail value!

Thank you so much to those you have contributed these great gifts.

So please try these, you'll never know the soup is in there! And don't forget to vote Sept. 28th through Oct. 1st!!!

Tomato-Basil Soup Cupcakes -

INGREDIENTS
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour and 1/2 tsp. basil

DIRECTIONS
Combine the tomato soup and the soda in a bowl, and let it stand.
Cream sugar, egg, butter, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Mix in tomato soup and soda mixture, and then flour and basil.
Bake at 375 degrees F for 17 minutes or until done. Cool the cupcakes, and top with basil cream cheese icing. (recipe follows)

Basil Cream Cheese Frosting

INGREDIENTS
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tsp. chopped fresh basil

DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Then stir in fresh basil. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Check Out This Beautiful Studio!

Take a gander at this beautiful display of material. Kinda like a bakery case for quilters. I stumbled upon this designer's website and was so intrigued by her wonderful studio, and so envious. If I had the space, I would love to reproduce this spot. I just love, love, love it! (Did I say Love?)

This young lady's name is Heather Bailey, she is a textile designer. She designs fabric which is reminiscent of the 30's and 40's. They make wonderful material for quilting, and the new fad, aprons!(Yes, their back!) I would love to see her design scrapbook paper or stationary. She really knows how to put together color.

She has also come up with these "Trash Ties" for your hair. She didn't really come up with them, she patented the idea of covering what we know as trash ties, with fabric and using them with innovation in

your hair. I must tell you that this is something I have done in the past when I had longer hair and couldn't find a hair tie or rubber band. I just never thought of adding on material or even patenting the idea. What a genius!! You can also check out where this idea has been publicized on her website.

She is just another one of those gifted people, That can not stand to sit still. Always hundreds of ideas running through their heads. Kinda like Martha right?