Red Velvet Cupcakes

Today I made some Red Velvet Cupcakes, with cream cheese icing.  I am going to bring them into work for people to eat tomorrow.

All finished, garnished with a chocolate chip.

I can't stand using box mixes for things, and anyway, I never have a box mix in the house to even use if I wanted to (our pantry is pretty lean as far as stocking up items goes).  I like making things from scratch, because then you aren't eating preservatives that are usually put into foods like that.  Here is my Red Velvet Cupcake recipe, along with the cream cheese icing.  It makes about 20 cupcakes.

Red Velvet Cake:

1 1/4 cups flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup greek yogurt

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

Red food coloring

Cream the butter and sugar together.  Add the eggs, beating after each addition.  Add the yogurt, milk, vanilla and food coloring; mix until blended.  Add the dry ingredients, and mix until wet.  Add additional milk if batter is too dry.  Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

Icing:

1 package cream cheese (softened)

10 oz powdered sugar (or to taste)
1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp greek yogurt

Beat until fluffy, ice cooled cupcakes.

I use an ice cream scooper to easily add the batter to the cupcake liners.



Making the icing while the batter cooks.

Ready for icing

All done!

I must say, they are delicious. 

The U.P.

The majority of the field trip was spent in the UP along Lake Superior's shore.  Lots of water, lots of waterfalls, and lots of deer.  The first night we spent in Minnesota, the second day in Wisconsin and Michigan, and the 3rd, 4th, and 5th days were all in UP of Michigan.  The second night we stayed in ski chalets, which had hot tubs, saunas, fire pits, a pool table, pinball machine, and fun people.  Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to do the fun things with our tight schedule.  The third night we stayed in cabins, which were "rustic".  We had running water though, which was all I needed. 

Two different types of ripples, showing different depositional environment and change in current direction.

Stromatolite- the white thing that is arcing over the cobble. Formed when there was low enough energy to allow them to grow.

 View of the river draining into Lake Superior.  We saw several different ripple styles here, and grain sizes.  Pebbles in the river, and sand on the beach. 

The final night, I took a walk down the running trail before dinner.  Saw lots of boats and people sailing.

Minnesota/Wisconsin/Michigan field trip

I will be writing a couple posts about the recent field trip to the north - Minnesota/Wisconsin/Michigan.  I can now cross Minnesota and Wisconsin off my list of states I hadn't been to yet.  We spent the week looking at rifted sediments on the Lake Superior shoreline.  We saw everything from the basalts when the rift began, to the shale, conglomerates, and sands deposited following the opening of the basin, to some igneous extrusive rhyolite, related to a volcanic event that changed the bed dips of the sands/conglomerates in the basin.  The rift formed the basins for several of the Great Lakes, and they were subsequently carved out during advancement of the glaciers, and filled in with freshwater after retreat of the glaciers.   It was a pretty nutty field trip, I haven't ever been on one that can compare in quirkiness.  The saving grace was our SUV, filled with other young people.

Glacial striations on the basalt flow (that's what gives it the sheen/lines)

Hanging out with an anchor outside the hotel.

The early sunrise and the lighthouse

Fall trees

A waterfall over the conglomerate sequence.

A sharp contact between the conglomerate and a sandier unit. Most likely due to migration laterally and vertically of the alluvial fan/delta sequence



Cookie Dough Frozen Yogurt

I love frozen treats.  Since we got an ice cream maker, I've been trying lots of new flavors.  I found a frozen yogurt cookie dough recipe here, and I decided to modify it to make it simpler.  I don't feel like making cookie dough when I'm not making cookies.  So, I used premade cookie dough, mixed it with yogurt, and had some frozen yogurt in no time at all. 

Recipe:
1 tub vanilla yogurt
1 package cookie dough, refrigerated

Mix together, put into ice cream maker as per instructions.  SIMPLE!!!! 

Here is a photo from when I just removed it from the ice cream maker - the "soft serve" version.

This is from the next day, after it had frozen solid.  Sooo creamy and still good for you!

The secret to getting creamy ice cream/yogurt without the ice crystals is simple - get it cold FAST! 



Christmas Decorations: Dining room

Christmas is my favorite.  Here are some images of what I did this past year in my dining room.  I had the help of some adorable glasses courtesy of miss Maria V. 

Painted vases

I made some vases to go with my decor as an accent color.  I had some candles I liked, and wanted to match the color with these.  So, I mixed up some paint and got to work. 

Then, I swirled it around the vase to cover everywhere

Finally, added the finished product to our built-in bookcases.



Flowers

Last weekend, Adam came home from the store with a gorgeous bouquet for me.  What a sweetie!  My favorite, lilies, plus some pink daisies.