Pamper Me Senseless Peanut Butter Cup Cake

Ingredients ~
"The Perfect PMS Food" ~Leah 

1 Box Devils Food Cake Mix
3 Eggs
1/3 Cup of Oil
1 1/2 Cups Water
24 Reeses Peanut Butter Cups
1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1 Cup Unsalted Butter
4 Cups Powdered Sugar
1/3 Cup Milk plus extra

Pre-heat the oven to 350°. Soften the Butter, chill the peanut butter cups. Take the peanut butter cups and cut the edges off making the inner cup a square. Place the cut sections into a bowl and back into the fridge for later. Put cupcake liners in the cupcake pan. Make the cake per the instructions on the box. Spoon cake batter into the liner, just enough to coat the bottom. Place one peanut butter cup square into each cake liner pushing down just a bit to hold in place. Fill the liners up to 2/3 rds full with the remaining batter.

Bake in the oven at 350° for 19 to 23 minutes. The cup cakes will spring back to the touch when fully cooked.

While the cakies are baking, prepare the frosting. Mix peanut butter and butter until well blended and smooth. Add half of the powdered sugar, mixing completly. Pour in the milk. Blend together. Add the remaining powdered sugar. Whip, add extra milk if needed to create the desired smooth consistency. Set aside, leaving at room temperature.

Once the cup cakes are cooled, spread frosting generously over the top. Garish with the peanut butter cup edges pushing down slightly so they stick.

*If you prefer heavily frosted cup cakes, as shown in the picture, double the frosting ingredients. Chill if you enjoy a denser, creamy cupcake with hard chocolate.

Gnom Gnom Gnom ~ A recipe from my daughter Leah, who has become a 
fantastic Gnom Gnom Gnom chief in her own right.

~Isa

SPAM a Licious!

While writing recipes for my book, a wicked thought of humor struck me. To 
insert a recipe for Spam. Something I've never cooked for my children, much 
less pondered inventive SPAM recipes to punk them with at the dinner table.


I wish I had thought of it then, when they were young. I would have very much 
enjoyed the looks of distress on their faces as they poked each other, whispering,
"Is Mom really,going to make us eat this stuff?" and other comments of 
horror back and forth.


All the while, continuing to tout the festival SPAMARAMA, a cook off that's in it's 30th somethings annual celebratory event, where we too could become brave 
proud Americans by the partaking of. A tribal right of passage that few lived
through unscathed by vexing gastronomical outpourings.

What would you do for the coveted top prize, SPAMAmerica?


Here's a wee bit of Wiki SPAM trivia, just for fun.


~Varieties of Spam include Spam Classic, Spam Hot & Spicy, Spam Less 
Sodium, Spam Lite, Spam Oven Roasted Turkey, Hickory Smoked, Spam 
with real Hormel Bacon, Spam with Cheese, Spam Black Pepper, Spam Garlic, 
and Spam Spread.^[3] Availability of these varieties varies regionally. 
~Good grief, really? 


On average, 3.8 cans are consumed every second in the United States. 
~Unbelievable!


The product has become part of many jokes and urban legends about mystery 
meat, which has made it part of pop culture and folklore. ~No kidding!


So here we go, An Open Call Challenge ~ Send me your SPAM dish with 
a photo. The Best in Taste, Best in Show and Worst in Show will be 
published and credited to the winners here on my blog and in my book,
Gnom Gnom Gnom Good Eats From Mom's Kitchen©. 
Deadline November 1st 2011 


~Isa

A Dressed Up Waffle

Ingredients ~

One Frozen Waffle

Two Eggs

Two Strawberries

One Kiwi

Two tbsp Apple butter

A half of a teaspoon Vanilla Extract 

A Nip of Butter

A Pinch of Cinnamon 

One tbsp Apple Juice

The accessory to the dress up

One Cup Greek Style Fruit Yogurt

One 16 Ounce container Cool Whip

(not shown in the image above because I just thought of it)

For when you are craving things you really shouldn't eat, 

this is a fantastic way to put a healthy dress up on.

Poach the eggs by using a small but deep pan filled one third 

of the way with water. Bring the water to a boil. Crack the eggs 

and drop into the water. Partially cover the pan with a lid so 

that the steam can escape, preventing the water from overflowing. 

If you prefer your eggs poached soft as I do, let the eggs boil for 

three to four minutes. You can scoop these right out of the water 

with a slotted spoon.

Prepare the apple butter syrup, by spooning the apple butter

into a bowl that is microwave safe, add the vanilla, apple juice

cinnamon and butter. Place in the microwave for one minute

and stir.

Slice the fruit. 

Toast the waffle. 

Of course, now that I am writing all of this down, this breakfast

would not be complete without a creamy fruit dip. One cup fruit yogurt, 

Greek style, will be ultimately decadent. One 16 ounce container 

of Cool Whip. Whisk together. A little daub will do, refrigerate the

remaining dip, or freeze for another day.

Share with the one you love to love on.

Gnom Gnom Gnom

~Isa

The Story of Children When The World was Fat and Busy

The essence of a stay at home mom, is the life lead in the kitchen.
You get to leave, you do, by driving to the store to restock the kitchen,
and to pee.

~ Men, this is why we spend the largest portion of income designing
and decorating this room, why the view must be grand, why the walls
are quite logically bright yellow or ocean blue or pink, yes, let's do pink,
(these colors keep the insanity at bay) because we live there.

Breakfast ~ morning snack, lunch ~ afternoon snack, dinner ~after dinner
snack, bedtime snack, no there is no bedtime dinner! Two steps out
of the bedroom, "Mommy, can I have a glass of water?" It's the Walton's
here, "me too" echo's three more times through the hallway.

Heh. Just when you think you've gotten away, they pull you back in.
~The Godfather

I should have had my bed in the kitchen. I could have upped my
productivity by 25%. But then I would not have had this tale to tell.

I'ts early morning and I am asleep, as asleep as any mother of four young
children could be, eyes shut, and one ear open. This day it was my nose
that was on alarm duty. It caught a whiff of gas in the air. A wafted whiff,
that traveled straight up the steps of my two story Victorian homes'
stairwell.

Eyes slam open, vaulting out of my water bed, tearing down the steps,
sliding a uey around the corner into the kitchen, I see my two year
old daughter, sweetly perched upon the counter, in her diaper and
nothing else but a wooden spatula in her hand. Pot on the stove top,
cupboard door open, ignition knob turned to on.

"Good morning Mommy" she says proudly grinning at me. "I'm making
breakfast."

"Awe baby, whacha' cookin' there? I walk over to the stove, after
returning the chair from the counter to it's rightful place at the table
across the room. Kissing her gently on the forehead, turning off
the knob, I peer inside the pot and see, salt, pepper, oregano, garlic
and cinnamon....

*mental note ~ find benches, bolt to the floor asap.

This happened eighteen years ago, somehow, we are all still alive and
Hannah Muffin then, called Muffin, or just Nanners now, is learning to
cook with all sorts of pans, utensils, spices and even food.

I love you Sweetheart, because of you, this book has become a reality!

~Isa