Okay, so that is a picture of the S'more Cupcakes (Seriously, DO NOT replace the frosting with marshmallow fluff, it does NOT work well. Melts all over the place.) and the Carrot Cupcakes with homemade Cream Cheese Frosting. Delicious, probably my favourite thus far. These are all from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. The most brilliant book ever. These have been a hit with EVERYONE that have tasted them. Gobbled up :)
Well, I've had a request for the Pumpkin Cupcakes. They were wonderful. I wasn't able to take a picture of those. But I made half with and half without chocolate chips (just add them after filling half the cups) since my mom doesn't like pumpkin and chocolate. They are a bit dense, but they were still delicious. I'll highlight the small change I made:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cupcakes with Cinnamon Icing
Makes 12 Cupcakes
Ingredients
1 cup canned punpkin
1/3 cup oil (I split it oil/apple sauce)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup AP Flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
I added 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c choc. chips
--Cinnamon Icing
Direction:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together pumpkin, oil/apple sauce, sugar, soy milk, and vanilla. Sift in flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon/pumpkin spice, salt. Stir together with a fork--don't use a handheld mixer, as it will make the batter gummy. Once well combined, fold in the chocolate chips.
3. Fill liners two-thirds full. Bake for 22-24 minutes. Transfew to wire rack and let fully cool before icing.
Cinnamon Icing
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (also added some pumpkin spice)
2 Tbl margarine, melted
1 Tbl soy milk
1.2 tsp vanilla
1. Place sugar and cinnamon/pumpkin spice in a small bowl. Add the margarine, soy milk, and vanilla and stir with a fork until smooth. Keep at room temperature until ready to use. The mixture should look opaque and honey brown. If it's glistening a lot or looks too liquid, add a little extra confectioners' sugar.
Assemble:
I just used a spoon and drizzled the icing on -- the book tells you to pipe it on. Whatever.
~Nikki
A nice little hiking trip in Purgatory Chasm...
We left my mom behind at the beginning, which was a shame because it was really neat, but she couldn't make it, especially with the shoes she was wearing.
~Nikki
More pictures of trees. I just can't help it! The colours are so beautiful! These are just from a short walk I took around my neighborhood.
The colours have been awesome, I'm a little obsessed, obviously. But a storm came through yesterday and blew all the leaves off the trees. The ground is completely covered in leaves, which is actually kind of neat looking, but not nearly the same. Fall seems to be nearly over now!
~Nikki
Some pictures of when my sister was here to visit last weekend! Right in the height of fall. The colours were gorgeous. The first day we went to the Shakespeare Company (in western Massachusetts) and saw a play, Hound of the Baskervilles turned into a comedy, Monty Python style. It was HILARIOUS. Anyway, it rained that entire day, which was a bummer, because that part of the state is gorgeous. Well, I got the first shift home to drive and guess what? THERE WAS A SNOW STORM. I kid you not. SNOW. Everywhere! Fantastic :) I'm the only one in my family with the patience to drive through the traffic and snow, so it was probably for the best, but because of that, I don't have any pics of it. Very awesome though. First snow of the year! Even if it wasn't directly here. The rest of the weekend was gorgeous though.
Oh oh! And my dad just got new internet service. SO glad to finally have some speed!
Hope you enjoyed the pics!
~Nikki
I've had these pics sitting around a while so I thought I would post them! This is one of those franken-patterns. Much adjusting was done, but it turned out just like I wanted it to when I bought the fabric. The fabric is wonderful, btw. Nice weight, texture. I enjoy it :) I wore it on a tour of the cemetary (morbid, I know) and got some comments on it. Always a nice feeling when someone comments on your clothes or asks where you got it when you know they didn't know that you made it yourself!
Anyway. I finally got laces for my Ren Faire type vest, even though I probably won't be going to a ren faire. I'll wear it when I hand out candy to kids on Halloween when I'm staying at home with nothing to do. Also finished a fall weather vintage dress that I started AGES ago and finally finished hemming while I was watching hours and hours of Heroes last week. So I'll take pictures of those :)
Next order of business is to work like mad on Christmas projects that I haven't started because I've sort of had a creative brain freeze. But I'll start! I swear! No jacket making until presents are done!
~Nikki
Just a bit of fall colour here on the South Coast. I've seen some gorgeous trees and colour while driving, but I haven't been able to take many pics. Maybe I'll go out for a drive in the country sometime on my own so I can stop and take pics. There are some gorgeous scenes along the freeways, but for the life of me, I can't figure out how to get to them.
Oh, and there was a ginko tree in the cemetery. It hadn't turned yet, but I plan on going back to snap some pics. I remember the ginko trees in Beijing, they were spectacular.
~Nik
Fantastic! I've been complaining about wanting to see some seals since I moved here and we finally got to see them! They were all in the water, but I talked to a local in a book shop nearby and they said that low tide was the best time to find them on the beach, so I plan on going back. There were a ton of them though! I would say 60+. So adorable :)
Hard to get pictures of them, my camera doesn't zoom much, but they are there! It was quite a trek to get to them. In the sand. Nice workout :) On our way back I was telling some people how to get there and they decided that it wasn't worth the walk :P Totally was.
Those pictures in the middle are the ones of the seals bobbing around in the water. Super cute :) I had binoculars with me so I could see them better than that.
Fun times! And it was really a gorgeous day out!
~Nikki
Well, first, a couple of random donkeys. I just couldn't help myself! They came right up to the stone wall :) And, as you may or may not know, stone walls could possibly be one of my favourite features of New England!
I've got some more pictures of a beach I went to on the Cape last week. I decided that it is my favourite beach in existence. When you see the pics, you'll see why. I've never seen anything quiet so awesome before :) I'll post those later in the week.
I also have some sewing things I've done. Not much, but I finished a vest last week that I still need to take pics of and I'm working on a few things now and messing up on some plaids, etc, etc.
But that's it for now. I wanted to get some of these pics out of the way.
~Nikki
A couple of projects I've finished recently. I haven't been feeling particularly inspired lately, I'll blame it on my current stagnation, but I've still been trying to get things done. Putting together some patterns/fabric that I'd decided a while back what I would do with them....
I like the way it turned out and it is very comfortable :) So yay. I should make more shirts, I've hardly made any.
So that is it for now! Working on some other things. Should probably get started on a few jackets as well.
~Nikki
Well, the weather here has been really dreary and I tend to get very affected by the weather. Yesterday it was almost pitch black all day because of the tropical storm Danny and I was ready to go to bed at around 1pm. It just drains my energy. Plus, I had another muscle spasm in my back yesterday, it is getting a bit better. I know how to deal with them no, but it doesn't make them less painful. And also, with all the different storms and fronts moving through (and a spasm in my neck) I'm getting some awful headaches and just feeling horrible. It is annoying.
Combine that with the fact that I just watched Torchwood: CoE, the most depressing and upsetting mini-series in existence....I just hoped that some pretty pictures would make me feel better.
First set is from Lloyd Center for the Environment. Just a nice area with some hiking trails. I really enjoyed it. I would love to go back and take some of the longer hikes. You can also rent kayaks and go out on the lake. It would be fun. There are some bald eagles out there and apparently there are occasionally seals during the fall. I'll have to go back! The last two pictures are of 'stonewalls'. They are everywhere around here. People would take them out of their fields and build short walls out of them. Sometimes you just see them meandering through an old forest and you wonder how long they have been there. Some of the towns around here have been here since the 17th century. These walls could be hundreds of years old. I love seeing them :)
The beach over on West Island in Fairhaven, MA. Neat beach. Long and narrow. My favourite part was that the sky was so fantastic, and if you've seen any of my pictures, you know I just can't help taking pictures of sunsets :)
So that is all. Pretty pictures. The weather is getting nicer here, mid 70's and sunny for the rest of the week. Fall is just around the corner. Now, I just have to go to sleep and wake up pretending that Torchwood didn't make a Season 3 :P
~Nikki
Recent Comments
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laura! [at the disco?] said:
Oh, Nikki, that shirt is GLORIOUS! It's so colorful and beautiful. read more
on Sewing Projects: Shirt, Skirt, Pants -
Jeni Treehugger said:
I LOVED The Prophecy. Don't think I've seen either of the sequels so I have those to look forward to.... read more
on Movie Review: Namastey London, The Prophecy, Sweet Rain
on Tastes of Autumn: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes