Geeky Cooking - Vanilla Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting!

So Italy got through to the semifinals in the European UEFA Soccer Championship and to celebrate we decided to make “Vanilla Cupcakes with Nutella frosting”. For who is not aware, Nutella is a creamy, delicious chocolate-hazelnut spread very commonly used and loved in Italy. It is heaven in a jar and is delicious on/in almost everything....kind of like bacon! ;-D

Vanilla Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting

I combined my favorite vanilla cupcake recipe with a Nutella frosting recipe I found and I thought I would share. The kids had a blast!

Vanilla Cupcakes

What you will need:
(makes 12)

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk

What to do:

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
In another bowl, beat butter with a mixer on high until fluffy.  Gradually beat in sugar.  Reduce speed to medium, beat in eggs one at a time, then add the egg yolk and vanilla.  Reduce speed to low and alternate beating in flour mixture and milk until blended.
Fill muffin tins with paper liners.  Spoon batter into tins, about 3/4 full each.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake 20 minutes until cupcakes tops are lightly golden.  Cool 15 minutes in the tins on a wire rack. 


Link:
http://thecupcakerecipes.com/?p=288


Nutella Frosting:

What you will need:

• 1/2 cup Unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 cup Nutella
• 1 and 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
• small splash Milk ((only as needed))

What to do:

Use a mixer to beat the butter and Nutella on high until evenly combined. Add the powdered sugar a quarter cup at a time, beating between each addition until all of the powdered sugar is added. Beat on high until frosting is smooth. (Add a splash of milk if needed to get the frosting to an easy spreading consistency.) When the cupcakes are cool, liberally spread icing over the top of the cupcakes.


Link:
http://www.inquiringchef.com/2012/05/31/sour-cream-fudge-cupcakes-with-nutella-frosting/


Geeky tip: You may add crunchy small pieces of bacon on the very top ;)

Geeky Sports!

Well my oldest son (he is ten) will be testing for his black belt in the Korean martial art of Tang Soo Do this year! We are all so excited for him but better yet we know how much work and time he has put into it since we decided it would be a good activity to do all together as a family. I thought, why just sit on my butt and watch while I could be out there with him, really tasting the journey.

Being the only mother of small children to start on this journey has been challenging to say the least. At first I kept wondering what I was doing there, feeling foolish and even a little (okay a lot) embarrassed most of the time. Guess what though? I survived and when you have a five year old correcting you......well, a little humility never hurt anyone. Now both my husband and I are red belts and loving every minute of it!

I cannot lie, our child had some (many) tough moments too. Some where he did not want to go anymore, was tired and sick of it, just as most of the other kids. As parents though we thought that we would only be teaching him that it is okay to quit when things get hard, when most do quit. At some point EVERYTHING gets hard and boring, whether it is soccer, piano or martial arts. Not that we do not let him try other things, but this one thing he had to stick to, whatever it took.

Sure enough now, our son will be the first child to receive a black belt at our Dojan. As parents never once have we had the thought that we were wrong on this one. Nothing have we ever been so sure of....

Geeky Cooking - Pasta all'amatriciana!

Since my husband and I were raised in Italy and our oldest son was actually born there, we really wanted to keep some of the culture alive in our house to pass along to our mini-geeks too. Tonight I cooked one our family favorites: "Pasta all'amatriciana"! So basically we are talking pasta with pork cooked in white wine, cheese and tomato sauce - Yummmm! Now what kind of geek (or not) would not be into this!

So I thought I would write the recipe, it is truly pretty simple:

What you need:

-500g of pasta (spaghetti work great!)
-1 can tomato sauce
-5 thick slices of bacon (or pancetta would be best)
-1/2-1 cup white wine
-1 garlic clove sliced in half
-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil


How to make it:
 
Heat oil in sauce pan on medium high. Add garlic and bacon. Remove garlic when golden brown, keep cooking bacon till almost fully cooked. Add white wine and cook till evaporated. Add tomato sauce and cook on low for 1/2 hour. In the meantime cook pasta according to instructions on box. Finally, poor sauce in pasta, mix well. Serve with TONS of freshly grated romano or parmigiano cheese.....ENJOY!;-)


 

Geeky Board Games!

One of the things everyone is on the same page about in our house is how much we all enjoy playing board games. From the classics such as Monopoly, Risk and Scrabble, to not so popular yet unbelievably entertaining Arkham Horror (our latest discovery).

What we love about board games is that it is such an amusing activity and great quality time spent together. Not that we do not love watching movies or playing video games (blasphemy!) but it is something we can do while communicating with each other.

Arkham Horror is perfect for a family because it is everyone playing against the game itself! With cooperation amongst players, or "investigators", you may defeat the board if not, be defeated by it. The dream of all parents: a game where there is no ONE loser and ONE winner, it saves many tears and arguments between the kids. Honestly, my husband and I are pretty competitive too, so it may even save a marriage!Kidding...... (somewhat :-))

Be advised that it is a very long game and that it is very complicated to learn, but it is worth it for all the fun you will have, whether fifteen with your geeky friends or thirty-five with your family or spouse.

Geeky Road Trip!

Robert E. Howard's House

An original "Weird Tales" magazine found at the local library

My husband started begging me to go to this thing for weeks!























-Robert E. Howard's town and house in Cross Plains, TX. For who is not aware (like myself till recently) he is the author of various pieces of renowned literature. He is most famous for having written "Conan the Cimmerian".









I have to admit it ended up being more interesting than I had thought and I actually was the one who had more questions for the town folks in the end!

Howard's bedroom

At the "Barbarian Festival"

Also, I discovered that a romantic movie was made in 1995 about the love story between Howard and his former girlfriend (Novalyne Price) starring Renee Zellweger. Will see. This is when the girly part of me takes over....

Movie based on Howard and Price's relationship

  Anyways, it was a pleasant geeky trip, the weather was great and I could tell my hubby felt in his element ;-D
  Only downfall: our tire popped and I had a pretty annoying migraine, but a good thing about being married to a geek is that he always knows how to make you smile:)

Geeky Cooking - Toy Story Alien Cupcakes!

Being that my husband is a fanatic of the "Toy Story" Aliens, this is what my kids and I made for his 31st birthday:

The hardest part was finding the right candy to use for the eyes, ears and antennae but with the help of my two mini-geeks we found some that fit perfectly.....green airheads and sour-straws anyone?
Cooking makes me happy and my kids are growing up with this passion of mine combined with my husband's geekyness :-D

I have decided that this will be one of our next projects:

............awesomeness!!!!

Aliens based on: http://family.go.com/food/recipe-857832-green-alien-cupcakes-t/

Geeky Symphony..

To live content with small means. To seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion. To be worthy not respectable, and wealthy not rich. To listen to stars and birds and babes and sages with an open heart. To study hard, think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions. Hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, the unbidden and the unconscious rise up through the common. This is my symphony. -- William Henry Channing

Geeky Yayyyyyy!

"My new blog, I am so excited!", these being the first thoughts that entered my mind when I opened this blog.....Ok, sooooo now what? I have so much to say that I do not know where to start! My husband says to just start writing and "you will find your way". So, here I am!
I am 27 years old, I have two gorgeous but exhausting kids (10 and 5), have been with my husband for 12 years now, but guess what? I am still not sure of where I am headed!

I heard a commencement speech by Neil Gaiman the other day who was talking about the "fraud police". He was explaining how he has these nightmares about these officers knocking on his door at night telling him he is a fraud at what he does (writing in his case). My interpretation being that these were caused by a sense of insecurity regarding his role as a writer, as a person. This insecurity we think we will overcome at some point in our lives; after graduating, after getting married, after having kids, after finally finding the "right job" for us... God knows I get it! I have the same feelings and thoughts of thinking that maybe I am pursuing the wrong dreams, have passion for the wrong things, work for the wrong reasons, but I think that in a sense, deep down we all have such feelings, now and then at least.

Here is Neil Gaiman's commencement speech: