Count down week

Seven more days. Yep, seven more days until the kiddos will be back in school, and moms and dads everywhere will CELEBRATE (until they start helping with homework :-). Although I've only grandkids to enJOY getting to see go off to school, I love this time of year, mostly because it signals for me the beginning of fall! And with fall comes cooler, dryer air. I can't wait for these hot, humid days to disappear into our memories and frost to appear on the pumpkins and cornstalks. I love the scents of fall and getting to fill the house with the aromas of spices from freshly baked pumpkin bread, apple pies, and cornbread dressing (stuffing--for you northerners). I have to restrain myself to keep from pulling out the fall decorations as soon as July 4th. passes. But, once Labor Day comes and goes, it's time to put away all things summer and go for the golden colors of fall.

Until then, we enJOY the blessings of air conditioning and await the start of school. This week was a "modified" Nanna Week, again. I had Jacob over on Tuesday, Samuel on Wednesday, Emma was here today, and Madison will have her day with me tomorrow. Since I "forgot" (yes, the mental capacity isn't what it used to be!) to photograph Emma during the first "Nanna Week," I promised her another day to bake cupcakes, so I could include photos of her, as well. So, that's what we did this morning after we finished reading. Emma first thought she wanted to make strawberry cupcakes, then decided on vanilla cupcakes with a milk chocolate chip icing. For those who might like to have it, I've included the icing recipe below the photos. I rarely ever purchase canned frostings (if I do, they expire before I use them, then have to be tossed), because I just don't like the flavor or consistency. So, we made our own icing and used a boxed mix (Duncan Hines Classic Yellow) for the cupcakes.

Hope you enJOY the photos and recipe and will return soon to see what else is cooking in Nanna's Kitchen. (Cookbooks will be here soon... and I'll send out a special announcement when they arrive!)

Emma is getting taller and stronger so she can hold the hand mixer all by herself.

Reading the directions and measuring ingredients (and ADDING THEM) gives her a chance to practice her math and reading skills. Smart girl!!

Emma is very careful and precise about her work. She made sure she didn't spill a drop of water when she added it to the ingredients.

All three kids enJOY cracking the eggs. She cracked them and put them in the measuring cup first, to be sure they were good and had no pieces of shell with them. Then, she added each one to the bowl of ingredients.

 

Am I doing this right?

Looks GOOD to me, Emma!

Emma had to rush to a hair appointment (time to get all spruced up for "back-to-school" photos), so we she quickly added the warm "Chocolate Chip Icing" to the vanilla cupcakes (which were also still warm :-). It smelled soooo good!

The warm icing and warm cupcakes made a pretty chocolaty glazed top for the cupcakes.

OOPS! Gotta little bit of icing dripping down the side. Great way to take care of that----lick your fingers!

Yummmm!

Finished product, set aside to cool.

Here's the recipe we used for Emma's icing:

Nestle's Milk Chocolate Chip Frosting Recipe

1/4 cup butter

1 cup Nestle's milk chocolate chips

3 tablespoons milk, plus more to thin, as needed

3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, give or take a smidgen

1 teaspoon vanilla extract



Melt butter and chocolate chips in microwave oven. Stir until well combined and smooth. Add 1/3 of the powdered sugar and mix well with a fork or spatula. Add milk and blend. Add the rest of the powdered sugar and vanilla. Add more milk to thin, if needed and stir until all lumps are gone and mixture is smooth. Frost cake or cupcakes while icing is still warm. It will cool and harden with a pretty shiny glaze from the butter and chocolate chips. Allow to cool before cutting.

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