Payback's A...

You know the saying. I'll leave it at that. Today I reaped the benefits of a payback that's been coming to me for about 21 years. When I was going into first grade my parents built a new house in the neighboring town to where we lived. One day shortly after the move into the new house my seven year old self and my six year old sidekick decided it would be a fabulous idea to get out our nail polish while we were supposed to be taking baths and getting ready for bed. I proceeded to paint both my sister and the bathtub with the nail polish. I think I was purposely painting my sister and it inadvertently got on the bathtub. Whatever. My mom walked in on this mess and we were banned from nail polish until about high school I think.

Fast forward to today. I was back to babysitting after a wonderful week's vacation (vacation post soon to come). Things were going great. Then at about 4 o'clock all hell broke loose. I was tipped off when the five year old was sent downstairs to get paper towels by her older sisters. I asked why she needed them and she wouldn't tell me. I said I think I will come upstairs with you. She ran ahead and said "Erin's coming" and then I heard from the oldest say "please don't yell." There was blue nail polish on the bathroom tiles and the bathroom sink and poor Barbie had hot pink nail polish highlights. The sink was also highlighted in hot pink. After I trained them in cleaning up nail polish and assisted in the clean, we went downstairs and I found dog poop all over the dining room. Thank goodness the oldest is 100% responsible for that dog and has to clean up after it. She finished that up and then the other dog puked in the family room and the kitchen. Awesome. All this in the 45 minutes just before the mom came home. After I was begged not to tell on them to their mother...we came to the compromise that the oldest would come clean, but I had to stay while she told her mom so she wouldn't yell too much since I was there.

I'm curious to see what the punishment is tomorrow. Probably no nail polish until high school.

Recipe of the Week!

Lemon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

These were delicious. I found the recipe that I used on My Baking Addiction. Matt said he wanted a lemon cake for his birthday, but I couldn't find a recipe I liked so I asked if cupcakes would be OK. Then mid-cupcake making I actually used my full brain and figured out that I could have made this recipe into a cake...duh. Oh well this worked out and we had little desserts for a week. I had raspberries on hand for another recipe I made that weekend so I used those as some extra flair and flavor along with some sugary sprinkles instead of what her recipe calls for. Next I will turn this recipe into a cake...even though I vowed to never bake a cake again.

*Just another note. I found this made A LOT of icing. I still have quite a bit left over in my freezer, and the cake batter made 24 small cupcakes. Next time I would probably make slightly bigger cupcakes and cut the icing recipe in half. 

For the Cake

2 1/4 cups cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

4 large egg whites

1 1/2 cups sugar

lemon zest from two lemons

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare cupcake tins by using liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray

To Make The Cake: Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and, working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extracts, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Place the batter into the cupcake tins.

Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until the cupcakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean.

Cool on wire rack.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 (8) ounce package cream cheese, softened

1 stick butter, softened

2 lbs. confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

juice of one lemon

Using a mixer, blend the butter and cream cheese together until well combined. Gradually add in the confectioners’ sugar until fully incorporated. Finally mix in vanilla and lemon juice.

Birthday Week

Happy Birthday Grandma!

I have sadly just realized that I forgot my camera cord to upload pictures while I am here. I'm sure that you will all be on the edge of your seat waiting for pictures from Maine until I return next week. In the mean time...a brief update. This week there are a lot of important birthdays. Yesterday was Matt and his sister's 28th birthday and we celebrated with a day at the pool and a lobster and steak dinner. It was my first lobster ever. I liked it more than I thought I would. Today is my grandma's 80th birthday. The above is a picture that I took for her and made into a book of our whole family wishing her a happy birthday. And Wednesday we will end with Matt's dad's 60th birthday. There is going to be a major surprise party on Friday and Saturday for his birthday. We are going on a boat Friday...if you know me and boats you should start crossing your fingers for me now. In honor of birthday week, this week's recipe will be a very delicious birthday cupcake recipe I made in honor of dear Matthew.

Vacation Time!

After this week, I am more than ready for vacation. We've been having a little too much together-ness and sister time in the babysitting world. I have seen not only World War three break out this week, but possibly four, five, and six too. This was the first week anyone has been banished to their room. And today I didn't just have my regular three, but the neighbor's three as well. Lesson learned: I will never have six children. Ever. The Duggar's house must be really loud.

Tomorrow we are headed north to New England for the week. We will be visiting Matt's family in Massachusetts and as well as spending some time in Maine. It's going to be a very exciting week. There are lots of events planned, but I have to save the details for a later date. Anyone else take any exciting trips this summer? Look forward to some pictures from Yankee (not the baseball kind, the civil war kind) territory.

Recipe of the Week!

Here is a recipe I really liked! Just a warning though...it's a little on the spicy side, even for me who loves spiciness and has a high tolerance for spice. The yogurt was a nice neutralizer, though. I will definitely make these again!

Grilled Steak Gyros

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried mint (optional)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup 2% plain Greek yogurt
• 1 onion, sliced into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
• 1 pound skirt steak
• 4 pocketless pitas
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 bunch watercress, roughly chopped

Directions

Preheat a grill to medium high. Make the marinade: Whisk the olive oil, garlic, mint (if using), oregano, paprika, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste in a large bowl. Transfer 1 tablespoon of the marinade to a small bowl; mix in the yogurt and 2 tablespoons water. Add the bell pepper and onion to the bowl with the remaining marinade and toss; remove to a plate with a slotted spoon. Add the steak to the bowl and toss.

Grill the onion and steak, turning once, until lightly charred, about 4 minutes per side for the vegetables and 4 to 8 minutes per side for the steak (depending on the thickness). Set aside to rest, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, grill the pitas until marked, about 1 minute per side.

Slice the steak against the grain. Fill the pitas with the steak, grilled vegetables, tomato and watercress. Drizzle with the yogurt sauce.

Hot Child in the City

It has be HOT here in DC the past week-ish. When I say hot I mean like 115 degree heat index. Brutal. On a typical day in Adventures in Babysitting we go to the pool. Well that lasted until about Wednesday this week and then I could take no more. The bugs were biting and the sun was burning so we needed some new indoor activities. You know how they say there's no such thing as a free lunch? Well I have some data to prove those people wrong. We did four free activities on Thursday and Friday last week.

We began on Thursday morning at the Fairfax Corner movie theatre. We watched Marmaduke free of charge and it went over well. Every Tuesday and Thursday they have free kids movies at 10 am. This week we will be taking part in Ramona and Beezus. Thursday afternoon we went to the library, not too original, but still free. The Friday adventures crossed state lines. We stalked out Georgetown Cupcake on facebook and decided to go to the Bethesda store (better parking situation) to receive the free cupcake of the day. We also took a trip into the Apple store which I think they liked better than cupcakes. In the afternoon? Free bowling. We covered a lot of ground this past week, right? Here are some happy cupcake faces. Let's hope for a quick, less hot, week and then...VACATION!!!

Recipe of the Week!

Honey Chicken Tenders

I made this chicken at the same time I made last weeks rice. They were a good combo, but this chicken would go well with anything. I really liked it. It was just a little sweet and a lot crunchy so it was perfect. I think the chicken would also just be good coated in the honey and apricot mixture without the bread crumbs if you are interested in trying it that way. I feel like this would also be a kid favorite! 

Ingredients

2 boneless chicken breasts cut into small strips

• Panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons apricot preserves or jam

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine honey and apricot preserves. Stir to combine. Brush honey mixture on both sides of chicken strips, dredge in bread crumbs. Line coated chicken on a baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake about 30 minutes until slightly browned.