Cupcake Fun Time!

For my brother's birthday last month and my friends birthday this week I decided to get crafty with cupcakes :) Everyone loves cupcakes, and if you can make them even more fun than they already are why not?? For Craig's Bday I made these super awesome Hamburger Cupcakes:
They are so easy to make!

You will need:

~ One box Yellow cake mix, One box chocolate cake mix (you can do from scratch too if you like!)

~ Red and Yellow gel food color (these offer a more intense color shade to mimic katchup and mustard as closely as possible)

~ Green liquid food color (to color the "lettuce", will distribute more evenly than gel)

~ Sweetened Coconut flakes

~ One container white or cream colored icing, the flavor is your choice

~ Seasame seeds

You will do:

~ Mix cake mixes according to instructions on box, fill cupcake tins with twice as many yellow cupcakes as chocolate ones

~ While cupcakes are baking, divide the icing into two bowls and dye one as red as you can get it and the other yellow

~ In another bowl put about about a cup or so of the coconut flakes, add 2 or 3 drops of the green food color. shake and toss until the flakes are an even green color

~ Once the cupcakes come out of the oven, sprinkle some seasame seeds on the yellow ones only and lightly press it to stick

~ Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, take them out of their wrappers and slice all the yellow ones in half. There are your buns!

~ For your patties, first slice off the curved "muffin top" of all the chocolate cupcakes, JUST the muffin top, and then slice the bottom portion in two so both patties are flat on both sides

~Build your hamburgers with your buns, patties, katchup, mustard, and lettuce as you would a real hamburger! I put both icing colors in two ziplock bags and snipped a tiny hole (like 1/16 in, no more) in one corner to pipe on the stuff as if i was squeezing it out of a katchup or mustard bottle.

Check out my awesome presentation skills:

love it! And last night I prepared Tie Dye Cupcakes for my friend at work today! These a slightly more simple to make:

You will need:

~ One box Yellow or Vanilla cake mix

~ A regular set of liquid food colors

~ Icing of your choice

You will do:

~ Mix up cake batter as per the instructions, then seperate evenly into 6 bowls.

~ Dye each bowl a different color, using a different spoon for each. You don't want any cross contamination! I used plain red (came out pink), plain blue, plain green, and mixed orange (about 8 drops yellow, 2 drops red), purple (12 drops red, 8 drops blue), and lime green (8 drops yellow, 2 drops green)

~ spoon about one spoonful of each color into each cup til they are 2/3 full. Do this in random order for each one so they're all different.

~ Bake per the instructions, and ice however you like!

Easy! I really loved making these and I know they'll be a hit! I used Buttercream icing dyed pink just because thats what i felt like. Enjoy!

The most Delicious Smoothie!

For breakfast I have been making protein shakes since thats the best thing to go along with the workouts. I use a combo of various fresh and frozen fruits, fruit juice or water, and either vanilla or chocolate whey protein powder. Well this morning I made the most delicious smoothie so I wanted to share the recipe! I didn't know how it would turn out but it was great! I call it....

Bluebanapple Smoothie:
~One banana
~About a cup frozen Pineapple chunks
~2/3 cup 100% natural, no sugar added Blueberry Juice*
~1 1/2 heaping scoops Vanilla Whey Protein

Blend until smooth, thats it! I was worried the blueberry juice might add a strange flavor but it didn't. The pineapple and banana together weren't too tropical either, it was just a nice light fruity flavor mellowed out by the vanilla I think. Everyone should try this, and enjoy!

*I can't remember the brand of blueberry juice but I found it in the produce section of Whole Foods and it has other juices mixed in but no additives.