DIY: Fruit Pizza

This past weekend was my friend Ephrem's birthday party, I was in charge of making the "cake," he wanted it to be unique and different. How did I do?

"Skinnie," this was the best birthday cake, um... dessert anyone has ever made me!

Score one for me! =)

Anyway, you can make this too...I cheated with the cookie and used a mix instead of baking from scratch, I also used peanut butter where most people generally prefer a sugar cookie "crust." I used the recipe for the cookie as directed on the bag, however I baked it for 20min on the pizza stone. My cookie was 1ft in diameter when it came out of the oven, you'll notice a difference in the final picture.I did make my own cream cheese frosting...

• 1 8oz package of cream cheese
• 1/4 cup softened butter
• 1 cup confectioner's (powdered) sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  

First you need to cream the butter and cream cheese together, then mix in the vanilla. After this you will gradually stir in the powdered sugar.Since it has been reaching 115* (no I'm not kidding) here in the day time, I baked this cookie around 6am, and made the frosting while it was in the oven. I left the cookie uncovered on the pizza stone in the fridge, and placed the frosting in a tupperware in the fridge. The party wasn't until 6pm, so around 5pm I pulled the cookie and frosting out, cut up all my fruit (nectarines, kiwis, strawberries, blueberries, and bananas) and started working on the finished product-Yum!
It was gone in less than 5min.


[as always, images can be viewed larger by clicking on them]

I ♥ Faces: Feet Week Entry

i ♥ faces is an awesome photography blog... check it out.

My entry to this weeks "feet" themed contest:
My fiancé is in the Marine Corps... and I think there is nothing better than My Flip-Flops + His Combat Boots, because it means that we are together!

Be sure to check out all the other entries...

Tortilla Soup

Ahhh the joys of being on vacation and unemployed (hopefully not forever though!). Yesterday, Erin and I took the day to relax, bake the boys favorite dessert, and make dinner. This recipe was given to me from my mom, it's insanely simple but so flavorful!

[Click image to view full-size in order to print!]

Mmm-mmm... remember, you can play around with the ingredients to your liking. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Happy Fourth!

I am fortunate enough to spend this 4th of July with my fiancé, who just happens to be a United States Marine. I absolutely love Bakerella, and her entry today hit home for me.

Aren't these super cute?!
Check it out: "The Fourth"

She has an easy recipe for her cake pops linked to this entry... try it out!

Thank you Bakerella... you have no idea how much something like this means. =)

Now my friend Erin and I are going to bake patriotic cupcakes for the Marine Corps BBQ/Pool Party tomorrow... exciting!

I hope you all have a safe and fun holiday, please don't forget the men and women fighting for us tomorrow and every day of the year.

-Taylor