Grow Your Own Green Onions (Scallions)!

See the green onions in the picture above? I grew them!!! And it was super easy! All you need is green onions, a glass, and water! Next time you buy green onions chop off the bottom 2 inches and throw them in a glass of water. After about two weeks they will grow back and look the same as the day you bought them! (You will need to refill the water every few days.)

I have noticed that after the first re-growth they do not grow as fast (I am assuming because of a lack of nutrients since the onions are just in water). If you want to be able to continuously re-grow them, simply plant them in some soil and water regularly. When you plant them make sure that the bulbs (the bottom inch) are covered by soil. Make sure that a little bit of the onion is still poking out of the ground though.

Day 1:

Day 3:

Day 14:

Whenever you want green onions just use a pair of scissors to cut off how much you need! (I harvested mine all at once.)

Piping Bag Tip!

I found this tip on another blog recently and it has changed the way I handle icing! There is no longer a need to clean piping bags! All you need is cling wrap!

Start off by tearing off a square of cling wrap and laying it out on a clean surface. Then place the icing you plan to use in the middle of the square. 

Fold the cling wrap diagonally in half. (Corner to corner)

Next, roll the cling wrap around the icing in the middle (like a piece of candy). 

Then twist the ends until tight. 

Then slide one end of the cling wrap through the coupler in a piping bag. 

Cut off the plastic wrap poking out of the coupler. 

Then put on your tip, the other half of the coupler, and start piping! 

Once you are done and all of the icing is gone, simply remove the top part of the coupler and the piping tip. Then pull the cling wrap with the residual icing out of the bigger end of the piping bag! You will most likely have to clean the bottom part of the coupler, but that is so much better than having to clean out the piping bag as well!!

I found this genius tip on the following blog: http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/2011/03/coloring-and-preparing-royal-icing/

Can you freeze cupcake batter and still have good cupcakes? YES!!!

I ran a little experiment regarding freezing cupcake batter and it totally worked! I have heard a lot of different things about whether or not the cupcakes would look or (more importantly) taste as good after freezing the batter so I set out to find the truth! 

This experiment actually started off as an accident. I was making a half batch of chocolate cupcakes for a party and ended up forgetting to half one of the ingredients. So rather than starting over, I just made a whole batch. You can never have too many cupcakes right??

I baked up half of the batter that night for the party and poured the other half in to a large baggie and popped it into the freezer. 

Then, about 3 weeks later, I defrosted the batter and baked some cupcakes. The cupcakes in the picture below were made from frozen batter and don't they look wonderful?!

Then I whipped up some vanilla icing and dug in! They tasted just as wonderful as usual! 

Now here is the tip: If you are really busy, make your cake batter ahead of time and freeze it until you need it! Just defrost the batter overnight, or while you are at work, and you can have cupcakes made from scratch any day of the week!

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Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Icing

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cake:

• 2 cups SUGAR
• 1 & 3/4 cup FLOUR
• 3/4 cup COCOA POWDER
• 1 & 1/2 tsp BAKING POWDER
• 1 & 1/2 tsp BAKING SODA
• 1 tsp SALT
• 2 EGGS
• 1 cup MILK
• 1/2 cup VEGETABLE OIL
• 2 tsp VANILLA EXTRACT
• 1 cup BOILING WATER

Vanilla Icing:

• 2 cup SHORTENING 
• 8 cup POWDERED SUGAR
• 0.5 tsp SALT
• 2 tsp VANILLA
• 6 oz. HEAVY CREAM

Directions:

Chocolate Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and coating three 8 inch baking dishes in nonstick cooking spray and then flour to make the cake easier to remove from the dish after baking. 
2. In an electric mixer combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
3. Add the eggs, milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and the boiling water making sure each ingredient is incorporated before adding the next.

• If you are making a cake, divide the batter equally into the three baking dishes and bake for 30-35 minutes.  Bake until you can insert a toothpick and have it come out clean. Let the cakes cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from the baking dishes. 

     OR

• If you are making cupcakes with the batter, bake them for 15-18 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick and have it come out clean.

Vanilla Icing:

1. Cream the shortening in an electric mixer until it is fluffy. 
2. Slowly mix in the powdered sugar. 
3. Add the salt, vanilla, and cream. Mix until well combined. 
4. If it is too thick add more cream, if it is too thin add more powdered sugar.

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Freeze Your Soup!

My husband and I have been trying to eat healthier and we noticed that lately we have been eating a lot of sodium due to eating canned soups and Ramen noodles. Generally on nights when we are both feeling tired and don't want to cook we end up eating soups. We found that making our own soup and freezing it in single servings was a great way to get around consuming a lot of the sodium and they are there for whenever we want them!

In the picture above is a batch of chicken & noodles that we then put about 1 & 1/2 cups of soup per baggie and then threw them in the freezer! With the chicken & noodles we got about 8 baggies of soup! ...Just ignore the leftover margarita...

When you freeze the baggies be sure to lay them flat so they will be easier to stack in the freezer and will also defrost quicker in some warm water!

How to remove corn from the husk and cook it all at once!

Ok, so I found this tip on Pinterest and it totally works! It's amazing! Start by removing a few layers of the outside husks if there is dirt on them. Next, cut off the base of the corn just above where the husks are connected and the kernels start.  Place a moist paper towel on the base of your microwave (or on the carousel), and put your corn on top.

Then, cook the corn based on the following times:

• 1 ear  --> 2 minutes
• 2 ears --> 3-4 minutes
• 3 ears --> 5-6 minutes
• 4 ears --> 7-8 minutes
• 6 ears --> 8-9 minutes

Once the corn has cooked, let it sit for about 2 minutes to let it cool so you can touch it.  Be careful not to let it sit too long or the silk will start to stick to the kernels. Simply grab the opposite end of the ear from where you cut, and squeeze the corn out! It should slide right out leaving the silk in the husk! Easy as pie!

It should come out looking something like this! I promise I didn't pick all of the silk off before taking this picture!

Bonus round: If you aren't planning on eating the corn on the cob here is a tip for getting the corn off of the cob without spilling corn all over the counter...and floor!

Place one bowl upside down in another bowl. Put one end of the corn on top of the upside down bowl and with a knife, cut down wards.

The second bowl will collect all of the kernels and nothing will end up on the floor! Vualá!

I found the microwave tip pinned from this blog:
http://www.holmfamilycookbook.com/apps/blog/show/15501931-the-magic-corn-trick

Cake Decorating Tip!

I made this cake a few years ago with a store bought cake mix (funfetti!) and store bought icing (vanilla). Sometimes you just don't have time for homemade cakes. And lets be honest, funfetti cake is awesome.

I realize that this isn't the prettiest cake that anyone has ever made, it's a little rough around the edges, but the idea has potential! All I did was take half of the icing out of container and put it into a separate bowl, put some red food coloring in, and mix! I then took the pink icing, put it in a sandwich baggie, sealed the baggie, clipped the corner off so there was a small hole in the bottom, and started decorating! I didn't even use a piping tip! 

It's an easy and cost effective way to take your cake to the next level without having to spend hours (or dollars) decorating! You can pipe a design like I did or write "Happy Birthday!" The possibilities are endless! Happy decorating!