America’s Birthday and the Lt. Dan Band!

America’s birthday came and went with much celebration on this end.  I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but I love…absolutely LOVE the Fourth of July.  The food, the fireworks, the history…just errrrything.   Here’s a quick update since we’ve been quite the busy bees since!

Ft. Gordon had quite a bit going on on the third of July so me and the hubby decided to go check it out and I am just so glad that we did.  The weather was perfect and sweltering.  The stench of fried foods wafted all the way to South Carolina.  The laughter and music and cheers could be heard probably all the way back home in Missouri.  For one night I actually forgot to be homesick.  Needless to say  it was an amazing night.

The Fourth was met with great BBQ and lively times with friends.

Bliss and happiness ensued!….

Until…until, until, until….we realized that my camera was missing! GASP!

Me and the hubby searched for hours upon hours only to find it today hidden in a hidden crevice of my purse (we had searched the purse four times and shook it inside out.

 Anywho two nights ago we checked out Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band who were putting on a free concert up on Base.  Aside from being extras in Twister 2 and dodging tree branches in our quest for music, it was an awesome show!  Unfortunately because the weather was really awful the show had to be cut short but Gary Sinise gained two fans that night.  He truly does stand behind the troops and supports them full-heartedly, God bless him.  It’s a shame more celebrities don’t follow suite.

Overall it was a successful couple of days perhaps I’ve learned a couple of the things that the South has to offer!  Hope you all had great Fourths!

‘Amer-cuh!!!’Cupcakes!

I know.

I KNOW.  I said no more baking. And to be honest, I really did try to NOT bake…but then I felt that I had to celebrate the fourth of July and I wanted my man-friend and his friends at work to be all happy…so I baked these magnificent gems.  And let me tell you, this is SERIOUSLY hands down the best icing you will ever have in your life.

Get ready for some spirited MER’CUH CUPCAKES! Woohoo!

Just an FYI these are not healthy for you AT ALL.  But they’re delicious and I only had half of one before I packaged them up, so I did good. You won’t be sorry that you made these though, trust me.

‘AMER-CUH’ COCONUT CUPCAKES!

Cake
- 3 sticks butter  (This recipe calls for you to channel Paula Deen. Somewhere she is smiling and laughing jubilantly).
-  2 cups sugar
- 5 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- 3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup coconut
- red and blue food coloring

Icing
- 3 sticks butter (softened)
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla
- 1/2 tablespoon coconut extract
- 2 tablespoons milk

1.  Mix together the sugar and butter until it’s fluffy and creamy…at the same time. DOITNOW.
2.  Add in the eggs and whip it back and forth like a crazy person.  Song of choice for this is Willow Smith’s Whip My Hair.
3.  In a completely different bowl, stir together all the powdered ingredients.
4.  Add milk.  Mix it using a mixer and then add in the sugar/egg/butter mix.
5.  Add shredded coconut and mix.
6.  Now you have your batter…but of course you want it to be MER-CUH cupcakes…so from here I separated the batter into three different bowls.   I put about sixty drops of blue food coloring, eighty drops of red in another, and left the third bowl untouched (white).
7.  I lined my cupcake pan with some festive liners and then spooned in equal parts of each color (blue first, then red, then white) into each liner.  It should be about 2/3 of the way full and you will have enough perfectly to make 24 cupcakes. Take a toothpick and swirl the batter a bit so it looks pretty.
8.  Bake for 25 minutes at 325 degrees until golden on top.
9.  For the frosting — mix all of the ingredients together in the order they appear.  I then separated into three bowls adding the same amount of food dye as the batter (60 blue/80 red/white).  I then spooned a little of each color in the piping bag so when the colors came out it would swirl — then topped with an AMERICAN FLAG — some sprinkles and some shredded coconut.

NOM NOM NOM NOM.

Have a happy Fourth everyone and hope you all enjoy this recipe!!!